Living with Christ’s Mind
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same mindset, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 so as to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires but for the will of God.
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having walked in sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and lawless idolatries.
4 In this they are astonished that you do not run with them into the same flood of reckless excess, and they slander you.
5 They will give an account to the One who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For this reason the gospel was preached even to the dead, so that though they might be judged in the flesh according to humans, they might live in the spirit according to God.
Love, Service, and Soberness
7 But the end of all things has drawn near; therefore be sound-minded and sober for prayers.
8 Above all, keep fervent love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
10 Just as each has received a gift, use it in service to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 If anyone speaks, let it be as oracles of God; if anyone serves, as from the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Sharing Christ’s Sufferings
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you that is happening to test you, as though some strange thing were occurring to you,
13 but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
14 If you are insulted in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a meddler.
16 But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins first with us, what will be the outcome for those disobeying the gospel of God?
18 And “if the righteous is saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly and sinner appear?”
19 Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
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