The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten.
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This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
2 God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!
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God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.
3 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for,
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All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,
4 including a future in heaven - and the future starts now!
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and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
5 God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all - life healed and whole.
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And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime.
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So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.
7 Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
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These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him - with laughter and singing.
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You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
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The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
10 The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing.
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This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.
11 The Messiah's Spirit let them in on some of it - that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when.
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They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
12 All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves - through the Holy Spirit - the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!
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They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
13 So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives.
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So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
14 Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now.
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So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.
15 As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.
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But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
16 God said, "I am holy; you be holy."
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For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
17 You call out to God for help and he helps - he's a good Father that way. But don't forget, he's also a responsible Father, and won't let you get by with sloppy living.
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And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”
18 It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.
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For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.
19 He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.
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It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
20 And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately - at the end of the ages - become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you.
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God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
21 It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
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Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it.
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You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself!
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For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
24 That's why the prophet said, The old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; Grass dries up, flowers droop,
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As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 God's Word goes on and on forever. This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
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But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.