6:10
Having chastised them at the end of chapter 5, the writer now praises them. He speaks about the good things that they have done. Again, we see that what we do matters. We also see that helping people is showing love for God. John brings out the same point in his first letter when he says that claiming to love God but not loving our brother means our claim to love God is a sham (1 John 2:9).
6:11,12
So the writer now urges his readers to “show the same diligence to the very end”. Then their hope will be fully realised. A sure sign that God is at work in us is that we work hard for Him. The converse is that we must not become idle. Instead we are “to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised”. Now, of course, we never see anyone actually inherit the promise in all its fullness, we will only see that after we die or Christ comes back. But what we do see is people whose faith grows stronger through the years, and whose character becomes steadily more Christlike. And so they die in faith and full assurance. Perseverance and persistence are vital characteristics for the Christian.
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