Collective letter 4.2.2

Baptism makes people completely new. The apostle is a witness to this, for he testifies that through the washing of water the church gathered from the nations is made holy and spotless (Ephesians 5:26–27).

The Holy Spirit also helped good minds in ancient times, as the prophet says to God: “Your good Spirit will lead me on a straight path” (Psalm 143:10; LXX Psalm 142:10).

All the prophets, apostles, and saints, both of the New Testament and of the Old, to whom God bears witness, were righteous by the standard of virtue, not by comparison with criminals.

In the time to come there is recompense for good deeds and for bad ones. But no one can fulfill there the commandments that they disregarded here, because the apostle said: “We must appear before Christ’s judgment seat, so that each person may receive what belongs to the body, according to what they have done, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).