2 Peter 1:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

NIV: Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,

NASB: Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

CSB: Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

NLT: So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.

KJV: Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

NKJV: Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

Earlier, Peter has warned believers that living without the Christlike qualities listed in verse 5 through 7 makes us ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Jesus. Such people have become like spiritually blind unbelievers, forgetting they have been forgiven from their sin. Peter now urges his Christian readers to demonstrate the reality of their calling and election.

It's important to understand what Peter is not saying here. In no sense is Peter indicating that eternal salvation is based on behavior. Along with the rest of the New Testament authors, Peter has already been very clear that forgiveness of sin is a gift of grace. We cannot earn it, nor can we lose it through our sins, once we have obtained it. We do not have to meet a certain level of holiness in order to keep our eternal destiny.

What Peter does seem to be saying is far more practical. That is, his point relates to how we actually live and behave. In particular, that saved Christians confirm their salvation, for themselves and other people, by possessing these qualities of Jesus. This does not work in reverse: it is not a hard test for salvation. Nor does it imply that salvation is earned by exhibiting these traits.

Rather, the point seems to be that only those who have been chosen by God and called to faith in Christ can truly possess and "abound" in these qualities. Therefore, those who exhibit them have every good confidence in their relationship with Christ. Those who don't will, at the very least, lack that confidence. If you live as only God's children in Christ are empowered to live, Peter says, you won't have reason to doubt or stumble over your faith. Again, his use of the word "fall" is not about a loss of salvation. In context, this is about a season of wasted time, of unproductiveness and ineffectiveness, of near-blindness and indulging in sin we should have left behind.

Peter is speaking most clearly to those who seem to avoid commitment to Christlike living, while still claiming their place in God's family. This is unproductive at best, and dangerous at worst. Instead, Peter tells the reader to be diligent to demonstrate spiritually mature qualities, as confidence-boosters and evidence of their security in Christ.

2 Peter 1:3–15 urges Christians to understand that they are, right now, fully equipped to lead the life to which God has called them. Since they are equipped, they must use those tools through personal effort. They should strive to add Christ’s goodness and other powerful qualities to their lived-out faith. Growing in those qualities leads to a productive, effective life of knowing the Lord. Lacking Christ’s qualities leads to the opposite. Peter continues reminding the reader of what they already know, in order to keep stirring them up, to ensure they remember all of this after he has died (which will be soon).

Peter begins this brief letter to Christians by reminding them they are not missing anything they need to lead the good and godly lives they are called to. They must work, then, to add to their faith the goodness and qualities of Jesus. This requires effort, unlike eternal salvation which is not based on our work. Those who lack these positive attributes will live as unproductive and ineffective servants of God, nearly as blind as unbelievers and forgetting that their sins are forgiven. Peter, near death, insists that his eyewitness testimony about the transfiguration confirms that the prophecies about the Messiah are true. Jesus is coming back.

Peter begins his letter by urging his Christian readers not to be unproductive in their knowledge of Jesus. Rather, they should work to add all of Christ’s qualities to their lives. Then Peter begins to lay a foundation to support his attack on the false teachers in the church. He also introduces ideas supporting his declaration that the Day of the Lord is coming. Later chapters will use the background of this first chapter to support those arguments.

Apparently written shortly before his death in the AD 60s, 2 Peter may have been written to the same audience as 1 Peter, which was Christians scattered by persecution. Peter writes this letter to encourage Christians to live out the purpose of their lives in Christ. He warns readers to beware of teachers who claim to be believers, but present a false version of Christianity. And, Peter calls on all Christians to eagerly watch and wait for the return of the Lord.