1 Peter 4:4Plain English VersionSome of your friends keep on doing lots of bad things, and they don’t care about it. But you say, “No,” and you don’t do those bad things with them. So they are surprised, and they rubbish you. See the chapter |
But those Jewish people wouldn’t listen to Paul, and they said bad things about him. So Paul shook the dirt from his clothes, to show them that they were wrong, and he said to them, “I told you God’s good news, but you didn’t listen. So you can’t blame me for anything that happens to you now. You can only blame yourselves. From now on, I will go and tell God’s word to the people that are not Jews.”
We have to do things that are right and good and honest, like the things people do in the day-light. We can’t go to wild grog parties, and we can’t get drunk. We can’t sleep with anyone that is not our own wife or husband, as if we are married to them. We can’t do wrong things with our bodies. We can’t get into fights and arguments. We can’t be jealous of other people.
You live in the same place with people that don’t follow Jesus. So you have to make up your mind to always do things that are good. Sometimes people might tell lies and blame you and say you have done wrong. But if you always keep on doing whatever is right, they will see that you do good things. Later, after God comes to judge everybody, they will remember the good things you did, and they will respect him.
People sometimes say these true words, “A dog gets sick and vomits up its food, but then it comes back and eats that same food again.” And people also say, “You can wash the mud off a pig, but then it goes back and rolls on the muddy ground again.” Those words tell us about those lying teachers. Those teachers are just like that dog and that pig, they turned back to the bad things again.