2 Peter 1:5-9

v5a: Without effort, we will not make much progress in holiness. “Those who are lazy in religious life will make nothing of it.” Let us pray for one another that we would “strive in order to enter” through the narrow gate.

v5b-7: Believers are to add to their faith, virtue, “strength and courage, without which believers” will be “afraid of professing the doctrines or practicing the duties of the Gospel”; knowledge, without which we “cannot approve of the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God”; self-control, “in our love for and use of the good things of this life... such as food, drink, clothing, sleep, recreation, and reputation”; endurance, “by which we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and submission, without grumbling against God or complaining about him”; godliness, “childlike fear and reverential love”; brotherly kindness, “a mutual tender affection for all our fellow Christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the same country, and heirs of the same inheritance”; and love, “goodwill to all people.”

v8-9: Those who are growing in holiness, will be “zealous and active, vigorous and energetic, in all practical Christianity, and very effective and productive in righteous works,” bringing much glory to God. Those who are not growing in holiness, will be blind to “the reality and certainty... of the glorious rewards God will give to the righteous and the fearful punishment he will inflict on the ungodly!”