NOW FOR THIS VERY REASON ALSO: Kai auto touto de:

For this very reason is a "term of conclusion" and as all good inductive students (see Inductive Bible Study) know, the natural "reflex" is to stop and ask "what reason?" This is not a pedantic (a pedant is one who makes a show of knowledge) exercise but serves (1) to slow you down and (2) helps you to read the passage with a purpose. Inductive Bible study "immerses" you in the environment of the passage and instead of a bored, listless, apathetic passive reader, you become engaged, and actively involved even anticipating insights your diligence will yield. In short your Scripture reading instead of being drudgery becomes a delight! IT'S YOUR TURN!

In simple terms Peter is saying NOW IT'S YOUR TURN! Yes, God has given us all the necessary spiritual resources, but now we are responsible to use them.

UBS Handbook writes that...

Having reminded his readers of their great and glorious destiny, he now invites them to demonstrate this in their lives, that is, to lead lives that are morally and ethically acceptable. (The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series. Logos.com)

Peter is urging his readers to grow in spiritual maturity. The sanctification process is lifelong for every genuine partaker of His "divine nature". Paul might refer to the process as sanctification or a progressive setting apart of the believer from the corruption of this world and unto God to render us useful and fruit for His holy purposes. "NOW" that you've heard these great truths -- now that you have everything necessary for life & godliness, now that you have His precious and magnificent promises, and now that you have been made partakers of His divine nature..."NOW" in view of these incredible resources, work out your salvation. It will take effort but not self effort. It will take "faith" effort (Phil  2:12–13, Col 2:6). So get on with it. Walk forth laying hold of the promises that are yours in Christ for "in Him you have been made complete" (Col 2:10)

John Calvin adds

As it is a work arduous and of immense labor, to put off the corruption which is in us, he bids us to strive and make every effort for this purpose. He intimates that no place is to be given in this case to sloth, and that we ought to obey God calling us, not slowly or carelessly, but that there is need of alacrity; as though he had said, “Put forth every effort, and make your exertions manifest to all.”  (2 Peter 1)

APPLYING: pareisenegkantes (AAPMPN): 

since all this is so, bend all your energy to the task of equipping your faith.  (Westminster Press)

Applying (3923) (pareisphero  from pará = alongside+ eisphéro = bring into) means literally to bear in alongside or besides (to bring to bear), and so to introduce simultaneously.  To contribute besides to something. This verb implies making a strong effort to provide something necessary.

Pareisphero was at times used of smuggling or of importing along byways. Compare for example the action of false teachers in Jude 4 ("certain persons have crept in unnoticed" = pareisduno).

As discussed below this verb is used idiomatically here meaning we are to to do our very best in attempting to bring forth the Christian virtues listed. Strachan says that the words “and besides this” emphasize the fact of the gifts spoken of in verse four as having their logical outcome in character, and quotes Bunyan as saying, “The soul of religion is the practical part.” (Ibid)

Vincent adds that pareisphero means

literally, to bring in by the side of: adding your diligence to the divine promises.

God has given us all that is necessary for the divine life. Because He has, we must be diligent in cultivating it. God does not make us holy against our will or without our involvement. There must be desire, determination, and discipline on our part. Peter is calling for maximum effort on our part. The Christian life is not lived to the honor of God without effort. Even though God has poured His divine power into the believer, the Christian himself is required to make every disciplined effort alongside of what God has done. This is a perfect parallel to Paul's exhortation to the church at Philippi to

work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  (see notes Philippians 2:12; 2:13).

The aorist tense here calls for effective action on the reader's part. The concern is not with the process of procuring this needed diligence but with its actual operation.

Jamieson writes that it means...

literally, “introducing,” side by side with God’s gift, on your part “diligence.”

John MacArthur explains it this way...

