Scripture Passage 1 Peter 2:4-12
(Scripture Passages from BibleGateway.com; TNIV)

 

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

 ⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house ^[a] 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." ^[b]

    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," ^[c]

    ⁸ and,
       "A stone that causes people to stumble
       and a rock that makes them fall." ^[d]
       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.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

 ¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.