Friday, July 22, 2016
1st Peter ~ Duties of All (3:8-17), Christ's Example (3:18;4:6)
1 Peter 3 NLT
8 Finally, all of you should be of one
mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be
tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t
retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a
blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his
blessing.
10 For the Scriptures say, “If you want
to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and
your lips from telling lies.
11 Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
12 The eyes of the LORD watch over those
who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the LORD turns his
face against those who do evil.”
13 Now, who will want to harm you if you
are eager to do good?
14 But even if you suffer for doing what
is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their
threats.
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as
Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be
ready to explain it.
16 But do this in a gentle and
respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you,
they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong
to Christ.
17Remember, it is better to suffer for doing
good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
18 Christ suffered for our sins once for
all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to
God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
19 So he went and preached to the
spirits in prison—
20those who disobeyed God long ago when God
waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved
from drowning in that terrible flood.
21 And that water is a picture of
baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a
response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
22 Now Christ has gone
to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels
and authorities and powers accept his authority.
1 Peter 4 NLT
1 So then, since Christ suffered
physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be
ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have
finished with sin.
2 You won’t spend the rest of your
lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
3 You have had enough in the past of
the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their
feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
4 Of course, your former friends are
surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive
things they do. So they slander you.
5 But remember that they will have to
face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead.
6 That is why the Good News was
preached to those who are now dead —so although they were destined to die like
all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
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