whom God the Father has predestined and chosen, by the consecration of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;
God has not repudiated his People, his predestined People! Surely you know what scripture says in the passage called 'Elijah'? You know how he pleads with God against Israel:
has now been disclosed and made known on the basis of the prophetic scriptures (by command of the eternal God) to all the Gentiles for their obedience to the faith —
Some of you were once like that; but you washed yourselves clean, you were consecrated, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
let us draw near with a true heart, in absolute assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience, and our bodies washed in pure water;
But you are the elect race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the People who belong to Him, that you may proclaim the wondrous deeds of Him who has called you from darkness to his wonderful light —
It was by faith that he celebrated the passover and performed the sprinkling by blood, so that the destroying angel might not touch Israel's first-born.
as a priest of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the service of God's gospel. My aim is to make the Gentiles an acceptable offering, consecrated by the holy Spirit.
So far as the gospel goes, they are enemies of God — which is to your advantage; but so far as election goes, they are beloved for their father's sake.
Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and for their knowledge of the Truth that goes with a religious life,
This is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our 'Wisdom,' that is, our righteousness and consecration and redemption;