2 Peter 1:5

and beside this, giving all diligence Better, on this very account. The Apostle does not contemplate the elements of Christian holiness which he proceeds to specify as additions to our participation in the Divine Nature, but rather dwells on that very fact, as a reason for pressing onward in the Christian life with all diligence (better, perhaps, earnestness). The use of the word in Judges 1:3 should be noticed as a parallelism. The Greek for "giving" (literally bringing in by the side of) is an unusual word, not found elsewhere in the New Testament, and seems chosen to express the thought that men, though rejoicing in God's gifts, were yet to bring in collaterally, as it were, their own activity (comp. Philippians 2:13).

add to your faith virtue The Greek word (epichorêgein) is a compound form of that which had been used in 1 Peter 4:11 (see note there as to its meaning and history) and furnishes an addition to the list of words common to the two Epistles. In the LXX. it occurs but once (Sir 25:22), and it may be noted that this is the only passage (unless Galatians 3:5 be another instance) where it is used of man's activity and not of God's. Thus taken, the more accurate rendering would be with and by your faith supply virtue, with virtue knowledge, and so on. The Greek cannot possibly bear the meaning of "adding to," though the fact is of course implied. What is meant is that each element of the Christian life is to be as an instrument by which that which follows it is wrought out.

knowledge The word is the simpler gnosis, placed here in its right relation to the fuller epignosis(see note on 2 Peter 1:2), to which it leads. The context is decisive against our taking it in the sense of a speculative apprehension of doctrinal mysteries, and we must think of the Apostle as meaning the moral discernment of those who "understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17), who "have their senses exercised to distinguish between good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14). This kind of knowledge is to be gained, as the Apostle teaches, by the practice of virtue.