In view of and parallel to God’s endeavor in providing salvation, believers are compelled to call on all their regenerate faculties to live godly lives (see notes 2 Peter 3:14; Romans 6:22, Ephesians 5:7; 5:8; 5:9; Hebrews 6:10; 6:11; 6:12) (Gal 6:9) (MacArthur, J: 2 Peter And Jude. Moody or Logos)

Spurgeon rightly said...

God sends every bird his food, but He doesn't throw it into the nest.”

God has provided everything necessary for life and godliness but we must do something to make it experientially ours.

Henrietta Mears speaks of applying all diligence

It is difficult to steer a parked car, so get moving.

ALL DILIGENCE: spouden pasan: (In the original Greek spoude is placed first to emphasize the attitude Peter is calling believers to exhibit in the discharge of the following "duties"!)

Spurgeon exhorts us to all diligence...

For we cannot expect to go to heaven asleep. We are not taken there against our wills. It is not our will that accomplishes our salvation; but still, it is not accomplished without our will. “Giving diligence,”yes, but more than that, “giving all diligence,”

Diligence (4710) (spoude from speudo = hasten, make haste) refers to eagerness, earnestness,  willingness or zeal. It denotes quick movement or haste accompanying the eagerness, etc, in the interest of a person or cause. Thus spoude can refer to swiftness of movement or action and means haste or speed (like our expression "in a hurry"). It can refer to an earnest commitment in discharge of an obligation or experience of a relationship. Spoude was often used in Greek and Roman literature and found on inscriptions in reference to extraordinary commitment to civic and religious responsibilities, which were frequently intertwined, and also of concern for personal moral excellence or optimum devotion to the interests of others.

Spoude is used 12 times in the NT (Mark; Lu; Ro 2x; 2Co 5x; Heb; 2 Pe; Jude) and is translated in the NASB as: diligence, 4; earnestness, 5; effort, 1; hurry, 2. KJV also translates as business, 1; care, 1; carefulness, 1; diligence, 5; earnest care, 1; forwardness, 1; haste, 2.

A familiar OT passage helps give us a word picture of the meaning of spoude. In the Septuagint (LXX - Greek of the Hebrew OT) we read that in concert with the last plague in Egypt, Jehovah instructed Israel regarding the Passover mean declaring

Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste (Lxx = spoude) —it is the Lord’s Passover." (Ex 12:11)

Spoude is primarily an attitude which leads to an action. Spoude means to do something with intense effort and motivation, with quick movement and is in opposition to the attitude of slothfulness. The individual who is "spoude" who is eager to do something and ready to expend the necessary energy and effort.

Spoude means to do something with intense effort and motivation—‘to work hard, to do one’s best, to endeavor.’ Thus Paul exhorts the Roman saints that "he who leads, with diligence (spoude)" (see note Romans 12:8) There are two ways in which leader can lead —with heart and mind or in the most perfunctory way. The lead may dully and drably lead or he may do it with the joy and thrill of zeal. We need leaders with zeal (spoude) in their hearts.

Henry Alford says spoude

implies more than mere earnest desire; a man’s spoude is necessarily action as well as wish.

Kenneth Wuest adds that the related verb (spoudazo) conveys

the idea of making haste, being eager, giving diligence, and putting forth effort are in the word. The word speaks of intense effort and determination. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)

Peter is calling for an attitude of eagerness and zeal, an abandonment of sluggishness and self-indulgence. Note Peter's addition of the little modifier all (pas = the whole amount or quantity, no holding back) to underline the comprehensiveness of the effort called for. Peter says this is so important that one's effort must be neither half-hearted nor selective. 

The idea is Doing your utmost for His highest as Oswald Chambers might phrase it.

When you are diligent, you are alert, focused, committed to the task at hand, single minded, careful, business like. 

The Greek phrase Peter uses here ("spouden pasan pareisphero") according to one source is an idiom which literally means to bring every effort, to do one's very best in attempting to do something, to make every effort to do it, or to try as hard as possible.

