"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
'God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.'
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you posses these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has fortgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
It's interesting how in 2 Peter 3 the author (the apostle Peter) refers to Paul's letters as "Scripture," giving us the canonization that some attribute to a church council/convention a hundred or 150 years later. It's also kind of interesting that he ends his letter with a caution:
"Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen."
How we are saved for eternity (and when, etc) is really a great mystery. A great debate exists between those who think that God chose us and therefore our election is eternally secure; and those who believe we "choose this day" Whom we are going to serve and thus choose to believe and be saved. Both sides have great arguments and none of us really know if all of our doctrine is 100% accurate. Sometimes the mystery isn't solved by us or our minds. It does appear that what we think and believe is important, however. If we get carried away with error, it will not be good. We also see that we can actually "grow" in grace and knowledge of Jesus. This is cool. The journey to increasing this knowledge of Jesus is filled with and built upon some great characteristics that I'd like to have in increasing measure: faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at March 21, 2006 10:17 AM