. . . give diligence to make your calling and election sure: . . . 2 Peter 1:10
We have stated as our goal in this study of 2 Peter 1:3-11 an understanding of the balance between the objective Truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ and the subjective application of that Truth in our lives. One aim of all Christians is to assure their entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Peter tells us emphatically that such an entrance is assured for those who have made certain their calling and election. But this certainty can rest neither on the election or the call; neither the sovereign work of God nor the diligence of man are alone the basis of our present and eternal salvation. The call of God requires a hearing and a response from the individual; while the election of God is His work alone, requiring neither our understanding nor acquiescence. Both a call and an appropriate response, and the election of God must be present in the life of the Believer.
Peter's objective in this first paragraph of his second epistle is the maturity of each individual believer in what he calls "the knowledge of . . . Christ." To have a full and complete knowledge of Christ requires the diligent pursuit of virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. Those individuals who add these seven graces to their faith in Christ are, in effect, assuring their calling in Christ. Those who are not making diligent effort to add these virtues to their faith are blind and have forgotten what Christ did for them. But while each individual believer is responsible to grow in Christian grace; that growth, and in fact the Believer's initial faith, is only possible by the power of Christ.
In this study, we will look at the first phrase of this profound paragraph.
So important is the power of Christ to the life and virtues of each Believer that Peter emphatically states, "According as His divine power has given us all things . . . ." Either the word "divine" or the word "power" would suffice, but both are used to emphasize this beginning point for all that we can know or experience. "Divine," (Greek "theios") refers to "that which proceeds from Himself" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words). "Power," (Greek "dunamis") speaks of a special miraculous power, or an "exhibition of divine power" (New Testament Lexicon, Berry). Peter might have written, "Since all things proceed from Christ, we have been given . . . ," or "As His miraculous power makes available, we have been given . . . ;" but the import (not a strict translation) of what we read is rather: "To the degree that He has all possible miraculous power that is available to One who is God, we have been given . . . ." All Christians grow through a time of confidence in their own initiative, their own abilities, their own strength. A toddler delights in his new ability to stand and walk by himself, not comprehending that it is the finger he grasps for support that gives him the balance and confidence to stand; or that it has been the steadying hand of a loving parent that has coaxed, prodded, urged, and enabled him to walk. Only while coaxing his own offspring through infancy and into adulthood does a person begin to understand the strength and patience of the parent so necessary for the growth of the child. Just so, it the immature Christian who is most eager to talk of his faith, his desires, his goals, and his ability to accomplish. As we mature in the Lord, we come to an ever more humbling understanding of our dependence, our insufficiency, our inability.
If we have any Godly desire, it is due to Christ's grace in our lives. If we have any ability to do good, it is due wholly to the righteousness of Christ. If we have any hope of everlasting life or eternal glory; any victory in our present walk or success in life; these are the work of Christ. Ours was not the choosing to come to Christ; ours was not the conviction of sin or the desire to seek God. We must acknowledge that without Christ we can truly do nothing; but in Christ, we can do all things.
Even Christians must acknowledge that they can do nothing without Christ. We are not united to Christ in salvation so that we can then prove our value by standing alone. We are not changed into His likeness so that we can delight in our new image. We are not engrafted as branches to the vine so that we can attempt to bear fruit alone. Those in Christ are given a new nature--a desire to be one with Christ and the Father. An attitude of independence and self-sufficiency, like adolescent rebellion, shows only immaturity. They are most mature who most rely on the Lord.
It is this reliance on the Lord that is at once the beginning and ending point of all the Believer has and is. The same divine power that created the world (John 1:3,10) and that upholds all things (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3) has given us everything that is necessary or useful in life. We can be confident that the One who is able to save us to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25) is willing and able to supply our every need (Philippians 4:19). The One who stated that "without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), is the One who enables us to do all things (Philippians 4:13). Every worthwhile thing in each of our individual lives is a display of His power; all that is good in us emanates from Him; each good aspect of each Believer is a product of Christ's miraculous power.
But to know that Christ has all power is not enough. How can I appropriate that power to my needs; how can I tap His ability for my growth? The Greek word "doreomai," translated "given" or "bestowed," means "to bestow gratuitously" or "to give as a free gift," with the emphasis on the free nature of the gift. It is not necessary that I somehow convince God to grant that I might purchase a modicum of His ability. I need not torment myself for His pleasure in order to gain His blessing or attempt to bribe God with promises I can never fulfill. He is not only able to supply my every need; He is eager to freely give me the full benefit of His great might and power. To the degree that all power is available to Him, He bestows it upon me.
The beneficial grace of Christ is even clearer when we understand something of what we have been given. We know from Paul that we have been given sufficient grace in Christ. John tells of the unending love He bestows upon us. James tells us that we can have all necessary wisdom. The writer of Hebrews assures us that the faith that is necessary to please God is available in sufficient supply. But Peter incorporates these and any and all other possible gifts from our loving Lord, and says simply that we have been given all things.
Is there no limitation on the "all things" that have been freely given us? Certainly! The inherent power of Christ has provided only those things that pertain to life and godliness. This simple statement could often be a clue to our frustrations, and the key to our lack of understanding concerning the purposes of God. No provision has been made for any thing that pertains to death or worldliness. I can trust Christ for the good things I need, and trust Him to withhold the bad things I don't need. James tells us that it is not unusual for Christians to pray and believe God for things desired through lust. But God does not hear or honor such prayers. So the judgment concerning the goodness or badness of anything I think I need must be left to Him. I can trust Him to provide whatever pertains to life and godliness, and I can trust Him not to provide whatever does not pertain to life and godliness.
