1 Peter 1
1
Greeting
1From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God’s chosen people who are temporary residents ⌞in the world⌟ and are scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2God the Father knew you long ago and chose you to live holy lives with the Spirit’s help so that you are obedient to Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood.
May good will #1:2 Or “grace.” and peace fill your lives!
Faith in Christ Brings You Joy
3Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God has given us a new birth because of his great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life. 4We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5since you are guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.
6You are extremely happy about these things, even though you have to suffer different kinds of trouble for a little while now. 7The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again.
8Although you have never seen Christ, you love him. You don’t see him now, but you believe in him. You are extremely happy with joy and praise that can hardly be expressed in words 9as you obtain the salvation that is the goal of your faith.
10The prophets carefully researched and investigated this salvation. Long ago they spoke about God’s kindness #1:10 Or “grace.” that would come to you. 11So they tried to find out what time or situation the Spirit of Christ kept referring to whenever he predicted Christ’s sufferings and the glory that would follow. 12God revealed to the prophets that the things they had spoken were not for their own benefit but for yours. What the prophets had spoken, the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven, has now made known to you by those who spread the Good News among you. These are things that even the angels want to look into.
Live Holy Lives
13Therefore, your minds must be clear and ready for action. Place your confidence completely in what God’s kindness will bring you when Jesus Christ appears again. 14Because you are children who obey God, don’t live the kind of lives you once lived. Once you lived to satisfy your desires because you didn’t know any better. 15But because the God who called you is holy, you must be holy in every aspect of your life. 16Scripture says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” 17So if you call God your Father, live your time as temporary residents on earth in fear. He is the God who judges all people by what they have done, and he doesn’t play favorites. 18Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. 19Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections. 20He is the lamb who was known long ago before the world existed, but for your good he became publicly known in the last period of time. 21Through him you believe in God who brought Christ back to life and gave him glory. So your faith and confidence are in God.
Love Each Other
22Love each other with a warm love that comes from the heart. After all, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. As a result you have a sincere love for each other. 23You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God’s everlasting word that can’t be destroyed. That’s why ⌞Scripture says⌟,
24“All people are like grass,
and all their beauty is like a flower of the field.
The grass dries up and the flower drops off,
25but the word of the Lord lasts forever.”
This word is the Good News that was told to you.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
1 Peter 1
1
1Greetings from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes—people scattered all over the areas of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2God planned long ago to choose you and to make you his holy people, which is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey him and to be made clean by the blood sacrifice#1:2 made clean … sacrifice Or “sprinkled with the blood,” which probably compares the beginning of the new agreement by the blood sacrifice of Christ (Mk. 14:24) with Moses’ sprinkling the blood of animal sacrifices on the people of Israel to seal the agreement God made with them (Ex. 24:3-8). See also Heb. 9:15-26. of Jesus Christ.
I pray that you will enjoy more and more of God’s grace and peace.
A Living Hope
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life. This new life brings us a living hope through Jesus Christ’s resurrection from death. 4Now we wait to receive the blessings God has for his children. These blessings are kept for you in heaven. They cannot be ruined or be destroyed or lose their beauty.
5God’s power protects you through your faith, and it keeps you safe until your salvation comes. That salvation is ready to be given to you at the end of time. 6I know the thought of that is exciting, even if you must suffer through different kinds of troubles for a short time now. 7These troubles test your faith and prove that it is pure. And such faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. When your faith is proven to be pure, the result will be praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes.
8You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You can’t see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a wonderful and heavenly joy that cannot be explained. 9Your faith has a goal, and you are reaching that goal—your salvation.
10The prophets studied carefully and tried to learn about this salvation. They spoke about the grace that was coming to you. 11The Spirit of Christ was in those prophets. And the Spirit was telling about the sufferings that would happen to Christ and about the glory that would come after those sufferings. The prophets tried to learn about what the Spirit was showing them—when it would happen and what the world would be like at that time.
12It was made clear to them that their service was not for themselves. They were serving you when they told about the things you have now heard. You heard them from those who told you the Good News with the help of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels would like very much to know more about these things you were told.
A Call to Holy Living
13So prepare your minds for service. With complete self-control put all your hope in the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ comes. 14In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey him and not live the way you did before. 15Be holy in everything you do, just as God is holy. He is the one who chose you. 16In the Scriptures God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”#Quote from Lev. 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7.
17You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart. 23You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever. 24The Scriptures say,
“Our lives are like the grass of spring,
and any glory we enjoy is like the beauty of a wildflower.
The grass dries up and dies,
and the flower falls to the ground.
25But the word of the Lord lasts forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8
And that word is the Good News that was told to you.
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