"A Royal Priesthood"

1 Peter 2

 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

 

² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

 

³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

 

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house^[to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

 

 

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

 

 

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

 

 

⁸ and,

 

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

 

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.


¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.