But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
A holy nation ... Nothing can diminish the obligation of Christians to be in fact what their lawful title implies, a truly "holy" nation.  It is the absolute and invariable necessity of this that underlies the oft-repeated dictum in the word of God to the effect that people shall be judged "according to their works," as Peter, Paul, Jesus and all of the New Testament writers declared over and over again.