Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Peter 1:9

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

9. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off ] More accurately, For he to whom these things are not present is blind, near-sighted. The causal conjunction is important in the sequence of thought. We are to press on from height to height of Christian excellence, for, if we do not so press, we sink back into a want of power to perceive even the elementary truths of the kingdom of God. The second of the two words describing this state is defined by Aristotle ( Probl. 31) as denoting the state of those who are naturally “short-sighted,” and is thus adequately rendered in the English version. The man in this state in his spiritual power of vision sees the near things, the circumstances, allurements, provocations of his daily life, but he has lost the power to look to the far-off things of the life eternal. This seems, on the whole, a truer interpretation than that which, taking the definition of the word given by some Greek lexicographers as meaning “one who closes his eyes,” sees in it a description of one whose blindness is self-caused, who wilfully closes the eyes of the spirit that he may not look upon the truth. The state of the blind man who saw “men, as trees, walking” (Mar 8:24) offers a suggestive parallel.

and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins ] Literally, and hath taken to himself forgetfulness (the noun is not found elsewhere in the New Testament) of the purification of his sins of long ago. The spiritual fact described is like that of which St James speaks, and indicates a like train of thought (Jas 1:23-24). The “purification” is that of conversion symbolized and made effectual by baptism, and connects itself with the stress laid upon it in the words that belong to one great crisis of the Apostle’s life (Act 10:15; Act 11:9; Act 15:9). The man who forgets this cleansing of his soul, and acts as if he were in his simply natural state, with no power to resist temptation, does in fact ignore what God has done for him, and treats “the sins of long ago” as though they were still the inevitable accompaniments of the present.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But he that lacketh these things is blind – He has no clear views of the nature and the requirements of religion.

And cannot see afar off – The word used here, which does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, ( muopazon,) means to shut the eyes; i. e., to contract the eyelids, to blink, to twinkle, as one who cannot see clearly, and hence to be near-sighted. The meaning here is, that he is like one who has an indistinct vision; one who can see only the objects that are near him, but who has no correct apprehension of objects that are more remote. He sees but a little way into the true nature and design of the gospel. He does not take those large and clear views which would enable him to comprehend the whole system at a glance.

And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins – He does not remember the obligation which grows out of the fact that a system has been devised to purify the heart, and that he has been so far brought under the power of that system as to have his sins forgiven. If he had any just view of that, he would see that he was under obligation to make as high attainments as possible, and to cultivate to the utmost extent the Christian graces.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Pe 1:9

He that lacketh these things is blind.

The miserable state of barren professors

I. Penury. It is a received maxim that God and nature have wrought nothing in vain; no part or faculty of the body can be well spared. We can spare nothing for this world; but for heaven we can quietly lack things that conduce to our eternal peace! What is the reason? A man never misses what he cares not for. A man may lack outward things yet come never the later to heaven; yea, the sooner the surer; but woe to him that lacks these things! This is the want now least feared, and this shall be the want most lamented. Grace is solid and real (Pro 10:22). Whatsoever we lack let us not lack these things.

II. Blindness.

1. Satan blinds the intellectual eye (2Co 4:4).

2. Lusts darken the mind.

3. The dust of this world makes many blind.

III. Apostasy. Hath forgotten: the original implies one that did voluntarily attract forgetfulness to himself; the author of his own mischief.

1. The corruption of the heart.

2. The danger of that corruption. Old sins–sins that he hath done of old. Long nurture is another nature.

3. The deliverance from that danger. He was purged. Salvation may be said to belong to many that belong not to salvation.

4. The unthankfulness for that delivery. Forgotten. The defect of corporal sight hath often mended the memory; but it is not so for spiritual (Mar 8:18). A carnal mind is blind to conceive, ready to forget.

(1) Chrysostom says, Nothing more helps us forward in a good course than the frequent recognition of our sins.

(2) As we remember our sins to repentance, so we must forget them in respect of continuance. Otherwise the memory of them doth not reduce us to life but forward us to death. (Thos. Adams.)

Religious nearsightedness

The man to whom these grave defects are imputed is supposed to possess an elementary degree of faith and to have once felt the purifying power of God in his dark and guilty spirit. He has received into him self the graft of a Divine life, but through some unhealthy condition of the stock that life has not become active, pulsating, fruitful. The life can only reach the true measure of its excellence through earnest self-cultivation. In the spiritual world there are wasted seeds, stunted developments. This disastrous turning back of Gods spring in our hearts starts in our own neglect. To know what these deficiencies that maim a mans religious life are, we must turn to the category of qualities needing cultivation that Peter gives us. Giving all diligence, in your faith supply virtue. That faith may be brought to bear its perfect fruit of virtue and strength, we must cultivate all the ethical branches of the faith that had been Divinely implanted within us. There is no true beginning for us before the beginning of faith, and that must be created within us by the very power of God. Do we not, however, say sometimes that the religious life not only begins but also ends in faith? So it does; just as when you go to London, if you get into a through carriage, your journey begins and ends in the same compartment. But the compartment rolls through many belts of varying country before you step out of it into the streets of London. And so, though all religious life begins and ends in faith, the faith moves in the meantime through a very wide range of virtues. In your faith supply virtue. Here mans part in the cultivation of religion begins. Virtue implies the tone and strength of religious life. And in your virtue supply knowledge. Religious life that has virtue without knowledge is on pretty much the same level as aerial navigation. The balloon may be made to rise into the pathway of forces that will sweep it on with unapproachable speed, but there is no known apparatus by which its course can be accurately directed. Delicate regulating power from within is wanted. So with the character to which virtue has been added without the further complement of knowledge. The lack always makes void much of the grace of the past. And in knowledge supply temperance or self-restraint. Strength of character must never make us reckless. Our temperance must be united with patience. Under the crosses, disappointments, and sufferings of our daily life there must be steadfastness and untroubled hope. Murmuring and petulance are symptoms of subtle spiritual disease. And in your patience supply godliness. Our resignation to the cross-influences of our life must not begin and end in stoicism. It would be a very poor end to all our tribulations, if they ossified our sensibilities and qualified us for the defiance of pain. And then to the temper we cherish towards God there must be joined a right attitude of mind towards our fellow-believers. In your godliness supply brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness there must be joined a world-embracing charity. Narrow tempers are inconsistent with religious life. A true faith will always bring with it, if duly cherished, a generous breadth. Where there is the lack of this you have religious defect, limitation, shortsightedness. Let us just glance at these qualities again, and see how each quality connects itself with some important part of mans nature. To faith add virtue. Virtue, or inward strength, connects itself with the will, for it is through the will it works. That is the first thing God claims for Himself in His purifying work of grace. To virtue knowledge. It is through all the channels of the intellectual life that knowledge is received and treasured. When God washes a man from the defilements of the past, He demands the consecration of intelligence to His service. And to knowledge temperance. Temperance is concerned with the government of the passions; and God, in cleansing a man from his past pollutions, seeks the subjection of well-ruled passions to His service. To temperance patience. Patience connects itself with the sensibilities through which we are made to suffer. In cleansing a man, God seeks the after-harmony of all his sensibilities with the Divine will. And to patience godliness. In separating a man from evil, God seeks for the response of all the religious faculties to His operations. And to godliness brotherly kindness and charity. These qualities link themselves with the sphere of the affections. In cleansing a man from his old sires, God seeks to bring about the healthy exercise and benevolent direction of his affections. The whole range of mans powers is indirectly specified, the powers through which a man enters into relationship with his fellow-men, as well as the powers through which he knows God and enters into relationship with the Eternal. God cleanses a man to make him holy in all these relationships, holy by the putting on of all these high graces. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. An imputed possession of these excellences will give us no high place in the scale of spiritual being. The stinted, spasmodic possession of these graces will not ennoble us very much more than the mere fiction of an imputed possession. These things are in some people as rare plants are in particular sections of country. You may come across them if you are very lucky and search long enough. A true believers life should be as full of them as the banks and hedgerows of mid-May are full of the glint and perfume of flowers. Faith oftentimes lies dormant like hibernating insects. A book of Chinese fables tells of a country where the people wake once in fifty days, and take the dreams of their sleep for realities, and the things they see in their waking moments for dreams. The imaginative author might have been describing some believing Christians. The power of innate faith rarely breaks out into moral movement. Now faith is not a fruit-bearing stock, but so much dead lumber within us, unless it lead by the way of these practical graces up to the perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is to be the grand issue of all these excellences. The end has not been reached when they have regulated our present life and beautified our present relationships. The apostle describes the lack of these things, first, under the metaphor of a grave defect in one of the leading physical senses; and, secondly, under the figure of a lapse in the working of the intellectual powers.

1. He who is wanting in one or all of these high qualities lacks the primary organ of perfect spiritual perception. He is blind. The stagnant and unprogressive believer is blind, no less than the purely natural man who discerns not the things of the Spirit of God. How many of us have inadequate views of what salvation means! Some people see nothing in salvation but deliverance from wrath and tempest and everlasting fire. A miserably defective view that is! God does not save us to put us on to some secure level of moral mediocrity and to leave us there, but to bring us into fellowship with Himself. A shipwrecked sailor has been helped by a timely hand on to a raft or floating spar. He has not been put there that he may live on a keg of rain-water and a cask of biscuits, and spend the rest of his days on a few square feet of planking. That is but a passing means to a larger and a better end. If you watched him drifting on the raft, and saw that he made no effort to secure the larger and better end, you would say he was either blinded by the sea-spray, struck by the lightning of the storm, or driven insane by his misfortunes. He drifts close under the beetling cliffs. Now he is within an arms length of some fissure in the cliffs. Through that fissure rock-cut steps lead up and out into a land of springs, and cornfields and orchards, and noble cities, and breadths of summer sunshine, and all the precious fellowships of men. He drifts away as though it were his will to live and die on the raft. Voices call to him from the shore, but he seems careless of the benign destiny to whose threshold he has come. The man, you would say, is blind. So with those of us who, saved by the forgiving grace of God, neglect to enter into that region of privilege and fellowship and ennobling spiritual experience to which virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity are the successive steps for the loyal and believing soul. He that lacketh these things is blind. And now Peter softens the expression and substitutes a somewhat milder term.

2. At best the blindness is half-blindness. If the man who neglects the cultivation of these qualities is not as dark as an unregenerate man, he at least labours under a most serious disability. He suffers from spiritual myopia, for the word used in the text is precisely the same Greek word the medical man of to-day uses to describe short-sight. He cannot see afar off. He discerns the near, but is quite at fault when he comes to deal with the distant. Foregrounds are clear, but all the backgrounds are sheer haze. The shortsighted man can see the puddle at his feet as he crosses the desert, but not the river of crystal, with belt of green, that flows for his refreshment on the far away edge of the desert. And so with the unprogressive believer who is afflicted by this spiritual shortsightedness. In the absence of the knowledge to which these graces lead he does not discern the complete character of the Benefactor who has washed and purified him; nor does he discern the heavenly ideal to which the washing and the purification were to point his aspirations and direct his footsteps. He sees, perhaps, a little of what God converts from, but scarcely anything of what God converts to. He has no perception of the largeness of his own destiny.

3. Again, St. Peter describes the lack of these higher Christian excellences under the figure of an intellectual lapse. Having forgotten the cleansing from his old sin. When some Lady Bountiful takes pity on a gutter child, and washes it from its nauseous accumulations of filth, it is that having put it into better clothes, she may introduce it to a more genial and generous life. If the child begins to dress itself in its old rags and patches, or stands shivering in the cold, neglecting to wrap itself about in the better raiment that has been made ready for it, it is because the child has forgotten, if it ever understood, the purpose for which the Lady Bountiful took it from the streets and washed it. She wanted to make it her own, and give it a place on her hearth and at her table. God washed us from the guilt and contamination of the past, not that we might stand lounging for ever at the starting-point of our first faith, or possibly go back to our old defilements, but that we might put on Christ and be clothed in these excellences that are summed up in the glorious character of Christ, and stand in His presence, chosen friends and companions for ever. If the new life is not delighting the eye with its inimitable grace, and filling the air with its reviving freshness, it is because there has been some untimely and disastrous arrest. The past cleansing and its Divine motive of perfect life and attainment have been overlooked and forgotten.

4. These words imply that the memory of past grace will be a living and effectual inspiration to us at each successive step of our perfecting. When God first touches our spirits with His cleansing power, that act has in it the potentiality of complete Christian excellence. The sustained remembrance of your conversion will keep fresh and forceful the motive that will stimulate you to the attainment of these various moral and spiritual excellences. You might as well try to grow a cedar tree without roots as seek to cultivate these qualities without the peculiar type of motive supplied by the act of Gods gracious cleansing from sin. (T. G. Selby.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 9. But he that lacketh these things] He, whether Jew or Gentile, who professes to have FAITH in God, and has not added to that FAITH fortitude, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and universal love; is blind-his understanding is darkened, and cannot see afar off, , shutting his eyes against the light, winking, not able to look truth in the face, nor to behold that God whom he once knew was reconciled to him: and thus it appears he is wilfully blind, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins-has at last, through his nonimprovement of the grace which he received from God, his faith ceasing to work by love, lost the evidence of things not seen; for, having grieved the Holy Spirit by not showing forth the virtues of him who called him into his marvellous light, he has lost the testimony of his sonship; and then, darkness and hardness having taken place of light and filial confidence, he first calls all his former experience into doubt, and questions whether he has not put enthusiasm in the place of religion. By these means his darkness and hardness increase, his memory becomes indistinct and confused, till at length he forgets the work of God on his soul, next denies it, and at last asserts that the knowledge of salvation, by the remission of sins, is impossible, and that no man can be saved from sin in this life. Indeed, some go so far as to deny the Lord that bought them; to renounce Jesus Christ as having made atonement for them; and finish their career of apostasy by utterly denying his Godhead. Many cases of this kind have I known; and they are all the consequence of believers not continuing to be workers together with God, after they had experienced his pardoning love.

Reader, see that the light that is in thee become not darkness; for if it do, how great a darkness!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

But he that lacketh these things; he that doth not live in the exercise of the forementioned graces.

Is blind; spiritually blind, as being destitute of saving knowledge.

And cannot see afar off: the Greek word is variously translated; the most probable account of it is either:

1. That it signifies to feel the way, or grope, as blind men do; and then the meaning is, he that lacketh these things is blind, and, as a blind man, gropes, not knowing which way to go; he is really destitute of the knowledge he pretends to: or:

2. To be purblind, or short-sighted, so as to see things near hand, but not afar off, as our translation hath it; and then the sense is, That such a one sees only the things of the world, but cannot look so far as heaven to discern things there, which if he did, he would walk in the way that leads thither, viz. in the practice of the duties before prescribed.

And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins: he is judged in the sight of God to forget a benefit received, that is not effectually mindful of it, in living suitably to it. And so here, he that professeth himself to have been purged from his old sins, in justification and sanctification, by the blood and Spirit of Christ, 1Co 6:11; Eph 5:25-27, and yet still lives in sin, and in the neglect of the duty he is engaged to, practically declares his forgetfulness of the mercy he professeth to have been vouchsafed him; and accordingly may be interpreted to have forgotten it, in that he acts like one that had. Or, if this be understood of one that is really purged from his old sins, yet he may be said to forget that so far as he returns again to them, or lives not up to the ends of his purgation, Luk 1:74,75.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. ButGreek, “For.”Confirming the need of these graces (2Pe1:5-8) by the fatal consequences of the want of them.

he that lackethGreek,“he to whom these are not present.”

blindas to thespiritual realities of the unseen world.

and cannot see afaroffexplanatory of “blind.” He closes his eyes(Greek) as unable to see distant objects (namely, heavenlythings), and fixes his gaze on present and earthly things which alonehe can see. Perhaps a degree of wilfulness in the blindness isimplied in the Greek, “closing the eyes,” whichconstitutes its culpability; hating and rebelling against the lightshining around him.

forgottenGreek,“contracted forgetfulness,” wilful and culpableobliviousness.

that he was purgedThecontinually present sense of one’s sins having been once for allforgiven, is the strongest stimulus to every grace (Ps130:4). This once-for-all accomplished cleansing of unbelieversat their new birth is taught symbolically by Christ, Joh13:10, Greek, “He that has been bathed (oncefor all) needeth not save to wash his feet (of the soilscontracted in the daily walk), but is clean every whit (in Christ ourrighteousness).” “Once purged (with Christ’s blood), weshould have no more consciousness of sin (as condemning us, Heb10:2, because of God’s promise).” Baptism is the sacramentalpledge of this.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But he that lacketh these things,…. Or in, and with whom, they are not; that is, these virtues, as the Arabic version reads, as faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity; where the principles of those things are not, and they are not exercised and performed, such an one

is blind: let him boast ever so much of his light and knowledge, and value himself upon it, and expect to be saved by it, let him live as he will; for he has no true knowledge of God, as in Christ, as the God of all grace, as his covenant God and Father; nor does he know what it is to have communion with him in Christ; he only professes to know him in words, while in works he denies him; nor has he any right knowledge of Christ, only notional and general, not spiritual, experimental, particular, and practical; he does not see the Son, so as truly to believe in him; he has no true sight of his beauty, suitableness, and fulness, and of him for himself; nor any experience of the work of the Spirit of God upon his heart, whom he neither receives, sees, nor knows spiritually, any more than the world itself does; nor does he see the plague of his own heart, the corruptions of his nature, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin; nor has he any true spiritual light into the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, only a form of godliness, without the power of it: and therefore, whatever natural understanding of things he has, he is spiritually blind,

and cannot see afar off: at least, not the good land that is afar off, the kingdom of heaven; the invisible glories of the other world; things that are not seen, which are eternal, which one that has true faith has a glimpse and sight of; nor Christ, who is in heaven at the right hand of God, and the things of Christ, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, carried within the vail; nor even what is within himself, the sins of his heart, the pollution of his nature, and the evil that dwells there; he sees not that he is poor, and wretched, and miserable, but fancies himself to be rich, and in need of nothing; he sees nothing but outward things, the things of time and sense, worldly and earthly things, which are near him, and all around him, which he minds, on which his heart is set, and he pursues with rigour. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, “trying with the hand”, as blind men do, feeling and groping to find the way; see Ac 17:27,

and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins; not by baptism, from the sins committed before it, for that does not purge from any sins, old or new, but that which it leads the faith of believers to, for pardon and cleansing, even the blood of Christ; but this also, and purification by it, is not meant here, though generally interpreters give this as the sense, and understanding it of the sin of ingratitude in such a person, who had received so great a benefit by Christ, and was unmindful of it; since it cannot be thought that one so described as above should ever have had his conscience purged by the blood of Christ from his old sins, or those before conversion, unless it be by profession; and then the sense is, that he has forgotten that he once professed to have been purged from all his sins by Christ; which, if he had, would have made him zealous of good works, and put him upon glorifying Christ both in body and spirit. The Ethiopic version renders it, “and he hath forgot to purge himself from old sins”; which he would have been concerned for, had he had a true and spiritual knowledge of Christ, and his Gospel, and an application of the exceeding great and precious promises of it, or had been made a partaker of the divine nature through them; see 2Co 7:1, but the words are better rendered agreeably to the original text, “and hath forgotten the purification of his old, or former sins”; or “sins of old”; as they are rendered by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; that is, he does not consider, nor think of it, that he was a sinner of old, a sinner in Adam, that he was conceived and shapen in sin, and went astray, and was called a transgressor from the womb; he does not think that he stands in any need of being purged from former sins; and is entirely unmindful of, and neglects, the purification of them by the blood of Christ.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He that lacketh these things ( ). “To whom (dative case of possession) these things are not ( because a general or indefinite relative clause).”

Seeing only what is near (). Present active participle of , a rare verb from (in Aristotle for a near-sighted man) and that from (to close the eyes in order to see, not to keep from seeing). The only other instance of is given by Suicer from Ps. Dion. Eccl. Hier. ii. 3 ( ) used of a soul on which the light shines (blinking and turning away). Thus understood the word here limits as a short-sighted man screwing up his eyes because of the light.

Having forgotten ( ). “Having received forgetfulness.” Second aorist active participle of and accusative , old word, from , to forget, here only in N.T. See 2Ti 1:5 for a like phrase (having received remembrance).

The cleansing ( ). See Heb 1:3 for this word for the expiatory sacrifice of Christ for our sins as in 1Pet 1:18; 1Pet 2:24; 1Pet 3:18. In 1Pe 3:21 Peter denied actual cleansing of sin by baptism (only symbolic). If there is a reference to baptism here, which is doubtful, it can only be in a symbolic sense.

Old (). Of the language as in Heb 1:1.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

But [] . Wrong. Render as Rev., for.

He that lacketh these things [ ] . Lit., to whom these things are not present. Note that a different word is used here from that in ver. 8, are yours, to convey the idea of possession. Instead of speaking of the gifts as belonging to the Christian by habitual, settled possession, he denotes them now as merely present with him.

Blind [] . Illustrating Peter’s emphasis on sight as a medium of instruction. See Introduction.

And cannot see afar off [] . Only here in New Testament. From muw, to close, and wy, the eye. Closing or contracting the eyes like short – sighted people. Hence, to be short – sighted. The participle being short – sighted is added to the adjective blind, defining it; as if he had said, is blind, that is, short – sighted spiritually; seeing only things present and not heavenly things. Compare Joh 9:41. Rev. renders, seeing only what is near.

And hath forgotten [ ] . Lit., having taken forgetfulness. A unique expression, the noun occurring only here in the New Testament. Compare a similar phrase, 2Ti 1:5, uJpomnhsin labwn, having taken remembrance : A. V., when I call to remembrance : Rev., having been reminded of. Some expositors find in the expression a suggestion of a voluntary acceptance of a darkened condition. This doubtful, however. Lumby thinks that it marks the advanced years of the writer, since he adds to failure of sight the failure of memory, that faculty on which the aged dwell more than on sight.

That he was purged [ ] . Rev., more literally, the cleansing.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “But he that lacketh these things is blind.” (ho gar) for he in whom (Greek me parestin tauta) “are not present” “these things,” the Seven Christian Virtues – he who lacks them, 2Pe 1:5-7, is blind.

2) “And cannot see afar off.” (Greek muopazon) “being myopic,” shortsighted, void of or unable to foresee, discern, lacking in vision, in danger of perishing and causing others to perish, Pro 19:1; Mat 15:14.

3) “And hath forgotten.” (Greek lethen) being forgetful or in a state or condition of forgetfulness. A lethargy (in a spiritual daze).

4) “That he was purged from his old sins.” The sum of Peter’s admonition and warning to the fellowship of “like precious brethren” was that they earnestly add the Seven Christian Virtues to their lives, with the subsequent result of myopia, lethargy, barrenness and unfruitfulness, wherein they failed to do so.

He further warned the one failing to add the virtues to his life might even forget the (Greek palai) time-past cleansing of his sins. Psa 13:1; Psa 103:2; Heb 13:16; 1Co 15:58.

FRUIT BEARING

People can tie oranges to the sprigs of a fir tree in a parlor, and the show will gratify children on a winter evening. But true Christian beneficence is a fruit that grows, and is not tied on. It swells up from sap which the tree of righteousness draws out of that infinite love in which it is rooted. He who is in Christ cannot stand still, any more than the water in those iron tubes which traverse our streets in connection with the great reservoir; on it must flow, wherever there is an opening, by reason of the pressure from above. Hear the exclamation of that ancient Christian in explanation of his wonderful self-sacrifice and energetic labor for the good of men: “The love of Christ constraineth me.” Efforts burst impetuous from his bosom whenever an opening was made, because he was in union with the Fountain-head on high. As fruit is sweet and profitable, so arethe efforts of Christians for the good of the world. And like the abundance with which good trees bear is the abundance of a true disciple’s labors.

William Arnot

DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRACES

Every man that has cultivated fruit knows that no tree can bear very richly the first year. The first year a tree bears, the fruit is of the lowest quality; the second year it is a little better; the third year it is still better; the fourth year it is better yet; and it continues to improve every year until the tenth; and then you begin to know what is the best thing that tree can do. Trees have to go through a maturing process of ten years’ duration before they can bear fruit of the highest flavors. So it is with the Christian.

– Beecher

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

9. But he that lacketh these things. He now expresses more clearly that they who profess a naked faith are wholly without any true knowledge. He then says that they go astray like the blind in darkness, because they do not see the right way which is shewn to us by the light of the gospel. (151) This he also confirms by adding this reason, because such have forgotten that through the benefit of Christ they had been cleansed from sin, and yet this is the beginning of our Christianity. It then follows, that those who do not strive for a pure and holy life, do not understand even the first rudiments of faith.

But Peter takes this for granted, that they who were still rolling in the filth of the flesh had forgotten their own purgation. For the blood of Christ has not become a washing bath to us, that it may be fouled by our filth. He, therefore, calls them old sins, by which he means, that our life ought to be otherwise formed, because we have been cleansed from our sins; not that any one can be pure from every sin while he lives in this world, or that the cleansing we obtain through Christ consists of pardon only, but that we ought to differ from the unbelieving, as God has separated us for himself. Though, then, we daily sin, and God daily forgives us, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins, yet sin ought not to rule in us, but the sanctification of the Spirit ought to prevail in us; for so Paul teaches us in 1Co 6:11, “And such were some of you; but ye are washed,” etc.

(151) “He is blind, ( manu palpans ) stroking with the hand,” is Calvin’s; the Vulgate is manu tentans , “feeling with the hand:” but the original word means, “closing the eyes,” according to the Greek grammarians, Hesychius and Suidas: “He is blind, closing his eyes.” — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(9) But he that lacketh.Rather, for he that lacketh. Geneva and Rheims have for. The for introduces the second reason for the exhortation to furnish forth all these gracesviz., the evil of not having them. The Greek implies absence of possession in any degree, not merely absence of permanent possession. (See first Note on 2Pe. 1:8.)

Is blind.We might have expected will be idle and unfruitful, &c., but the writer is not content with merely emphasizing what has just been said, after the manner of St. John (e.g., 2Pe. 1:3; 1Jn. 1:5; 1Jn. 2:4; 1Jn. 2:27-28; 1Jn. 4:2-3; 1Jn. 4:6); he puts the case in a new way, with a new metaphor equally, applicable to the subject of knowledge. Note that he does not say will be blind, but is blind. The very fact of his possessing none of these graces shows that he has no eye for them.

Cannot see afar off.The Greek word means literally closing the eyes; and the point seems to be, not wilful shutting of the eyes (those who wont see), but involuntary and partial closing, as in the case of short-sighted people; in a spiritual sense, those who have only a very hazy apprehension of the objects of belief and of the bearing which their beliefs should have on their conduct. There is, therefore, no anti-climax, a weak expression following a strong one, but a simple explanation, a more definite term following a general one; it explains what kind of blindness is meant. The special kind of short-sightedness here indicated is that of one who just sees that he is a member of a Christian community, but perceives neither the kind of life that one who has been purged from heathen enormities is bound to lead, nor the kind of life which alone can win an entrance into Christs kingdom. The shortsightedness of not being able to see beyond this present world is probably not expressed here.

And hath forgotten.Literally, having received or incurred forgetfulnessa unique expression in the New Testament. The phrase does not necessarily imply that the forgetfulness is voluntary; it is the inevitable result of wilful neglectthe neglect to cultivate Christian virtues. The forgetfulness is not the cause of the shortsightedness, but a phase of it.

His old sins.Those committed before he was purged in baptism (1Co. 6:11; Eph. 5:26; 1Pe. 3:21).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9. But For; enforcing 2Pe 1:8 from the contrary view.

He that lacketh these things Literally, To whom these things are not present; making a sharp contrast with be in you, in 2Pe 1:8. They should supplement faith, but do not.

Is blind To God’s law of holiness, and self-blinded by his own neglect. Cannot see afar off Literally, is near-sighted. He sees only things near by as the present moment and personal gratification; and constant looking at objects close to the eyes destroys the power of seeing those at a distance.

And hath forgotten purged Literally, Having received forgetfulness of the purification of his former sins. The simple falling out of memory of so momentous an event as the soul’s cleansing from sin, is sad; but here is lethean forgetfulness inflicted by a judicial hand.

So backsliders sometimes come to deny that they were ever pardoned.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near (shortsighted or blinking), having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.’

In contrast those who neglect these things are short-sighted, they are ‘blinking’. They are virtually blind. The idea is of limited vision. They see only dimly what is in front of their eyes. They have lost sight of the deeper things of life. They have lost sight of the things that are unseen (2Co 4:18). They have lost sight of Him. And they have especially lost sight of the fact that they have experienced spiritual cleansing through the blood of Christ (compare 1Pe 1:2), and the resultant new birth. And this is proved by the fact that they have at least partially fallen back into their old ways, and have lost sight of the awfulness of sin and ungodliness. They need therefore to repent and do the first works lest they come under His judgment (Rev 2:5).

It is important to note that in relation to Christian ‘cleansing’ this noun for cleansing from sin (katharismos) only occurs elsewhere in Heb 1:3, where it says, ‘when He had  made purification for sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High’. There it refers to the cleansing resulting from the shedding of His blood as presented before God. Its related verb katharizo occurs in Act 15:9 (in words of Peter); 2Co 7:1; Eph 5:26; Tit 2:14; Heb 9:14; Heb 9:22-23; Jas 4:8; 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 1:9.

In Act 15:9 Peter refers back to the incident of Cornelius in Acts 10 and declares, ‘He made no distinction between us and them,  cleansing  their hearts by faith.’ In the background is the vision that he had received which had declared ritually clean what God had cleansed.

In 2Co 7:1 Paul declares, ‘having therefore these promises beloved, let us  cleanse  ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’. This was in the context of avoiding what was ritually ‘unclean’ (2Co 6:17).

In Eph 5:26 we read, ‘even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, having  cleansed  it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.’ The picture here is of Christ having offered Himself as a sacrifice by the shedding of blood, so that the church itself might also become ‘clean’ and thus suitable to be a whole offering to God. Note the sacrificial language, no spot or wrinkle but holy and without blemish. Thus the washing which cleanses possibly has in mind the washing of parts of the Old Testament sacrifice preparatory to being offered (Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 8:21; Lev 9:14, indicating that this is a ‘whole or burnt offering’). However, it is accomplished not by water but through the word. (To make this a word spoken at baptism is purely arbitrary. Baptism nowhere signifies ‘cleansing’).

In Tit 2:14 Paul says, ‘He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and  purify  to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works’. Here the cleansing is through the redeeming, sacrificial offering of Christ.

In Heb 9:14; Heb 9:22-23 the idea is of  cleansing  through the blood of Christ, offered up on our behalf.

In Jas 4:8 we have, ‘ cleanse  your hands you sinners, and purify your heart you doubleminded’. Here Isa 1:16 is presumably directly in mind, where Isaiah is specifically speaking not of ritual cleansing, but of cleansing by turning to live a life of good works.

In 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 1:9 the cleansing is specifically by the blood of Jesus.

In this regard we should note that Old Testament ‘cleansing’ was never by washing with water. Of the one who initially bathed in water it was always said, ‘he will not be clean until the evening’. Thus it was not the washing that cleansed, it was the period of waiting for God. The bathing was merely preliminary. The only water that was ever said to ‘cleanse’ was the water of purification which was mixed with the ashes of the heifer.

Furthermore katharismos is never connected in LXX with bathing in water. Where a medium of cleansing is mentioned the purifying is always with the blood of sacrifice (see Exo 29:36; Exo 30:10; Lev 14:32; Lev 15:13; Num 14:18; 1Ch 23:28; Neh 12:45; Job 1:5; Job 7:21; Psalm 88:45 (MT 89:44); Pro 14:9).

So what Peter has in mind here is not baptism, but cleansing in the blood of Jesus as a result of coming to God through His shed blood. It is through ‘sprinkling with His blood’ (1Pe 1:2).

(The emphasis in baptism is not that of cleansing but of forgiveness and renewal of life. It is of a restoration. John’s baptism pictured the coming of the One Who would drench men in Holy Spirit based on Isa 32:15; Isa 44:1-5; Isa 55:10-13; Eze 36:25-27. Thus he spoke of fruitbearing and harvest. Christian baptism pictures dying with Christ and rising to newness of life (Rom 6:4). Its emphasis is on the coming of the Holy Spirit).

Brief note on any connection with baptism.

Many commentators do seek to connect ‘cleansing’ here with baptism. But it should be noted, as we have seen above, that there is no clear example in the New Testament which connects cleansing with baptism. In Paul cleansing is connected with the ‘purifying by (of the) water with the word’ (Eph 5:26), but Paul never speaks of baptism as washing or as cleansing or as purifying. The idea in Ephesians is rather that it is God’s word that cleanses preparatory to their being offered up with Christ. In Tit 3:5 it is probably rain that is in mind, washing the earth and bringing about regeneration. In John cleansing is through the blood of Jesus (1Jn 1:7).

The example that comes closest to representing baptism as cleansing is Act 22:16 (by Ananias), but that does not mention ‘cleansing’, and it is even questionable whether the washing there refers to baptism, or indeed to Old Testament ritual bathing at all, for it is apolouow, not louow. In LXX apolouow occurs only in Job 9:30, ‘if I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean’ where the washing away of dirt from the daily grind of life is in mind. Ritual washing is louow. In Act 22:16 it is also ‘wash yourself’. Thus we may see this ‘washing’ here as being the ‘washing of ourselves’ described in Isiah 2Pe 1:16-18. And it is brought about by ‘calling on the name of the Lord’. This ties in with the only other use in the New Testament where again it (apolouow) results from calling on the Name of the Lord. ‘you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified, in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God’ (1Co 1:11), the idea being that of being purified by the Spirit because we have become His. In 1 Corinthians this is immediately followed by Paul’s contrast of baptism with the means of being saved. ‘For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’ (1Co 1:17-18). As in Eph 5:26 purifying is through the preaching of the word.

It is possible that it also contains a reference to Isa 1:16-18, although in LXX that is also louow. But however that may be, ‘Having arisen be baptised, and wash yourself calling on the name of the Lord’, makes clear that the sentence divides up into two parts, the first half referring to the initial physical activity required, the second having in mind the subsequent behaviour of repentance and true calling on God which should follow in terms of Isa 1:16-18; 1Pe 1:22, Gen 4:26; Gen 12:8; Psa 116:17, in all of which the ideas are specifically linked with sacrifice. In baptism people did not ‘wash themselves’. The baptising was by others.

But whatever the case the idea of ‘cleansing’ is absent. This is especially significant in view of the fact that in the Old Testament bathing with water never cleanses. It is merely a preparing of the body for the period of waiting that results in cleansing. The only water that cleanses in the Old Testament is the water of purification which is mixed with the ashes of a heifer. That represents the blood of sacrifice in convenient form. So Ananias might have seen baptism as a preliminary washing prior to the calling on the name of the Lord which would cleanse, or he may simply have seen it as a preliminary before the commencement of a life of repentance and true worship. Either way it was not baptism that was seen as cleansing.

It does not appear to us therefore that baptism can specifically be in mind herein 2 Peter. In 1Pe 1:2 the sprinkling for cleansing is by the blood of Jesus.

End of note.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

A Plea That They Make Their Calling And Election Sure ( 2Pe 1:9-11 ).

Peter now points out that those whose lives fail to be continually fruitbearing in the way that he has described reveal that they are blind to Christian truth. Thus he calls on his readers in contrast to make their calling and election sure by following out his words.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

2Pe 1:9. And cannot see afar off, The word signifies literally winking, or closing the eyes against the light. The apostle having represented the professed Christian, who is destitute of the graces and virtues of the Christian life, as blind, immediately informs us what sort of blindness that is, and intimates that it is a voluntary blindness. He does not see his way, because he voluntarily shuts his eyes against the light. The Christian religion does so often and so clearly represent the absolute necessity of a holy life unto all that would be saved, and the light of the Holy Spirit is so far given or offered to every man, that whoever can read the scriptures, and does not perceive the nature of the gospel so far, as to press after acceptance with God through Jesus Christ his Son, and holiness of heart and life in consequence thereof, is indeed blind, but wilfully so: blinded by criminal prejudice, by lust, passion, or a love of vice. They must be wilfully blind, who see not that Christianity requires a holy life as necessary to eternal salvation.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Pe 1:9 gives in negative form an explanation of the preceding verses.

] antithesis to , 2Pe 1:8 . The possession of these graces furthers knowledge, for he who does not possess them is , that is, in so far as he is, and remains, without the true knowledge of Jesus Christ. is explained thus, that the idea which lies at the basis is: “he who is so constituted, that he is without these virtues” (Hofmann), or so that he must be judged as being without them. [36]

, ] ( . .) means: to be a , i.e. one short-sighted: [37] accordingly serves more nearly to define the term as one who can see only what is near, not what is far off. Schott correctly explains by “ weak -sighted.” The older commentators, following Oecumenius, for the most part take as synonymous with ; thus Calvin, Hornejus, etc.; but the identification in meaning of these two terms cannot be justified, whilst it gives rise to an intolerable tautology. The translation of the Vulgate: manu tentans (similarly Erasmus: manu viam tentans; Luther: “and gropes with the hand;” Calvin: manu palpans), has arisen probably from the gloss: , perhaps with reference to Deu 28:28-29 ; Isa 59:10 . Wolf interprets the word, after Bochart (Hierozoic l. l. c. 4), by oculos claudere; [38] but is not derived from , but from . A , however, is not one who arbitrarily closes his eyes, but one who, from inability to see far enough, is obliged to blink with his eyes, in order to see a distant object. The same applies to Dietlein, who translates: “one who closes his eyes,” by which he conceives a voluntary closing of the eyes, precisely that which is opposed to the meaning of the word. If, then, mean a short-sighted person, the question arises: What is that near at hand which he sees, and that far off which he does not see? The first expression is generally understood as applying to earthly, and the second to heavenly things. Hofmann, on the other hand, explains: “he sees only what is present to him: that he is a member of the Christian church; but how he has become so, that lies outside his horizon.” Here, however, the first thought is purely imported, and the second has only an apparent justification in the clause which follows.

