Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Peter 1:6
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
6. and to knowledge temperance ] Better, as before, and by knowledge temperance. The word for “temperance” has a wider range than the modern sense of the English term. “ Self-government ” or “ self-control ” would be better equivalents. In Sir 18:30 we have, under the heading in the LXX. of “self-control of the soul” ( ), what may almost be called a definition in the form of a precept, “Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites.” The word is not common in the New Testament, but appears in Act 24:25; Gal 5:23.
and to temperance patience ] Better, endurance, the Greek noun expressing a more active phase of character than the English, bearing up against evils, and continuing steadfast under them. The cognate verb is translated “endure” in Mat 10:22 and elsewhere.
to patience godliness ] See note on 2Pe 1:3 for the latter word.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And to knowledge temperance – On the meaning of the word temperance, see the Act 24:25 note, and 1Co 9:25 note. The word here refers to the mastery over all our evil inclinations and appetites. We are to allow none of them to obtain control over us. See the notes at 1Co 6:12. This would include, of course, abstinence from intoxicating drinks; but it would also embrace all evil passions and propensities. Everything is to be confined within proper limits, and to no propensity of our nature are we to give indulgence beyond the limits which the law of God allows.
And to temperance patience – Notes, Jam 1:4.
And to patience godliness – True piety. Notes, 2Pe 1:3. Compare 1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 3:16; 1Ti 4:7-8; 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:5-6, 1Ti 6:11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Temperance] A proper and limited use of all earthly enjoyments, keeping every sense under proper restraints, and never permitting the animal part to subjugate the rational.
Patience] Bearing all trials and difficulties with an even mind, enduring in all, and persevering through all.
Godliness] Piety towards God; a deep, reverential, religious fear; not only worshipping God with every becoming outward act, but adoring, loving, and magnifying him in the heart: a disposition indispensably necessary to salvation, but exceedingly rare among professors.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Temperance; a grace which represseth, and curbs in, not only sensual lusts, but all inordinate appetites, Gal 5:22; Tit 1:8.
Patience; that Christian fortitude whereby we hear afflictions and injuries, so as to persevere in our duty without being moved by the evils that attend us in the doing of it.
Godliness; which respects our immediate duty to God, and comprehends all the duties of the first table. This is joined to
patience, as being that which teacheth us, in all we suffer, to acknowledge Gods providence, and promises of deliverance and recompence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Greek, “And inyour knowledge self-control.” In the exercise of Christianknowledge or discernment of God’s will, let there be thepractical fruit of self-control as to one’s lusts andpassions. Incontinence weakens the mind; continence, or self-control,moves weakness and imparts strength And in your self-control patientendurance” amidst sufferings, so much dwelt on in the FirstEpistle, second, third, and fourth chapters. “And in yourpatient endurance godliness”; it is not to be mere stoicalendurance, but united to [and flowing from] God-trusting[ALFORD].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And to knowledge, temperance,…. Avoiding all excess in eating and drinking, and all impure and unclean lusts; for it signifies nothing what a man knows, or professes to know, if his life is a scene of intemperance and debauchery: this seems to be levelled against the followers or Simon Magus, who ascertained salvation to knowledge, though the life was ever so impure, Moreover, this may include abstinence, not only from hurtful lusts, but from the use of things indifferent, when the peace and comfort of a weak brother are endangered; for then to knowledge must be added love, otherwise that knowledge will not be right, at least not rightly used; see 1Co 8:1,
and to temperance, patience; which is necessary to the running of the Christian race, which is attended with many difficulties and exercises; and under affliction from the hand of God, that there be no murmuring nor repining; and under reproaches and persecutions from men, that they faint not, and are not discouraged by them; and in the expectation of the heavenly glory: this is proper to be superadded to the former, because there may be intemperance in passion, as well as in the use of the creatures; a man may be inebriated with wrath and anger, and overcome with impatience, as well as with wine and strong drink:
and to patience, godliness; either internal, which is distinguished from bodily exercise, or outward worship, and lies in the inward and powerful exercise of grace, as faith, hope, love, fear, &c. and the Syriac version here renders it, “the fear of God”: or rather external, and intends the whole worship of God, as prayer, praise, hearing of the word, and attendance on all ordinances.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Temperance ( ). Self-control. Old word (from , and , one holding himself in as in Tit 1:8), in N.T. only here, Acts 24:25; Gal 5:23. The opposite of the of the heretics.
