2 Peter 1:10, commentary and pictures

Brethren are urged to work earnestly and continually to confirm their calling and election by cultivating the graces of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love until they are present and abounding, and those who do so will stand steadfast and never fall. Election is conditional rather than fixed regardless of conduct, and it is made sure or left uncertain by personal response, obedience and choice. Believers add grace to grace while God multiplies grace and peace, so human effort united to divine strength through the promises, the knowledge of Christ and partaking of the divine nature lifts them upward without falling. Those who live this way receive present assurance and fruitfulness with an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom and a life measuring with the life of God. The work calls for no delay but for daily diligence now in obedience, prayer, searching the Scriptures, humble reconciliation and faithful service while probation lasts.

Words and Immediate Setting

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence turns on the words these things, which are the graces just named in verses 5-7 — faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance or self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity or love. Those graces are not to be merely professed but to be diligently cultivated until they are present in believers and abound and increase. Doing them keeps believers from falling and from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, and it prepares an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Christ. This cultivation is possible because God has freely bestowed infinite treasure, giving by divine power all things pertaining to life and godliness and exceeding great and precious promises through the knowledge of Him who called to glory and virtue, by which the divine nature is shared and the corruption in the world through lust is escaped, with grace and peace multiplied through knowing God and Jesus.

Give diligence means earnest, continual, daily effort with no graduation in this life, no standstill, no backward steps, and no rest in a supposed hope. Believers must keep adding, climbing the whole ladder of spiritual growth, advancing by faith, confirming the experience, and pressing steadily forward toward heaven. This steadfast growth in grace and practical righteousness is the safeguard against spiritual blindness, forgetfulness of forgiveness, and returning to sin, and it is set in the context of escaping the world's corrupting influences through living connection with Christ, knowing His life and character, becoming like Him, overcoming temptation, and trusting His promises. The course carries God's guarantee and assurance of eternal life, and therefore calls for careful study and earnest effort.

The charge is Peter's inspired exhortation, spoken and written by inspiration of the Spirit and of the Holy Spirit, to brethren of like precious faith. It belongs to 2 Peter 1:1-13, a passage important for every church member, to be read in the church, studied verse by verse and practiced, shaping character in this life and safeguarding eternal life. It is truth to be always kept in remembrance and stirred up even when known and when believers are established in present truth, as instruction for growth, service, and preparation for service. Adding to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity keeps from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to the blindness that forgets cleansing from old sins.

Ye shall never fall promises steadfastness and safety from falling, failing, falling short, or losing the life and hope of heaven, when the required course is followed by living through steady addition of the Christian qualities described earlier. Doing what the preceding instruction requires carries God's assurance and guarantee, with verse 11 adding an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. Diligent growth in the qualities listed in the preceding verses is presented as the assurance of eternal life and calls for careful study and earnest effort. In practice this steadfastness is linked with humbly seeking reconciliation, asking forgiveness, confessing wrongs, and putting away evil suspicions.

Diligent Growth Required

Calling and election are made sure by diligently cultivating and practicing the Christian graces Peter has listed until they are in believers and abound, and doing these things keeps them from falling and from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. The graces to be cultivated are faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control or temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love or charity, with faith accompanied by continued growth in all the rest by those who seek immortality. This requires daily learning from the heavenly Teacher, humbling the self before God, following on to know Him, and diligent, steadfast advancement by faith in the Christian life and in character building according to God's Word and Christ's teaching. Those who persist in disobedience are unfit for entry into God's kingdom, while obedience prepares people for loyal citizenship and for an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom.

This growth is progressive sanctification attained by giving all diligence to add step by step, beginning on the lowest round and climbing round by round to the top by constantly adding the graces named. It is pictured as Peter's ladder of eight rounds and as mounting step by step the ladder Jacob saw, living on the plan of addition by adding grace to grace and forming a character fit for eternal life. The ladder is Christ who connects earth with heaven, and salvation comes by climbing while looking to Christ and clinging to Christ and mounting to the heights of Christ, until firm and unable to be moved to stumbling. All the graces are to be manifest together in the Christian character rather than one added only after another is finished, with growth coming degree after degree and strength after strength in following on to know the Lord. As people thus add grace to grace, God works by multiplication and draws them into closer fellowship, multiplying grace and peace through the knowledge of God and Jesus, giving all things pertaining to life and godliness, making them partakers of the divine nature having escaped corruption through lust, so they are not barren nor unfruitful but zealous and vigorous in practical righteousness.

