“Without a Word”: The Exegetical Reading of ἁγνὴν ἀναστροφὴν in 1 Peter 3:1-6 And Implications for the African Christian Wife

Abstract

This study offers a focused exegetical investigation of hagnēn anastrophēn ("chaste conduct") in 1 Peter 3:1–6, a passage in which Peter counsels Christian wives living with disobedient husbands to win them "without a word" through the quality of their embodied conduct. Beyond the disobedient husband, the study reads the text in the context of an abusive marriage. Against readings that reduce the passage to a demand for wifely silence, this study argues that hagnēn anastrophēn is an active, theologically grounded, and missionally purposeful way of living those functions as an alternative form of witness within a hostile domestic environment, carrying a genuine soteriological implication for the husband's transformation. The findings are brought into dialogue with the African Christian context, where selective readings of this text have consistently prioritised submission over the wife's dignity, agency, and safety. The study concludes that the recovery of hagnēn anastrophēn in its full exegetical and pastoral dimensions is both an academic and ecclesial imperative.