1 Peter
Chapter 2
Overview
Peter speaks to Christians who live as outsiders in the wider Roman world and may be treated with suspicion. The images move quickly—from a baby’s milk to building stones and wandering sheep—but the thread is practical: a new identity should produce a new way of living. The chapter moves from spiritual growth and a shared calling to conduct under government, household slavery, and unfair suffering. Through it all, Jesus is both the foundation and the path: rejected by people, honored by God, and faithful without striking back.
1So get rid of every kind of evil, every form of deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all insulting talk about others.
2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow toward salvation.
3Do this if you have indeed tasted how kind the Lord is.
4Come to Jesus, the living stone. People rejected him, but God chose him and considers him precious.
5You too are like living stones being built into a spiritual house—a temple made of people. You are becoming a community of priests set apart for God, offering spiritual sacrifices that God accepts through Jesus the Messiah.
6For Scripture says, “Look, I am placing in Zion—that is, Jerusalem—a chosen and precious cornerstone. Whoever trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
7So this honor belongs to you who believe. But for those who do not believe, Scripture says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone.”
8It also calls him “a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message. Their stumbling is also the outcome appointed for them.
9But you are a chosen people, a royal community of priests, a nation set apart for God, and a people who belong especially to him. He made you this way so that you may tell others how wonderful he is—the one 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 God has shown you mercy.
11Dear friends, you are temporary residents and foreigners in this world. I urge you to stay away from the wrong desires of human nature, which wage war against your very lives.
12Live honorable lives among the people around you who do not share your faith. Then, although they accuse you of doing evil, they may see your good actions and honor God on the day he comes to set things right.
13For the sake of the Lord Jesus, submit to every human authority—whether to the emperor as the highest authority,
14or to governors as officials sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.
15God’s will is that by doing good you silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
16Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover for evil. Live as slaves who belong to God.
17Treat everyone with honor. Love the whole community of believers. Revere God. Honor the emperor.
18Household slaves, submit to your masters with full respect—not only to those who are good and reasonable, but also to those who are cruel and unfair.
19God looks with favor on a person who endures the pain of unjust suffering because awareness of God guides that person’s conscience.
20What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing good, God looks with favor on that.
21God called you to this kind of life because the Messiah also suffered for you. He left you an example so that you would follow in his footsteps.
22He never sinned, and no deceit was ever found in his words.
23When people insulted him, he did not insult them in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to God, who judges fairly.
24He carried our sins in his own body onto the wooden cross, so that we might leave our sins behind and live for what is right. By the wound he suffered, you were healed.
25You were wandering like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your lives.