Christ does not bestow His gifts and power fruitlessly. He gives them for a specific purpose and toward a particular end. The little word translated "unto" the second time in the King James Version of 2 Peter 1:3 is the Greek "pros." This preposition is a word of direction; it always shows motion. It portrays how one thing leads to another; that there is movement from one idea to another. The idea here is that the "all things" bestowed are not stagnant, but that they are moving toward the accomplishment of life and godliness. They are not given for our admiration, but for our use. We are not to sit and admire Christ's gifts; we are to apply them for our growth.
Finally, in our analysis of this phrase, what is meant by life and godliness? The first refers to life in its absolute sense; the second to holiness and piety. Listen to what W.E. Vine says of the word "zoe," translated "life:"
[Z]oe is used in the New Testament "of life as a principle, life in the absolute sense, life as God has it, that which the Father has in Himself, and which He gave to the Incarnate Son to have in Himself, John 5:26, and which the Son manifested in the world, 1 John 1:2. From this life man has become alienated in consequence of the Fall, Eph. 4:18, and of this life men become partakers through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, John 3:15, who becomes its Author to all such as trust in Him, Acts 3:15, and who is therefore said to be 'the life' of the believer, Col. 3:4, for the life that He gives He maintains, John 6:35, 63. Eternal life is the present actual possession of the believer because of his relationship with Christ, John 5:24; 1 John 3:14, and that it will one day extend its domain to the sphere of the body is assured by the Resurrection of Christ, 2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Tim. 1:10. This life is not merely a principle of power and mobility, however, for it has moral associations which are inseparable from it, as of holiness and righteousness. Death and sin, life and holiness, are frequently contrasted in the Scriptures.
"Zoe is also used of that which is the common possession of all animals and men by nature, Acts 17:25; 1 John 5:16, and of the present sojourn of man upon the earth with reference to its duration. Luke 16:25; 1 Cor. 15:19; 1 Tim. 4: 8; 1 Pet. 3:10. . . . "
(Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, W.E. Vine, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985, pp 367, 368.)
In other words, the life referred to by Peter is real life both now and hereafter, as opposed to the state of death and condemnation in which all unbelievers exist. Peter is speaking of life as the combination of our body's vitality and our spirit's quickening. Those with no saving knowledge of Christ have physical vitality, but don't know life. And it is this life, the life of the Believer, for which provision has been made by the power of Christ; for the maturity of which we have been given all things.
In addition to this life in Christ, provision has been made for our maturity in godliness, or in Christ-likeness. Life in Christ certainly implies Christ-likeness, but here we have it made plain. Just as Peter emphasizes the power of Christ by saying "divine power;" here he emphasizes our growth in Christian grace by speaking of "life and godliness." As we allow the power of Christ to invade our lives, we will grow in godliness. But it is not only godliness and our "spiritual" walk that Peter is concerned with; it is our total life. He is not laying the stress on godliness, but is emphasizing a total life of godliness.
Having now examined this phrase in some detail, what applications can we make to our lives of the truths contained in this bold statement: "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness?" I would suggest three:
1. At any given time, we may think that we have a particular need, and wonder why Christ has not supplied it. But here we are told that as surely as Christ has all power, He freely gives us everything that can be associated with life or godliness. We may either understand that truth and trust Christ for His abundant provision, or we can become bitter at God for His seeming lack of concern for us.
Children often stumble at this point. They know they can trust their parents for food, shelter, clothing, love and affection, and innumerable blessings. But as soon as they see and desire something that the parent has consciously withheld, they imagine all sorts of dark reasons for the parents' deprivation. Suddenly, they doubt the love and provision of years, and view all future provision as their right and due, required of the parent to justify the failure to provide the desired object. Christians often treat God the same way.
2. Closely related to the first application, I would encourage us not to frustrate God's purposes when He does not provide for us. Certainly, God's purposes cannot ultimately be frustrated by any created being, but that is not to say that we don't give it our best effort. We often go outside God's provision to satisfy our desires. In our mind, we sometimes elevate a sensual desire to the level of a need. We then become disappointed when God fails to provide it, and we doubt His promises of provision. Frustrated and impatient, we satisfy the desire by our own means. Satisfied that we can do as well or better than God at meeting our needs, we rely less and less on Him and grow further and further from Him. Like a sulking teenager, we chide God for not giving us our wants and we take His provision as only what we deserve.
3. Finally, the whole emphasis of Peter is to urge us to a full knowledge of Christ. All that we need is available in Christ, and He desires to freely give it all to us. But Peter's point is that we need not seek any thing for our spiritual growth; we are to seek Christ. The Apostle Paul expressed the same idea this way:
[Christ] is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:30,31
We will examine in another study exactly what Peter means by the knowledge of Christ, but let it suffice for now to say that as to any possibly need in any area of our life; as we honor Christ in our life, He is the supply and the supplier of every need to the extent of His power to supply it. And His power is unlimited.
We can only be as confident of our final entrance into Christ's kingdom as the degree of our confidence in His supply of our needs now. Our calling is only as sure as is our knowledge of Christ.
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