Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

God has given us a new life because of Christ

1 This letter is from me, Peter. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to you, God's own people that he has chosen. You are now living in many different places, in the regions called Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.^[a] You are living in these foreign places as strangers. ² God, the Father, already decided that you should be his people. God's Spirit has made you special people who would obey Jesus Christ. God chose you so that Jesus Christ's blood would make you really clean.^[b]

I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more.

³ We praise God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is very kind to us, so that he has given us new life. This is possible because God raised Jesus Christ to new life after his death. Now, as we live, we are sure that we will receive good things from God. ⁴ We wait to receive all the good things that he has prepared for us. Nobody can ever destroy those things. Nothing can spoil them. They will never become old or less beautiful. God is keeping those things in heaven for you. ⁵ God is using his great power to keep you safe, because you trust him. He will continue to keep you safe until the last day, when Christ will return. Then you will know that God has saved you completely from sin and from death.

⁶ All this causes you to be very happy, even when you have troubles. For a short time now, different kinds of troubles may make you sad. ⁷ The purpose of these troubles is to show whether you really trust God. When you believe in Jesus, that is more valuable even than gold. People put gold into a hot fire to see if it is really good. And even gold will come to an end one day. But if you continue to trust God in your troubles, he will be very happy. On the day when Jesus Christ returns and appears to everyone, God will praise you. He will say that you have done well. That will be great!

⁸ You have never seen Jesus, but still you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe in him. As a result, you are very happy. There are no words to describe how happy you are. ⁹ You are happy now because God is saving you from sin. You believe in Jesus, and you know that God saves you because of that.^[c]

¹⁰ A long time ago, God's prophets spoke about this. They said that God would be very kind to you, his people. They studied carefully to learn how God would save people. ¹¹ They wanted to know when God's special Messiah would come and who he would be. Christ's Spirit showed those prophets that the Messiah would receive much trouble and pain. After that, God would show how great the Messiah is. ¹² God showed his prophets that his messages about these things were not really to help them. Instead, God sent his message to the prophets to help you. That message is the good news about Jesus Christ which you have now heard. God sent his Holy Spirit from heaven to help people to tell the good news to you. Even the angels would like to understand more about these things.

Christians should do what is good

¹³ So now, prepare your minds, so that you are ready to live in a good way. Think clearly about how God helps you. Always remember that God will be very kind to you when Jesus Christ comes again. ¹⁴ Obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew the true message about Christ, you very much wanted to do bad things. But now you should not agree to live in that bad way. ¹⁵ God has chosen you to be his own people. He is completely good. So you must be completely good too, in the way that you live. ¹⁶ In the Bible God says this: ‘You must be completely good, because I am completely good.’^[d]

¹⁷ God knows what each person has done, and he judges each one for those things. He is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. When you pray to God, you call him ‘Father’. So then, always respect him, while you live as strangers here in the world. ¹⁸ Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold. ¹⁹ Instead, he bought you with the very valuable blood of Christ, who died as a sacrifice for our sins.^[e] He died like a lamb that is completely good and has nothing wrong with it.^[f]

²⁰ Before the world began, God had already chosen Christ. But now, during these last days of the world, God has shown Christ to people. God did that so that he could help you. ²¹ Yes, it is because of Christ that you now believe in God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. He did that to show everyone that Christ is great. That is why you believe in God. You trust him that he will do good things for you.

²² You have obeyed God's true message. As a result, you have become clean inside, and now you can really love other believers. So continue to love each other very well, with honest thoughts. ²³ You now have a new life! It is not like a human life that quickly comes to an end. It is a new life that will never spoil. You received it because you believed God's message. That message continues for ever and it does not change. ²⁴ The Bible says:

²⁵ But the Lord God's message will continue for ever.’

That message is the good news about Jesus Christ, which people have taught you.

2 So you must refuse to do any evil things. Do not tell lies to deceive people. Do not be hypocrites. Do not be jealous of other people. Do not say bad things against other people. ² Instead, you should want to learn about God more and more. New babies always want their mothers' milk, which makes them grow strong. God's true message is like good food that will make you strong in your spirits. Then you will continue to grow as believers so that God saves you. ³ Do this, because you have already begun to know how kind the Lord is to you.

