1 Peter 1
Contemporary English Version
1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God's people who are scattered like foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
2 God the Father decided to choose you as his people, and his Spirit has made you holy. You have obeyed Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood.[a]
I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!
A Real Reason for Hope
3 Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. 4 (A) God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.
5 You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day.[b] Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do. 6 On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. 7 (B) Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.
8 You have never seen Jesus, and you don't see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him, and no words can tell how glad and happy 9 you are to be saved. This is why you have faith.
10 Some prophets told how God would treat you with undeserved grace, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. 11 The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor. So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. 12 But they were told that they were serving you and not themselves. They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.
Chosen To Live a Holy Life
13 Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how God will treat you with undeserved grace when Jesus Christ appears. 14 Behave like obedient children. Don't let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. 15 Always live as God's holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. 16 (C) That's why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”
17 You say that God is your Father, but God doesn't have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth. 18 You were rescued[c] from the useless way of life you learned from your ancestors. But you know you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever. 19 (D) You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. 20 Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days. 21 And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. This is why you have put your faith and hope in God.
22 You obeyed the truth,[d] and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. 23 Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever. 24 (E) The Scriptures say,
“Humans wither like grass,
and their glory fades
like wild flowers.
Grass dries up,
and flowers fall
to the ground.
25 But what the Lord has said
will stand forever.”
Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.
Footnotes
- 1.2 sprinkled with his blood: According to Exodus 24.3-8 the people of Israel were sprinkled with the blood of cows to show they would keep their agreement with God. Peter says that it is the blood of Jesus that seals the agreement between God and his people (see Hebrews 9.18-21).
- 1.5 the last day: When God will judge all people.
- 1.18 rescued: The Greek word often, though not always, means payment of a price to free a slave or prisoner.
- 1.22 You obeyed the truth: Some manuscripts add “by the power of the Spirit.”
1 Peter 1
International Children’s Bible
Encouragement for Suffering Christians
1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes. You are scattered all around Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God the Father planned long ago to choose you by making you his holy people. Making you holy is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey him and to be made clean by the blood of the death of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be yours more and more.
A Living Hope
3 Praise 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. He gave us a living hope because Jesus Christ rose from death. 4 Now we hope for the blessings God has for his children. These blessings are kept for you in heaven. They cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty. 5 God’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. 6 This makes you very happy. But now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. 7 These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold can be destroyed. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes again. 8 You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You cannot see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a joy that cannot be explained. And that joy is full of glory. 9 Your faith has a goal, to save your souls. And you are receiving that goal—your salvation.
10 The prophets searched carefully and tried to learn about this salvation. They spoke about the grace that was coming to you. 11 The Spirit of Christ was in the 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. They tried to learn when those things would happen and what the world would be like at that time. 12 It was shown to them that their service was not for themselves. It was for you. They were serving you when they told about the truths you have now heard. The men who preached the Good News to you told you those things. They did it with the help of the Holy Spirit that was sent from heaven. These are truths that even the angels want very much to know about.
A Call to Holy Living
13 So prepare your minds for service and have self-control. All your hope should be for the gift of grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ comes again. 14 In the past you did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted. But now you are children of God who obey. So do not live as you lived in the past. 15 But be holy in all that you do, just as God is holy. God is the One who called you. 16 It is written in the Scriptures: “You must be holy, because I am holy.”[a]
17 You pray to God and call him Father. And this Father judges each man’s work equally. So while you are here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way. You got that way of living from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, but not with something that ruins like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of the death of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made. But he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God raised Christ from death and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22 Now you have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers. So love each other deeply with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever. 24 The Scripture says,
“All people are like the grass.
And all their strength is like the flowers of the field.
The grass dies and the flowers fall.
25 But the word of the Lord will live forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8
And this is the word that was preached to you.
Footnotes
- 1:16 “You must be . . . holy.” Quotation from Leviticus 11:45; 19:2; 20:7.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
