Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
Ver. 4. Knowing, brethren beloved of God] Knowing it by the judgment of charity, not of infallibility. He that believeth hath the witness in himself, 1 John 5:10. But the white stone, the new name, and the hidden man of the heart are not certainly known to any, but to such as have them. Howbeit, holy men in some degree are known one to another, to make the communion of saints the sweeter. Strong confidence one may have of another's salvation; but no certainty either of sense or of science, much less of faith, or immediate revelation.