Study Desk

Who was marked out by God before the making of the world, but was caused to be seen in these last times for you,

Who through him have faith in God who took him up again from the dead into glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

Because you have had a new birth, not from the seed of man, but from eternal seed, through the word of a living and unchanging God.

To whom you come, as to a living stone, not honoured by men, but of great and special value to God;

You, as living stones, are being made into a house of the spirit, a holy order of priests, making those offerings of the spirit which are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.

But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

Being of good behaviour among the Gentiles; so that though they say now that you are evil-doers, they may see your good works and give glory to God when he comes to be their judge.

As those who are free, not using your free position as a cover for wrongdoing, but living as the servants of God;

Have respect for all, loving the brothers, fearing God, honouring the king.

For it is a sign of grace if a man, desiring to do right in the eyes of God, undergoes pain as punishment for something which he has not done.

What credit is it if, when you have done evil, you take your punishment quietly? but if you are given punishment for doing right, and take it quietly, this is pleasing to God.

When they see your holy behaviour in the fear of God.

But let them be those of the unseen man of the heart, the ever-shining ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the eyes of God.

And these were the ornaments of the holy women of the past, whose hope was in God, being ruled by their husbands:

Not giving back evil for evil, or curse for curse, but in place of cursing, blessing; because this is the purpose of God for you that you may have a heritage of blessing.

Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;

Who, in the days of Noah, went against God's orders; but God in his mercy kept back the punishment, while Noah got ready the ark, in which a small number, that is to say eight persons, got salvation through water:

And baptism, of which this is an image, now gives you salvation, not by washing clean the flesh, but by making you free from the sense of sin before God, through the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead;