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.

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.

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.

"And now you say to me, 'You are my father, and you have loved me ever since I was a child.

The LORD says, "Israel, I wanted to accept you as my child and give you a delightful land, the most beautiful land in all the world. I wanted you to call me father and never again turn away from me.

The people of Israel will become like the sand of the sea, more than can be counted or measured. Now God says to them, "You are not my people," but the day is coming when he will say to them, "You are the children of the living God!"

Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.

Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.

God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.

I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.

To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."

Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children? "My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.

Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father?

In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children---and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children.

"Do not hold on to me," Jesus told her, "because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God."

It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.

It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many children to share his glory. For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation.

He says to God, "I will tell my people what you have done; I will praise you in their meeting."

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,

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.

He looks on the people of the earth as nothing; angels in heaven and people on earth are under his control. No one can oppose his will or question what he does.

But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

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.

On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Jonah!

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.

As the scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish."

From Paul, who was called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes---

For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called "foolish" message we preach, God decided to save those who believe.

because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to make you worthy of the life he has called you to live. May he fulfill by his power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith.