2 Peter 1:8

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 

2 Peter 2:14

2:14 Their eyes, ⁷  full of adultery, ⁸  never stop sinning; ⁹  they entice ¹⁰  unstable people. ¹¹  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ¹² 

2 Peter 2:18

2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ¹³  they are able to entice, ¹⁴  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ¹⁵  people ¹⁶  who have just escaped ¹⁷  from those who reside in error. ¹⁸ 

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.

⁷ tn Grk “having eyes.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

⁸ tn Grk “full of an adulteress.”

⁹ tn Grk “and unceasing from sin.” Some translate this “insatiable for sin,” but such a translation is based on a textual variant with inadequate support.

¹⁰ tn Grk “enticing.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

¹¹ tn “People” is literally “souls.” The term ψυχή (yuch) can refer to one’s soul, one’s life, or oneself.

¹² tn Grk “having hearts trained in greediness, children of cursing.” The participles continue the general description of the false teachers, without strong grammatical connection. The genitive κατάρας (kataras, “of cursing”) is taken attributively here.

¹³ tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “they entice.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “those.”

¹⁷ tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”

¹⁸ tn Or “deceit.”