The faith required is a faith that works by love and purifies the soul, with constant diligence through the grace of Christ and no graduation in this life or in the school of Christ. Diligence means practical godliness, daily obedience to God's commandments, requirements, principles of righteousness, and Word, with living faith shown by works and salvation hinging on obedience. Believers work on the plan of addition by adding to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, climbing round by round heavenward to become complete, conformed to the divine image and partakers of the divine nature through appropriating the exceeding great and precious promises. Doing these things keeps from ever falling and secures an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with genuine conversion, standing firmly for what is right, and continual advancement with no standstill in the knowledge of Christ.

God's Part and Ours

The human side is addition and the divine side is multiplication: believers are to live on the plan of addition by continually adding grace to grace, while the Lord works on the plan of multiplication. Addition means giving all diligence to add to faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, until these qualities are present, abound, and keep increasing into a character fit for eternal life. There is no graduation in this school, no standstill and no rest in a supposed hope, for growth never stops and assurance is conditional on following these instructions. As believers live out the grace already given, God multiplies grace and peace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, supplies all things that pertain to life and godliness, and draws them into closer fellowship with the saints in light. The faith that makes calling and election sure is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, shown in progressive sanctification, in practicing the virtues and duties of the chapter, and in putting oneself in the channel to follow on to know the Lord by searching the Scriptures, carrying them out in daily life, and confirming religious experience by prayer, watchfulness, and service. Doing these things keeps believers from ever falling, from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, and from the blindness that forgets cleansing from old sins, and it secures an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, doubly sure of a right to enter through the gates into the city of God.

This diligence is cooperation with the Saviour, human effort united to divine strength through faith in Christ and the indwelling Spirit. God has freely bestowed infinite treasure, giving by divine power all things that belong to life and godliness, with exceeding great and precious promises through the knowledge of Him who called to glory and virtue, by which believers may partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, with grace and peace multiplied through knowing God and Jesus. Growth therefore depends on God's power and promises while still requiring hard, earnest effort: knowing Christ's life and character, seeking to become like Him, overcoming temptation, trusting His promises, and diligently cultivating and increasing faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity until they are in believers and growing. This is the condition of saving election, keeping believers fruitful in knowing Christ instead of spiritually blind and forgetful of cleansing from past sins, and leading to the promise that they shall never fall and shall receive an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom. Giving such diligence means cultivating these precious graces of the Spirit in practical life, using speech to bless and strengthen, crucifying self, growing in strong love for Christ and for one another, and bringing the love taught in 1 Corinthians 13 into daily experience.

Christ Himself is the ladder connecting earth with heaven, made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Peter's ladder has eight rounds, and youth and all believers must begin on the lowest round and climb step by step to the top by constantly adding the graces named, with all graces manifest together in Christian character rather than one added only after another is finished, looking to Christ and clinging to Christ and mounting to the heights of Christ. Only unwearied diligence in living on the plan of addition and climbing the whole length of the ladder in growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ gives safety, for God then works on the plan of multiplication so that climbers are not barren nor unfruitful but zealous and vigorous in practical righteousness, mounting step by step the ladder Jacob saw. Making calling and election sure in this way requires closely examining the self and making strict inquiry whether conversion is real, whether the mind is drawn out after God and heavenly things, whether the will is renewed and the whole soul changed, with far greater diligence than many give. Failure to climb leaves blindness that cannot see afar off, forgetfulness of purging from old sins and of baptismal vows to seek glory, honor, and immortality, with eyes fastened on earth instead of the light of God above the ladder.

