For you are aware that you were ransomed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
And just as no human being comprehends any person’s innermost being except the person’s own spirit within him, so also no one comprehends what pertains to God except the Spirit of 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.
Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as if you were doing it for the Lord and not for others, since you know that you will receive from the Lord an inheritance as your reward for you are serving the Lord Christ.