First Letter of Peter 1

¹ Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, sends greetings to all those living among foreigners in the Dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen,

² by the provident purpose of God the Father, to be made holy by the Spirit, obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. Grace and peace be with you more and more.

³ Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope

⁴ and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in the heavens.

⁵ Through your faith, God’s power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time.

⁶ This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials;

⁷ so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold – only it is more precious than gold, which is corruptible even though it bears testing by fire – and then you will have praise and glory and honour.

⁸ You did not see him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him, you are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described, because you believe;

⁹ and you are sure of the end to which your faith looks forward, that is, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ It was this salvation that the prophets were looking and searching so hard for; their prophecies were about the grace which was to come to you.

¹¹ The Spirit of Christ which was in them foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would come after them, and they tried to find out at what time and in what circumstances all this was to be expected.

¹² It was revealed to them that the news they brought of all the things which have now been announced to you, by those who preached to you the Good News through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, was for you and not for themselves. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

¹³ Free your minds, then, of encumbrances; control them, and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

¹⁴ Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth; make a habit of obedience:

¹⁵ be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you,

¹⁶ and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy.[*a]

¹⁷ If you are acknowledging as your Father one who has no favourites and judges everyone according to what he has done, you must be scrupulously careful as long as you are living away from your home.

¹⁸ Remember, the ransom that was paid to free you[*b] from the useless way of life your ancestors handed down was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold,

¹⁹ but in the precious blood of a lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ;

²⁰ who, though known since before the world was made, has been revealed only in our time, the end of the ages, for your sake.

²¹ Through him you now have faith in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory for that very reason – so that you would have faith and hope in God.

²² You have been obedient to the truth and purified your souls until you can love like brothers, in sincerity; let your love for each other be real and from the heart –

²³ your new birth was not from any mortal seed but from the everlasting word of the living and eternal God.

²⁴ All flesh is grass and its glory like the wild flower’s. The grass withers, the flower falls,

²⁵ but the word of the Lord remains for ever.[*c] What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you.