You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name he will give you.
But now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves of God, you have fruit that leads to sanctification, and the end result is eternal life.
so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord with every desire to please him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
that has come to you. This gospel has gone out into all the world, where it is bearing fruit and increasing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.
keeping your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God on the day of his visitation.
you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.