¹From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.

To you who have received a faith as precious as ours and who have been made right with our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

²May more and more grace and peace be yours as you come to know God and Jesus our Lord.

Showing That God Has Called You

³God’s power has given us everything we need to lead a godly life. We have come to know the God who called us by his own glory and goodness.

⁴He has given us his very great and precious promises so that you can share in his nature. You have escaped from the corruption that’s in the world because of wrong desires.

⁵So make every effort to add goodness to your faith. Then to goodness, add knowledge.

⁶To knowledge, add self-control. To self-control, add endurance. To endurance, add godliness.

⁷To godliness, add kindness. And to kindness, add love.

⁸If you take on these qualities more and more, they’ll make you useful and fruitful as you come to know our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹But anyone who doesn’t take on these qualities is seeing only the present. They’re blind to the past, forgetting all their sins that have been washed away.

¹⁰My brothers and sisters, make every effort to show that God has called you to be saved. If you do everything I’ve just said, you’ll never trip and fall.

¹¹You’ll receive a rich welcome into the kingdom our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His kingdom will last forever.

How We Can Be Sure About Jesus

¹²So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and you’re well established in the truth that you now have.

¹³I think it’s right for me to remind you for as long as I live in this tent, that is, my body.

¹⁴I know that I’ll soon be leaving it, because our Lord Jesus Christ has made that clear to me.

¹⁵I hope you’ll always be able to remember these things after I’m gone. I’ll try very hard to see that you do.

¹⁶When we told you about the time our Lord Jesus Christ came with power, we weren’t trying to fool you by making up stories. We saw him in all his majesty with our own eyes.

¹⁷God the Father gave him honor and glory when the voice of the Majestic Glory came to him and said, “This is my beloved Son. I’m very pleased with him.”

¹⁸When we were with him on the sacred mountain, we heard this voice ourselves as it came from heaven.

¹⁹We can also rely completely on the message of the prophets. It’s important for you to pay attention to it. That message is like a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

²⁰Above all, here’s what you must understand. No prophecy in Scripture ever came from a prophet’s own interpretation of things.

²¹It never came simply because a prophet wanted it to. Instead, the Holy Spirit guided the prophets as they spoke. Although the prophets were human, what they said came from God.