Patience ( ). For which see Jas 1:3.
Godliness ( ). For which see verse 3.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Temperance [] . Self – control; holding the passions and desires in hand. See 1Co 9:25.
Patience [] . Lit., remaining behind or staying, from menw, to wait. Not merely endurance of the inevitable, for Christ could have relieved himself of his sufferings (Heb 12:2, 3; compare Mt 26:53); but the heroic, brave patience with which a Christian not only bears but contends. Speaking of Christ ‘s patience, Barrow remarks, “Neither was it out of a stupid insensibility or stubborn resolution that he did thus behave himself; for he had a most vigorous sense of all those grievances, and a strong (natural) aversation from under going them;… but from a perfect submission to the divine will, and entire command over his passions, an excessive charity toward mankind, this patient and meek behavior did spring.” The same writer defines patience as follows : “That virtue which qualifieth us to bear all conditions and all events, by God ‘s disposal incident to us, with such apprehensions and persuasions of mind, such dispositions and affections of heart, such external deportment and practices of life as God requireth and good reason directeth (Sermon 42,” On Patience “).
Godliness. See on ver. 3. The quality is never ascribed to God.
Brotherly kindness [] . Rev. renders, literally, love of the brethren.
Charity [] . There seems at first an infelicity in the rendering of the Rev., in your love of the brethren love. But this is only apparent. In the former word Peter contemplates Christian fellow – believers as naturally and properly holding the first place in our affections (compare Gal 6:10, “Especially unto them which are of the household of faith “). But he follows this with the broader affection which should characterize Christians, and which Paul lauds in 1 Corinthians 13, the love of men as men. It may be remarked here that the entire rejection by the Rev. of charity as the rendering of ajgaph is wholesome and defensible. Charity has acquired two peculiar meanings, both of which are indeed included or implied in love, but neither of which expresses more than a single phase of love – tolerance or beneficence. The A. V. in the great majority of cases translates love; always in the Gospels, and mostly elsewhere. There is no more reason for saying” charity suffereth long, “than for saying,” the charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts, “or” God is charity. “
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And to knowledge temperance.” To knowledge understanding, or comprehension, the Christian is to add (Greek egkrateian) temperance, self-control, impulse restraint, Gal 5:23; 1Co 9:25.
2) “And to temperance patience. The fourth Christian virtue or moral excellence Peter admonished one to add was (Greek hupomonen) patience, of an enduring quality, more than temporary self-control, Luk 21:29; Heb 10:36; Heb 12:1; Rom 5:3.
3) “And to patience godliness. ‘ (Greek de te) moreover to the patience of enduring, persevering quality one is to add (Greek uesebeian) godliness, qualities of divine attributes in his behavior 1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 4:7-8; 1Ti 6:6; 1Ti 6:11; 2Pe 3:11.
HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD
In the north Atlantic, icebergs are often seen in the winter time. Ships sailing the Atlantic are often caught in violent storms. Mighty vessels are tossed about like chips by the mountainous waves. How different it is with the icebergs! Like majestic, white castles, they glide placidly through the heaving sea. They are defiant of the mighty waves which are hurled against their towering walls and glistening heads. They Do not bob about like a cork because the lower part is deep in the ocean where there is calm. Only one-ninth of an iceberg is above the ocean.
When our lives are hidden with Christ in God, the storms of life are powerless to take from us the peace and repose we have in Christ.
