2 Peter 1:11

One of the greatest motivations for pursuing growth in grace is that when we go to be with the Lord forever He will welcome us warmly. The alternative is to get in by the skin of our teeth, saved so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15). Every Christian will go to heaven and receive much eternal inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-5). However, our Lord’s welcome of those who have sought to express their gratitude for His grace through a life dedicated to cultivating godliness will be especially warm. It will be even warmer than what He extends to other less committed believers (cf. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 12:21; Luke 12:31; Acts 7:56).

"This passage agrees with several in the Gospels and Epistles in suggesting that while heaven is entirely a gift of grace, it admits of degrees of felicity, and that these are dependent upon how faithfully we have built a structure of character and service upon the foundation of Christ. Bengel likens the unholy Christian in the judgment to a sailor who just manages to make shore after shipwreck, or to a man who barely escapes with his life from a burning house, while all his possessions are lost. In contrast, the Christian who has allowed his Lord to influence his conduct will have abundant entrance into the heavenly city, and be welcomed like a triumphant athlete victorious in the Games. This whole paragraph of exhortation is thus set between two poles: what we already are in Christ and what we are to become. The truly Christian reader, unlike the scoffers, will look back to the privileges conferred on him, of partaking in the divine nature, and will seek to live worthily of it. He will also look forward to the day of assessment, and strive to live in the light of it." [Note: Green, pp. 76-77.]

This writer also suggested that the underlying picture is of a victor in the Olympic Games returning to his hometown in triumph. [Note: Ibid., p. 75. See also Wiersbe, 2:440.]

". . . there will be degrees of glory hereafter proportioned to our faithfulness in the use of God’s gifts here." [Note: B. C. Caffin, "The Second Epistle General of Peter," in The Pulpit Commentary, p. 6. Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10.]

It is remarkable that so many commentators take 2 Peter 1:11 as indicating that entrance into heaven depends on our diligently seeking to grow in grace. Understandably Pelagians and Arminians hold this view, but even Calvinistic interpreters who profess to believe that salvation depends on grace alone sometimes come to this conclusion.