‘For which reason, brothers and sisters, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble, for thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'
Rather, therefore, than blinking because their sight is dimmed, they are to have their eyes open to eternal realities and are to put their utmost effort into doing what he has described, for as a result they will never stumble, and they will make their calling and election sure. And the further result will be that their entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be ‘richly supplied' to them.
‘Brothers and sisters (adelphoi).' Only here as a greeting in 1 & 2 Peter, but a regular Christian greeting found in Paul's letters, Hebrews, James and 1 John, often also found as ‘my brothers and sisters'. Peter tends to prefer ‘beloved' in both letters. Both indicate a warmth of feeling for God's people.
‘Make your calling and election sure.' As with Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 he is not in doubt about the certainty of their calling and election. He is just pointing out that those who are called and elected will do all that they can to make sure that it is genuine. His point is that to be called and elected is incompatible with blinking and short-sightedness and half-heartedness. Those who are so called and elected should be marching on in confidence with Jesus Himself. And if they are not it should call into question whether they have been called or elected at all.
‘Calling' and ‘election' are two of the great words of Scripture. It is as the result of the effectual ‘call' of God that we first came to Him (2 Peter 1:3; 1Pe 1:15; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:21; 1Pe 3:9; 1 Peter 5:10; Romans 8:29; Acts 2:39; Romans 1:6; Romans 9:24; Rom 11:29; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:26; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 4:1; Ephesians 4:4; Col 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 2Th 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 3:1).
Such a ‘call' is within the eternal purposes of God (Romans 8:29). It is ‘according to His own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began' (2 Timothy 1:9). It is thus as sure as anything can be, and even surer than that. If it is a genuine call it is as sure as the eternal purposes of God. All Peter is therefore saying, is that although God has made it sure, we must make it doubly sure.
It is also as a result of His ‘call' that we go on in service (Matthew 10:1; Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 7:17). Sometimes this latter call to service results from inner conviction, but almost always as combined with outward circumstances. More harm is done by those who overestimate their calling than can be imagined. However, it is not inevitably so. Everyone said that Gladys Aylward was unsuitable. Yet what glorious unsuitability! But always, without exception, it must be in humility. The one who thinks that he is ideal for the task is assuredly not God's ideal. However, this is not the call that is in mind here.
There is, of course, also a calling which is not effectual (Matthew 20:16; Matthew 22:3; Matthew 22:14). But that also is not in mind here.
The doctrine of ‘election' is one that many fear, partly because some then go on to theorise too far. Election does not exclude men's freedom to choose. Rather it overrides it. None will be lost who did not choose to be so. But all who are saved are so because God has chosen them. Salvation is His free gift, and not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). For we are ‘Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and without blame before Him in love' (Ephesians 1:4). Note as with Peter that the choosing results in purity of life. None who are truly chosen will remain what they have been.
This question of ‘election' is made clear in Romans 9:11; Romans 9:15; Romans 9:19-21; Romans 11:4-7. In the end all God's true ‘Israel' will be saved (Romans 11:26). Their number is fixed (Revelation 7:1-8) and they are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). That is why, even though it may be a near thing (Matthew 24:24), they will not finally be deceived. And they will be gathered in at the last day (Matthew 24:31). This is because God has ‘from the beginning' chosen them for salvation through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). That is why their names were written from the foundation of the world in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 13:8). Some may argue their way out of it by mental gymnastics, but there can really be no question about its being Scriptural.
And it is by being eager to make their calling and election sure, in Paul's words by their eagerness to gain the prize of the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14), that they will ensure that they NEVER stumble. And ‘thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' This picture of entering the eternal kingdom of God was one that he had often heard on the lips of Jesus (Matthew 7:21; Matthew 8:10-11; Mark 9:47; compare Acts 14:22; 1 Corinthians 15:50). Note the emphasis on God's rich supply. God's giving is never niggardly. For those who are truly His, in the day that they enter Heaven the trumpets will blare, and they will enter Heaven in triumph, with crowns of righteousness and of glory on their heads, loaded with the riches of His grace.
As with eternal life this idea of entering under the Kingly Rule of God has two aspects. We enter under God's Kingly Rule when we become Christians (Matthew 18:3; Matthew 19:23-24; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 23:13; Mark 10:15; John 3:5; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31; Colossians 1:13), a first experience which prepares us for our later entry into the eternal kingdom as above. In the same way we enjoy eternal life now (John 3:15-16; John 5:24; John 10:28; 1 John 5:13), with the guarantee of enjoying it in all its fullness in the future (Matthew 25:48; Mark 10:30; Romans 2:7; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:19; Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7).
‘Eternal kingdom' is found only here. It is Peter's only mention of the kingdom as such (but see 1 Peter 3:22; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11). It stresses that he was referring to the future aspect of the Kingly Rule of God in the new Heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13). We can compare ‘heavenly kingdom' in 2 Timothy 4:18.