Rising without falling comes by cooperating with Christ and using the spiritual advantages He has provided, keeping the eyes fixed on Him and His character, with faith in Jesus shown by works. Christ is the only hope and sole dependence for making calling and election sure, and giving diligence means coming to Him with little trials and large perplexities, telling them all to Jesus and believing He will be helper, strength, and sympathizing Friend who is touched with the feeling of infirmities, for in the Lord Jehovah is strength. It also means erecting the family altar in every home, presenting petitions to God morning and evening, bringing the whole family before Him in recognition of dependence on Him and the claims of His service, keeping eternal reality before every member, and by asking His guidance confessing Christ as Leader, Captain, and divine Teacher. Those who thus diligently develop the Christian graces while looking to and clinging to Christ have assurance of Christ's keeping power, shall never fall, and shall receive an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom, as a life-insurance policy from heaven assuring eternal life through growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Conditional Election Explained

The only election the Bible knows is conditional, to be made sure by diligent response and effort, and there is no other election within reach. It is not an unconditional election that holds whether or not a person overcomes, nor a fate fixed before birth that leaves people passive. It is secured by practicing the graces of faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity until they are present and growing, by words and actions and excellent character, by living as God desires. Fallen sinners enter it by partaking of the divine nature and escaping the corruption in the world through lust, by partaking of the flesh and blood of the crucified Lord, which is receiving His words as spirit and life, by daily learning from the heavenly Teacher, humbling the heart before God, and following on to know Him step by step. No one need lose eternal life, for Christ has paid the price for every person, and those who choose this path will never fall and will gain an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom.

God elects to a character shaped by obedience to His commandments and sanctification through the truth, and no one is elected to salvation while disobeying His law. Salvation hinges on receiving and living out the principles of righteousness, on diligent character building by following God's Word and Christ's teaching, on practical spiritual work shown in obeying the commandments. Those who persist in disobedience are unfit for loyal citizenship and will be outside the city, while obedience prepares people for the kingdom of glory. Election is joined to redemption and a life prepared for God's kingdom: Christ has paid the price so that none need be lost, those who receive Him as personal Saviour are given power to become God's children, and those thus prepared, bearing His yoke and cross and reaching His standard by the means He provides, belong to the class destined for eternal life.

Calling and election are made sure or made uncertain by personal course of action, words, conduct, and choices. A person makes it sure by choosing faithfully, living on the plan of addition, living as God desires and as a faithful, spiritually minded servant, showing love for God and neighbor in words and deeds, repenting and making restitution when wrong is done. A person makes it uncertain by sinning while claiming righteousness, with anger, dishonesty in business, and ungodly ways working against it. For the young this means examining whether they are in the love of God and choosing a life shaped by God's word, meditation, prayer, and useful service, and the call to diligence includes helping children be joined to Christ, for choices determine whether the better life and the eternal life-insurance from a Power that never disappoints the true is secured.

Promise and Assurance Given

Those who do the things commanded will never fall and will receive an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. Diligent, steadfast growth in grace and knowledge of the truth, daily learning from the heavenly Teacher, humbling the heart before God, following on to know Him, and continuing in what is commanded secures this assurance of eternal life and a steady press forward toward heaven. The required diligence is hard effort to add faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity until these qualities are present and growing, which keeps believers from being barren or unfruitful in knowing Christ and from the blindness of forgetting cleansing from old sins. Doing so carries God's guarantee and assurance of never falling, never failing, with victory, a crown, eternal life, and a life measuring with the life of God, and none need lose eternal life because fallen sinners may partake of the divine nature through Christ. Perfect conformity to God's will is the condition for eternal life, practically shown in humbly seeking reconciliation, asking forgiveness, confessing wrongs, and putting away evil suspicions.

The verse is an eternal life insurance policy from heaven, better than worldly insurance and open to all. It is not a policy paid to another after death but present assurance of a life measuring with the life of God, obtained by cooperating with the Saviour on the plan of addition and secured by complying with its plain terms. Believers must begin on the lowest round of Peter's ladder of eight rounds and climb step by step to the top by constantly adding the graces named, with all graces manifest together in character rather than one finished before another is begun. As they add grace to grace, Christ works for them on the plan of multiplication, multiplying grace and peace through the knowledge of God and Jesus, giving all things pertaining to life and godliness, making them partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, and sustaining every soul degree after degree until firm and unable to be moved to stumbling. This diligence is to be carried out every day in practical home and family life, putting away scolding and fretting, crucifying self, using speech to bless and strengthen, growing in strong love for Christ and for one another, and bringing the love of 1 Corinthians 13 into daily experience, and merely talking truth without placing oneself to obtain the policy will not save. The policy holds in the day of the Lord when the books are opened, guaranteeing against falling and securing abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom for the faithful, while lacking the virtues leaves a person blind, unable to see afar off, forgetting cleansing from old sins, stumbling in the pathway and causing trials by not heeding what God sends.

