3:11
And all this is “according to His eternal purpose”. The centrality and sovereignty of God is a key theme throughout this letter. And God’s eternal purposes are accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Note the past tense here. There is no element of doubt about the success of God’s plans.
3:12
So we can approach God with confidence. This is done through Christ and through faith. In order to appropriate the blessings of Christ we need to have faith in Him. It is not by any faith, but by faith in Christ. And we can approach God with freedom and confidence. We should beware teachings or religions that make us fearful of approaching God, or doubting our right to do so. If our confidence is in ourselves, then we are absolutely right to doubt, but our confidence is in Christ alone. The many false teachings that were around at the time would all cast doubt on the believers' right to approach God.
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