Make every effort to confirm your calling by adding to the faith God gave you.
2 Peter 1:3-10 (NIV)
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Articles 1-11
Article 13 & 14 - The Fruit of Our Assurance
In their awareness and assurance of this election,
God’s children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God,
to adore the fathomless depth of God’s mercies,
to cleanse themselves,
and to give fervent love in return to the One who first so greatly loved them.
This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it,
make God’s children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured.
By God’s just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.
By God’s wise plan,
this teaching concerning divine election was proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, in Old and New Testament times.
It was subsequently committed to writing in the Holy Scriptures.
So also today in God’s church,
for which it was specifically intended,
this teaching must be set forth with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High.
This must be done for the glory of God’s most holy name, and for the lively comfort of God’s people.
Summary
You've been given everything you need for a godly life. That little snippet from the beginning of Peter's second letter forms a good summary of what we've been learning so far this year as we've read the Bible together, being reminded that we've been chosen and equipped by a God whose grace is stronger than we are.
One of the big criticisms people have about these Doctrines of Grace is that they'll produce flabby Christians who just passively float through life content to just 'let go and let God,' since everything is under His sovereign control anyways. It's led to the moniker of being the 'frozen chosen.' Why would Calvinists ever lift a finger, some wonder, if God doesn't need our help with anything?
People who think this way - whether they're critics of Calvinism or hiding behind it - would do well to read what Peter (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) has written here. On one hand, you've been given everything you need by the divine power of the One who has sovereignly called and elected you to receive it. But on the other, this gift obliges you to make every effort to add to it and confirm it.
For Peter, passiveness is impossible for those who understand that God has unconditionally elected them to salvation. The last thing we ought to be, writes Peter, is ineffective and unproductive. His words become even harsher, claiming that whoever fails to add to their faith is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Dig Deeper
Notice how it is that you've been given everything you need: it comes through our knowledge of Him who called us. The word translated here as knowledge means more than just knowing a bunch of general facts and trivia. It's through theology, which is the knowledge of God's glory and goodness, that He enables you to participate in the divine nature! In other words, the amount of growth you experience as a Christian is predicated on the amount of learning about God you do. Learning is an eternal endeavor for those who've been unconditionally elected.
God has for sure given you faith - you wouldn't have it otherwise - but Peter reminds you here that you have a responsibility (Paul calls it an obligation - Rom 8:12) to add to your faith. Notice that everything Peter calls you to add is character related: goodness, knowledge (general, not just theological), self control, perseverance, godliness, affection and love. Our culture coaches us that good things come to those who work hard, but the reality Peter lays out here demonstrates that those whose top priority is building their character to reflect Christ are those whose theological knowledge makes them effective and productive.
You are to do this hard work simply because you've been created in the image of a hard working God and chosen by Him to be given everything you need for a godly life. Yet your efforts are not without benefit to you. As you do this hard work, you're confirming your calling and election by making God's grace in your life evident to yourself and others. Furthermore, if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ - whose power has given us everything we need for a godly life;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the strength and desire to make every effort to add to your faith which you have been given;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Galatians 3
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