W. B. K.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.And in your knowledge [supply] self control, and in your self-control, patience, and in your patience, godliness. In other words, your discerning between good and evil must lead to avoiding the evil and choosing the goodi.e., to the control of your own lawless propensities; and in restraining these you must endure difficulties patiently; and your patience must not be the stolid defiance of the savage, or the self-reliant and self-satisfied endurance of the Stoic, but a humble and loving trust in God. Virtue and knowledge are energetic and progressive; they are exercised in developing the powers implanted in us. Self-control and patience are restrictive and disciplinary; they are exercised in checking and regulating the conflicting claims of many co-existing powers, so as to reduce all to harmony. There is special point in self-control being placed as the consequence of knowledge. The false teachers would insist that knowledge led to liberty, which with them meant emancipation from all control whatever. Self-mastery is to the world at large the opposite of liberty; to the Christian it is another name for itthat service which is perfect freedom. Patience to the world is to accept loss and suffering; to the Christian it is to win the best of prizesin your patience ye shall win your souls.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Knowledge, perverted, may become conceited and self-indulgent, as in the idol feasts at Corinth, ( 1Co 8:1 ; 1Co 8:10,) and in the teachings of the Gnostics; in your knowledge, therefore, furnish temperance self-control by which all desires and passions shall be held in proper check, often even to total abstinence, as, for instance, in intoxicating drinks. The question of amusements falls under this rule. But as severe self-control may become ascetic and intolerant, it must be tempered by patience, or patient endurance; and in exercising patience, to guard against a stoical apathy or indifference, furnish godliness, fearing, trusting, and communing with God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Pe 1:6. Temperance The word sometimes signifies abstinence from some particular vice, and is used more especially for continence or chastity: but it commonlysignifies abstinence or moderation as to the pleasures and possessions of this life in general; and as there is no restriction of the word in this sense, we may understand it in its most extensive signification. Temperance and prudence are very fit to go hand in hand: the intemperate are commonly, if not always, imprudent. The word ‘, which we render patience, signifies bearing the assaults of any evil, more especially of an enemy. In the New Testament it implies a meek and composed enduring of evil, in dependance upon God, and resignation to his will. , godliness, when it is joined with other religious virtues, commonly means a reverence of God, or a fear mixed with love. So it is used 1Ti 6:11 and so it signifies here. This reverence for God is to be manifested and supported by frequent worshipping of him, and such worship produces submission and obedience. Godliness differs from superstition, just as a rational and divine love of a Being of the most perfect moral character, and a fear of offending the most wise and amiable Governor of the world, and most gracious Saviour of mankind, differs from that groundless fear, which arises from supposing that a capricious or weak, a tyrannical or malevolent Being governs the universe; an opinion which leads men to do the most ridiculous things to obtain his favour. Godliness implies our duty more immediately towards God, as temperance and patience denote our duty towards ourselves, and love and charity our duty towards other men. As to the two virtues which are here to join hand in hand, no two things could suit better; for nothing promotes patience under the evils of life, like godliness, or a frequent spiritual worshipping of God, and a steady conviction that perfect wisdom governs the world. See the next note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
Ver. 6. And to knowledge, temperance ] That ye be wise to sobriety, not curiously searching into those things whereof ye can neither have proof nor profit. Some are as wise as Galileo, who used telescope to discover mountains on the moon; and lest they should not be reputed to know something unknown to others, they profess skill beyond the periphery of possible knowledge.
