Chapter
1 2 3 4 5
Verse

1 Peter 2:5

ESV you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
NIV 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.
NASB you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
CSB you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
NLT And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
KJV Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
NKJV you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What does 1 Peter 2:5 mean?

In the previous verse, Peter identified Jesus, the Lord, as the living stone. He is living because He was dead and now is alive. We will see in the next few verses that He is called the stone because He is the cornerstone of the house of God. Now Peter includes believers in the metaphor. Like Jesus, Christians are living. We once were dead spiritually, but have been made alive by God's grace through our faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:5). We may die physically, but our resurrection is already secured by God's promise (1 Peter 1:3–5).

Christians are stones, as well, set aside for a specific project. God is currently building us into a spiritual house, a dwelling place for Himself. In this new temple—made out of the people of God—each of us also serve as priests.

Under the Old Testament Law, of course, the people would come to the temple where the priests would represent them to God. Now, Peter writes, God's people in Christ are the temple. We are also the priests. All of the barriers between God and us have been removed. We come to our loving Father boldly, needing no other mediator but Jesus Himself (Hebrews 4:16).

Also under the Law, the people would have brought sacrifices to the temple where the priests would have killed the animals and offered them to God on behalf of the people. Now, in Christ, the people are the temple; we are the priests; and we are also the sacrifices offered to God.

However, as Paul writes in Romans 12:1, we are living sacrifices. With our sin already forgiven through Jesus' death, no more death or blood is required. Instead, we offer our living bodies—every part of ourselves—as acceptable spiritual sacrifices to be used by God for His purposes.
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