2 Peter 1:8

For if ¹  these things are really yours ²  and are continually increasing, ³  they will keep you from becoming ⁴  ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of ⁵  knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. ⁶ 

Pr 19:15; Mt 13:22; Mt 20:3,6; Mt 25:26; Joh 5:42; Joh 15:2,6; Joh 15:7,8; Ro 12:11; 1Co 15:58; 2Co 5:13-17; 2Co 8:2,7; 2Co 9:14; 2Co 13:5; Php 1:9; Php 2:5; Col 2:7; Col 3:16; 1Th 3:12; 1Th 4:1; 2Th 1:3; 1Ti 5:13; Tit 3:14; Phm 1:6; Heb 6:12; 2Pe 1:2

¹ tn The participles are evidently conditional, as most translations render them.

² tn The participle ὑπάρχοντα (Juparconta) is stronger than the verb εἰμί (eimi), usually implying a permanent state. Hence, the addition of “really” is implied.

³ 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…”

⁴ tn Grk “cause [you] not to become.”

⁵ tn Grk “unto,” “toward”; although it is possible to translate the preposition εἰς (eis) as simply “in.”

⁶ 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.