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Answer: "Chosen
people" is a historic title applied by God himself to the
nation (from one family) that He chose for himself out of all the
nations... The Israelites (descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).
Deuteronomy
7:6-9
For you
are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen
you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people,
his treasured possession. (7) The LORD did not set his affection on
you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples,
for you were the fewest of all peoples. (8) But it was because the
LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he
brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of
slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know therefore
that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his
covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and
keep his commands. (NIV)
Read the
passage in Psalms 105 about his special care of the Israelites, which ends...
Psalms 105:43-45
He brought
out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
(44) he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to
what others had toiled for-- (45) that they might keep his precepts
and observe his laws. Praise the LORD. (NIV)
In the New
Testament, the salvation that came from Abraham's race -- through
Jesus Christ -- expands the concept of "chosen
people" to include not only Jews but also Gentiles who have
found salvation in Christ. As grafted in branches (Romans 11:17-24),
Gentile believers are also God's chosen people (Genesis 18:18,
Galatians 3:8-9)...
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you
are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (10) Once you were not
a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (NIV)
Check out
Ephesians 1:4-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and James 1:18 for some other
New Testament verses regarding the people of God's choosing. |