When the graces are present and abounding they keep believers from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, and grace and peace are multiplied through knowing God and Jesus. Those who practice genuine, practical godliness through the merits of Christ in simplicity rather than vain show walk securely and understandingly, become lights amid moral darkness and a power to bless, receive power to resist the satanic antagonist, and advance in the knowledge of Christ into closer fellowship with the saints in light. The promise is to be believed with praise, thanksgiving, and confidence in God's Word, giving positive assurance, victory to thorough and diligent repentance, a calling made forever sure, and an abundant entrance ministered into the everlasting kingdom.

Warning in Neglect

To neglect the graces of faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity is to become spiritually blind, unable to see afar off, forgetting cleansing from old sins and baptismal vows to seek glory, honor and immortality. Without these qualities present and abounding and increasing, the life is barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, with eyes fastened on earth instead of the light above the ladder, drifting with worldliness and corruption through lust. Such lack leaves one stumbling in the pathway, making a new record of sin by returning to sin, and causing trials and difficulties in the church by not heeding what God sends. Diligent adding and climbing the whole ladder is the safeguard against this blindness, forgetfulness and fall, keeping the believer fruitful and leading to abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Christ.

To fall is to lose the life and hope of heaven and to fail to enter, for persistent disobedience to God's Word and Christ's teaching and to all of God's law leaves a person unfit for loyal citizenship and outside the city of God. The promise of never falling short and of an inheritance that cannot be taken away by another is like an eternal life insurance guarantee, yet it can be forfeited by the holder through ceasing to obey and to rely on the power that alone holds firm. Those who reject Christlike principles and do not change risk losing their place, while faithful obedience and practice of the virtues in verses 5-7 make calling and election sure.

Safety therefore lies not in resting in a supposed hope, outward profession, or comparison with others, but in unwearied diligence on the Bible plan of closely examining self and making strict inquiry. Each must test whether conversion is real, whether the mind is drawn out after God and heavenly things, whether the will is renewed and the whole soul changed, whether motives and character meet God's standard. This remembrance and self-examination is needed even when the truths are known and believers are established in present truth, requiring study of 2 Peter 1:1-13 verse by verse to shape character in this life. Those who thus gain unmistakable assurance of God's love on the foundation of Christ, adding grace to grace and mounting step by step as on Jacob's ladder, receive multiplied grace and peace and shall never fall.

Daily Life Application

Making the calling and election sure is done in daily relations by humbly seeking reconciliation, asking forgiveness, confessing wrongs, and putting away evil suspicions and distrust of brethren that bring bondage. It means crucifying self, criticizing self instead of others, ceasing all criticism, yielding wrong dispositions, hating the worldly things once loved, and growing in strong love for Christ and for one another with the love described in 1 Corinthians 13 brought into daily experience. Speech is used only to bless and strengthen, with mercy, kindness, humility, patience and forgiveness, so that believers become Christlike, partakers of the divine nature, helping one another gain perfection of character and advancing onward toward perfection in united daily effort. As many sowers and reapers together in the harvest field they stand steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and when these graces are present and abound they are fruitful in the knowledge of Christ and shall never fall.

The same diligence keeps all of God's commandments in obedience to His Word and truth, for no one is elected to salvation while disobeying His law. It acts on light and evidence received with whole mind and heart, taking a definite position to keep the Sabbath as an advance movement and decided victory. It includes temperance and patience lived out in healthful living, honoring God in eating and drinking because these affect mind and temper, overcoming every intemperate habit and lust, intelligently caring for the body which belongs to Christ, resisting unholy desire and temptation, and being fit to represent Him.

It trains children to inherit eternal life and to be joined to Christ, by praying and laboring for them and by choosing faithfulness over anger, dishonesty in business, and ungodly ways. It makes the ladder of graces the highest education, pursuing thorough knowledge with piety, knowing personal weakness, going to God for strength, making Christ the all in all rather than giving the mind almost wholly to study, and standing nobly against contaminating influences instead of losing all that enriches life. It prepares believers and the young for useful service, sharing the gospel, winning souls, helping the needy, communicating truth by books and kind conversation, and being cleansed from covetousness by faithfully paying tithe rather than robbing God, since those who withhold tithes and offerings cannot expect His blessing.

