Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful in your judgments, for the Lord, our God, will not tolerate the perversion of justice, or partiality, or the taking of bribes.
The Lord will protect you against all evil; he will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and your going both now and forevermore.
And now it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. The life I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
However, now that you have been freed from sin and bound to the service of God, the benefit you receive is sanctification, and the end is eternal life.
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.
I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Now waiting for me is the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day—and not only to me, but to all those who have eagerly longed for his appearance.
Therefore, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven. For all of his works are right, and all of his ways are just. Also, he is able to humble all those who follow the path of pride.
Hence, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Does it now appear to you that I am trying to gain the approval of human beings rather than the approval of God? Am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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.