Webster defines diligence (and I paraphrase) as steady, earnest, attentive and energetic application and effort in a pursuit. This person is not lackadaisical! He or she exhibits the proverbial diligence of a bee ("busy as a bee"). Peter is saying the saint is to put forth zealous persistence in accomplishing the goal.

J. Vernon McGee in his unique style describes "all diligence" reminding us that

The Christian life is a very serious business. However, we have made it sort of an extracurricular activity. The present-day thinking is that it is not something to be taken into the business world or the schoolroom or into social life. Rather, it is something sort of like your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes which you wear only at certain times. However, Peter said that it is something to which we are to give “all diligence. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary:  Thomas Nelson or Logos)

C. H. Spurgeon has some sage advice on the importance of diligence and faith in assurance of one's salvation:

If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give diligence." Take care that thy faith is of the right kind-that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly.

Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God's Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly. (see note Colossians 3:16) When thou hast done this, "Add to thy knowledge temperance." Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God's Holy Spirit, patience; ask him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God's glory your object in life; live in His sight; dwell close to Him; seek for fellowship with Him; and thou hast "godliness"; and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practice these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence "your calling and election." "Give diligence," if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand. (From Morning & Evening 7/26)

Alexander Maclaren writes that...

II. Note the wide field of action for this homely grace.

I can do nothing more — nor is it necessary that I should — than put before your mind, in a sentence or two, the various applications of it which our letter gives.

First, note that in our text, ‘giving all diligence, add to your faith.’ That is to say, unless you work with haste, with earnestness, and therefore with much putting forth of strength, your faith will not evolve the graces of character which is in it to bring forth. If, on the other hand, we set ourselves to our tasks, then out of faith will come, as the blossoms mysteriously and miraculously do out of an apparently dead stump, virtue, manliness, and knowledge, and temperance, and patience, and godliness, and brotherly mindedness, and charity. All that galaxy of light and beauty will shine forth on the one condition of diligence, and it will not appear without that. Without it, the faith, though it may be genuine, which lies in a man who is idle in cultivating Christian character, will bear but few and shrivelled fruits. The Apostle uses a very remarkable expression here, which is rendered in our Bible imperfectly ‘giving all diligence.’ He has just been saying that God has ‘given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and exceeding great and precious promises.’ The Divine gift, then, is everything that will help a man to live a high and godly life. And, says Peter, on this very account, because you have all these requisites for such a life already given you, see that you ‘bring besides into’ the heap of gifts, as it were, that which you and only you can bring, namely, ‘all diligence.’ The phrase implies that diligence is our contribution. And the very reason for exercising it is the completeness of God’s gift. ‘On this very account’ — because He has given so much — we are to lay ‘all diligence’ by the side of His gifts, which are useless to the sluggard.

On the one hand there are all great gifts and boundless possibilities as to life and godliness, and on the other diligence as the condition on which all these shall actually become ours, and, passing into our lives, will there produce all these graces which the Apostle goes on to enumerate. The condition is nothing recondite, nothing hard either to understand or to practise, but it is simply that commonplace, humdrum virtue of diligence. If we will put it forth, then the gifts that God has given, and which are not really ours unless we put it forth, will pass into the very substance of our being, and unfold themselves according to the life that is in them; even the life that is in Jesus Christ Himself, in all forms of beauty and sweetness and power and blessedness. ‘Diligence’ makes faith fruitful. Diligence makes God’s gifts ours.

Then, again, the Apostle gives an even more remarkable view of the possible field for this all-powerful diligence when he bids his readers exercise it in order to ‘make their calling and election sure.’ Peter’s first letter shows that he believed that Christians were ‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.’ But for all that he is not a bit afraid of putting the other side of the truth, and saying to us in effect. ‘We cannot read the eternal decrees of God nor know the names written in the Book of Life. These are mysteries above us. But if you want to be sure that you are one of the called and chosen, work and you will get the assurance.’ The confirmation of the ‘call,’ of the ‘election,’ both in fact and in my consciousness depends upon my action. The ‘diligence,’ of which the Apostle thinks such great things, reaches, as it were, a hand up into heaven and binds a man to that great unrevealed, electing purpose of God. If we desire that upon our Christian lives there shall shine the perpetual sunshine of an unclouded confidence that we have the love and the favour of God, and that for us there is no condemnation, but only ‘acceptance in the beloved,’ the short road to it is the well-known and trite path of toil in the Christian life.

