Having reminded his readers of their great and glorious destiny, he now invites them to demonstrate this in their lives, that is, to lead lives that are morally and ethically acceptable.

For this very reason can refer to verse 4 (“Because you are meant to share the divine nature”), or more likely to verses 3-4 (“Because Christ [or, God] has done all this”); or we can say “Because of what God has done for us.” Others understand it with the sense “to attain this” (so Jerusalem Bible; and note also the Living Bible “But to obtain these gifts”).

The expression for make every effort is found only here in the whole New Testament and is an invitation to do your best, regardless of the cost (see Jerusalem Bible “You will have to do your utmost yourselves,” and Phillips “you must do your utmost from your side”). In its secular usage the expression is an appropriate introduction to a list of virtues. This imperative may be rendered in many languages as “you must do your best” or “you must try as hard as you can.”

The word for supplement presents some difficulties in translation. The word can also mean “to furnish” or “to provide at one’s own expense.” The noun form of the verb was used of prominent and wealthy citizens who underwrote the expenses for the choirs needed in the performance of Greek plays. Later on the verb came to mean “to give lavishly” or “to give generously” (see verse 11, “will be richly provided”). In this context it stresses the great efforts that Christians must make to ensure that their basic faith in Christ is supplemented by other important virtues as well. In many languages, when translating the list of qualities that follow, it will be necessary to follow the Good News Translation word order (action-virtue-faith) rather than that of Revised Standard Version (action-faith-virtue) and translate supplement your faith, for example, as “add the following qualities to your trust in Christ.” The whole clause make every effort to supplement your faith can be expressed as “you must try as hard as you can to add the following qualities to your trust in Christ” or “along with trusting Christ you should make every effort to add these following qualities.”

What follows is a string of eight qualities that were familiar in Greek culture in general, and to Stoic thought in particular. There seems to be no apparent underlying reason for the order in which these qualities are listed; the only thing significant is that the list begins with faith and ends with love (verse 7), thus giving the impression that these qualities are needed in order to live a truly Christian life. The number 8 has significance, for it symbolized perfection in the ancient world. These eight qualities are in pairs, with the second member of each pair becoming the first member in the next pair.

Faith here is basically trust in and commitment to Jesus Christ, although it is possible to understand it as loyalty to Christ or faithfulness to Christian teaching. The fact that it is mentioned first is significant, indicating that faith is the basis of all Christian life.

Virtue (Good News Translation “goodness”) can be understood in a general sense, referring to moral excellence, or in a more restricted sense, referring to moral courage or strength. In this context it probably has the first sense, namely, “moral excellence.” This can be rendered in some languages as “beautiful goodness” or even “the ability to do good and beautiful deeds.” Good News Translation‘s “goodness,” however, is a very general virtue, and to translate it generally in some languages may be too vague. So it will be necessary to say, for example, “ability to be good toward other people.”

Knowledge can be understood generally as either philosophical knowledge or understanding and discernment of God’s will and purpose in the world, and in a narrower sense as either knowing the difference between good and evil or the wisdom and discernment that Christians need in order to live virtuous lives. In non-Christian lists, knowledge is usually first or last, but in Christian lists it has been replaced in this position by faith and love. In many languages it will be necessary to say what kind of knowledge is referred to; for example, “knowledge about God,” or “knowing more of what it means to be a Christian,” or “knowing what it means to be part of God’s people.”

Keeping in mind what we have said above, an alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Because God has done all this for us, you must try as hard as you can to add the following things to your trust in Christ: first of all you must add goodness; then to your goodness add knowledge about God.

However, in many languages it will be difficult to talk about adding abstract Christian qualities to a person’s Christian life. Therefore it may be necessary to rephrase the verse as follows:
• Because God has done all this for us, along with your trust in him you must try as hard as you can to gain the ability to be good to other people along with your trust in God; and this goodness should be accompanied by true knowledge of God.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .