² who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.^(A)

Chosen for Salvation

¹³ But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits^[a] for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.^(A)

⁴ just as he chose us in Christ^[a] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.^{(A) 5} He destined us^[b] for adoption as his children^[c] through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,^(B)

²² Now that you have purified your souls^[a] by your obedience to the truth^[b] so that you have genuine mutual affection, love one another deeply from the heart.^[c](A)

²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(A)

² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^(A)

² May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

²³ this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.^(A)

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.^{(A) 17} I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The World’s Hatred

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.^{(B) 19} If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

²⁶ but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith^(A)—