Twentieth Century New Testament - 43 - I Peter

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The First Letter of Peter from the twentieth century New Testament.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by J. A. Carter www
dot authentic light dot org. The twentieth Century New Testament

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by a company of about twenty scholars. The First Letter
of Peter Introduction and Chapters one through five Introduction a
letter to the Christians of Asia Minor, known as the
First Letter of Saint Peter, written probably between sixty five
and sixty eight a d. This letter was written evidently

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at a time when the Christians throughout Asia Minor were
suffering from calumny and threatened with persecution. Such hints of
their sufferings as we get from the letter Chapter two,
verse twelve, Chapter three, verse sixteen, Chapter four, verses four
and five, fourteen, and Chapter one verses six and seven,
Chapter three, verses fourteen through seventeen, and Chapter four verses
twelve through nineteen, fit in well with the accounts derived

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from other sources of the persecution of Christians that broke
out under the Emperor Nero in sixty four a d
and spread to Roman Asia. The object of a letter
is to give encouragement in the face of impending persecution
and to convey the advice needed as to the conduct
of Christians at an important crisis in the early history
of the Church. Those to whom it is addressed probably

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included Christians of Gentile as well as of Jewish birth.
Chapter one, verse twenty one, Chapter two, verse ten, and
chapter three, verse six. Chapter one to the people of
God who are living abroad, dispersed throughout Pontus, Galicia, Cappadocia,
Roman Asia and Bithynia, and who were chosen in accordance

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with the fore knowledge of God the Father, through the
consecration of the Spirit, to learn obedience and to be
purified by the sprinkling of the bloslood of Jesus Christ
from Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ. May blessing and
peace be yours in ever increasing measure. Blessed is the
God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has,

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in his great mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, given us the new life of undying
hope that promises an inheritance imperishable, stainless, unfading, which has
been reserved for you in heaven, for you who through
faith are being guarded by the power of God, awaiting
a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the

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last days. At the thought of this, you are full
of exultation, though, if it has been necessary, you have
suffered for the moment somewhat from various trials, that the
genuineness of your faith, a thing far more precious than gold,
which is perishable yet has to be tested by fire,
may win praise and glory and honor at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. Though you have never seen him, yet

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you love him. Though you do not even now see him,
Yet you believe in Him, and exalt with a triumphant
happiness too great for words, as you receive the reward
of your faith in the salvation of your souls. It
was this salvation that the prophets, who spoke long ago
of the blessing intended for you, sought and strove to comprehend,
as they strove to discern what that time could be,

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to which the Spirit of Christ within them was pointing
when foretelling the sufferings that would befall Christ and the
glories that would follow. And it was revealed to them
that it was not for themselves but for you, that
they were acting as ministers of the truths which have
now been told to you by those who, with the
help of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, have brought
you the good news, truths into which even angels long

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to look. Therefore, concentrate your minds with the strictest self control,
and fix your hopes on the blessing that is coming
for you at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Be like
obedient children. Do not let your lives be shaved by
the passions which once swayed you in the days of
your ignorance, But in your whole life, show yourselves to
be holy after the pattern of the Holy One from

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whom you received your call. For Scripture says you shall
be holy because I am holy, and since you call
upon him as Father, who judges every one impartially by
what he has done. Let reverence be the spirit of
your lives during the time of your stay upon earth.
For you know that it was not by perishable things

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such as silver and gold that you were ransom from
the aimless way of living which was handed down to
you from your ancestors, but by the precious blood, as
it were, of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood
of Christ destined for this before the beginning of the world.
He has been revealed in these last days for your sakes,

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who through him are faithful to God who raised him
from the dead and gave him honor. So that your
faith and hope are now in God. Now that by
your obedience to the truth, you have purified your lives,
so that there is growth going up among you, a
genuinely brotherly affection. Love one another earnestly with all your hearts,

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since your new life has come not from perishable but
imperishable seed, through the message of the ever living God.
For all earthly life is but grass and all its
splendor As the flower of grass, the grass fades, its
flower falls, But the teaching of the Lord remains forever,
and that is the teaching of the good News which

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has been told to you. Chapter two. Now that you
have done with all malice, all deceitfulness, insincerity, jealous feelings,
and all backbiting, like newly born infants, crave pure spiritual milk,
so that you may be enabled by it to grow
till you attain salvation. Since you have found by experience
that the Lord is kind, come to him. Then, as

