born to an unscathed, inviolate, unfading inheritance; it is kept in heaven for you,

You will rejoice then, though for the passing moment you may need to suffer various trials;

that is only to prove your faith is sterling (far more precious than gold which is perishable and yet is tested by fire), and it redounds to your praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

You never knew him, but you love him; for the moment you do not see him, but you believe in him, and you will thrill with an unspeakable and glorious joy

Even prophets have searched and inquired about that salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was meant for you;

to them it was revealed that they got this intelligence not for themselves but for you, regarding all that has now been disclosed to you by those who preached the gospel to you through the holy Spirit sent from heaven. The very angels long to get a glimpse of this!

Brace up your minds, then, keep cool, and put your hope for good and all in the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

as He who called you is holy, so you must be holy too in all your conduct ??16 for it is written, You shall be holy because I am holy.

He was predestined before the foundation of the world and has appeared at the end of the ages for your sake;

Now that your obedience to the Truth has purified your souls for a brotherly love that is sincere, love one another heartily and steadily.

for All flesh is like the grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass: the grass withers and the flower fades,

but the word of the Lord lasts for ever ??and that is the word of the gospel for you.

Like newly-born children, thirst for the pure, spiritual milk to make you grow up to salvation.

come and, like living stones yourselves, be built into a spiritual house, to form a consecrated priesthood for the offering of those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For thus it stands in the scripture: Here I lay a Stone in Sion, a choice, a precious cornerstone: he who believes in him will never be disappointed.

Now you believe, you hold him 'precious,' but as for the unbelieving ??the very stone the builders rejected is now the cornerstone,

Conduct yourselves properly before pagans; so that for all their slander of you as bad characters, they may come to glorify God when you are put upon your trial, by what they see of your good deeds.

Submit for the Lord's sake to any human authority; submit to the emperor as supreme,

and to governors as deputed by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and the encouragement of honest people ??15 for it is the will of God that by your honest lives you should silence the ignorant charges of foolish persons.

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with perfect respect, not simply to those who are kind and reasonable but to the surly as well ??19 for it is a merit when from a sense of God one bears the pain of unjust suffering.

Where is the credit in standing punishment for having done wrong? No, if you stand suffering for having done right, that is what God counts a merit.

It is your vocation; for when Christ suffered for you, he left you an example, and you must follow his footsteps.

he bore our sins in his own body on the gibbet, that we might break with sin and live for righteousness; and by his wounds you have been healed.

never paying back evil for evil, never reviling when you are reviled, but on the contrary blessing. For this is your vocation, to bless and to inherit blessing;

For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is set against wrongdoers.

Yet who will wrong you if you have a passion for goodness?

Even supposing you have to suffer for the sake of what is right, still you are blessed. Have no fear of their threats, do not let that trouble you,

but reverence Christ as Lord in your own hearts. Always be ready with a reply for anyone who calls you to account for the hope you cherish, but answer gently and with a sense of reverence;

see that you have a clean conscience, so that, for all their slander of you, these libellers of your good Christian behaviour may be ashamed.

For it is better to suffer for doing right (if that should be the will of God) than for doing wrong.

Christ himself died for sins, once for all, a just man for unjust men, that he might bring us near to God; in the flesh he was put to death but he came to life in the Spirit.

Baptism, the counterpart of that, saves you to-day (not the mere washing of dirt from the flesh but the prayer for a clean conscience before God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

who is at God's right hand ??for he went to heaven after angels, authorities, and powers celestial had been made subject to him.)

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,

nerve you to spend the rest of your time in the flesh for the will of God and no longer for human passions.

but they will have to answer for that to Him who is prepared to judge the living and the dead

(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).

Above all, be keen to love one another, for love hides a host of sins.

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.

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.

but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed, he must rather glorify God for that.

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?

Now I make this appeal to your presbyters (for I am a presbyter myself, I was a witness of what Christ suffered and I am to share the glory that will be revealed),

You younger men must also submit to the presbyters. Indeed you must all put on the apron of humility to serve one another, for the haughty God opposes, but to the humble he gives grace.

let all your anxieties fall upon him, for his interest is in you.

Keep cool, keep awake. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking out for someone to devour.

Once you have suffered for a little, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will repair and recruit and strengthen you.

The dominion is his for ever and ever: Amen.