WASHED Biblical Review

⁵This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

³For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, ⁵not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior; ⁷that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. ⁸This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you insist confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men; ⁹but shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

¹¹But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, ¹²nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where a last will and testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it.

²For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. ⁴Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. ⁸He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ⁶For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, ¹⁷which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. ³We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; ⁸for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, that no one would boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. ¹¹Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands),

¹³although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. ¹⁸I commit this instruction to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you before, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

¹⁶because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, ¹⁸knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, ²⁰who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, ¹⁷which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. ³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? ³³Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁶Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. ²⁸After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty!” ²⁹Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ³¹Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. ³²Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him;

³³Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

⁶The LORD executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. ⁸The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. ⁹He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. ¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. ¹⁴For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, ¹⁷which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

²May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; ⁶knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. ⁷For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! ¹⁰For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, ¹⁷which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

²May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; ⁶knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. ⁷For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! ¹⁰For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

¹Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power! ²Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his excellent greatness! ³Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! ⁴Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! ⁵Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals! ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

¹³Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. ¹⁴For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. ¹⁵Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name. ¹⁶But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. ¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.