1 I, a ruler in the church, send word to the noble sister who is of God's selection, and to her children, for whom I have true love; and not only I, but all who have knowledge of what is true;
And you will have knowledge of what is true, and that will make you free.
And now, my sister, I make a request to you, not sending you a new law, but the law which we had from the first, that we have love for one another.
I who am myself one of the rulers of the church, and a witness of the death of Christ, having my part in the coming glory, send this serious request to the chief men among you:
And as you have made your souls clean, being ruled by what is true, and loving one another without deceit, see that your love is warm and from the heart: Because you have had a new birth, not from the seed of man, but from eternal seed, through the word of a living and unchanging God.
Whose desire is that all men may have salvation and come to the knowledge of what is true.
To whom we gave way not even for an hour; so that the true words of the good news might still be with you.
I have not sent you this letter because you have no knowledge of what is true, but because you have knowledge, and because that which is false has nothing in common with that which is true.
Who, through the purpose of God, have been made holy by the Spirit, disciples of Jesus, made clean by his blood: May you have grace and peace in full measure.
But it is right for us to give praise to God at all times for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because it was the purpose of God from the first that you might have salvation, being made holy by the Spirit and by faith in what is true: And in this purpose he gave you a part through the good news of which we were the preachers, even that you might have part in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having ever in mind your work of faith and acts of love and the strength of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;
Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love: As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,
You were going on well; who was the cause of your not giving ear to what is true?
But when I saw that they were not living uprightly in agreement with the true words of the good news, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how will you make the Gentiles do the same as the Jews?