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  2. Tue: Jeremiah 25-26
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Thursday · Week 37
The Epistles & Revelation

1 Peter 1-2

Week 37 · about 7 min
  1. Fri: Amos 1-3
  2. Sat: Psalms 143-150
  3. Sun: Numbers 18-20

Peter writes to scattered believers who are suffering for their faith.

Living Stones and Strangers

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)

Peter writes to Christians spread across the Roman world who are being mistreated. He reminds them they have “a lively hope by the resurrection” and an inheritance “that fadeth not away.” Trials test faith the way fire tests gold. He quotes Leviticus: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” He picks up Isaiah’s cornerstone and calls believers “lively stones” built into God’s house. He also calls them “strangers and pilgrims,” people who don’t quite belong here. When Christ suffered, he left “an example, that ye should follow his steps.” “When he was reviled, reviled not again.”

Reflect: How should knowing you’re a stranger and pilgrim change how you react to mistreatment?

I Peter 1

1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,

5who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials

7so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

9now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,

11trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

13Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.

15But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

17Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.

18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.

21Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

22Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

25but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

I Peter 2

1Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,

5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

7To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

8and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority,

14or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

15For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.

16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

17Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

18Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable.

19For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.

20How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

23When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB). The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain.