Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Through him you now trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.

They will face a reckoning before Jesus Christ who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

Now it was for this very purpose that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh by human standards they may live spiritually by God's standards.