benwisdom

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,

Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.

Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:

who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake,

but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ;

knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:

because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”

but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be sober and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ–

To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,

receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory–

that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ–

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,

who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.

Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,

He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no;” so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.

Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.

For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”

Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?

You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.

You lust, and don’t have. You kill, covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.

Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.

But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.

And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.

and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;” and he was called the friend of God.

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;

Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.

Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled;” and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.