¹³ For ^(A)“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him ^(B)of whom they have never heard?^[a] And how are they to hear ^(C)without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ^(D)“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But ^(E)they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ^(F)“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So ^(G)faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for ^(A)a sincere brotherly love, ^(B)love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ^23 (C)since you have been born again, ^(D)not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through ^(E)the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴ for

And this word ^(H)is the good news that was preached to you.

A Living Stone and a Holy People

2 ^(I)So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ^2 (J)Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual ^(K)milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have ^(L)tasted that the Lord is good.