Holman Christian Standard Bible (358 page)

Undeserved Suffering

13
 And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good? 
14
 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed.
Do not fear what they fear
 
or be disturbed,
15
 but honor the
•Messiah
 as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 
16
 However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame.
17
 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

19
 In that state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison 
20
 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few — that is, eight people — were saved through water.
21
 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
22
 Now that He has gone into heaven, He is at God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him. 

1 Peter

Following Christ

4
Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, equip yourselves also with the same resolve  — because the one who suffered in the flesh has finished with sin  —
2
 in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God's will. 
3
 For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the pagans choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
4
 So they are surprised that you don't plunge with them into the same flood of wild living — and they slander you.
5
 They will give an account to the One who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 
6
 For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm, they might live by God in the spiritual realm. 

End-Time Ethics

7
 Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer.
8
 Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since
love covers a multitude of sins.
9
 Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
10
 Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.
11
 If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God's words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever.
•Amen
.

Christian Suffering

12
 Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. 
13
 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the
•Messiah
, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.
14
 If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 
15
 None of you, however, should suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. 
16
 But if anyone suffers as a “Christian,” he should not be ashamed but should glorify God in having that name.
17
 For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

19
 So those who suffer according to God's will should, while doing what is good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.

1 Peter

About the Elders

5
Therefore, as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of the
•Messiah
and also a participant in the glory about to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you:
2
 Shepherd God's flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God's will; not for the money but eagerly;
3
 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
4
 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

5
 In the same way, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because

6
 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 
7
 casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. 

Conclusion

8
 Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
9
 Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

10
 Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. 
11
 The dominion belongs to Him forever. 
•Amen
.

12
 I have written you this brief letter through Silvanus(I know him to be a faithful brother) to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Take your stand in it!
13
 The church in Babylon, also chosen, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son.
14
 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. 

2 Peter

2 Peter

Greeting

1
Simeon Peter, a
•slave
and an apostle of Jesus Christ:

To those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

2
 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Growth in the Faith

3
 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
4
 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
5
 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,
6
 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness,
7
 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8
 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9
 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.
10
 Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.
11
 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

12
 Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you have.
13
 I consider it right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder,
14
 knowing that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has also shown me. 
15
 And I will also make every effort that you may be able to recall these things at any time after my departure. 

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word

16
 For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 
17
 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory:

18
 And we heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain. 
19
 So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20
 First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation,
21
 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 

2 Peter

The Judgment of False Teachers

2
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.
2
 Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. 
3
 They will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

4
 For if God didn't spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; 
5
 and if He didn't spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;
6
 and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to ruin, making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly;
7
 and if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral
8
 (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard ) —
9
 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 
10
 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. 

Bold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones;
11
 however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. 
12
 But these people, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed — speak blasphemies about things they don't understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed,
13
 suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions as they feast with you.
14
 They have eyes full of adultery and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! 
15
 They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness 
16
 but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's irrationality. 

17
 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. 
18
 For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.
19
 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are
•slaves
of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. 
20
 For if, having escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. 
21
 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. 
22
 It has happened to them according to the true proverb:
A dog returns to its own vomit,
and, “a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud.”

2 Peter

The Day of the Lord

3
Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to develop a genuine understanding with a reminder,
2
 so that you can remember the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.
3
 First, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, living according to their own desires,
4
 saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell
•asleep
, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”
5
 They willfully ignore this: Long ago the heavens and the earth were brought about from water and through water by the word of God. 
6
 Through these waters the world of that time perished when it was flooded. 
7
 But by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.