Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Wherefore - Seeing the danger of apostasy, and the fearful end of them who obey not the Gospel, and thus receive the grace of God in vain; give all diligence, , hasten, be deeply careful, labor with the most intense purpose of soul.
To make your calling - From deep Gentile darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel.
And election - Your being chosen, in consequence of obeying the heavenly calling, to be the people and Church of God. Instead of , calling, the Codex Alexandrinus has , consolation.
Sure - · Firm, solid. For your calling to believe the Gospel, and your election to be members of the Church of Christ, will be ultimately unprofitable to you, unless you hold fast what you have received by adding to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, etc.
For if ye do these things - If ye be careful and diligent to work out your own salvation, through the grace which ye have already received from God; ye shall never fall, , ye shall at no time stumble or fall; as the Jews have done, and lost their election, Romans 11:11, where the same word is used, and as apostates do, and lose their peace and salvation. We find, therefore, that they who do not these things shall fall; and thus we see that there is nothing absolute and unconditional in their election. There is an addition here in some MSS. and versions which should not pass unnoticed: the Codex Alexandrinus, nine others, with the Syriac, Erpen' s Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, later Syriac with an asterisk, the Vulgate, and Bede, have ( ̔ ) , That By (your) Good Works ye may make your calling and election firm. This clause is found in the edition of Colinaeus, Paris, 1534, and has been probably omitted by more recent editors on the supposition that the edition does not make a very orthodox sense. But on this ground there need be no alarm, for it does not state that the good works thus required merit either the calling and election, or the eternal glory, of God. He who does not by good works confirm his calling and election, will soon have neither; and although no good works ever did purchase or ever can purchase the kingdom of God, yet no soul can ever scripturally expect to see God who has them not. I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: go, ye cursed. I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; etc., etc.; come, ye blessed.
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