And to temperance, patience ] Those that will be temperate, as said before, and not pass the bounds of sobriety in searching after curiosities, shall be looked upon by the wits of the world as dull fellows (Mr Perkins was esteemed by Mr Bolton before his conversion, a dry preacher, &c.), and therefore they have need of patience. Only they must add to their
Patience, godliness ] In the power of it; not suffering themselves to be mocked out of their religion. Moderation in this case is but mopishness. And though in our own cause we must show all longsufferance, yet when God’s glory is concerned, it is our duty to be blessedly blown up with zeal for his name, as Moses was at the sight of the golden calf; and as Zuingllus told Servetus, taxing him for his sharp invectives against him: In other things, saith he, I can bear as much as another; but in case of God’s dishonour, I have no patience.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 .] and in your knowledge, self-restraint ( , , as c. “Temperance” is now too much used of one sort only of self-restraint, fully to express the word. The Commentators compare Sir 18:30 , where under the head is said, , . The connexion is: let such discriminating knowledge not be without its fruit, of steady holding in hand of the passions and tempers), and in your self-restraint, patient endurance (in afflictions and trials), and in your patient endurance, godliness (i. e. it is not to be mere brute Stoical endurance, but united with God-fearing and God-trusting. Or it may perhaps be used without direct reference to God, as in Dio Cass. xlviii. 5, : but the other is much more likely in the N. T.: especially as the social virtues follow),
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Pe 1:6 . : “self-control”: accompanied by, and arising from, knowledge, and not a mere product of fear or submission to authority. : “steadfastness” not turned aside from the faith by trial and suffering ( cf. Luk 8:15 , Rom 5:3 ff.). The desponding doctrine of the false teachers would itself call for in the readers. Mayor compares the Aristotelian ( cf. Heb 11:27 ). . In the Epistle the false teachers are ( cf. note on 2Pe 1:3 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
temperance = self-control. Greek. enkrateia. See Act 24:25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] and in your knowledge, self-restraint (, , as c. Temperance is now too much used of one sort only of self-restraint, fully to express the word. The Commentators compare Sir 18:30, where under the head is said, , . The connexion is: let such discriminating knowledge not be without its fruit, of steady holding in hand of the passions and tempers), and in your self-restraint, patient endurance (in afflictions and trials), and in your patient endurance, godliness (i. e. it is not to be mere brute Stoical endurance, but united with God-fearing and God-trusting. Or it may perhaps be used without direct reference to God, as in Dio Cass. xlviii. 5, : but the other is much more likely in the N. T.: especially as the social virtues follow),
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Pe 1:6. , abstinence) which avoids evil desires. Abstain.-, patience) by which adversities and adversaries are endured. Sustain [have endurance].-, godliness) By which the faithful look to God above all things. may be affection towards relatives, parents, brothers, etc.; but it is a sanctified affection. Comp. 1Ti 5:4.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
temperance: Act 24:25, 1Co 9:25, Gal 5:23, Tit 1:8, Tit 2:2
patience: Psa 37:7, Luk 8:15, Luk 21:19, Rom 2:7, Rom 5:3, Rom 5:4, Rom 8:25, Rom 15:4, 2Co 6:4, Col 1:11, 1Th 1:3, 2Th 1:4, 2Th 3:5, Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36, Heb 12:1, Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7-10, Rev 1:9, Rev 2:2, Rev 13:10, Rev 14:12
godliness: 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 3:11, Gen 5:24, Isa 57:1, 1Ti 2:2, 1Ti 2:10, 1Ti 3:16, 1Ti 4:7, 1Ti 4:8, 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:6, 1Ti 6:11, 2Ti 3:5, Tit 1:1
Reciprocal: Rom 12:12 – patient Phi 1:9 – in knowledge 1Pe 4:8 – fervent Rev 2:3 – hast patience
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Pe 1:6. The lexicon defines the Greek word for teniperance with the single word “self-control.” A practical illustration of the subject is shown in Jas 3:2-3. In general the word means for Christians to use moderation in the various things of life. Of course the word applies only to things that are not wrong in themselves, but wrong only when carried to excess. Therefore is has no place in the subject of intoxicating liquor as a beverage, for that is wrong regardless of the degree of indulgence. Patience. The leading idea of this word may be stated by the words “constancy” and “endurance.” The first term denotes a steadiness of one’s activities for the Lord and the second means that he will continue it to the end. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev 2:10). Godliness is from EUSEBEIA which Thayer defines as follows: “Reverence. respect; piety towards God, godliness.” The word not only requires that a man will live as he should, but that his motive for such a life will be his respect for God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Pe 1:6. And in the knowledge self-control. This is the grace which appears also as the temperance of which Paul reasoned before Felix (Act 24:25), and as the last thing noticed in Pauls enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23). The noun occurs only in these three cases. It denotes temperance in the largest sense of self-government in all things. This virtue of self-control is so related to knowledge, that the one should not be in exercise apart from the other. Extravagance is the child of ignorance. A right estimate of oneself and mastery over oneself should be fostered by the knowledge which consists in the practical recognition of duty; and this latter should be helped by the former.
