I read a comment a blog despairing of how to explain 1 Peter 3:6 and I felt sympathetic, so I offered my thoughts. (Later I realized an earlier commenter had already linked to basically the same argument).

What I wrote is my best take on this passage, but I am not confident that “weaker vessel” does convey the sense of “delicate, i.e. expensive, valuable” in the Greek. Also, even if in Aramaic the word for husband and master was naturally related, that doesn’t mean the expression or the sense of it would convey to the Greek audience of 1 Peter. And it is very strange that the context for the only reference for Sarah calling Abraham ‘lord’ that I am aware of is Sarah doubting God and being afraid (Genesis 18:13-15).

In the end I let the tone of 1 Peter and the themes of the New Testament direct my understanding of this verse; but I think it is difficult, and in the immediate text I am not satisfied that I have accounted for everything that is meant.

(Edit: I have been corrected on points by Leah.)