] . . equal to oblitus; Vulgate: oblivionem accipiens; cf. , 2Ti 1:5 (cf. Joseph. Ant . ii. vi. 9; Wetstein, Lsner, Krebs in loc .); taken strictly, the translation is: “ having received the .” Hofmann justly remarks: that this aoristic clause is not only co-ordinate with the preceding, but is added to it by way of explanation. He is wrong, however, when he thinks that it is intended to elucidate . By it the author refers not to the consequences (Steinfass, and formerly here), but rather to the reason of the blindness, or, more strictly, short-sightedness, which manifests itself in the want of the Christian graces. Dietlein arbitrarily emphasizes this forgetting as a voluntary act. This is justified neither by the expression itself nor by the connection of thought.

] “the (accomplished) cleansing from the former sins;” not as Winer formerly, in the 5th ed. p. 214, conjectured: “the purification, i.e. the removal of sins;” cf. Heb 1:3 . As shows, . does not here mean a continuous (to be obtained by repentance perhaps, etc.), but a completed process. Not, however, the (ideal) of sins for the whole world of sinners, accomplished through Christ’s death on the cross;

is opposed to this; but the cleansing, i.e. forgiveness, procured by the individual in baptism (thus to Brckner, Schott, Hofmann; Wiesinger less aptly applies it to the calling), so that denotes the time preceding baptism; cf. 1Co 6:11 .

[36] Schott unwarrantably maintains, on the interpretation of ver. 8 here adopted, that the translation must be: “he becomes blind.”

[37] Aristotle interprets sec. 31: : , .

[38] is dicitur, qui ideo caecus est, quia sponte claudit oculos, ut ne videat.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Ver. 9. But he that lacketh these ] Those that add not to their stock of grace, shall have no comfort either from the time past, for they shall forget they were purged from their sins, or from thoughts of the time to come, for they shall not be able to see things far off, to sharpen their interests to the kingdom of heaven.

Cannot see far off ] , Being purblind, blinking. Lusciosi, qui siquando oculorum aciem intendunt ut certius aliquid cernant, minus vident quam ante, saith Vives. If weak sighted men look wistly upon a thing, they see it no whit the better, but much the worse.

And hath forgotten ] As if he had been dipped in the lake of Lethe, and not in the laver of baptism. Various of the Spanish converts in America forget not only their vow, but their very names that they received when they were baptized.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

9 .] For ( negative reason : see above: and that, with reference not only to the exhortations of 2Pe 1:5-7 , but by this connected also with 2Pe 1:8 ; the advantage of the presence is great, for the disadvantage of the absence indicates no less than spiritual blindness and oblivion) he to whom these are not present (contrast to . , 2Pe 1:8 ) is blind (lacks discernment altogether of his own state as a member or Christ and inheritor of heaven), short-sighted ( , , , Aristot. Probl. 31. Hence some, e. g. Beza, Grot., Est., De W., Huther, interpret the word of not being able to see the heavenly things, which are distant, only earthly, which are close at hand. Perhaps, however, Horneius is right in characterizing this as an “interpretatio argutior quam ut Apostolo proposita fuisse videri possit.” The vulg. “manu tentans” (Luth., und tappet mit der Hand : “manu viam tentans,” Erasm.) seems to have come from the gloss . Thl. explains it by , : but thus we should have a mere tautology. Wolf adopts the interpretation “shutting the eyes,” seeing that Hesych. and Suidas explain it by , and that is only . “Itaque,” he proceeds, “ is dicitur qui ideo ccus est, quia sponte claudit oculos, ut ne videat, aut qui videre se dissimulat, quod vel invitus cernit.” This was also the opinion of Bochart, Hieroz. i. 4, whose arguments will be found reproduced in Suicer sub voce. On the whole I prefer the interpretation “ short-sighted ,” without endorsing the ingenious explanation of Beza al. above), having incurred forgetfulness (reff. and Athen. xii. 5, p. 523, . See more examples in Kypke, Krebs, and Loesner, h. l. Bengel says, “participio nactus exprimitur quod homo volens patitur.” But surely this is very doubtful; certainly not upheld by the usage of the phrase) of the purification of his former sins (i. e. of the fact of his ancient, pre-Christian, sins having been purged away in his baptism. This, and not the purification of the sins of the world, and of his among them, by the cross of Christ, is evidently the sense, by the and . And thus almost all the Commentators, , , , , , . c. and so Thl.).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Pe 1:9 . : “short-sighted”. Only once elsewhere in Greek literature in Ps. Dionys. Eccl. Hier. ii. 3. This is one of the words to which exception has been taken in 2 Peter. It is both rare, and it seems to contradict . Spitta and Von S. translate “wilfully blind”. Mayor (p. 61.) (following Beza Grotius, Huther, etc.) interprets the word as limiting . “He who is without the virtues mentioned in 2Pe 1:5-7 is blind, or to put it more exactly is shortsighted; he cannot see the things of heaven, though he may be quick enough in regard to worldly matters.” . A periphrastic form. Cf. Jos. Ant. ii. 6, 9; also 2Ti 1:5 , Heb 11:29 . . Is the reference to baptism? This view is rendered very probable by the use of . For the idea of cleansing from pre-baptismal sin, cf. Barnabas, xi. 11, Hermas, Mand. iv, 3. Vis. ii. 1. Spitta adheres to the general interpretation of . as the work of Christ on the moral life. Cf. 2Pe 2:20-22 , 1Jn 3:3 . While is used of the ceremonial washings of the Jews, Joh 3:25 , it is also used of the work of Christ in Heb 1:3 ( cf. Zahn. Introd. ii. 232).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

that lacketh, &c. = to whom these things are not (App-105) present.

and cannot, &c. = being short-sighted. Greek. muopazo. Only here.

and hath, &c. = having received forgetfulness (Greek. lethe. Only here).

that he was purged from = of the cleansing (Greek. katharismos. See Heb 1:3) of.

old sins = sins of long ago (Greek. palai).

sins. App-128.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

9.] For (negative reason: see above: and that, with reference not only to the exhortations of 2Pe 1:5-7, but by this connected also with 2Pe 1:8; the advantage of the presence is great, for the disadvantage of the absence indicates no less than spiritual blindness and oblivion) he to whom these are not present (contrast to . , 2Pe 1:8) is blind (lacks discernment altogether of his own state as a member or Christ and inheritor of heaven), short-sighted ( , , , Aristot. Probl. 31. Hence some, e. g. Beza, Grot., Est., De W., Huther, interpret the word of not being able to see the heavenly things, which are distant, only earthly, which are close at hand. Perhaps, however, Horneius is right in characterizing this as an interpretatio argutior quam ut Apostolo proposita fuisse videri possit. The vulg. manu tentans (Luth., und tappet mit der Hand: manu viam tentans, Erasm.) seems to have come from the gloss . Thl. explains it by , : but thus we should have a mere tautology. Wolf adopts the interpretation shutting the eyes, seeing that Hesych. and Suidas explain it by , and that is only . Itaque, he proceeds, is dicitur qui ideo ccus est, quia sponte claudit oculos, ut ne videat, aut qui videre se dissimulat, quod vel invitus cernit. This was also the opinion of Bochart, Hieroz. i. 4, whose arguments will be found reproduced in Suicer sub voce. On the whole I prefer the interpretation short-sighted, without endorsing the ingenious explanation of Beza al. above), having incurred forgetfulness (reff. and Athen. xii. 5, p. 523, . See more examples in Kypke, Krebs, and Loesner, h. l. Bengel says, participio nactus exprimitur quod homo volens patitur. But surely this is very doubtful; certainly not upheld by the usage of the phrase) of the purification of his former sins (i. e. of the fact of his ancient, pre-Christian, sins having been purged away in his baptism. This, and not the purification of the sins of the world, and of his among them, by the cross of Christ, is evidently the sense, by the and . And thus almost all the Commentators, , , , , , . c. and so Thl.).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Pe 1:9. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,

He is short-sighted; he has some light, and some physical sight, but he cannot see to a distance; spiritually, he is blind.

