3:18a

Peter ended his letter by appealing to his readers to grow in the way that they trusted Christ. This is similar to the way he began his letter (see paragraph 1:5–9).

grow in the grace…of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Scholars interpret these words in different ways:

(1) “grace” means “God’s blessing and favor.” According to this interpretation, Peter was telling the people to whom he was writing to continue to trust in Christ and obey him, so that Christ would bless them more and more.

(2) “grace of Christ” means “the good character/qualities of Christ.” According to this interpretation, Peter was telling the people to whom he was writing that they should try to develop in themselves more and more of the good character that Christ showed. This fits in with what Peter said at the beginning of his letter (see 1:5–9).

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1), if you need to be specific in your translation. If, however, you follow the second interpretation, you could say something like:

Try to live/behave more and more in the good way that Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and our Savior, lived.

The tense of the Greek verb (present imperative) shows that the action is continuous. Here is another way to translate this:

Continue to grow (Good News Translation)

grow in the…knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: This could mean:

(1) continually get to know our Lord better and better,

(2) continually increase what you know about our Lord. Learn more and more about how he lived and what he taught,

(3) get more and more of the knowledge which our Lord gives.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation.

Section 3:18b

Peter said we should all praise Christ

The final words of the letter are often called a “doxology” in English, that is, they are words that Peter wrote to praise Christ.

Paragraph 3:18b

3:18b

Most of the letters in the NT end in a similar way. People understand the form of this sort of statement (literally “to him glory”) in different ways. You can translate it as a prayer (“may people honor him”), as a command (“honor him”), or as a statement (“honor belongs to him”).

glory: In this verse, you can translate this as “honor” or “praise.”

Amen: Not all versions include this final word. This is because it is not in some of the Greek manuscripts.

If there is already a Christian church in your area, they may already be using the word “Amen” in some form when they pray. If so, you should use the same word here. If however you want to translate this word, you can use an expression like, “let it be so.”

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