The Daily Audio Bible
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Living in a pagan world
11 My beloved ones, I beg you—strangers and resident aliens as you are—to hold back from the fleshly desires that wage war against your true lives. 12 Keep up good conduct among the pagans, so that when they speak against you as evildoers they will observe your good deeds and praise God on the day of his royal arrival.
13 Be subject to every human institution, for the sake of the Lord: whether to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish evildoers and praise those who do good. 15 This, you see, is God’s will. He wants you to behave well and so to silence foolish and ignorant people. 16 Live as free people (though don’t use your freedom as a veil to hide evil!), but as slaves of God. 17 Do honor to all people; love the family; reverence God; honor the emperor.
Suffering as the Messiah did
18 Let slaves obey their masters with all respect, not only the good and kind ones but also the unkind ones. 19 It is to your credit, you see, if because of a godly conscience you put up with unjust and painful suffering. 20 After all, what credit is it if you do something wrong, are beaten for it, and take it patiently? But if you do what is right, suffer for it, and bear it patiently, this is to your credit before God.
21 This, after all, is what came with the terms of your call, because
the Messiah, too, suffered on your behalf,
leaving behind a pattern for you
so that you should follow the way he walked.
22 He committed no sin,
nor was there any deceit in his mouth.
23 When he was insulted, he didn’t insult in return,
when he suffered, he didn’t threaten,
but he gave himself up to the one who judges justly.
24 He himself bore our sins
in his body on the cross,
so that we might be free from sins
and live for righteousness.
It is by his wound that you are healed.
25 For you were going astray like sheep,
but now you have returned to the shepherd
and guardian of your true lives.
Marriage and its challenges
3 In the same way, let me say a word to the women. You should be subject to your husbands, so that if there should be some who disobey the word, they may be won, without a word, through the behavior of their wives, 2 as they notice you conducting yourselves with reverence and purity. 3 The beauty you should strive for ought not to be the external sort—elaborate hairdressing, gold trinkets, fine clothes! 4 Rather, true beauty is the secret beauty of the heart, of a sincere, gentle and quiet spirit. That is very precious to God. 5 That is how the holy women of old, who hoped in God, used to make themselves beautiful in submission to their husbands. 6 Take Sarah, for instance, who obeyed Abraham and called him “Master.” You are her children if you do good and have no fear of intimidation.
7 You men, in the same way, think out how to live with your wives. Yes, they are physically weaker than you, but they deserve full respect. They are heirs of the grace of life, just the same as you. That way nothing will obstruct your prayers.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.