Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, 1 Peter

Part 1

Produced by Martin Ward

Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, 1 Peter

Third Edition 1913

R. F. Weymouth

Book 60 1 Peter

001:001 Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ: To God's own people scattered over the earth, who are living as foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Roman Asia, and Bithynia,

001:002 chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, with a view to their obedience and to their being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May more and more grace and peace be granted to you.

001:003 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has begotten us anew to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

001:004 to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which has been reserved in Heaven for you,

001:005 whom God in His power is guarding through faith for a salvation that even now stands ready for unveiling at the End of the Age.

001:006 Rejoice triumphantly in the prospect of this, even if now, for a short time, you are compelled to sorrow amid various trials.

001:007 The sorrow comes in order that the testing of your faith-- being more precious than that of gold, which perishes and yet is proved by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.

001:008 Him you love, though your eyes have never looked on Him. In Him, though at present you cannot see Him, you nevertheless trust, and triumph with a joy which is unspeakable and is crowned with glory,

001:009 while you are securing as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

001:010 There were Prophets who earnestly inquired about that salvation, and closely searched into it--even those who spoke beforehand of the grace which was to come to you.

001:011 They were eager to know the time which the Spirit of Christ within them kept indicating, or the characteristics of that time, when they solemnly made known beforehand the sufferings that were to come upon Christ and the glories which would follow.

001:012 To them it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you, when they foretold the very things which have now been openly declared to you by those who, having been taught by the Holy Spirit which had been sent from Heaven, brought you the Good News. Angels long to stoop and look into these things.

001:013 Therefore gird up your minds and fix your hopes calmly and unfalteringly upon the boon that is soon to be yours, at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.

001:014 And, since you delight in obedience, do not shape your lives by the cravings which used to dominate you in the time of your ignorance,

001:015 but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you-- you also must be holy in all your habits of life.

001:016 Because it stands written, "You are to be holy, because I am holy."

001:017 And if you address as your Father Him who judges impartially in accordance with each man's actions, then spend in fear the time of your stay here on earth,

001:018 knowing, as you do, that it was not with a ransom of perishable wealth, such as silver or gold, that you were set free from your frivolous habits of life which had been handed down to you from your forefathers,

001:019 but with the precious blood of Christ--as of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

001:020 He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him,

001:021 are faithful to God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are resting upon God.

001:022 Now that, through your obedience to the truth, you have purified your souls for cherishing sincere brotherly love, you must love another heartily and fervently.

001:023 For you have been begotten again by God's ever-living and enduring word from a germ not of perishable, but of imperishable life.

Part 2

001:024 "All mankind resemble the herbage, and all their beauty is like its flowers. The herbage dries up, and its flowers drop off;

001:025 But the word of the Lord remains for ever." And that means the Message which has been proclaimed among you in the Good News.

002:001 Rid yourselves therefore of all ill-will and all deceitfulness, of insincerity and envy, and of all evil speaking.

002:002 Thirst, like newly-born infants, for pure milk for the soul, that by it you may grow up to salvation;

002:003 if you have had any experience of the goodness of the Lord.

002:004 Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and held in honour.

002:005 And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

002:006 For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."

002:007 To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for unbelievers--"A Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone,"

002:008 and "a Stone for the foot to strike against, and a Rock to stumble over." Their foot strikes against it because they are disobedient to God's Message, and to this they were appointed.

002:009 But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

002:010 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not found mercy, but now you have.

002:011 Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the soul.

002:012 Live honourable lives among the Gentiles, in order that, although they now speak against you as evil-doers, they may yet witness your good conduct, and may glorify God on the day of reward and retribution.

002:013 Submit, for the Lord's sake, to every authority set up by man, whether it be to the Emperor as supreme ruler,

002:014 or to provincial Governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and the encouragement of those who do what is right.

002:015 For it is God's will that by doing what is right you should thus silence the ignorant talk of foolish persons.

002:016 Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.

002:017 Honour every one. Love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the Emperor.

002:018 Household servants, be submissive to your masters, and show them the utmost respect--not only if they are kind and thoughtful, but also if they are unreasonable.

002:019 For it is an acceptable thing with God, if, from a sense of duty to Him, a man patiently submits to wrong, when treated unjustly.

002:020 If you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what credit is there in your bearing it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you bear it patiently, this is an acceptable thing with God.

002:021 And it is to this you were called; because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps.

002:022 He never sinned, and no deceitful language was ever heard from His mouth.

002:023 When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.

002:024 The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His wounds yours have been healed.

002:025 For you were straying like lost sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls.

003:001 Married women, in the same way, be submissive to your husbands, so that even if some of them disbelieve the Message, they may, apart from the Message, be won over by the daily life of their wives, after watching your daily life--

Part 3

003:002 so full of reverence, and so blameless!

003:003 Your adornment ought not to be a merely outward thing--one of plaiting the hair, putting on jewelry, or wearing beautiful dresses.

003:004 Instead of that, it should be a new nature within-- the imperishable ornament of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is indeed precious in the sight of God.

Continue reading Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, 1 Peter free in the Wunder reader →