¹⁶ Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people.

⁵ The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.

23 Gazing intently at the high council,^[a] Paul began: “Brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience!”

² We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.

²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

¹⁵ They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹² We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness^[a] and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you.

²¹ And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from^[a] a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.

⁴ My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.