2Pe 1:9. And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

It is a great mercy not merely to see men as trees walking, but to have clear spiritual vision. There is a great deal of dust that gets into our eyes, and there is no way of clearing out that dust, and becoming long-sighted, getting a sight that can see to heaven, except by getting that spiritual life which manifests itself in faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

2Pe 1:10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall:

This is the second time that Peter writes about giving diligence. We are told not to be slothful in business, and this matter of which Peter writes is the most important of all business. To prosper in this world may bring some advantages, but to prosper in heavenly things is infinitely better. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure,-that you may be sure of it, and that others may be sure of it too. Let it not continue a subject of question with you, Am I the Lords, or am I not? Am I called by grace, am I chosen by God, or am I not? Make these things sure beyond all doubt.

2Pe 1:11. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

You shall get far into the kingdom, you shall know the innermost joys of it. You shall get near the King, and you shall become like the King; and when you come to die, you shall not be tugged into the harbor like a dismasted, water-logged vessel, but you shall go in like a full-rigged ship with all sails set, and so you shall have an abundant entrance into the fair haven of eternal felicity. May God grant us this unspeakable blessedness, so that we shall not be saved, yet so as by fire but that we shall find our heaven begun below, and go from heaven below to heaven above scarcely knowing any change at all! There have been saints who have found the steam of Christs love running so strongly, and carrying them down to the great ocean of eternal life, that they have scarcely known where the river and the ocean have met.

2Pe 1:12. Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,-

He who exhorts others to be diligent must not himself be negligent, and Peter most appropriately writes, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,-

2Pe 1:12. Though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

We need to preach the truth continually, for even those who know it need to be reminded of it again and again. Truth unpublished is like seed laid up in a florists shop, it does not produce any result. We need to have the truth constantly sown in our hearts, and watered by the Holy Spirit that it may grow, and bring forth fruit.

2Pe 1:13. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

When people are as they should be, it is worth while to stir them up. You do not want to stir up dirty water, but you may stir that which is pure and sweet as much as ever you like. And a good fire sometimes becomes a better one by a little stirring up.

2Pe 1:14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

The Lord had told Peter how he was to die. He had told him that he would die by crucifixion: When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. He knew that the day of his martyrdom was approaching, and so, being divinely warned, he was the more earnest to preach as a dying man to dying men. I have sometimes heard, as a criticism of that expression of Baxters about a dying man preaching to dying men, the remark that it would be better, as living men, to preach to living men. It is quite true that we must throw all our life into our preaching; but, as a rule, living men are never more truly alive than when they are under a due sense that they are also dying men. When we realize that eternity is very near us, and we are consciously drawing near to the great judgment-seat of Christ, than all our faculties are fully aroused, and our whole being is bent on doing the Masters work with the utmost vigor and earnestness.

2Pe 1:15. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

When we are gone from the earth, we want the truth that we have spoken to live on after us, we want even from our graves to continue to speak for Christ. Therefore it was that Peter kept on repeating the same truth over and over again. He hit this nail on the head many times, and sought to clinch it, so that, when he was gone, it would not start from its place, but would remain firmly fixed.

2Pe 1:16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,-

He had no retractions to make as he came towards the close of his ministry. He did not have to say that, after all, he had been greatly mistaken; there had been an advance in theology since Jesus Christ had died, and he was sorry to say that he had preached a good deal when he was young which he would like to unsay now that he was old. Oh, no! Peter held fast to what he had previously preached because he knew that it was the very truth of God, and the other apostles had done the same, so that Peter could write, We have not followed cunningly devised fables,-

2Pe 1:16. When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Peter was one of the three who saw the Lord Jesus Christ in his glory upon the Mount of transfiguration, and he recalls this.

2Pe 1:17-18. For he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

Peter was not deceived about that matter; at the time, he and his fellow-apostles had been overcome by the too-transporting sight, but they all knew that it was no vision, or dream, or delusion, so Peter here speaks very positively concerning it. Why can we not receive the testimony of true witnesses such as Peter and the other apostles who sealed with their lifes blood the witness which they bore to their Lord and his truth?

2Pe 1:19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy;

Can anything be more sure than that which an eye-witness sees? Well Peter says that this prophetic Book, in which Holy Scripture is stored up is better to us than if we had even seen Christ himself. If any one thing be more sure than another, it is this blessed book-revelation of the Christ of God.

2Pe 1:19-20. Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

It is not to be kept by any man to himself. God spoke to Jacob at Bethel, and we read concerning it, in Hos 12:4, there he spake with us. With regard to the children of Israel rejoicing at the Red Sea, we read, in the sixty-sixth Psalm, There did we rejoice in him. The promises God made to this believing man or that he makes to all believing men. You remember that text, He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. That promise was first of all spoken to Joshua, yet Paul quoted it, in writing the Epistle to the Hebrews, as if it was spoken to every believer, and so indeed it is. No apostle, no prophet, could hedge up a promise, and say, This was mine and nobody elses. It is a common heritage of all the saints. Every promise is within the boundary of the covenant of grace, and all who are in that covenant are heirs of all the promises, to whomsoever they were made.

2Pe 1:21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

This is the foundation of our faith,-that this Book is divinely inspired. Suffer nobody to make you doubt concerning this matter; for you must give up Christianity itself if you give up the inspiration of this Book. You have nothing else to fall back upon but this Book and your own personal verification of it by the work of the Holy Ghost in your own soul. To tamper with inspiration is to tamper with the heart of true religion. The least doubt upon that matter is fatal. I mean what I say, and I know how desperately this mischief is working in these days in which we live. Men used to say, with the famous Chillingworth, The Bible and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants; and so it was once. Yet now it seems to me that anything but the Bible is coming to be their religion but, as for us, we accept as authoritative nothing that contradicts these truths which are written in this Book. We mean to stand fast by these truths, God helping us; we can do no other, come what may in this evil age. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

2Pe 1:9. , for) in its proper sense.- , …, he is blind, etc.) The steps of his relapses are depicted by a choice retrogression or inversion of style. Such a Man 1:1) forgets that he was cleansed from his sins, which are past; 2) he is dim-sighted as to present privileges, 2Pe 1:12; 2 Peter 3) he is altogether blind as to those that are future, 2Pe 1:11. The inversion of the style consists in this, that the reference to past time in the text is put in the last place, whereas according to the nature of the subject it should be said, past, present, future.-, dim-sighted) Hesychius, , affected with ophthalmia.- ) having obtained forgetfulness. A most appropriate phrase, the participle having obtained expressing that which the man willingly undergoes; comp. note on Rom 5:19. He who reflects how many are the old sins from which he has been cleansed, the more easily abstains.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

sins

Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

lacketh: 2Pe 1:5-7, Mar 10:21, Luk 18:22, Gal 5:6, Gal 5:13, Jam 2:14-26

blind: Joh 9:40, Joh 9:41, 2Co 4:3, 2Co 4:4, 1Jo 2:9-11, Rev 3:17

that he: 2Pe 1:4, 2Pe 2:18-20, Rom 6:1-4, Rom 6:11, Eph 5:26, Heb 9:14, 1Pe 3:21, 1Jo 1:7

Reciprocal: Lev 13:55 – after Isa 8:20 – it is Zep 1:17 – they shall Mat 13:21 – root Luk 6:42 – see Luk 11:35 – General Jam 1:4 – wanting