Still further, one of the other writers of the New Testament gives us another field in which this virtue may expatiate, when the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts to diligence, in order to attain ‘the full assurance of hope.’ If we desire that our path should be brightened by the clear vision of our blessed future beyond the grave, and above the stars, and Within the bosom of God, the road to that happy assurance and sunny, cloudless confidence in a future of rest and fellowship with God lies simply here-work! as Christian men should, whilst it is called to-day.

The last of the fields in which this virtue finds exercise is expressed by our letter, when Peter says, ‘Seeing that we look for such things, let us be diligent, that we may be found of Him in peace without spot, and-blameless.’ If we are to be ‘found in peace,’ we must be ‘found spotless,’ and if we are to be ‘found spotless’ we must be ‘diligent.’ ‘If that servant begin to say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and to be slothful, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant will come in an hour when he is not aware.’ On the other hand, ‘who is that faithful servant whom his lord hath set ruler over his household? Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing?’ Doing so, and diligently doing it, ‘he shall be found in peace. ‘

What a beautiful ideal of Christian life results from putting together all these items. A fruitful faith, a sure calling, a cloudless hope, a peaceful welcome at last! The Old Testament says, ‘The hand of the diligent maketh rich’; the New Testament promises unchangeable riches to the same hand. The Old Testament says, ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings.’ The New Testament assures us that the noblest form of that promise shall be fulfilled in the Christian man’s communion with his Lord here, and perfected when the diligent disciple shall ‘be found of Him in  (Read the full sermon on 2 Peter 1:5 The Power of Diligence)

IN: en:

In - Robertson says the preposition in is probably instrumental dative in this verse and signifies therefore the means by which the Verb's (''supply'') action takes place.

You can hear a kind of surging "Forward! Forward! Forward!" if one renders Peter's words as follows: "as you have obtained faith in Christ and stand in it, now apply yourself diligently to advance in moral excellence, and as you stand in that do not be satisfied but press on to increase your knowledge of God's will, and as you stand in that do not be satisfied but be diligent to enlarge your capacities of self-control and mastery of your passions, and as you stand in that don't be satisfied but cultivate every form of patience and serenity, and in that let devoutness and piety and sweet love to God flourish, and in that strive to kindle your affection for other believers, and in and through it all grow in love to all men." In other words: Forward! Forward! Press On! Advance!

John Piper illustrates the deceptive danger of disobeying this clear command (remember God's commands always include His enablements)...

Don't Float; Swim Hard  -Last week I read a true story to the boys entitled Glenda's Long Swim in "The Incredible Series." Glenda and Robert Lennon were four miles off the coast of Florida fishing alone from their yacht. Glenda decided to take a swim and soon found the current had carried her too far out from the boat. Her husband, hearing her cries, without thinking dove in and swam to her, but then realized they were both being carried out. He was a champion swimmer, but not she. They made a plan. He would swim against the tide to keep the boat in view until the tide ceased and he could reach the boat. She should save her strength and just float with the tide and he would come and get her. He fought the tide for six hours and just as the boat was about to disappear on the horizon the tide turned and his strokes carried him to the boat exhausted. The sun had set. His searching was futile—he could not find his wife. The next day on one last effort of search, the search party found his wife—twenty miles out and still alive. It was an incredible story.

What it illustrates is this: Christians who just float never stay in the same place. Christians who disobey 2Peter 1:5–7 and do not apply themselves with diligence to bear the fruit of faith drift into great peril. We must strive even to stand still, the tide of temptation is so strong.

