the Spirit of messiah within them foretold all the suffering of messiah and his after-glory, and they pondered when or how this was to come;

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!

a stone over which men stumble and a rock of offence; they stumble over it in their disobedience to God's word. Such is their appointed doom.

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.

when they see how chaste and reverent you are.

It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves. They were submissive to their husbands.

In the same way you husbands must be considerate in living with your wives, since they are the weaker sex; you must honour them as heirs equally with yourselves of the grace of Life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

and it astonishes them that you will not plunge with them still into the same flood of profligacy. They abuse you,

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).

So let those who are suffering by the will of God trust their souls to him, their faithful Creator, as they continue to do right.