Jesus is like the most important stone in God's house

⁴ So come to the Lord Jesus. He is like a big stone that a builder uses to build a house. But he is alive. People decided that he was not important. So they refused him. But God had chosen him. To God, Jesus is very valuable. ⁵ You yourselves are also like stones that are alive. God is using you, like stones, to build a house where his Spirit lives. You will serve him like his special priests who offer sacrifices to him. God will be happy with the spiritual offerings that you give to him, because you belong to Jesus Christ.^[g]

⁶ In the Bible, God says this:

⁷ This stone is very valuable to you who believe in Jesus. But the Bible says this about people who do not believe in him:

⁸ The Bible also says this:

They fall down like that because they refuse to obey God's message. God already decided that this would happen to them.

⁹ But you are not like that. You are a special group of people that God has chosen. You serve God like priests who serve a King. You are his own holy people who belong to him. He has taken you out of the dark place of sin, and he has brought you into his great light. He has done all this so that you can tell people how great he is. ¹⁰ In past times, you were not people who knew God. But now you are God's people. In past times, God did not forgive you. But now he has been very kind to you and he has forgiven you.^[l]

¹¹ My friends, remember that you are really strangers in this world. You do not belong here. So I am telling you not to do the bad things that your bodies may want to do. Those bad things fight against what is good for your soul. ¹² You are living among people who do not know God. So be very careful that you always live in a good way. Sometimes these people may wrongly say that you do bad things. But if you continue to live in a good way, they will see that you really do good things. As a result, on the day when God comes as judge, they will give honour to him.

Obey people who have authority over you

¹³ Obey all people who have authority in this world. Obey them, because you are servants of the Lord Jesus. First of all, obey the king, who rules everyone. ¹⁴ Also obey the officers that serve the king. He has sent them to punish people who do bad things. And they praise people who do good things. ¹⁵ God wants you to do only what is good. Then silly people will not be able to say bad things against you. Those people do not really know what is true.

¹⁶ You are free people. But you are servants of God. So do not think, ‘Because I am free, I can do any bad thing that I want to do.’ ¹⁷ Respect all people. Love the believers as you would love your family. Obey God as your master. Respect the king.

¹⁸ You who are slaves must obey your masters. Always respect them. Do that to every kind of master. Obey those who are good and kind. But also obey masters who are not fair to you. ¹⁹ This makes God happy. Maybe your master will punish you when you have done nothing wrong. If you know that you are serving God, continue to be patient and brave. ²⁰ But if you do something wrong, then your master ought to punish you. That is only fair. Even if you are brave when he is cruel to you, nobody should praise you for that. But your master may punish you even when you have done good things. Then God will be happy if you are patient and brave. ²¹ When God chose you to be his servants, he wanted you to be brave like that. Christ had trouble and pain on your behalf. He has shown you how you should live when trouble comes. ²² The Bible says this:

²³ People insulted Christ, but he did not say any bad thing to answer them. People caused him to have trouble, but he never tried to hurt them in return. Instead, Christ trusted God to help him. He knew that God always judges people fairly. ²⁴ When Christ died on the cross, he carried our sins in his own body.^[m] He took this punishment so that sin would no longer rule over us. Instead, we can now do the right things that God wants us to do. Because people hurt Christ's body, you have now become well.^{[n] 25} Before, you were like sheep that were going the wrong way. But now you have turned round and come to Christ. He is your Shepherd, and he keeps you completely safe.

Wives and husbands

3 I need to speak to you wives. You should each respect the authority of your own husband. Even if your husband does not believe God's message about Jesus Christ, you should still respect him. If you do that, he may then turn to God and believe his message. You will not need to tell him what is true. He will see the good way that you live. ² He will see that you obey God and that you do things that are completely good.

³ Think about what makes you beautiful. The way that you prepare your hair does not really make you beautiful. Gold things or beautiful clothes do not make you beautiful. ⁴ Do not just think about your body, but think about what you are really like inside yourself. Be patient and do not become angry easily. Then you will always continue to be beautiful. If you are beautiful in your spirit, God likes that very much. ⁵ That was how holy women made themselves beautiful many years ago. They trusted God that he would help them. They respected the authority of their husbands. ⁶ Sarah was a woman like that. She obeyed her husband, Abraham. She called him, ‘My master’. So you wives also should do what is right. Do not let anything make you afraid. Then you will be like true daughters of Sarah.^[o]

⁷ You husbands must also respect your wives. Be kind to your wife and help her. Remember that she is not as strong as you are. Because God is very kind, she has received his gift of true life, as you have. So you should respect her. Then God will answer you when you pray to him.