10 Therefore, brothers,[g] be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:10-11 (ESV) 中文 

Character Quality focus

Peter is now referring back again to the character qualities of 2 Pet 1:5-7 and how he told us in the previous post how the pursuit of them makes us effective and fruitful. Now he tells us they will keep us from falling (“stumble” in the NASB). He’s probably talking about both this life, our Chrstian walk, as well as life beyond the grave. I don’t believe he is saying that a born-again believer can lose salvation per se, but referring to what their entrance to Heaven be like (v11) for one who fails to practice them.

For those who do practice them Peter encourages us that the result is a magnificent entrance into the eternal kingdom – which is either when we go to meet him at death or His reign on earth during the millennium – or both! “F.B. Meyer also wrote that the idea of an ‘abundant entrance’ was really a choral entrance. The idea was of a Roman conqueror coming into his city, welcomed by singers and musicians who would join him in a glorious, happy procession into the city.” (enduringword.com) Peter here points to that as the goal believers can work toward. The other way into His eternal kingdom is to be saved “so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).

Who does the work?

Yet a question surfaces: Who does the work of confirming the calling and election? Are we to be diligent in our Christian walk in order to secure our calling and election or earn it? Or, does our diligence, rather, prove our calling and election? I chose the latter. Election, by definition, means someone else took the action. And this election happened way before we were born! (Ephesians 1:3-6) And this Ephesians passage tells us calling is the same – God calls us to be His adopted child. We just accept in faith.

In which way?

And then another question: In which way will we be provided this entrance into the kingdom of Christ? Could Peter be saying that our good works of striving for these character qualities is what provides the entrance? Some who read this may come to that conclusion.

But if we follow good Bible study principles, we remember to understand that context is a key. Many places in the NT tell us that salvation, eternal life, is received by grace. A primary example is what Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

RЯeflection

• Fellow follower of Christ. Are you working to develop these character qualities in concert with God’s strength? After we have made the choice to follow Christ, walking the walk (as Christ did – 1 John 2:6) is a (super)natural outcome. But it takes effort on our part. As we shared earlier, “These beautiful qualities are not things that the Lord simply pours into us as we passively receive. Instead, we are called to give all diligence to these things, working in partnership with God to add them.” (enduringword.com)
• “Let this be the key to all Biblical conditions and commands: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.’ (Philippians 2:12-13). Yes, we work. But our work is not first or decisive. God’s is. ‘I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’ (1 Corinthians 15:10).” (desiringgod.org)