God

For 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.”

Once 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.

Conduct 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.

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

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

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

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

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

How 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.

but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their husbands,

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,

For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.

And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?