The effort towards virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly affection, and love is not dispensable icing on the cake of faith. If Robert had not swum with all his might, the yacht would have gone out of sight, and he and his wife would have drowned. I've said before and will say again: we do not judge a person's genuineness by how close he is to heaven but by how hard he is stroking. The evidence that God's power has been given to you by faith is that you are now making every effort (as verse 5 says) to advance in the qualities of Christ (See his full sermon Confirm Your Election)

YOUR FAITH: te pistei humon:

Faith (4102)(pistis) is synonymous with trust or belief and is the conviction of the truth of anything, but in Scripture usually speaks of belief  respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it. Note that this discussion of pistis is only an overview and not a detailed treatise of this vitally important subject.

Faith is a firm, strong conviction and is the the root of the Christian life from which the ''sap'' of the Holy Spirit flows and which gives rise to the various Christian virtues listed here. Genuine faith is a belief which results in behavior which is in accord with that which is believed. Peter uses the definite article here to identify the faith as a very specific "faith". The question is what faith is he referring to? He has told us several verses earlier that we all have a faith that is isotimos or of equal value to that of Peter the great apostle and so Peter does not ask his readers to supply faith. "Faith leads the band; love brings up the rear" [Bengel]. The fruits of faith specified are seven, the perfect number. Faith is not the end of the Christian road but its beginning.

Your marks the faith as each individual's personal possession. Faith is the seedbed out of which Christian character is produced as we do our part. Paul amplifies the picture teaching that saints have "been firmly rooted ...in (Christ) and established in (our) faith" (Col 2:7) In the schematic below envision Christ as our "Taproot" (Webster: the central element or position in a line of growth or development) in Whom our faith is firmly fixed. Empowered by His strength (in the diagram out of sight below the ground so to speak) you can begin to see how this supernatural "fruit tree" can bear these 7 Christian virtues which are visible above the ground for all the world to see. Our part then is to exert diligence & faith (human responsibility) while abiding in Christ (God's sovereignty) Who taught

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (Jn 15:5)

SUPPLY: epichoregesate (2 PAAM):

Spurgeon in his exposition of 2 Peter 1:5-7 writes...

As you have seen the mason take up first one stone, and then another, and then gradually build the house, so are you Christians to take first one virtue, and then another, and then another, and to pile up these stones of grace one upon the other until you have built a palace for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

Faith, of course, comes first, because faith is the foundation of all the graces, and there can be no true grace where there is no true faith.

Then “add to your faith virtue,” which should have been translated “courage.” True courage is a very great blessing to the Christian, indeed, without it how will he be able to face his foes? “And to courage knowledge,” for courage without knowledge would be foolish rashness, which would lead you to the cannon’s mouth when there was nothing to be gained by flinging away your life.

“And to knowledge temperance;” for there are some who no sooner get knowledge than they are carried away with the new doctrine which they have learned, and become like men intoxicated, for it is possible to be intoxicated even with truth.

Happy is that Christian who has temperance with his knowledge who, while holding one doctrine, does not push that to the extreme, but learns to hold other doctrines in due conformity with it.

“And to temperance patience,” or endurance, so that we are able to endure the “trial of cruel mockings” or sharp pains, or fierce persecutions, or the usual afflictions of this life. He is a poor Christian who has no power of endurance, a true Christian must “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

“And to endurance godliness:” having a constant respect to God in all our ways, living to God, and living like God so far as the finite can be like the Infinite.

“And to godliness brotherly kindness.” O dear friends, let us be very kind to those who are our brothers in Christ Jesus; let the ties of Christian kinship unite us in true brotherhood to each other.

“And to brotherly kindness charity;” let us have love to all men, though specially to the household of faith.

Supply describes the work that must be diligently performed. Barclay writes that what Peter is saying here is