Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

so that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living for human appetites and desires, but [lives] for the will and purpose of God.

For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries:

They are astonished that you are not still rushing hand in hand with them into the same excesses of profligate living, and they abuse you for it;

but they will have to give account for it to Him who is ready to judge living and dead.

For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

But the end of all things has approached. Therefore be serious, and be sober for the prayers.

above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins:

Keep open house for all with a glad heart;

As each has received a gift, serving it for yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

if any man speaketh,'speaking as it were oracles of God; is any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Beloved, ye should not be surprised at the fieriness in you, which occurs for a trial to you, like a strange thing happening to you.

Instead, because you are participating in the sufferings of the Messiah, keep on rejoicing, so that you may be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.

If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye ; because the'spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.

For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters:

but if anyone suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed of it, but should keep on praising God for bearing this name.

For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what'shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

And if it is hard for even the good man to get salvation, what chance has the man without religion or the sinner?

For this reason let those who by the purpose of God undergo punishment, keep on in well-doing and put their souls into the safe hands of their Maker.

Now to you who are presbyters I make this appeal; for I am myself a presbyter, and was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory about to be revealed.

Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

and not as domineering over those in your charge but proving yourselves models for the flock to imitate;

And when the Supreme Shepherd [i.e., Jesus] comes back, you will receive [for your effort] a glorious crown [of reward] that will never fade away [Note: The idea of "fading away" is suggested by the laurel wreath bestowed on the winner of an athletic contest].

Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

For this cause make yourselves low under the strong hand of God, so that when the time comes you may be lifted up;

casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you.

Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

Resist him and be strong in the faith, for you know that your brotherhood all over the world is having the same experience of suffering.

And after you have undergone pain for a little time, the God of all grace who has given you a part in his eternal glory through Christ Jesus, will himself give you strength and support, and make you complete in every good thing;

To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!

For his power divine has granted to us everything needful for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue.

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;

For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.

Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:

for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For this reason I will be ready at all times to keep your memory of these things awake, though you have the knowledge of them now and are well based in your present faith.

But I consider [it] right, for as long as I am in this habitation, to stir you up by a reminder,

since I know that the time for me to strike tent comes swiftly on, even as our Lord Jesus Christ pointed out to me.

And also I will endeavor for you to always have, after my departure, the memory of these things to apply.

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased:

and we [actually] heard this voice made from heaven when we were together with Him on the holy mountain.

And so the words of the prophets are made more certain; and it is well for you to give attention to them as to a light shining in a dark place, till the dawn comes and the morning star is seen in your hearts;

For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

And they will exploit you in greed with fabricated words, whose judgment is not idle for long, and their destruction will not slumber.

For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

since he condemn'd the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha to an entire subversion, and reduc'd them to ashes, to make them serve for examples to future impiety:

And just Lot, being harassed by the licentiousness of the lawless for the turning back, he delivered:

(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds):

the Lord knows how to rescue the pious out of temptation, and to hold in reserve unrighteous men being cut off for a day of judgment.

and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;

But these men, like irrational beasts of nature, having been born for capture and destruction, speaking evil at which things they do not understand, will be destroyed in their corruption,

For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy;

They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, [they are] children of a curse.

Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;

but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.

These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.

For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.

For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

To remember the fore-spoken declarations made by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour, by your apostles.

Knowing this first, that in the last of the days shall mockers come for deceiving, going according to their own eager desires,

and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;

but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.

As for that day of the Lord, it will advance like a thief: then the heavens will rush with violence, the boiling elements will be dissolved, and the earth with all its contents, shall be burnt away.

Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness,

looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.

And be certain that the long waiting of the Lord is for salvation; even as our brother Paul has said in his letters to you, from the wisdom which was given to him;

For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen.

[I am writing about] what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life [the One who existed even before the beginning of the world, Christ]—

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

I repeat, it is what we have seen and heard that we now announce to you, so that you too may share this fellowship with us, for this fellowship that we have is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ;

If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action].

and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him:

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you: but an old commandment which ye had at the beginning. For an old commandment is the word which ye heard from the beginning.

Again, I give you a new law, which is true in him and in you; for the night is near its end and the true light is even now shining out.

He who says that he is in the light, and has hate in his heart for his brother, is still in the dark.

He who has love for his brother is in the light, and there is no cause of error in him.

But he who has hate for his brother is in the dark, walking in the dark with no knowledge of where he is going, unable to see because of the dark.

I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

I write to you, fathers, for ye have known him from the beginning. I write to you, young men, for ye have conquered the evil. I write to you, young children, for ye have known the Father.

I wrote to you, fathers, for ye have known him from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, for ye are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and ye have conquered the evil.

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out , that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.

As for you who have receiv'd the unction of the holy spirit, you know the whole affair.

Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father; but he who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you.