Your lot is to have precious faith — Jeremiah Burroughs

“to them that have obtained like precious faith with us” 2 Peter 1:1

“If we write to any who are persons of honor, we usually give them title of honor, as the honorable ones. Yet the apostle, though he wrote to many who were rich and great too, put no other title upon them than this: “To them that have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1:1). He accounted this (as indeed it is) to be the most noble Christian title and badge of honor that he could crown them with: “That have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1:1). It is precious faith, a faith of price, and it has been obtained.

Faith is here compared to a precious stone, to a goodly pearl, and to a diamond. And so it is to them who have obtained it, to them who have had precious faith given unto them by lot (that is the meaning of the word). The word in the Greek that you have translated in your books as “obtained” signifies to have a thing by lot. So in Luke 1:9, it is said of Zacharias that he went to burn incense by lot. It was his lot to do the work. It is the same word that you have in Luke, with that of Peter, which is translated “obtained”. And so I might show you in many other places in Scripture where this word is used of having a thing by lot. “To you who have obtained like precious faith”, or, “to you who by lot have obtained like precious faith”, that’s the propriety of the word.

Question. But you will say, what is the meaning of that, to have it by lot?

Answer. There is much in this for setting out the blessed condition of believers. There is this in it: The faith that they have, they have merely by the free grace of God, by His providence and by His work, and by no other cause whatsoever that has made any difference between them and unbelievers. As that which a man has by lot, there is little or nothing to be attributed to second causes; as in a lottery, if one has a better lot than another it is not to be attributed at all to his skill who draws it out, but merely to be attributed to the providence of God.

God in His free grace did so order things that this man should have a good lot, and others should not. When the Lord gave the land in Canaan to the people of Israel, He gave it, but it was by lot, to the end that they might know that if one man had a better portion than another it was only by the free grace of God. This was so that no man could boast himself of it and say, “I am better than you,” or, “I am richer than you,” or, “I am worthier than you.” No, it was merely by God’s free grace and love, and not from anything in themselves. It’s as if the apostle should say, “Whereas all the world was in His presence, only God through His free grace made it your lot to have precious faith, that you should be enriched with this unspeakable gift.” That this lot should be your portion and others should have their lot fall to have some part of the earth, He gives the earth to the children of men.

Take a whole congregation or town, and all of them come into the presence of God to receive their lot. God says, “I will give such a man such an estate in the world; he shall be master of a ship and shave have so much money or lands, and that shall be his lot. Another comes to have his lot and he shall have excellent parts. I will give him the tongue of the learned and so get credit that way. Another shall be born of such and such parentage; he shall spring from the loins of nobles and their blood shall run in his veins.” Thus God crafts from all eternity the lots of men. Still another comes who shall not have much in this world, but he shall have faith in Jesus and he shall have heaven and eternal life; that shall be his lot, and thus God from all eternity gives every one their various lot and portion.

Your lot is to have precious faith? Oh! Your lot has fallen into good ground; you have a blessed inheritance; you were in the presence of God when there were all men before the Lord. As for unbelievers, heathens, and infidels they were before God; it might have been their lot to have faith and you might have had what they have. But it is your lot to have precious faith and it is their lot to possess the world. This is the meaning of the word “obtained,” and the elegance of the phrase is greatly darkened and eclipsed by the English word.”

— Jeremiah Burroughs, Faith