Wednesday, July 20, 2016
1st Peter 1 ~ Greetings, Praise to God for His Grace and Salvation (1:3-12), The Requirement of Holiness (1:13;2:3)
1 Peter 1 NLT
1 This letter is from Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as
foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
2 God the Father knew you and chose you
long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him
and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and
more grace and peace.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again,
because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great
expectation,
4 and we have a priceless
inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled,
beyond the reach of change and decay.
5 And through your faith, God is
protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to
be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful
joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your
faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though
your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains
strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor
on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have
never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice
with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 The reward for trusting him will be
the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was something even the
prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious
salvation prepared for you.
11 They wondered what time or situation
the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance
about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
12They were told that their messages were not
for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you
by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is
all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
13 So prepare your minds for action and
exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will
come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
14 So you must live as God’s obedient
children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own
desires. You didn’t know any better then.
15 But now you must be holy in
everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be
holy because I am holy.”
17And remember that the heavenly Father to
whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what
you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as
“temporary residents.”
18 For you know that God paid a ransom
to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was
not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.
19 It was the precious blood of Christ,
the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
20 God chose him as your ransom long
before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for
your sake.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust
in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ
from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when
you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as
brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 For you have been born again, but not
to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it
comes from the eternal, living word of God.
24 As the Scriptures say, “People are
like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and
the flower fades.
25 But the word of the
Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
1 Peter 2 NLT
1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be
done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.
2 Like newborn babies, you must crave
pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.
Cry out for this nourishment,
3 now that you have had a taste of the
Lord’s kindness.
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