The word of God is alive and active. It’s even sharper than any sword that has two edges. It penetrates deep inside us, to where the bones meet the joints and where the soul meets the spirit, until it reveals the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
You’ve been born again through the living word of God, which lasts forever. You haven’t been born again from a seed that will die, but from one that can’t die.
Christ also suffered once for sins. Someone who did right suffered for those who did wrong, in order to bring you to God. Jesus was put to death in the body, but he was made alive in the Spirit.
We also thank God constantly for the way you received his word when you heard it from us. You didn’t accept it as a human word, but for what it is, the word of God. And that word is truly at work in you who believe.
The water of the flood is a picture of the way that baptism now saves you too. It doesn’t save you by washing the dirt off your body. Instead, it’s your way of promising God that you’ll keep a clear conscience by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Don’t be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings. It’s good for our hearts to be made strong by God’s grace, not by eating foods that the law requires. Those foods don’t do anything for the people who eat them.
If a person believes in Christ Jesus, it doesn’t matter whether they’re circumcised or not. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.