2 Peter 1:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

That is, the catechetical teaching which you heard at your election, and to be blameless in your calling, so that you may not be condemned for forgetting the gift of God, but may remain firm in your calling.

Strive more and more, as though he had said: Do not be satisfied with baptism alone.

So that you may not be condemned as those deprived of the gift of God, but may remain, having a secure calling.

"Brethren, be diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never sin" (2 Pet. 1:10).

In the reading now set before us, the Apostle Peter persuades Christians to be established ever more firmly in their calling, that is, in Christian life.

As he said before, the divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us all things needful for life and piety. This comes through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

Through these He has given us great and precious promises, that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that rules in the world through lust (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

"You will never sin," rendered in Russian as "you will never stumble," means that you will not lose salvation (Rom. 11:11).

The Apostle is not speaking of an unconditional impossibility for a Christian to sin. He is speaking of the Christian's gradual ascent by the ladder of virtues, and of attaining perfection through intensified ascetic labors.

For this reason he says, "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble."

Where there is a gradual order of labors and efforts, and consequently gradual development and perfection, there cannot yet be present perfection. Therefore pauses in action and stumblings on the path are possible there.

Falls, that is, sins, are also possible there. Yet they do not hinder the further course of development and the attainment of perfection.

Brethren: this greeting is not found in the Apostle's first epistle. There the greeting used is "beloved" (1 Pet. 2:11).

Be diligent (2 Pet. 1:5) to make firm and prosperous, not only with respect to yourselves, but also with respect to God, since this is prospered not only on God's side, but also on ours.

Your calling and election are nearly identical concepts. According to God's foreknowledge and the predetermination of His will, the calling of believers into the Kingdom of God and their election from among all other men are accomplished.

See the note to 1 Pet. 1:1-2; 2:4, 6, 9; Rom. 9:11; Rom. 11:5, 7, 28; 1 Thess. 1:4.

By doing this means acting in your life according to the qualities and virtues already indicated. Compare Theophylact. See verse 5 and following.

Having set forth the ladder of Christian perfection, the holy Apostle Peter persuades us to ascend it (2 Pet. 1:10-20).

"Be even more diligent to make your calling," that is, your Christian calling, "and election," that is, election unto salvation, "sure." This means to justify them in deed and secure them for yourselves.

"For if you do these things, you will never stumble," despite the difficulty and narrowness of the path to salvation. On the contrary, "an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ."

My concern, the Apostle seems further to suggest, and my salvation, is whether you will walk by the ladder of Christian perfection traced out for you.

In contrast to heretical instability, Christians, according to the Apostle's teaching, must be established in their doctrine through an integral understanding of all Christianity and a complete, living relation to it. On this foundation, and by living according to such a view, one may be firmly assured of entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. In it is the whole chain and fullness of Christian life. "Observe," says blessed Theophylact, "how earlier the Apostle wished to move them by fear, by the coming of the Judge, but now he persuades them by the promise of good things, by entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God."