Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his wrong path will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

and to an inheritance kept in heaven for you that can't be destroyed, corrupted, or changed.

Through faith you are being protected by God's power for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of this era.

so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.

Even the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, carefully researched and investigated this salvation.

They tried to find out what era or specific time the Spirit of the Messiah in them kept referring to when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who brought you the good news through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things that even the angels desire to look into.

As obedient children, do not be shaped by the desires that used to influence you when you were ignorant.

For you know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you have been ransomed from the worthless way of life handed down to you by your ancestors,

but with the precious blood of the Messiah, like that of a lamb without blemish or defect.

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

Now that you have obeyed the truth and have purified your souls to love your brothers sincerely, you must love one another intensely and with a pure heart.

For you have been born again, not by a seed that perishes but by one that cannot perish by the living and everlasting word of God.

but the word of the Lord lasts forever." Now this word is the good news that was announced to you.

Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation.

Surely you have tasted that the Lord is good!

you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah.

Therefore he is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

Continue to live such upright lives among the gentiles that, when they slander you as practicers of evil, they may see your good actions and glorify God when he visits them.

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

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the tree, so that we might die to those sins and live righteously. "By his wounds you have been healed."

You were "like sheep that kept going astray," but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

In a similar way, you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands so that, even if some of them refuse to obey the word, they may be won over without a word through your conduct as wives

In a similar way, you husbands must live with your wives in an understanding manner, as with a most delicate partner. Honor them as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing may interfere with your prayers.

But do this gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in the Messiah will be ashamed of slandering you.

For the Messiah also suffered for sins once for all, an innocent person for the guilty, so that he could bring you to God. He was put to death in a mortal body but was brought to life by the Spirit,

who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water.

Baptism, which is symbolized by that water, now saves you also, not by removing dirt from the body, but by asking God for a clear conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah,

so that he can live the rest of his mortal life guided, not by human desires, but by the will of God.

They insult you now because they are surprised that you are no longer joining them in the same excesses of wild living.

Indeed, this is why the gospel was proclaimed even to those who have died, so that they could be judged in their mortal flesh like all humans and live in the spiritual realm like God.

Whoever speaks must speak God's words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength that God supplies, so that in every way God may be glorified through Jesus, the Messiah. Glory and power belong to him forever and ever! Amen.

Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were 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.

But if you suffer for being a Christian, do not feel ashamed, but glorify God with that name.

Be shepherds of God's flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires.

Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the victor's crown of glory that will never fade away.

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.

Resist him and be firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is to be the true grace of God in which you are to stand firm!

From: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah. To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.

Therefore, I intend to keep on reminding you about these things, even though you already know them and are firmly established in the truth that you now have.

because I know that the removal of my bodily tent will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, has shown me.

And I will make every effort to see that you will always remember these things after I am gone.

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

Therefore we regard the message of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp that is shining in a gloomy place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

for as long as that righteous man lived among them, day after day he was being tortured in his righteous soul by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions

These people, like irrational animals, are mere creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. They insult what they don't understand, and like animals they, too, will be destroyed,

But he was rebuked for his offense. A donkey that normally cannot talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's insanity.

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them.

The proverb is true that describes what has happened to them: "A dog returns to its vomit," and "A pig that is washed goes back to wallow in the mud."

But they deliberately ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth was formed by God's word out of water and with water,

by which the world at that time was deluged with water and destroyed.

Now by that same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire and are being kept for the day when ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.

Instead, continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah. Glory belongs to him both now and on that eternal day! Amen.

This life was revealed to us, and we have seen it and testify about it. We declare to you this eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be full.

This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness none at all!

If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and we're not being truthful to ourselves.

If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word has no place in us.

My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus, the Messiah, one who is righteous.

This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

The person who says, "I have come to know him," but does not continually keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth has no place in that person.

But whoever continually keeps his commandments is the kind of person in whom God's love has truly been perfected. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

The one who says that he abides in him must live the same way he himself lived.

Dear friends, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

On the other hand, I am writing to you a new commandment that is truly in him and in you. For the darkness is fading away, and the true light is already shining.

The person who says that he is in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father's love is not in him.

For everything that is in the world the desire for fleshly gratification, the desire for possessions, and worldly arrogance is not from the Father but is from the world.

Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

Who is a liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? The person who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist.

The message that the Son himself declared to us is eternal life.

Since you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God.

See what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God's children and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

You know that the Messiah was revealed to take away sins, and there is not any sin in him.

The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy what the Devil has been doing.

This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. The person who does not love remains spiritually dead.

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life present in him.

This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves strong in his presence.

The person who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.

This is how you can recognize God's Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus the Messiah has become human and remains so is from God.

But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world.

These people belong to the world. That is why they speak from the world's perspective, and the world listens to them.

This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.

We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God.

We have come to know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.