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 truth: God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, etc. - In your calling, God has shown the purpose that he had formed from the beginning, to call the Gentiles to the same privileges with the Jews, not through circumcision, and the observance of the Mosaic law, but by faith in Christ Jesus; but this simple way of salvation referred to the same end - holiness, without which no man, whether Jew or Gentile, can see the Lord.
Let us observe the order of Divine grace in this business:
1. They were to hear the truth - the doctrines of the Gospel.
2. They were to believe this truth when they heard it preached.
3. They were to receive the Spirit of God in believing the truth.
4. That Spirit was to sanctify their souls-produce an inward holiness, which was to lead to all outward conformity to God.
5. All this constituted their salvation - their being fitted for the inheritance among the saints in light.
6. They were to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ - that state of felicity for which they were fitted, by being saved here from their sins, and by being sanctified by the Spirit of God.