Section 2:1–12

Christ is the cornerstone and believers are his holy people

In this section Peter used illustrations from the Old Testament to describe how important Christ was and how holy Christians should be. Christ was like the most important stone in a building. Christians belong to him and so should live holy lives.

Some other headings for this section are:

Live as God’s Chosen People (God’s Word)
-or-
A Living Stone and a Holy People (Contemporary English Version)

Paragraph 2:1–3

2:1

Peter had just explained to his readers that God had caused them to be born again through his eternal word (1:23–25). Therefore, sin should not have any place in their lives.

2:1a

Rid yourselves: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Rid yourselves was used in a variety of ways. People used this word to speak of taking off old clothing and of removing dirt from the body. Peter meant that his readers were to be completely finished with the sins he was about to list. They were not to act like this any more.

Some other ways you may be able to translate this verb include:

avoid ⌊doing⌋
-or-
refrain ⌊completely⌋ from ⌊doing⌋
-or-
do not even consider ⌊doing⌋

therefore: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as therefore signals that what Peter was about to write followed from something he had already written. Most likely, it follows from what Peter wrote in 1:22–25 concerning his readers having been born again through the living and enduring word of God. You may be able to say something like:

Because of this, rid yourselves
-or-
Since you have been born again through God’s word, rid yourselves

See how you translated “Therefore” in 1:13a.

2:1b–c

malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander: There are two ways of interpreting the relationship of the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as malice to the rest of the list:

(1) Malice refers to hostile attitudes and behavior towards other people; it is a specific sin, like the others in the list. For example:

spite (New Jerusalem Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, Contemporary English Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New Living Translation (2004))

(2) Malice refers to evil in general and summarizes the specific sins that follow. For example:

evil (Good News Translation)

(Revised English Bible, NET Bible, God’s Word, New Century Version, Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). See the notes below for more information on each of these words.

2:1b

all: In this context, the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible twice translates as all means “any and every” or “all kinds of.” Peter actually uses this word three times in this list, for emphasis. Some translations show this. For example:

all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander (English Standard Version)

malice: The word malice refers to having the desire to hurt other people or to see others suffer. In some languages it may be necessary to translate abstract nouns such as malice as verb phrases:

being hateful (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
hurting/harming other people

deceit: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as deceit refers to such as craftiness, treachery, and telling lies in order to trick people. Other ways to translate the word deceit include:

deception (God’s Word)
-or-
lying (New Century Version)
-or-
deceiving people

2:1c

hypocrisy: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hypocrisy means pretending to be something other than what you really are. This word could also be used of an insincere person.

If your language does not use abstract nouns such as hypocrisy, then you may be able to translate this as:

Do not lie about yourself
-or-
You should not pretend to be different/better than you ⌊really⌋ are
-or-
Never be insincere

envy: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as envy refers to resenting or hating someone else because of their greater possessions, abilities, or status. It can also be translated as:

jealousy (God’s Word)

slander: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as slander means to say something untrue about a person in order to hurt him. Other ways to translate this word include:

lying about someone
-or-
defame/defamation
-or-
insulting language (Good News Translation)

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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