1 Well, as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, let this very conviction that he who has suffered in the flesh gets quit of sin,
2 nerve you to spend the rest of your time in the flesh for the will of God and no longer for human passions.
3 It is quite enough to have done as pagans choose to do, during the time gone by! You used to lead lives of sensuality, lust, carousing, revelry, dissipation and illicit idolatry,
4 and it astonishes them that you will not plunge with them still into the same flood of profligacy. They abuse you,
5 but they will have to answer for that to Him who is prepared to judge the living and the dead
6 (for this was why the gospel was preached to the dead as well, that while they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live as God lives in the spirit).
7 Now the end of all is near. Steady then, keep cool and pray!
8 Above all, be keen to love one another, for love hides a host of sins.
9 Be hospitable to each other, and do not grudge it.
10 You must serve one another, each with the talent he has received, as efficient stewards of God's varied grace.
11 If anyone preaches, he must preach as one who utters the words of God; if anyone renders some service, it must be as one who is supplied by God with power, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The glory and the dominion are his for ever and ever: Amen.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you, as though some foreign experience befell you.
13 You are sharing what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it, that you may also rejoice and exult when his glory is revealed.
14 If you are denounced for the sake of Christ, you are blessed; for then the Spirit of glory and power, the Spirit of God himself, is resting on you.
15 None of you must suffer as a murderer or a thief or a bad character or a revolutionary;
16 but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed, he must rather glorify God for that.
17 It is time for the Judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the fate of those who refuse obedience to God's gospel?