Theme · theological
Chosen People
God chooses Abraham from among the nations, not for any merit but by sheer grace. He tells Israel through Moses, 'The LORD did not set his love on you because you were more numerous, but because he loved you.' The prophets wrestle with the tension between election and Israel's unfaithfulness — God is faithful even when his people are not. Paul argues in Romans 9–11 that God's purposes in election have not failed: a remnant is chosen by grace, and the Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree. Peter calls the church 'a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.'
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 1:27 — But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
- 1Cor 10:1 — Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
- 1John 3:1 — Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
- 1Kgs 3:8 — And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
- 1Pet 1:2 — Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
- 1Pet 2:4 — To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
- 1Pet 2:6 — Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
- 1Pet 2:9 — But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
- 1Sam 12:22 — For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
- 1Thess 1:4 — Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
- 2Chr 17:3 — And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
- 2Cor 6:18 — And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
- 2Sam 5:2 — Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Isr
- 2Sam 7:14 — I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
- 2Sam 7:23 — And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy lan
- 2Thess 2:13 — But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the t
- 2Tim 1:9 — Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
- Acts 3:25 — Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
- Acts 9:15 — But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
- Acts 10:34 — Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
- Acts 10:35 — But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
- Acts 13:26 — Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
- Acts 15:9 — And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
- Acts 16:1 — Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
- Acts 26:17 — Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
The Church Fathers on Chosen People
And the holy people inherited an eternal kingdom; the holy people who were chosen instead of the people. For "he provoked them to jealousy with a people that was not a people. And with a foolish people he angered them." For even if one has served the heathen, as soon as ever he draws near to the covenant of God, he…
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord:" one nation is blessed, belonging to the heavenly city, which has not chosen save the Lord for their God: "And the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance" [Psalm 33:12]: and which not of itself, but by the gift of God, has been chosen, that He by possessing it…
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood." [1 Peter 2:9] That we are a chosen race by the election of God is abundantly clear. He says royal, because we are called to sovereignty and belong to Christ; and priesthood on account of the oblation which is made by prayers and instructions, by which are gained…
For he selected this one nation to teach the knowledge of God to all the others. Just as he had selected one man—at one time Moses, at another Joshua, at another Samuel, at another some other of the prophets—to look after the welfare of this race, one man who benefited his fellows by practicing true wisdom, so…
"He came unto his own." Here is touched upon the contempt for the one coming, and this especially from those who ought to have honored him, and from whose race he assumed flesh. On account of which he says: "He came unto his own," that is, from the race of the Jews, whom he had chosen before all others, he assumed…
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, etc. This testimony of praise was once given to the ancient people of God through Moses, which the apostle Peter now rightly gives to the Gentiles because they have believed in Christ, who as the cornerstone has united the Gentiles in that salvation which Israel had in…