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to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but in
God's eyes choice and precious, and as living stones, form
yourselves into a spiritual house, us to be a consecrated
priesthood for the offering of spiritual sacrifices that will be
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For there is a
passage of scripture that runs see I am placing in

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Zion a choice and precious corner stone. And he who
believes in him shall have no cause for shame. It
is to you, then, who believe in Him, that he
is precious. But to those who do not believe he
is a stone, which, though rejected by the builders, has
now itself become the corner stone, and a stumbling block,
and a rock which shall prove a hindrance. They stumble

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because they do not accept the message. This was the
fate destined for them. But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, God's own people, entrusted
with the proclamation of the goodness of Him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you
were not a people, but now you are God's people.

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Once you had not found mercy, but now you have
found mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as pilgrims and
strangers upon earth, to refrain from indulging the cravings of
your earthly nature, for they make war upon the soul.
Let your daily life among the gentiles be so upright
that whenever they malign you as evil doers, they may

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learn as they watch from the uprightness of your conduct
to praise God at the time when he shall visit them.
Submit to all human institutions for the Lord's sake, alike,
to the Emperor as the supreme authority, and to governors
as the men sent by Him to punish evil doers
and to commend those who do right for God's will.
Is this that you should silence the ignorance of foolish

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people by doing what is right. Act as free men,
yet not using your freedom as those do who make
it a cloak for wickedness, but as servants of God.
Show honor to everyone, love the brotherhood, Revere God, honor
the Emperor. Those of you who are domestic servants should
always be submissive and respectful to their masters, not only

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to those who are good and considerate, but also to
those who are arbitrary. For this wins God's approval. When,
because conscious of God's presence, a man who is suffering
unjustly bears his troubles patiently, what credit can you claim
when after doing wrong you take your punishment for it patiently.
But on the other hand, if after doing right you
take your sufferings patiently, that does win the approval of God.

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For it was to this that you were called for.
Christ too, suffered on your behalf and left you an
example that you should follow in his steps. He never sinned,
nor was anything deceitful ever heard from his lips. He
was abused, but he did not answer with abuse. He suffered,
but he did not threaten. He entrusted himself to him
whose judgments are just, and he himself carried our sins

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in his own body to the cross, so that we
might die to our sins and live for righteousness. His
bruising was your healing. Once you were straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian
of your souls. Chapter three. Again, you married women should
submit to your husbands, so that if any of them

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reject the message, they may, apart from the message, be
won over by the conduct of their wives as they
watch your submissive and blameless conduct. Yours should be not
the external adornment of the arrangement of the hair, the
wearing of jewelry, or the putting on of dresses, but
the inner life, with the imperishable beauty of a quiet
and gentle spirit. For this is very precious in God's sight.

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It was by this that the holy women of old,
who rested their hopes on God, adorned themselves, submitting to
their husbands as Sarah did, who obeyed Abraham and called
him master. And you are her true children. As long
as you live good lives and let nothing terrify you. Again,
those of you who are married men should live considerately

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with their wives, showing them due regard to their sex
as weaker than their own, and not forgetting that they
share with you in the gift of life. Then you
will be able to pray without hindrance. Lastly, you should
all be united, sympathetic, full of brotherly love, kind hearted,
humble minded, never returning evil for evil or abuse for abuse.

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But on the contrary blessing. It was for this that
you were called to obtain a blessing. He who would
enjoy life and see happy days, Let him keep his
tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful words. Let
him turn from evil and do good. Let him seek
for peace and follow it. For the eyes of the
Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive

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to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is
set against those who do wrong, who, indeed is there
to harm you. If you prove yourselves to be eager
for what is good, even if you should suffer for righteousness,
count yourselves blessed. Do not let men terrify you or
allow yourselves to be dismayed. Revere the Christ as Lord
in your hearts, always ready to give an answer to

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any one who asks your reason for the hope that
you cherish, but giving it humbly and in all reverence,
and keeping your consciences clear, so that whenever you are maligned,
those who vilify your good and Christian conduct may be
put to shame. It is better that you should suffer,
if that should be God's will, for doing right than
for doing wrong. For Christ himself died to atone for sins,

