God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
God will give each person what they deserve based on what they did in life. To the individuals who try to do good continually and seek glory, honor, and immortality, God will give eternal life. Simply put: seek God, Love Him, and l(L)ove your neighbor as yourself. God gives good gifts to those who Love Him – one of those gifts is eternal life.
And we pray:
Heavenly Father, thank You for offering eternal life. It isn’t based on my works to earn it; rather, You give it freely to those who seek You. Jesus purchased our way to You with His Own blood. I am in awe of You. Sometimes I forget how amazing You are, but You indeed are miraculous. My words cannot fully describe You, nor can my mind fully comprehend Your complexities and greatness. I am blessed to be Yours. In Jesus’ name I give You glory and I pray. Amen.
Our perfect Father accepts us without condition based on our receipt of the completed work of Jesus on the cross by faith, but He will only approve and reward those behaviors that are beneficial to us and to others. That is on full display in 2:7-11.
The phrase “eternal life” is a translation of the Greek words aionios and zoe. Aionios means as far as we can see, or to the horizon. Zoe is one of the several Greek words rendered “life” in English and refers to the quality of life experience. A translation that better conveys the idea of aionios zoe in scripture might be a phrase like “lasting life fulfillment.”
“Eternal life” is used to refer to a gift we receive by grace through faith (” is used to refer to a gift we receive by grace through faith (John 3:16) as well as a reward for living the experience of faith in daily living. It is used here to refer to a reward in heaven of extra life fulfillment.
The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” was coined for good reason. If we do good we will often be taken advantage of, ridiculed, and rejected. So, it takes great patience and perseverance to continually seek to do good. That is why God promises here a special quality of life in the New Earth for those who do this. It is likely this kind of person is the same kind whom the Apostle John refers to in Revelation as an “overcomer” or “victorious one” (Revelation 1-3).
It might be surprising to some to see that the person who seeks to continually do good is also described as one seeking “glory, honor, and immortality” since we typically associate those characteristics with the worldliness and pride. But the key consideration here is that the glory and honor being sought is not that of seeking approval from other people but from our Heavenly Father who judges based on the intentions of our hearts. Our deepest longings for acceptance can be met by receiving by faith the unconditional gift of new birth into God’s family, and likewise, our deepest longings for approval can be found in seeking glory, honor, and immortality from God above than from other people.
We as humans constantly seek glory, honor, and immortality from people in this life. Paul urges us to seek it from God, which requires faith. We can see and feel the way we are approved of or rejected by people, but Paul urges that we put daily belief that “God will make it worthwhile” and follow His ways regardless of the cost.