8. These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. But those who do not have them are so short-sighted that they cannot see and have forgotten that they have been purified from their past sins.
10. So then, my brothers and sisters, try even harder to make God's call and his choice of you a permanent experience; if you do so, you will never abandon your faith.
11. In this way you will be given the full right to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12. And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received.
13. I think it only right for me to stir up your memory of these matters as long as I am still alive.
14. I know that I shall soon put off this mortal body, as our Lord Jesus Christ plainly told me.
15. I will do my best, then, to provide a way for you to remember these matters at all times after my death.
16. We have not depended on made-up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With our own eyes we saw his greatness.
17. We were there when he was given honour and glory by God the Father, when the voice came to him from the Supreme Glory, saying, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased!”
18. We ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.