1. So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.
2. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,
3. now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
4. You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
5. 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.
6. As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,chosen for great honor,and anyone who trusts in himwill never be disgraced.”
7. Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him,“The stone that the builders rejectedhas now become the cornerstone.”
8. And,“He is the stone that makes people stumble,the rock that makes them fall.”They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.