2 Peter 1:8

if these things be in you The Greek verb expresses the idea of permanent property or possession, as in Matthew 19:21; 1 Corinthians 13:3. For "abound," better multiply, as expressing the activity of life in each as reproducing itself in manifold acts.

they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful The words in italics are not necessary for the meaning and make the structure of the sentence awkward. Better, they make you neither idle nor yet unfruitful. The word for "barren" is found in the "idle" of Matthew 12:36; Matthew 20:3, and elsewhere. The English "barren" introduces a gratuitous tautology.

in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Rather, unto or towards, the Greek preposition pointing to "the knowledge …" not as the region in which their activity is to work, but as the goal to which all that activity should be tending. The "knowledge" is the higher epignosisof 2 Peter 1:3, and its position here, as the end and crown of the Christian hope, well illustrates its relation to the gnosiswhich belongs to an earlier and less perfect state.