The Message Bible MSG
New International Version NIV
20 And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately - at the end of the ages - become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you.
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He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
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Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it.
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Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
23 Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself!
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For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
24 That's why the prophet said, The old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; Grass dries up, flowers droop,
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For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 God's Word goes on and on forever. This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
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but the word of the Lord endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.