1Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,
2to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
3For 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.
4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5He 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.
6This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.