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reality of the calling of God by the activity of the life within. In the phrase `Make your
calling and election sure' the Apostle does not mean what Pilate meant when he said of
the sepulcher of the Saviour `Make it as sure as ye can' (Matt. 27: 65), where the word
used is asphalizo, and which primarily means `not falling, unmoveable, safe', neither did
he mean what Paul meant when he said `nevertheless the foundation of God standeth
sure' (II Tim. 2: 19), where the word used is stereos, something solid or stable. He uses
the word bebaios which indicates not so much that the thing itself is solid or firm, but that
it has been confirmed, as may be seen from the examples of its translation in the N.T.
The verb bebaioo which gives us bebaios, is used in the following passages:
"Confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16: 20).
"The testimony of Christ was confirmed in you" (I Cor. 1: 6).
"Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us . . . . .
with signs" (Heb. 2: 3, 4).
Here it will be seen that the confirmation was not so much the thing itself, the Word or
the testimony, but the confirming of that Word or testimony to the heart and conscience
of the hearer, and that by external signs and wonders. Thus, no believer can add to the
trustworthiness of the Word of God. He cannot make his calling or election more sure
than it is in that sense, but by the added evidence of the new life, the added evidence of
fruitful and abounding knowledge of Christ, he will confirm to his own heart the calling
he has received. He will, in other words `possess his possessions'.