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Pe 1:9. Blind. Not “stone-blind” for then he could not see at all whereas this person can see a little. The idea is as if a smoke was raised making the vision dim. Cannot see afar off all comes from MUOPAZO which Thayer defines, “To see dimly, see only what is near,” and the Englishman’s Greek New Testament renders it “short sighted.” We have all seen persons who were afflicted with this defect regarding their bodily eyes and can have only pity for them. But in the case of those who are spiritually “near sighted” there is not much reason for pity, since it is a defect that they can help if they will. Hath forgotten. Not that his memory has become a blank, for that would be impossible as long as he maintains his faculties at all. The meaning is that he ceases to hold in grateful remembrance the glorious time when he was washed from his sins by the blood of Christ in baptism.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Pe 1:9. For he who lacketh these things. This is one of two instances in which the A. V. strangely mistranslates the Greek causal particle for as but. The other is 1Pe 4:15. In Rom 5:7 it erroneously renders the same causal particle by yet. In the present case it has followed Wycliffe, Tyndale, and Cranmer, who all have but, rather than the Genevan and Rhemish, which give for. It thus entirely misconceives Peters meaning. He is not simply setting one thing over against another, but is adducing a second reason for the course which he recommends. The reasoning may be understood in more than one way. It may be taken broadly thusthese graces are to be cultivated; for, if we have them not, we become blind, and sink back into a want of power to perceive even the elementary truths of the kingdom of God (Plumptre). Or it may be put thus, in immediate relation to the nearest idea,these graces are to be cultivated; for, wanting them, we want the capacity for this perfect knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A different expression also is given now to the idea of possession. Instead of saying, as before, he for whom these things do not subsist, another phrase is used which runs literally, he to whom these things are not present. Thus the idea of a possession habitual, and settled enough to warrant its being spoken of as belonging to the persons past as well as his present, gives place to that of a possession which, however it may have been with his past, at least cannot be affirmed of his present. Wherever this is the case with the man as he now is, there that state has entered which is next described.is blind, being near-sighted. As the A. V. renders this clause is blind, and cannot see afar off, the latter epithet may seem at first only to repeat, in a weaker and almost contradictory form, what is already expressed by the former. Hence it has been attempted in various ways to make a sharp distinction between the two terms. The latter (which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament) has been rendered, e.g., groping (so substantially the Vulgate, Tyndale, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, etc.)a sense, however, which cannot be made good. It has also been rendered shutting his eyes (Stephens, Dietlein, etc.); and the idea has thus been supposed to be thishe is blind, and that by his own fault, wilfully shutting his eyes. The word, however, seems to describe not one who voluntarily shuts his eyes (although the R. V. gives closing his eyes in the margin), but one who blinks, or contracts the eyelid in order to see, one who is short-sighted or dim-sighted. Thus the second epithet defines the first. He is blind, not seeing when he thinks he sees, not seeing certain things as he ought to see them. And he is this not in the sense of being blind to all things, but in the sense of being nearsighted, seeing things in false magnitudes, having an eye for things present and at hand, but none for the distant realities of the eternal world. The rendering of the A. V., therefore (which follows the Genevan), expresses the correct idea; which the K. V. (in its text) gives more clearly as seeing only what is near. With what is said here of blindness compare such passages as Joh 9:41; Rom 2:19; 1Co 8:2; Rev 3:17; and especially 1Jn 2:9-11.

having forgotten the purification of his sins of old. The sins referred to are the sins of the mans own former heathen life, and the purification is that which covered the whole sin of his past once for all when he first received Gods grace in Christ. The idea of a purification occupies a prominent place in the Epistle to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 1:3; Heb 9:14; Heb 9:22-23; Heb 10:2). There not only sins are said to be purified, but also the conscience, the heart, the heavenly things, the copies of the heavenly things, the flesh. The purification is effected by the blood of Christ, and its result is not mere moral purity, but the removal of guilt, or of the sense and conscience of sin. So here the sins of old are said to have been purified in the sense of having had the uncleanness belonging to them cleansed away, or their guilt removed. The phrase carries us back to the Old Testament custom of sprinkling blood on objects which had become defiled, and so relieving them of the disadvantages of their ceremonial uncleanness. The having forgotten is expressed in a way of which we have no other instance in the New Testament, but which resembles the phrase rendered call to remembrance in 2Ti 1:5. It means literally having taken (or, incurred) forgetfulness, It gives a graver character to the condition, representing it perhaps as one which is voluntarily incurred or willingly suffered, or, it may be, as one which is inevitable where there is neglect to cultivate grace. The sentence is introduced as a further explanation of the blindness. The man is blind, in the sense of having eyes only for what is near and tangible, as the consequence or penalty of his forgetting the great change effected in the past, and living as if he had never been the subject of such grace.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

2Pe 1:9. But he that lacketh these things And does not add them to his faith; is blind With respect to spiritual things. The eyes of his understanding are again closed; he hath lost the evidence of things not seen; he no longer sees by faith God reconciled to him in Christ. Inward and outward holiness being the natural fruit of the knowledge of Christ, the person who pretends to have that knowledge, and yet does not aspire and labour after that holiness, is blind with respect to the nature of true Christianity; and cannot see afar off Namely, the things of another world, but only the things of this world, which are present. The word signifies literally, he is pur-blind. He has lost sight of the precious promises: perfect love and heaven are equally out of sight. Nay, he cannot now see what he himself once enjoyed, having, as it were, forgot that he was purged, &c. Greek, , having forgotten the purification from his former sins; not remembering, or not having a proper sense of what he himself felt when his past sins were forgiven him, and he was first assured of his acceptance with God. The apostles expression here, in which he alludes to baptism, together with Ananiass words to Paul, (Act 22:16,) Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, is thought by many to imply, that in baptism the guilt of former sins is washed away. But Paul himself hath taught the sound meaning of Ananiass words, (Heb 10:22,) Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Besides, Peter, in his first epistle, tells us expressly that baptism is not the washing away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, in which respect it resembles circumcision, which is not that which is outward, but of the heart, by cutting off all irregular passions and appetites. The washing in baptism, therefore, is not a real, but an emblematical washing of the sinner from the guilt of his sins. Which emblem, as it contains a promise of pardon, so it is realized to all truly penitent sinners, who believe in Christ with their hearts unto righteousness, and to none else. See Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 9

Forgotten that he was purged; forgotten that by his baptism he professed to be purged.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and (i) cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

(i) He that has not an effectual knowledge of God in him, is blind concerning the kingdom of God, for he cannot see things that are afar off, that is to say, heavenly things.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The absence of these virtues gives evidence of lack of true knowledge. Peter described this condition as spiritual blindness to the realities connected with their relationship with God and, in particular, shortsightedness (lit. myopia, Gr. myopazo). Such people show concern about living for the present with little regard for the future (cf. Esau). James called this dead faith (Jas 2:17; Jas 2:26).

Many Christians have forgotten how much God has forgiven them, or they have appreciated His forgiveness only superficially.

"As is usual in the Bible, the idea of ’forgetting’ is not a mental process but a practical failure to take into account the true meaning and significance of something." [Note: Moo, p. 48.]

Often it is both in our lives.

Those who "have forgotten" have little motivation to grow in grace and thereby please God. They do not add the seven ingredients to their faith that Peter urged. Peter referred to this omission as forgetting one’s purification from his or her former sins. Having forgotten one’s escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Pe 1:4), this person fails to see the importance of present purification through continued Christian growth.

This is one of the most practical and helpful passages in the New Testament dealing with spiritual growth. Peter presented both the reason for and the method of this growth clearly and attractively here.

"Peter was certainly a spiritual realist even if many modern theologians are not. He does not take it for granted that spiritual growth will occur automatically or inevitably. Indeed, the character development he thinks of cannot occur apart from the believer ’giving all diligence’ toward that end (2Pe 1:5). This does not mean, of course, that the believer does this all on his own. God supplies the basic resources and provides help along the way. But Christian growth will not occur apart from our diligent participation in the process. If we learn nothing else from this passage, we must learn this. We do not passively experience Christian growth, but actively pursue it!" [Note: Hodges, 2:1:3. Cf. Romans 8:12-13; Philippians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:14-16.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)