What does “the grace of life” refer to in 1 Peter 3:7?

Question

My question is pretty straightforward. I'm wondering what "the grace of life" refers to in this verse:

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV)

The two main options I can see are that it refers to 1) eternal life (since the word "heirs" seems to anticipate something still in the future) or to 2) marriage (from the context just above this verse discussing how women should live with their unbelieving husbands).

Answer 1

Dan O'Day gives a good analysis of the Greek in his answer, but I find his conclusion to be quite surprising on the basis of what he said.

Life in the New Testament (and in a more hidden way, in the old) overwhelmingly speaks of eternal life; that is, the eternal communion with God into which we enter by grace through Jesus Christ. Where do I even begin to cite for that? I want to quote the entire Gospel of John right here!

Moreover (which Dan seems to acknowledge) heir has to do with the hope (as Soldarnal points out in the question) of receiving the grace of God (eternal life). Once again, this usage is overwhelming in the New Testament, and once again, in a more hidden way, in the Old.

In combination, this is a powerful argument. I would charge any one you to find an example of when heir, grace, and life in conjunction, or even two of them in conjunction, mean anything other than the hope of eternal life.

But think about the logic of this passage. If Peter says, "Treat your wife in an understanding way; after all, she's your wife," that is an okay argument, but really is not very strong. But "Treat your wife in an understanding way. She has as much claim to the kingdom of God as you do—and more than you if you treat her wrongly, for then you forfeit your own claim," is an extremely weighty argument. Whereas the first is an appeal to common sense, which are badly muted by sin and a sinful culture, the second is a powerful theological appeal. Any man who abuses his wife knows that she's his wife. But if she is his equal before God, bought with the blood of Christ, loved by God in the same way as he is, and following the logic out to its necessary conclusion, equally human (revolutionary in the ancient world), equally made in the image of God—that is far more powerful.

The grace of life is certainly eternal life.

Answer 2

The phrase "συγκληρονόμοις χάριτος ζωῆς" (fellow heirs of [the] grace of life) in this passage is very interesting. The apostle Paul elsewhere uses συγκληρονόμος to indicate that children of God are "fellow heirs" with Christ (Romans 8:17), so it is certainly possible that eternal life is the meaning here. But I'm leaning towards marriage in this passage. Here's why:

Lexical study reveals that the root word is κληρονόμος, simply meaning "heir," or "one who is to inherit something." When κληρονόμος is given the prefix συν-, which is a preposition literally meaning "with" or "joined together in tight identification," it implies the joint nature of being an heir, thus some translations render the word as "co-heir." In other places where we are "co-heirs" of eternal life, the context typically makes it clear that we are co-heirs with Christ. However in this case, the context is that of a marriage between a husband and a wife. Also, the exhortation appears to be directed at husbands, namely that their prayers may be hindered if they do not honor their wives in the context of their marriage. Because of this context, it is my opinion that being "co-heirs of [the] grace of life" here refers to marriage.

Answer 3

In studying the subject on GRACE I have discovered that Grace is something that God gives us so that we can have an eternally productive in this case life. In other cases it could be ministry, or business venture etc. Now like Jesus he grew in grace before God and man and that growth requieres a lot of hard work as we add to our faith virtues such as love, patience. faith, meekness, selflessness etc. When God gives a grace which is part of the inheritance that we receive here on the earth as married couples. He is adding His help from the Godhead thru the Holy Spirit of wisdom, councelling, understanding etc so that we aren't just trying to have a marriage without His help. Now as Peter states their are requirements or conditions for that grace to remain in effect or active and that is how we treat one another in word and deed. In Romans Paul states that the grace reigns thru acts of righteousness, (not ours and what we can justify but according to God's judgement and what pleases Him) If we do not treat each other properly our prayers are hindered. Now when he states our prayers are hindered he Peter is talking about the two way comunication between us and God. We can still pray and ask but the God response where He equips us with wisdom, knowledge etc gets cut off and we end up trying to live life on our own which normally leads to disaster.