Letters to the Churches

to you, then, who are believing is the preciousness; and to the unbelieving, a stone that the builders disapproved of, this one did become for the head of a corner,

and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence--who are stumbling at the word, being unbelieving, --to which also they were set;

and ye are a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light;

who were once not a people, and are now the people of God; who had not found kindness, and now have found kindness.

Beloved, I call upon you , as strangers and sojourners, to keep from the fleshly desires, that war against the soul,

having your behaviour among the nations right, that in that which they speak against you as evil-doers, of the good works having beheld, they may glorify God in a day of inspection.

Be subject, then, to every human creation, because of the Lord, whether to a king, as the highest,

whether to governors, as to those sent through him, for punishment, indeed, of evil-doers, and a praise of those doing good;

because, so is the will of God, doing good, to put to silence the ignorance of the foolish men;

as free, and not having the freedom as the cloak of the evil, but as servants of God;

to all give ye honour; the brotherhood love ye; God fear ye; the king honour ye.

The domestics! be subjecting yourselves in all fear to the masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the cross;

for this is gracious, if because of conscience toward God any one doth endure sorrows, suffering unrighteously;

for what renown is it , if sinning and being buffeted, ye do endure it ? but if, doing good and suffering for it , ye do endure, this is gracious with God,

for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,

who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth,

who being reviled--was not reviling again, suffering--was not threatening, and was committing himself to Him who is judging righteously,

who our sins himself did bear in his body, upon the tree, that to the sins having died, to the righteousness we may live; by whose stripes ye were healed,

for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

In like manner, the wives, be ye subject to your own husbands, that even if certain are disobedient to the word, through the conversation of the wives, without the word, they may be won,

having beheld your pure behaviour in fear,

whose adorning--let it not be that which is outward, of plaiting of hair, and of putting around of things of gold, or of putting on of garments,

but--the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible thing of the meek and quiet spirit, which is, before God, of great price,

for thus once also the holy women who did hope on God, were adorning themselves, being subject to their own husbands,

as Sarah was obedient to Abraham, calling him `sir,' of whom ye did become daughters, doing good, and not fearing any terror.