You must continue talking and acting like people who are to be judged by the law that treats them as free.

My brothers, what good is there in a man's saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it?

and one of you says to him, "Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have aplenty," without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do?

Do you believe in one God? Very well; the demons, too, believe that, and shudder.

But, O senseless man, are you willing to learn that faith without good deeds is worthless?

You see that faith cooperated with his good deeds, and by his good deeds faith was made complete;

You see that a man is shown to be upright by his good deeds, and not merely by his faith.

Many of you, my brothers, should avoid becoming teachers, because you know that we teachers are going to be judged with stricter judgment than other people.

Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him show by his noble living that his good deeds are done in humility, which wisdom prompts.

This is not the kind of wisdom that comes down from above; no, it is earthly, human, demoniacal.

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, free from doubts and insincerity.

You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God.

Or, do you think that the Scripture means nothing when it says, "He jealously yearns for the Spirit that He causes to dwell in your hearts"?

There is but one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who has the power to save and to destroy; then who are you that you presume to judge your brother?

Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord is willing, we shall live and do this or that."

Come now, you rich people, weep aloud and howl over the miseries that are sure to overtake you.

See, the wages that you have kept back from the laborers who reaped your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

and the prayer that is offered in faith will save the sick man; the Lord will raise him to health, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So practice confessing your sins to one another, and praying for one another, that you may be cured. An upright man's prayer, when it keeps at work, is very powerful.

you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man's soul from death, and cover up a multitude of sins.

yes, to an inheritance that is imperishable, unsullied, and unfading, which is kept in heaven for you

who are always guarded by the power of God through faith, in order that you may receive that final salvation which will be ready to be uncovered for you at the last time.

so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even after it is shown by the test of fire to be genuine, may result in your praise and glory and honor at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.

earnestly trying to find out the time, and the nature of the times, which the Spirit of the Christ within them pointed to, in foretelling the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that should follow them.

It was made known to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in their searching for these things that have already been told to you by those who through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news. The angels long to take a peep into these things.

because you know that you have not been ransomed with things that perish as silver or gold, from the futile way of living taught by your fathers,

but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without a blemish or a blot,

who through Him trust in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope may rest in God.

because you have been born anew, not from a germ that perishes but from one that does not perish, by the word of the living and everlasting God.

But the word of the Lord lives on forever"; that is, the message of the good news which has been brought to you.

and like new-born babies thirst for pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to final salvation,

since you have learned by experience that the Lord is kind.

and keep on building yourselves up, as living stones, into a spiritual house for a consecrated priesthood, to offer up, through Jesus Christ, spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God.

So to you who put your trust in Him the honor belongs, but to those who fail to trust Him: "That stone which then the builders threw away Has now become the cornerstone,"

Keep on living upright lives among the heathen, so that, when they slander you as evildoers, by what they see of your good deeds they may come to praise God on the judgment day.

For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Indeed, it was to this kind of living that you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow His footsteps.

He bore our sins in His own body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to uprightness. By His wounds you have been healed,

You married women, in the same way, must be submissive to your husbands, so that, if any of them do not believe the message, they may be won over without a word through the living of the wives,

You married men, in the same way, must live with your wives in an intelligent consideration of them; you must show them deference, too, as the weaker sex, as they share with you the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

never returning evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but blessing instead, because it was for this that you were called, to obtain the blessing of heirs.

Because the eyes of the Lord are on upright men, and His ears listen to their pleading cries, but His face is against them that do wrong."

And who is it that will harm you if you are enthusiastic to do right?

and keep your conscience clear, so that those who bitterly abuse your excellent conduct as Christians may be ashamed of slandering you.

For it is better, if the will of God should plan it so, to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.

so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will.

For the time that is past is enough for you to have accomplished what the heathen like to do, leading lives that are steeped in sensuality, lustful desires, drunkenness, carousing, revelry, dissipation, and idolatry that leads to lawlessness,

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;

This is why the good news was preached to the dead too, that they may be judged in their physical nature as men are, but live in the Spirit as God does.

But the end of everything on earth is near. So be serious and sober minded, that you may give yourselves to prayer.

