Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
Seeing ye have purified ...  "This is the perfect tense, pointing to a past act of obedience which has enduring results."[57] It is therefore a clear reference to the conversion which comes at the beginning of the Christian life, and not to subsequent spiritual endowments of the Christian.