She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins."

praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people. And every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.

For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power.

that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved.

For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by order of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope---

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed,

he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us.

We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.

And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.

God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness.

We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth.

God called you to this through the Good News we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My Christian friends, who also have been called by God! Think of Jesus, whom God sent to be the High Priest of the faith we profess.

Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy.

The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy."

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.

For what credit is there if you endure the beatings you deserve for having done wrong? But if you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it.

It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps.

For no one is put right in God's sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned.

But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, "The older will serve the younger." He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done.

It is the same way now: there is a small number left of those whom God has chosen because of his grace.

His choice is based on his grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice were based on what people do, then his grace would not be real grace.

(SEE 2:8)

he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us.

"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

But the LORD loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

This is my plan for the world, and my arm is stretched out to punish the nations."

The LORD Almighty is determined to do this; he has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.

At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.

Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.

At that time Jesus was filled with joy by the Holy Spirit and said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.

We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.

God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ.

All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.

Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me,

I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.

What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.

"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to you.

No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you:

Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future---all these are yours,

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.

"Father! You have given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you gave me; for you loved me before the world was made.

So says the Lord, who made this known long ago.'

Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.

Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love

God did this according to his eternal purpose, which he achieved through Christ Jesus our Lord.

which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time,

He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake.

All people living on earth will worship it, except those whose names were written before the creation of the world in the book of the living which belongs to the Lamb that was killed.

That beast was once alive, but lives no longer; it is about to come up from the abyss and will go off to be destroyed. The people living on earth whose names have not been written before the creation of the world in the book of the living, will all be amazed as they look at the beast. It was once alive; now it no longer lives, but it will reappear.