Titus 3:1-7 - Conduct Toward All People

1 Remind the people [where you minister] to be in subjection to [civic] rulers, [governmental] authorities, to be obedient [to them], to be prepared for [doing] every good deed, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceful, to be considerate [or, "gentle"] and to show every courtesy to all people. 3 For we [Christians] were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various kinds of [evil] desires and [sinful] pleasures. [We used to] live in malice and envy, hating people and being hated by them.

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not because of any good deeds we ourselves had done, but because of His mercy. [He saved us] through the washing of new birth [Note: This refers to our immersion in water] and the renewing [work] of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom God poured out upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 [This was] so that, being made right with God by His unearned favor, we could have the hope of [possessing our] inheritance of never ending life [in heaven].