2 Petrus 1:5

1:5 For this very reason, ¹  make every effort ²  to add to your faith excellence, ³  to excellence, knowledge;

2 Petrus 1:8-9

1:8 For if ⁴  these things are really yours ⁵  and are continually increasing, ⁶  they will keep you from becoming ⁷  ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of ⁸  knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. ⁹  1:9 But ¹⁰  concerning the one who lacks such things ¹¹  – he is blind. That is to say, he is ¹²  nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins.

[1:5]  ¹ tn The Greek text begins with “and,” a typical Semitism.

[1:5]  sn The reason given is all the provisions God has made for the believer, mentioned in vv. 3-4.

[1:5]  ² tn The participle is either means (“by making every effort”) or attendant circumstance (“make every effort”). Although it fits the normal contours of attendant circumstance participles, the semantics are different. Normally, attendant circumstance is used of an action that is a necessary prelude to the action of the main verb. But “making every effort” is what energizes the main verb here. Hence it is best taken as means. However, for the sake of smoothness the translation has rendered it as a command with the main verb translated as an infinitive. This is in accord with English idiom.

[1:5]  ³ tn Or “moral excellence,” “virtue”; this is the same word used in v. 3 (“the one who has called us by his own glory and excellence”).

[1:8]  ⁴ tn The participles are evidently conditional, as most translations render them.

[1:8]  ⁵ tn The participle ὑπάρχοντα (Juparconta) is stronger than the verb εἰμί (eimi), usually implying a permanent state. Hence, the addition of “really” is implied.

[1:8]  ⁶ sn Continually increasing. There are evidently degrees of ownership of these qualities, implying degrees of productivity in one’s intimacy with Christ. An idiomatic rendering of the first part of v. 8 would be “For if you can claim ownership of these virtues in progressively increasing amounts…”

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “cause [you] not to become.”

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “unto,” “toward”; although it is possible to translate the preposition εἰς (eis) as simply “in.”

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “the [rich] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Verse 8 in Greek does not make a full stop (period), for v. 9 begins with a subordinate relative pronoun. Contemporary English convention requires a full stop in translation, however.

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “for.” The connection, though causal, is also adversative.

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to the one for whom these things are not present.”

[1:9]  ¹² tn The words “that is to say, he is” are not in Greek. The word order is unusual. One might expect the author to have said “he is nearsighted and blind” (as the NIV has so construed it), but this is not the word order in Greek. Perhaps the author begins with a strong statement followed by a clarification, i.e., that being nearsighted in regard to these virtues is as good as being blind.