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once for all the good, on behalf of the bad,
that he might bring you to God, his body being
put to death, but his spirit entering upon new life.
And it was then that he went and preached to
the imprisoned spirits who once were disobedient at the time
when God patiently waited in the days of Noah, while
the ark was being prepared, in which some few lives

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eight in all, were saved by means of water and baptism,
which this foreshadowed now saves you, not the mere cleansing
of the body, but the search of a clear conscience
after God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has
gone into heaven. And is it God, God's right hand,
where angels and archangels and the powers of heaven now
yield submission to him. Chapter four. Since then Christ suffered

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in body, arm yourselves with the same resolve as he.
For he who has suffered in body has ceased to sin,
and so will live the rest of his earthly life,
guided not by human passions, but by the will of God. Surely,
in the past you have spent time enough living as
the gentile's delight to live, for your path has lain
among scenes of debauchery, licentiousness, drunkenness, revelry, hard drinking, and

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profane idolatry. And because you do not run to the
same extremes of profligacy as others, they are astonished and
malign you. But they will have to answer for their
conduct to Him who is ready to judge both the
living and the dead. For that is why the good
news was told to the dead. Also that after they
have been judged in the body as men are judged,

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they might live in the spirit as God lives. But
the end of all things is new. Therefore, exercise self
restraint and be calm, that you may be able to
pray above all things. Let your love for one another
be earnest, for love throws a veil over countless sins.
Never grudge hospitality to one another. Whatever the gift that

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each has received, use it in the service of others
as good stewards of the varied bounty of God. When
any one speaks, let him speak as one who is
delivering the oracles of God. When any one is endeavoring
to serve others, let him do so in reliance on
the strength which God supplies, So that in everything God
may be honored through Jesus Christ, to whom be ascribed

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all honor and might forever and ever. Amen, dear friends,
do not be astonished at the fiery trials that you
are passing through to test you, as though something strange
were happening to you. No, the more you share the
sufferings of the Christ, the more may you rejoice. That
when the time comes for the manifestation of His glory,

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you may rejoice and exalt. If you are reviled for
bearing the name of Christ, count yourselves blessed, because the
divine glory and the Spirit of God are resting upon you.
I need hardly say that no one among you must
suffer as a murderer or a thief, or a criminal,
or for interfering in matters which do not concern Christians.
But if a man suffers as a Christian, do not

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let him be ashamed of it. Let him bring honor
to God, even though he bears that name. For the
time has come for judgment to begin with the House
of God. And if it begins with us, what will
be the end of those who reject God's good news?
If a good man is saved only with difficulty, what
will become of the godless and the sinful. Therefore, I say,

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let those who suffer, because God wills it, so, commit
their lives into the hands of a faithful creator, and
persevere in doing right. Chapter five. As for the older
men among you who bear office in the church, I
their fellow officer and a witness of the sufferings of
the Christ, who shall also share in the glory that
is to be revealed. I urge you to be true

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shepherds of the flock of God. Among you, not because
you are compelled, but of your own free will, not
from a base love of gain, but with a ready spirit,
Not as lords of your charges, but as examples to
your flock. Then, when the chief shepherd appears, you will
win the crown of glory that never fades again. You
younger men should show deference to the older, and all

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of you should put on the badge of humility and
mutual service. For God is opposed to the proud, but
gives his help to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt
you in his good time, laying all your anxieties upon him,
For he makes you his care exercise self control. Be

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watchful your adversary. The devil, like a roaring lion, is
prowling about, eager to devour you. Stand firm against him,
strong in your faith, knowing as you do that the
very sufferings which you you are undergoing our being endured
to the full by your brotherhood throughout the world. God,
from whom all help comes, and who called you by

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your union with Christ, into his eternal glory, will, when
you have suffered for a little while, himself perfect establish
and strengthen you to Him be ascribed dominion forever. Amen.
I have been writing to you briefly by the hand
of Silas, our true hearted brother, for so I regard
him to urge upon you, and to bear my testimony

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that in what I have written is to be found
the true love of God. On that take your stand.
Your sister Church in Babylon sends you greeting, and so
does Mark, who is as a son to me. Greet
one another with the kiss of love. May God give
his peace to you all in your union with Christ.

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End of the First Letter of Peter