A few days later, the younger son gathered everything he owned and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted it all on wild living.

So he said, "A prince went to a distant country to be appointed king and then to return.

For this promise belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those who are distant, whom the Lord our God may call to himself."

I would even punish them frequently in every synagogue and try to make them blaspheme. Raging furiously against them, I would hunt them down even in distant cities.

All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors.