“The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”
One of the difficult things about doing a verse-by-verse blog is that I can only do a couple of verses at a time. I try to group them together logically, but inevitably, verses get split up and I must go back and refer to previous passages. That is the case today. If I start at verse 9, it won’t make sense.
Peter starts with, “The person who lacks these things…” Before I go on with this, we need to do a refresher on what these things are! Peter, in verses 5 through 8, had exhorted his readers to make every effort to supplement their faith with goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. He said that if they possessed these qualities in increasing measure, that this would keep them from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that we have those qualities in mind, let’s look at what Peter has to say. He says that “the person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.” The word for short-sighted- myopazon-is the word we get myopia from. Notice that Peter says that the person has forgotten the cleansing from their past sins. So he is talking about believers here. There are believers who are blind or can barely remember what Christ has done for them on the cross. They have forgotten what Paul says in Colossians 1:13-14. “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Peter goes on to say, “Therefore brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.” John Barry, in the notes for The Faithlife Study Bible writes, “People who are so focused on living a victorious life, through the power of Jesus’ work in them, do not have room for sinful behavior; instead they honor God in all they do.” Peter uses the phrase again here, “make every effort.” He used it in verse 5 where he told them to make every effort to supplement their faith with goodness and so on. Now he tells them to make every effort to confirm their election and calling. To confirm something is to establish the truth or correctness of it. Peter is telling these believers that by growing their faith with goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, that is the outward showing of what has happened on their insides. Kenneth Gangel, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: an Exposition of the Scriptures, puts it this way. “’Calling’ refers to God’s efficacious work in salvation (cf, Rom. 1:7; 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:9) and ‘election’ is God’s work of choosing some sinners (by his grace, not their merits) to be saved (Rom. 8:33: 11:5; Eph. 1: 4; Col. 3:12; 1 Peter 1:1). Election, of course, precedes calling. A believer shows by his godly life and his growth in the virtues mentioned in second Peter 1: 5-7 that he is one of God’s chosen.”
Peter ends this section in this way, “Entry into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.” Peter wrote in his first letter about the inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading that was being kept in heaven for them (1 Peter 1:4). He also told them that they were to conduct themselves with reverence during their time on earth because the Father judges impartially according to each one’s work (1:17). He writes in a similar fashion here. If the believers possess the qualities he has written about, they have the reward of heaven. David Guzik writes, “Entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter here reminded his readers of the great reward of a calling and election made sure. They would enter heaven gloriously, not as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).”
We will never be perfect as long as we are living on this earth. But there should be a continual growth toward godliness. We have the Holy Spirit in us, and we should be exhibiting the fruit. We should possess the qualities that Peter has written about in the passage. We don’t want to be the short-sighted person who has forgotten what Christ has done for us.
I will finish today’s post with a verse that serves as a benediction. I think it sums up this passage beautifully.
“Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.”
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 