A Beautiful Woman
by Gene Taylor
Recently, People Magazine published its annual issue which contained a list of "The Fifty Most Beautiful People in the World." A picture of Julia Roberts, a talented and attractive movie star, graced the cover. The editors considered her to be the most beautiful person in the world today.
Who is the world's most beautiful woman? She is not a movie star. She does not live in Hollywood. She has never been in a beauty contest. She may be living in your city and, for the most part, go unnoticed as a person. We can learn of her by reading and studying 1 Peter 3:1-6. Let us read and see what a truly beautiful woman is like.
She is a Christian. The apostle Peter wrote this epistle to Christians (1 Pet. 1:1-2). She is included in it.
She is a godly person. Peter speaks of her as being like "the holy women" of former times.
As one who is married, she is in subjection to her husband. Since this is a command from God (Eph. 5:22), she believes that a woman gets her greatest happiness and fulfillment in submitting entirely to the will of God.
She is characterized by chaste behavior. Such behavior properly influences others. She realizes she must be a "light" in the world (Matt. 5:14-16), especially to her family. The conduct of the modern, worldly woman would never lead her husband or anyone else to Christ.
Her adornment is not outward but spiritual. She is not obsessed with carnal attractiveness. She does not prize what the Proverbist calls "passing beauty" (Prov. 31:30). Rather, she esteems "the beauty of holiness" (Psa. 29:2). Her beauty is that of "the hidden person of the heart." She has "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." Peter says that such a beauty is "very precious in the sight of God." It should also be precious to us.
She is meek and humble—gentle and quiet. She is not as the daughters of Zion were in Isaiah's time. Isaiah writes of them in Isaiah 3:16-26: "Moreover the Lord says: 'Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts.' In that day the Lord will take away the finery: the jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents; The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils; The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; the perfume boxes, the charms, and the rings; the nose jewels, the festal apparel, and the mantles; the outer garments, the purses, and the mirrors; the fine linen, the turbans, and the robes. And so it shall be: instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit on the ground." Rather than being like these women, the one Peter describes is a woman whose spirit is not only meek but also "quiet." She is neither a nag nor a complainer.
Conclusion
What a wonderful woman Peter describes in this text. What an earnest, spiritual, attractive woman she is. She is a true wife and a godly Christian. She has a remarkable, pervading influence for good.
Many women have been molded into such beauty by God's word. It presents several to us: Mary, mother of Jesus (Luke 2:30); Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2); Priscilla, wife of Aquila (Rom. 16:3-4); and Lois, grandmother of Timothy, and Eunice, his mother (2 Tim. 1:5).
Who is the most beautiful woman in the world? She is the godly woman who is living her life by the word of God.
