For it is a sign of grace if a man, desiring to do right in the eyes of God, undergoes pain as punishment for something which he has not done.

For to this have ye been called; for Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps:

who himself has borne our sins in his own body on the wood, in order that we, being made free from sins, may live unto righteousness: by whose stripe you are healed.

yours must be the inner beauty of character, the imperishable attraction of a quiet and gentle spirit, which has great value in the sight of God.

And you husbands, give thought to your way of life with your wives, giving honour to the woman who is the feebler vessel, but who has an equal part in the heritage of the grace of life; so that you may not be kept from prayer.

For it is said, Let the man who has a love of life, desiring to see good days, keep his tongue from evil and his lips from words of deceit:

for Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,

who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God [that is, the place of honor and authority], with [all] angels and authorities and powers made subservient to Him.

Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh, do ye also arm yourselves with the same mind; for he that has suffered in the flesh has done with sin,

For the time that has passed [was] sufficient {to do what the Gentiles desire to do}, having lived in licentiousness, [evil] desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries,

For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be sound-minded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer [staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him.]

each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the various grace of God.

If anyone has anything to say, let it be as the words of God; if anyone has the desire to be the servant of others, let him do it in the strength which is given by God; so that in all things God may have the glory through Jesus Christ, whose are the glory and the power for ever.

Beloved, take not as strange the fire of persecution which has taken place amongst you for your trial, as if a strange thing was happening to you;

You should rejoice that you are sharing some of what Christ has suffered, so that you will get to rejoice all the more when He returns in His splendor.

For it is the time [destined] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not respect or believe or obey 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?

But the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, when ye have suffered for a little while, himself shall make perfect, stablish, strengthen, ground:

She who is in Babylon, who has a part with you in the purpose of God, sends you her love; and so does my son Mark.

Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue,

through which he has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

for he with whom these things are not present is blind, short-sighted, and has forgotten the purging of his former sins.

For this reason, brethren, be all the more in earnest to make sure that God has called you and chosen you; for it is certain that so long as you practise these things, you will never stumble.

knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is speedily to take place, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has manifested to me;

for no prophecy has ever yet originated in man's will, but men who were led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them, and bringing on themselves swift destruction.

And in their greed they will exploit you with false arguments and twisted doctrine. Their sentence [of condemnation which God has decreed] from a time long ago is not idle [but is still in force], and their destruction and deepening misery is not asleep [but is on its way].

For if God spared not the angels who had sinned, but having cast them down to the deepest pit of gloom has delivered them to chains of darkness to be kept for judgment;

having eyes full of an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin; beguiling unestablished souls: having a heart which has been made fat with covetousness; children of the curse:

These [people] are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.

And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight.

For if, [after they] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these [things] [and] succumb to [them], the last [state] has become worse for them than the first.

For it was better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment which has been delivered unto them.

It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.

and, asking, "What has become of His promised Return? For from the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue as they have been ever since the creation of the world."

But, since God has promised it, we look forward to new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will prevail.

and account the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation; according as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him,

speaking of this as he has done in all his letters ??letters containing some knotty points, which ignorant and unsteady souls twist (as they do the rest of the scriptures) to their own destruction.

That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life

(and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us:)

We give you word of all we have seen and everything which has come to our ears, so that you may be united with us; and we are united with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ:

These, then, are the Tidings that we have heard from him and now tell you-- 'God is Light, and Darkness has no place at all in him.'

If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.

If we deny that we have sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message has no place in our hearts.

My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. Yet if any one has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just One.

he is the the victim that has expiated our sins: and not ours only, but likewise the sins of the whole world.

He who professes to know Him, and yet does not obey His commands, is a liar, and the truth has no place in his heart.

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:

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 that hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, fathers [those believers who are spiritually mature], because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men [those believers who are growing in spiritual maturity], because you have been victorious and have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children [those who are new believers, those spiritually immature], because you have come to know the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and vigorous, and the word of God remains [always] in you, and you have been victorious over the evil one [by accepting Jesus as Savior].

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.

Dear children, the last hour has come; and as you once heard that there was to be an anti-Christ, so even now many anti-Christs have appeared. By this we may know that the last hour has come.

I have not sent you this letter because you have no knowledge of what is true, but because you have knowledge, and because that which is false has nothing in common with that which is true.

Who is false but he who says that Jesus is not the Christ? He is the Antichrist who has no belief in the Father or the Son.

Whoever denies the Son has not the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.

And this is the promise which he has promised us, life eternal.

and yourselves, the unction which ye have received from him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you; but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.

See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God. For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

And ye know that he has been manifested that he might take away our sins; and in him sin is not.

Whoever abides in him, does not sin: whoever sins, has not seen him or known him.

He that practises sin is of the devil; for from the beginning the devil sins. To this end the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil.

Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.

In this way it is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the Evil One; anyone who does not do righteousness or who has no love for his brother, is not a child of God.

Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world has no love for you.

We are conscious that we have come out of death into life because of our love for the brothers. He who has no love is still in death.

Every one that hates his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives.

But whoever has the world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him?

When our heart says that we have done wrong; because God is greater than our heart, and has knowledge of all things.

And this is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, even as he has given us commandment.

And he that keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us.

By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source];

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world.

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

He that loves not has not known God; for God is love.

Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time: if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit.

And we have seen, and testify, that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.

Everyone who says openly that Jesus is the Son of God, has God in him and is in God.

And we have known and have believed the love which God has to us. God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as he is, we also are in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has torment, and he that fears has not been made perfect in love.

We love because he has first loved us.

If any one say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

And this is the word which we have from him, that he who has love for God is to have the same love for his brother.

Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God; and every one that loves him that has begotten loves also him that is begotten of him.

For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith.

Who is able to overcome the world but the man who has faith that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has witnessed concerning his Son.