Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile flesh or spirit, and thereby make our holiness perfect in the fear of God.
Then he went on, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from within, and they defile a person.”
Have mercy on me, O God, in accord with your kindness; in your abundant compassion wipe away my offenses. Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin.
However, if we live in the light as he himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin.
Beloved, we are God’s children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. However, we do know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he really is. Everyone who has this hope in him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from acts that lead to death so that we may worship the living God.
This water prefigured Baptism, which now saves you. It does so not by the washing away of dirt from the body but by the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He is the reflection of God’s glory and the perfect expression of his very being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Achieving purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Come now and let us discuss this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall become as white as wool.
And if then my people who bear my name humble themselves and pray to me and seek my presence as they turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.