1 Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,
2 to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
6 This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.