1 Peter 2:13-4:11

Names of God Bible

Respect the Authority of Others

¹³ Place yourselves under the authority of human governments to please the Lord. Obey the emperor. He holds the highest position of authority. ¹⁴ Also obey governors. They are people the emperor has sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. ¹⁵ God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing what is right. ¹⁶ Live as free people, but don’t hide behind your freedom when you do evil. Instead, use your freedom to serve God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸ Slaves, place yourselves under the authority of your owners and show them complete respect. Obey not only those owners who are good and kind, but also those who are unfair. ¹⁹ God is pleased if a person is aware of him while enduring the pains of unjust suffering. ²⁰ What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing something wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing something good, God is pleased with you.

²¹ God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps. ²² Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. ²³ Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. ²⁴ Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you. ²⁵ You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop^[a] of your lives.

3 Wives, in a similar way, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority. Some husbands may not obey God’s word. Their wives could win these men for Christ by the way they live without saying anything. ² Their husbands would see how pure and reverent their lives are.

³ Wives must not let their beauty be something external. Beauty doesn’t come from hairstyles, gold jewelry, or clothes. ⁴ Rather, beauty is something internal that can’t be destroyed. Beauty expresses itself in a gentle and quiet attitude which God considers precious. ⁵ After all, this is how holy women who had confidence in God expressed their beauty in the past. They placed themselves under their husbands’ authority ⁶ as Sarah did. Sarah obeyed Abraham and spoke to him respectfully. You became Sarah’s daughters by not letting anything make you afraid to do good.

⁷ Husbands, in a similar way, live with your wives with understanding since they are weaker than you are. Honor your wives as those who share God’s life-giving kindness^[b] so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.

Dedicate Your Lives to Jesus

⁸ Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble. ⁹ Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you, or ridicule those who ridicule you. Instead, bless them, because you were called to inherit a blessing.

¹³ Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you suffer for doing what God approves, you are blessed. Don’t be afraid of those who want to harm you. Don’t get upset. ¹⁵ But dedicate your lives to Christ as Lord. Always be ready to defend your confidence in God when anyone asks you to explain it. However, make your defense with gentleness and respect. ¹⁶ Keep your conscience clear. Then those who treat the good Christian life you live with contempt will feel ashamed that they have ridiculed you. ¹⁷ After all, if it is God’s will, it’s better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong.

¹⁸ This is true because Christ suffered for our sins once. He was an innocent person, but he suffered for guilty people so that he could bring you to God. His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his spirit. ¹⁹ In it he also went to proclaim his victory to the spirits kept in prison. ²⁰ They are like those who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah when God waited patiently while Noah built the ship. In this ship a few people—eight in all—were saved by water. ²¹ Baptism, which is like that water, now saves you. Baptism doesn’t save by removing dirt from the body. Rather, baptism is a request to God for a clear conscience. It saves you through Yeshua Christ, who came back from death to life. ²² Christ has gone to heaven where he has the highest position that God gives. Angels, rulers, and powers have been placed under his authority.

4 Since Christ has suffered physically, take the same attitude that he had. (A person who has suffered physically no longer sins.) ² That way you won’t be guided by sinful human desires as you live the rest of your lives on earth. Instead, you will be guided by what God wants you to do. ³ You spent enough time in the past doing what unbelievers like to do. You were promiscuous, had sinful desires, got drunk, went to wild parties, and took part in the forbidden worship of false gods. ⁴ Unbelievers insult you now because they are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of wild living. ⁵ They will give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ After all, the Good News was told to people like that, although they are now dead. It was told to them so that they could be judged like humans in their earthly lives and live like God in their spiritual lives.

⁷ The end of everything is near. Therefore, practice self-control, and keep your minds clear so that you can pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other warmly, because love covers many sins. ⁹ Welcome each other as guests without complaining. ¹⁰ Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others. ¹¹ Whoever speaks must speak God’s words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength God supplies so that in every way God receives glory through Yeshua Christ. Glory and power belong to Yeshua Christ forever and ever! Amen.