This life is exercised by daily learning from the heavenly Teacher, humbling the heart before God, following on to know the Lord, searching the Scriptures and carrying them out in daily life, and practicing and studying 2 Peter 1:1-13 verse by verse as a safeguard shaping character for entrance into God's kingdom. It confirms religious experience by prayer, watchfulness and service, much prayer, coming to Christ with little trials and large perplexities, telling Him all and believing His help as strength and sympathizing Friend, shunning temptation, and keeping gaining and adding grace to grace with no standstill. It erects the family altar in every home with morning and evening petitions bringing the whole family before God in dependence and service, keeps eternal realities before every member, confesses Christ as Leader, Captain and divine Teacher, guards the spirit, refuses discouragement, and works out salvation with fear and trembling doubly sure of a right to enter through the gates into the city.

Urgency and Final Readiness

The work of securing calling and election must be done now, while probationary time lasts and the sealing time is still open, because the Saviour is at hand and not afar off, time is short with no time to lose, and delay risks losing opportunity. That diligence means cultivating the qualities listed in the preceding verses until they are present and abounding, setting aside selfishness, pride, egotism, ambition for the highest place, ungodliness and grasping dealing, and becoming humble, devoted Christians who lead others toward salvation. It is described as a life-insurance policy in 2 Peter 1:2-11, especially verses 8-11, giving positive assurance of never falling and of an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom with eternal life and immortal inheritance, a guarantee of an inheritance that cannot be taken away by another though a person may forfeit it by neglect. Securing it requires working on altogether different lines as the Holy Spirit works from inward to outward, with full consecration and undivided service, no longer mingling the common with the sacred, with spiritual eyesight cleared to discern between them, and with the common fire that is exalted and cherished and turns the Lord away put away. It requires seeking the Lord now while He may be found, refusing half-hearted, half-converted sleepiness, being wide awake, laying hold upon the Holy Spirit and upon eternal life, holding fast what has been received, adding grace to grace in daily cooperation with God, overcoming the enemy, and never giving up the battle. It requires remaining diligent rather than forgetting cleansing from former sins, continuing in a cleansed life by obedience to all of God's law, prizing probationary time to use opportunities and God-given talents faithfully as faithful stewards, maintaining simple, growing faith while depending on God who keeps by His power through faith unto salvation, and coming out without spot or wrinkle with the heart fastened on God in prayer and praise until comes the satisfaction of knowing sonship with God and heirship of heaven.

Making calling and election sure is preparation for judgment, for Christ's appearing, and for the end of earthly life, by diligently living out the qualities pictured as the apostle's ladder, consecrating self unreservedly to God, putting on the wedding garment, living ready, and living out the light of truth already received. Now is the time because the sealing time is very short and will soon be over while the four angels are holding the four winds, and those who do not depend on God and are unprepared will face confusion at the final decision. Making it sure then means letting the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ be in the mind continually, crowding worldly thoughts and cares from the mind, meditating on them when lying down and when rising up, and living and acting wholly in reference to the coming of the Son of Man. Those who do so will be protected in the coming storm and prepared for the end of earthly life, with safety grounded in having the life hid with Christ in God and associated with receiving the seal of God in the forehead.

It is not too late even for those in danger of losing their souls, for it remains the privilege of believers to have a lively hope of the incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance reserved in heaven, to win heaven and a life that measures with the life of God while opportunity still lasts. Giving diligence brings courage in the Lord and full trust in the Saviour to the end with promise of an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom, and gives comfort and encouragement to all of like precious faith, with strength to resist every temptation to look on the dark side and to talk discouragement. It requires living up to the baptismal vow made before the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to do God's will, die to the world, and live as a new creature purged from old sins, and those who have not lived up to that vow must redeem the past by doing all in their power to turn from the path that led astray to the path of humble obedience. That means sincere repentance, confession, cleansing in the fountain open for sin, keeping step with Jesus, denying self, living faithfully for God rather than for self, and persevering faithfully a little longer against opposition rather than letting Satan's suggestions discourage or yielding to the enemy, with the hope that the Lord is coming to reward His faithful children with victory and a place in God's city and the earth made new. The promise is conditional, so a wholesome fear of falling short leads to self-distrust and careful conduct, joining faithfulness in one's own Christian life with earnest work to help others gain everlasting life.