We have a responsibility to ensure that we do not stumble. God has given us everything we need to live a godly life and to participate in his divine nature so that we can stand and not stumble. God has done his part. In verses 5 through 7, Peter outlines the efforts that we are responsible to carry out. In these verses, Peter outlines our participation in this partnership. Before I talk about these efforts though, I need to talk about the Greek figure of speech that I alluded too earlier.

Check out the structure in 2nd Peter starting with verse five.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.(2 Pet. 1:5-7 emphasis mine) …show more content…
This actually is not the intent. The figure of speech used here is called a Polysyndeton - which is a fancy word that means “many ands” which you can see in these verses. A Polysyndeton is a Greek figure of speech that is a repetition of a conjunction, in this case the word “and”. It means that they are all bound together. But more importantly, the figure of speech requires that each clause must be considered together and is used to call our attention to each. The use of the Polysyndeton requires the reader to stop at each point, to weigh each matter that is presented and emphasized.[Bullinger, E. W. (Ethelbert William). Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, Explained and Illustrated. London,UK: Forgotten Books, 1898, p 208.] Each clause is important in its own right and required to make up the