Let's do a side by side of NLT and NKJV:
2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
As your knowledge grows, grace and peace should be fruits of that knowledge. Having the opposite sometimes gives insight to the meaning of ideas. What is the opposite of grace and peace? Strife and conflict are opposites for peace. But for grace? Grace is one of those words that is hard to define. A thesaurus has antonyms of:
Any thoughts?
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
3 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,
Through His power He gives us great gifts to live as a holy people.
4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
4 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.
What are some of these promises? The Holy Spirit is one. Gaining Life by giving up our own ways is two. With these and more, we are able to withstand worldly corruption. So hang onto those promises. Name more please.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
We now begin a list of gains and growth from the seed of faith. We start with our faith and attach virtue/moral excellence to it. Is virtue the first thing we can know, or is it the proper mix to start with? Next, we add knowledge to the virtue. Knowledge without the virtue is a coarse thing that can cause you to become prideful. Thoughts?
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
Knowledge gets sandwiched between virtue and self-control, for good reason. Unbridled knowledge can lead you to separate yourself from others, keeping you from giving love to others and starving yourself of the same. But without knowledge, you will stagnate. Next we must maintain that self-control and never give up. Add to that tenacity godliness. What is godliness? Goodness?
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
Now we add brotherly kindness/affection. Not just get along, but be like the close brother who will go out of their way to protect their siblings, help them and take up their cause. And of course, we finish with the pièce de résistance, love. The last three seem to be ever increasing levels of love. And we are to strive to add all these to our faith. Is it important to connect all these in the order listed? Why or why not?
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the ingredient list for the "miracle grow" for our faith.
9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Look for this growth. Go after them. If you don't you will begin to doubt and wonder why you don't "hear from the Lord" or know what God's will is for you.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
This may be one of the most important lessons for a Christian. Making sure you are saved by sticking to this plan. This builds confidence in our salvation when we have this promise.
11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What a great feeling to enter the kingdom without shame for what you regret you should have done. There is a lot here to chew on, so what are your thoughts?
2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
As your knowledge grows, grace and peace should be fruits of that knowledge. Having the opposite sometimes gives insight to the meaning of ideas. What is the opposite of grace and peace? Strife and conflict are opposites for peace. But for grace? Grace is one of those words that is hard to define. A thesaurus has antonyms of:
Any thoughts?
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
3 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,
Through His power He gives us great gifts to live as a holy people.
4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
4 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.
What are some of these promises? The Holy Spirit is one. Gaining Life by giving up our own ways is two. With these and more, we are able to withstand worldly corruption. So hang onto those promises. Name more please.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
We now begin a list of gains and growth from the seed of faith. We start with our faith and attach virtue/moral excellence to it. Is virtue the first thing we can know, or is it the proper mix to start with? Next, we add knowledge to the virtue. Knowledge without the virtue is a coarse thing that can cause you to become prideful. Thoughts?
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
Knowledge gets sandwiched between virtue and self-control, for good reason. Unbridled knowledge can lead you to separate yourself from others, keeping you from giving love to others and starving yourself of the same. But without knowledge, you will stagnate. Next we must maintain that self-control and never give up. Add to that tenacity godliness. What is godliness? Goodness?
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
Now we add brotherly kindness/affection. Not just get along, but be like the close brother who will go out of their way to protect their siblings, help them and take up their cause. And of course, we finish with the pièce de résistance, love. The last three seem to be ever increasing levels of love. And we are to strive to add all these to our faith. Is it important to connect all these in the order listed? Why or why not?
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the ingredient list for the "miracle grow" for our faith.
9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Look for this growth. Go after them. If you don't you will begin to doubt and wonder why you don't "hear from the Lord" or know what God's will is for you.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
This may be one of the most important lessons for a Christian. Making sure you are saved by sticking to this plan. This builds confidence in our salvation when we have this promise.
11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What a great feeling to enter the kingdom without shame for what you regret you should have done. There is a lot here to chew on, so what are your thoughts?