⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supplement with virtue, and in your virtue, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you (2Pet1:5-11).

This is a passage that affirms three of the fundamentals of the Faith I have been emphasizing throughout:

1. That saving faith is never alone but is accompanied with good works, the foundation and fountain for which are virtue/moral excellence, knowledge (of Christ and His teaching), self-control, perseverance, kindness and love (vv5-8);
2. Those who have “got saved”, such as the original recipients of Peter’s letter will have been baptized and mystically partaken of Christ’s body and blood, but they are not all guaranteed to persevere and attain the blessings of the elect (vv9-10);
3. That whether or not one has come to the Faith in the first place is entirely a matter of God’s choosing (v10).

These particular emphases will not be good news for those who, à la  Luther and indeed myself in the past, understand that what ultimately matters is how strongly a person believes in Jesus Christ. Relatedly, that they are relying on the fruits of  His Passion and His personal righteousness being applied to their moral account. Such contains truth but is far from the whole picture.

For example, Luther’s definition of saving faith was “a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favour that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it”.  Peter says otherwise here and so did Paul: “know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man (i.e. an idolater), has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Eph5:5). Such an immoral person could fulfil Luther’s requirements regarding belief, trust and confidence yet would not be saved. For ultimately, like everyone else, the Christian is to be judged by how he has lived and the person he has become (cf. Rom2:5-11). I commented on Paul’s teaching in Eph5 on this principle in an earlier post.

This will unavoidably disturb some, but it wondrously affirms God’s intelligible justice, gracious mercy and His fairness towards all. At least, that is the case once the three (rather than two) soteriological categories have been recognized and explicated from Scripture. Such I trust has been provided in The Little Book of Providence.

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