1 Peter 1:13–2:3

A Call to Holy Living

¹³So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant. ¹⁵Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy. ^16*The scripture says, “Be holy because I am holy.”

¹⁷You call him Father, when you pray to God, who judges all people by the same standard, according to what each one has done; so then, spend the rest of your lives here on earth in reverence for him. ¹⁸For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold; ¹⁹it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw. ²⁰He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake. ²¹Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.

²²Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for your fellow-believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.^{b 23}For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal. ^24*As the scripture says:

“All human beings are like grass,

and all their glory is like wild flowers.

The grass withers, and the flowers fall,

^25*but the word of the Lord remains for ever.”

This word is the Good News that was proclaimed to you.

The Living Stone and the Holy Nation

2Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language. ²Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved. ^3*As the scripture says, “You have found out for yourselves how kind the Lord is.”