Mark's Story (30 page)

Christ’s Suffering and Ours

¹⁸
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us
^a
to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
¹⁹
by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
²⁰
who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited
^a
in the days of Noah, while
the
ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
²¹
There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
²²
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

4
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us
^a
in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
²
that he no longer should live the rest of
his
time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
³
For we
have spent
enough of our past lifetime
^a
in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
⁴
In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with
them
in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of
you.
⁵
They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
⁶
For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Serving for God’s Glory

⁷
But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
⁸
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for
“love will cover a multitude of sins.”
^a
9
Be
hospitable to one another without grumbling.
¹⁰
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
¹¹
If anyone speaks,
let him speak
as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers,
let him do it
as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Suffering for God’s Glory

¹²
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
¹³
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
¹⁴
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed
are you,
for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
^a
On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
¹⁵
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.
¹⁶
Yet if
anyone suffers
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
^a

¹⁷
For the time
has come
for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if
it begins
with us first, what will
be
the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
¹⁸
Now

“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,

Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
^a

¹⁹
Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls
to Him
in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

Shepherd the Flock

5
The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
²
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly,
^a
not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
³
nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
⁴
and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

⁵
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to
your
elders. Yes, all of
you
be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”
^a

⁶
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
⁷
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

⁸
Be sober, be vigilant; because
^a
your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
⁹
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
¹⁰
But may
^a
the God of all grace, who called us
^b
to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle
you.
¹¹
To Him
be
the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Farewell and Peace

¹²
By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

¹³
She who is in Babylon, elect together with
you,
greets you; and
so does
Mark my son.
¹⁴
Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Greeting the Faithful

1
Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

²
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
³
as His divine power has given to us all things that
pertain
to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
⁴
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is
in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
⁶
to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
⁷
to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
⁸
For if these things are yours and abound,
you
will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁹
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

¹⁰
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
¹¹
for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter’s Approaching Death

¹²
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
¹³
Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding
you,
¹⁴
knowing that shortly I
must
put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.
¹⁵
Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word

¹⁶
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
¹⁷
For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
¹⁸
And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed,
^a
which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
²⁰
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
^a
21
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
^a
spoke
as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.

Destructive Doctrines

2
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them,
and
bring on themselves swift destruction.
²
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
³
By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does
^a
not slumber.

Doom of False Teachers

⁴
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast
them
down to hell and delivered
them
into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
⁵
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah,
one of
eight
people,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
⁶
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned
them
to destruction, making
them
an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
⁷
and delivered righteous Lot,
who was
oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
⁸
(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented
his
righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing
their
lawless deeds)—
⁹
then
the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
¹⁰
and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.
They are
presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
¹¹
whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Depravity of False Teachers

¹²
But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
¹³
and
will receive the wages of unrighteousness,
as
those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.
They are
spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
¹⁴
having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices,
and are
accursed children.
¹⁵
They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the
son
of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
¹⁶
but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷
These are wells without water, clouds
^a
carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
^b

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸
For when they speak great swelling
words
of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped
^a
from those who live in error.
¹⁹
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
²⁰
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
²¹
For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known
it,
to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
²²
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb:
“A dog returns to his own vomit,”
^a
and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

God’s Promise Is Not Slack

3
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in
both of
which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),
²
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,
^a
the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
³
knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
⁴
and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were
from the beginning of creation.”
⁵
For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
⁶
by which the world
that
then existed perished, being flooded with water.
⁷
But the heavens and the earth
which
are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

⁸
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day
is
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
⁹
The Lord is not slack concerning
His
promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
^a
not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁰
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
^a
11
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner
of persons
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
¹²
looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
¹³
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Be Steadfast

¹⁴
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
¹⁵
and consider
that
the longsuffering of our Lord
is
salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
¹⁶
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable
people
twist to their own destruction, as
they do
also the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷
You therefore, beloved, since you know
this
beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
¹⁸
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him
be
the glory both now and forever. Amen.