²⁶ to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.^[a]

³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.

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.

¹⁷ Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

⁵ Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.^[a]

²⁵ “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.

¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

²² You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.^[a] Love each other deeply with all your heart.^[b]

²³ For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.