1 Peter 2

A Living Stone and a Holy People

¹So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.²Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,⁵you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.⁶For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

⁸and

“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Submission to Authority

¹³Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,¹⁴or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.¹⁵For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.¹⁶Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.¹⁷Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.¹⁹For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.²¹For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.²²He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.²⁵For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.