Vs 3 is connected to vs 4...
I think vss 2 through 13 are all connected.
2 Peter 1:2-13 NKJV — Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,
I think that
if there's a delineation in the thoughts, it's
Vss 2 - 4, 5 - 8, 9, 10 - 11, and 12 - 13.
2 Peter 1:2-13 NKJV —
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Our experience of the Grace and peace of God is multiplied as our experience of God and Jesus are increased.
Through our experience and knowledge of God and Jesus (the written word included, as the basis of our experiences) we learn that God has given us everything we need to know him and live a godly life.
And because of his glory and virtue, we come to learn that he has given us many exceedingly great and precious promises that by these, we may become partakers of his divine nature, which allows us to escape the corruption that is in this world because of evil desires.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And because of the things described in vss 2-4, we are freed to focus our efforts on increasing our faith to add virtue. This frees us to add knowledge. Increasing our knowledge, we can add self-control. By adding self-control, we can add perseverance. By increasing perseverance, we can add brotherly kindness. By adding brotherly kindness, we can add love.....
By adding these things to our lives we ensure that we can be fruitful in our lives in Christ, and as such, experience the life of God in Christ.
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
It's incredibly important to take the time to learn to emphasize our focus on Jesus in learning to add the above described attributes, so we don't experience failure to grow in our experience of the Grace of God and Jesus.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
By giving ourselves over to adding the above-mentioned attributes, we can ensure success in our lives in Christ, and make it so that we never stumble. And in the end.... experience a great welcome into the everlasting Kingdom of God and Jesus. Kind of reminds me of the celebratory parades for the world war 2 soldiers, returning from the war in Europe and the Pacific. Great fanfare, and expressions of gratitude for their service.
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,
The importance of reminders, due to how easy it is to get sidetracked and focused on other, less important things.
So.... yeah... this group of passages strike me as a single, whole, that does exactly what Jesus asked Peter to do for us, the sheep of Jesus' flock.
