1 This letter is from me, Peter. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you, God's own people who are living in many different places. You live in the regions called Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. You are living there as strangers because you are away from your true home. God has chosen you to be his people. [1]
2 A long, long time ago, God, the Father, had already decided that you should be his people. By his Spirit, God has made you his own, separate people so that you would obey Jesus Christ. He made you his people so that Jesus Christ's blood could make you really clean inside yourselves. I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more.
3 We should thank God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! We should say how very great he is! God is so very kind that he has caused us to be born again. He has given us a new life. This is possible because God raised Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus so that he became alive again after his death. And because of this new life, we continue to hope certainly for good things. We are sure that we will live with God always.
4 Also, we wait to receive all the good things that God has prepared for his children. Nobody can ever destroy those things. They will never become dirty. They will never become old or less beautiful. God is keeping those good things in heaven for you.
5 God is powerful and he is keeping you safe. He is keeping you safe because you believe him. He will keep you safe until the last day, when Christ will return. Then everyone will see that God has prepared to save you completely.
6 These things which God has done make you very happy. But now, for a short time, different kinds of troubles and difficulties may make you sad.
7 The purpose of these troubles is to show certainly whether you really believe God. It is very, very important that you continue to believe him. People put gold into a fire to make it completely clean. The fire burns everything that is not gold. So the fire shows certainly what is gold. But gold belongs only to this world, so it will come to an end. When you believe God, that is worth much more even than gold. If you continue to believe God, he will be very happy because of you. As a result, he will say very good things about you on the day when Jesus Christ comes again. And you will show everyone how very great God is.
8 You have never seen Jesus, but still you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe him. And so, you are very, very happy. There are no words to describe how happy you are.
9 You are happy now because you are sure. You are believing God. And God will give to you that which you hope for. He will save you from all the troubles and pain that you have now. You are sure about that.
10 Many years ago, God's prophets spoke about this. They spoke about how God would be very kind to you. They wanted to know about how God would save people. They studied carefully. And they asked many questions because they wanted to understand about it.
11 Christ's Spirit was in those prophets and he was showing them about future events. The Spirit was showing them that Christ must have much trouble and pain. Then, after that trouble, great and good things would happen to him. The prophets were trying to discover when and how all these things would happen.
12 God showed his prophets that his messages about these things were not for themselves, but for you. Now you know the good news about Jesus Christ. God's Spirit, that he has sent from heaven, has helped people to tell the good news to you. Even the angels want very much to understand about these things.
13 So, because of everything that God has done on your behalf, you must be ready to obey him. Prepare your mind, so that you are ready to obey. Think seriously and clearly. Always hope completely for the good things that you will receive from God when Jesus Christ comes again.
14 Always obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew Christ, you wanted to do bad things. Do not let yourselves do those bad things any more. Do not let them rule you.
15 God, who has chosen you to be his people, is completely good. So, whatever things you do, you must be completely good also.
16 The Bible says: ‘Be completely good, because I, God, am completely good.’ [2]
17 When you pray to God, you call him Father. God decides about every person because of what that person has done. God decides what should happen to every person. And God is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. So always obey God, your Father, while you live as strangers here on earth. Always remember how great and powerful God is.
18 Your parents and the people who lived before you taught you to do certain things. Those things were worth nothing to God. But now God has saved you from doing things like that. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things like silver or gold. These valuable things will come to an end.
19 Instead, he bought you with Christ's own blood, which is worth very, very much to God. Christ was like a lamb that had nothing wrong with it. [3] [4]
20 Before God made the world, he had chosen Christ already. God had decided already that Christ would save us. But now, during these last days, God has shown Christ to the world so that he could help you.
21 It is because of Christ that you believe God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Then, God showed how very great and powerful Christ is. That is why you believe God. You are sure about him. He will do what he has promised. You are sure about that.
22 You have made yourselves clean in front of God because you have obeyed his true message. As a result, now you can really love other Christians, who are like brothers and sisters to you. So, continue to love each other very much. Love each other as much as you can.
23 God's message causes people to become alive. It will continue always and it will never change. You have been born again, into a new life, because of that message. It is not your human parents who caused you to be born into this new life. They must die. But it is God himself who has caused you to be born again. And he can never die.
24 The Bible says: ‘All people are like grass. Everything that is good or beautiful about people is only like the flowers in the fields. The grass becomes dry and it dies. Flowers fall off after a short time.
25 But the message that the Lord has spoken will continue always.’ That message is the good news, which people have taught you.