If anyone is preaching, let him do it as one who utters the oracles of God; if anyone is rendering any service to others, let him do it with all the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Dearly beloved, do not be astonished that a test by fire is coming upon you, as though something strange were happening to you,

but so far as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that at the uncovering of His glory you may rejoice triumphantly.

So, as a joint-elder with them, a witness of the suffering borne by Christ, and a sharer of the glory that is to be uncovered, I beg the elders among you,

be shepherds of the flock of God that is among you, not as though you had to but of your own free will, not from the motive of personal profit but freely,

and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown that never fades.

Therefore humbly submit to God's strong hand, so that at the proper time He may exalt you.

Resist him and be strong in faith, because you know that your brotherhood all over the world is experiencing the same sort of sufferings.

By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written you this short letter, to encourage you and to testify that this is the true, unmerited favor of God. Stand firm in it.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in union with Christ.

Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have obtained the same precious faith that we have:

because His divine power has given us everything that is needful for life and piety, through our full knowledge of Him who through His glory and excellence has called us to Him.

It is through these that He has given us His precious and glorious promises, so that through them, after you have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires, you may come to share in the divine nature.

For whoever lacks these qualities is blind -- or short-sighted-- and forgetful of the cleansing that he has received from his former sins.

for it is in this way that to you will be generously granted a triumphant admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, although you know them and are firmly grounded in the truth that you already have.

because I know that the removal of my bodily tent is to be very soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.

Yes, I will be in earnest, so that every time you have occasion, after I have gone away, you may call these things to mind.

For it was not mere stories of fancy that we followed when we told you of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty.

we heard this voice ourselves borne from heaven while we were with Him on that sacred mountain.

So we have the message of the prophets more certainly guaranteed. Please pay attention to this message as to a lamp that is shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

because you recognize this truth above all else, that no prophecy in Scripture is to be interpreted by one's own mind,

for as long as that upright man was living among them, his upright soul, day and night, was always being tortured by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions --

These men, like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct created to be caught and killed, abuse the things that they do not understand, and so by their corruption they will be destroyed, suffering wrong as punishment for their wrongdoing.

They have left the straight road and gone astray. They have followed the road that Balaam, the son of Beor, trod, who fell in love with the profits of wrongdoing

promising them freedom, though they are slaves of destruction themselves; for a man is the slave of anything that conquers him.

For if, after men have escaped the corrupting ways of the world through a full knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are conquered by them, then their last condition is worse than their former one.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of uprightness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command committed to their trust.

In them is verified the truth of the proverb, "A dog turns back to what he has vomited"; and of that other proverb, "A sow that has washed herself goes back to wallow in the mire."

This is the second letter, dearly beloved, that I have already written to you, in both of which I am trying by reminders to stir up your unsullied minds

First of all, you must understand this, that in the last days mockers will come with their mockeries, living in accordance with their evil passions,

For they willfully ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth that had been formed by God's command out of water and through water,

But you must avoid forgetting this one fact, dearly beloved, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a single day.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, the heavenly bodies will be destroyed by being burned up, and the earth with all its works will melt away.

and that life has been unveiled to us, and we have seen it and now testify to it and we now announce it to you, yea, the eternal life that was with the Father and has been unveiled to 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;

And this is the message that we have heard from Him and now announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him.

My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone ever sins, we have One who pleads our case with the Father, Jesus Christ, One who is righteous.

By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.

but whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. By this we can be sure that we are in union with Him:

Dearly beloved, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the message that you have heard.

Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Stop loving the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, there is no love for the Father in his heart,

because everything that is in the world, the things that our lower nature and eyes are longing for, and the proud pretensions of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world;

Little children, it is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is Coming, and already many Antichrists have appeared; so we may be sure that it is the last hour.

They have gone out from our own number, but they did not really belong to us; for if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to show that none of those who went out really belonged to us.

Who is the notorious liar, if it is not the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the real Antichrist, the man who disowns the Father and the Son.

And the very thing that He Himself has promised us is eternal life.

The anointing of the Spirit which you received still remains in your hearts, and so you have no need that anyone should teach you. But just as that anointing of His teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, and as it has taught you to do so, you must continue to live in union with Him.

And now, dear children, I repeat, you must continue to live in union with Him, so that if He is unveiled, we may have unshaken confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame when He comes.