1 Peter 1:22–2:10

²²Now that your obedience to the truth has purified your souls, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart.^{n 23}You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever. ²⁴The Scripture says,

“All people are like the grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

The grass dies and the flowers fall,

²⁵but the word of the Lord will live forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Jesus Is the Living Stone

2So then, rid yourselves of all evil, all lying, hypocrisy, jealousy, and evil speech. ²As newborn babies want milk, you should want the pure and simple teaching. By it you can mature in your salvation, ³because you have already examined and seen how good the Lord is.

⁴Come to the Lord Jesus, the “stone” ⁿ that lives. The people of the world did not want this stone, but he was the stone God chose, and he was precious. ⁵You also are like living stones, so let yourselves be used to build a spiritual temple—to be holy priests who offer spiritual sacrifices to God. He will accept those sacrifices through Jesus Christ. ⁶The Scripture says:

“I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem.

Everything will be built on this important and precious rock.

Anyone who trusts in him

will never be disappointed.”

⁷This stone is worth much to you who believe. But to the people who do not believe,

“the stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.”

⁸Also, he is

“a stone that causes people to stumble,

a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they do not obey what God says, which is what God planned to happen to them.

⁹But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰At one time you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. In the past you had never received mercy, but now you have received God’s mercy.