and in the self-control patient endurance. The grace which is rendered patience both in the A. V. and in the R. V. is of a stronger and more positive character than the familiar English term, and might be more fitly translated patient (or, persevering) endurance. It is a quality never ascribed to God Himself. Where He is spoken of as the God of patience, it is in the sense of the Giver of patience to others (Rom 15:5). In the New Testament it seems always to carry with it the idea of manliness, expressing not the mere bearing of trials, but the courageous, persevering endurance of themthe brave patience with which the Christian contends against the various hindrances, persecutions, and temptations that befall him in his conflict with the inward and outward world (see Ellicott on 1Th 1:3). So, while the A. V. generally renders it patience, it grasps at times the larger sense, translating it, e. g. by enduring in 2Co 1:6, by patient waiting in 2Th 3:5, and by patient continuance in Rom 2:7. It occupies a great place in the New Testament. Christ Himself gives it as the grace in which the soul itself is to be won (Luk 21:19). James (chap. 2Pe 1:3-4) speaks of it as the grace which, when it is allowed its perfect work, makes believers themselves perfect. It is specially frequent in the Pauline Epistles and the Apocalypse; in which latter it appears and reappears at marked turning-points (Rev 1:9; Rev 2:2-3; Rev 3:10; Rev 13:10; Rev 14:12). In coupling it here with self-control, Peter gives the Christian version of the Stoic summary of morality. As the latter amounted to bear and forbear, the former says forbear and bear. Christian self-control is to be practised in and along with the spirit of patient endurance, which saves it from harshness and fitfulness, confirms it into constancy, and mellows it into tenderness and humility. Like the meekness and temperance which stand side by side among the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23), these two are sister graces, not to be separated, but enriching each other.
and in the patient endurance godliness. The same term is used for godliness here as in 2Pe 1:3; see note there. It is to be furnished in our practice of endurance, in order to secure the latter from hardening into a stoical, self-centred submission, and to make it the purer constancy which draws its inspiration from reverent regard for God and things Divine.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Self-control, Perseverance and Godliness
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Pe 1:6-7. And to knowledge, temperance This virtue consists in a confirmed habit of ruling all the affections, passions, and appetites of our nature in a proper manner, by placing our affections on proper objects; by restraining our angry, peevish, envious, and unholy tempers, and by using moderation in gratifying our appetites. Christian temperance, indeed, includes the voluntary abstaining from all pleasure which does not lead to God, extending to all things inward and outward, and implying the due government of our thoughts and imaginations, as well as of our desires and designs. It is the using the world properly: so to use all outward, and so to restrain all inward things, that they may become a means of what is spiritual; a scaling-ladder to ascend to what is above. Intemperance is to abuse the world. He that uses any thing below, looking no higher, and getting no farther, is intemperate. He that uses the creature only so as to attain to more of the Creator, is alone temperate in all things, and walks as Christ himself walked; and to temperance, patience Bear as well as forbear; sustain as well as abstain; take up your cross, as well as deny yourself, daily; and the more knowledge you have, do this the more: the more steadily and resolutely renounce your own will; submit to, and acquiesce in, the will of God; and indulge yourself the less. Knowledge puffeth up; and the great boasters of knowledge, the Gnostics, were those that turned the grace of God into wantonness, being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and of course effeminate and unprepared to encounter any opposition, or to endure any hardship on account of truth and a good conscience. But see that your knowledge be attended with temperance, and your temperance with patience; and to patience, godliness Its proper support; a continual sense of Gods wisdom, power, and goodness; of his holiness, truth, justice, and mercy; of his presence and providence, with a reverential, awful, filial, and loving fear of, and confidence in him. Otherwise your patience may be pride, surliness, stoicism; but it will not be Christianity. And to godliness, brotherly kindness Sullenness, sternness, moroseness, are not consistent with genuine godliness. Sour godliness, so called, is of the devil. Of Christian godliness it may always be said:
Mild, sweet, serene, and tender is her mood,
Nor grave with sternness, nor with lightness free;
Against example resolutely good,
Fervent in zeal, and warm in charity.
And to brotherly kindness, love The pure and perfect love of God and of all mankind. The apostle here makes an advance upon the preceding article, brotherly kindness, which seems only to relate to the love of Christians toward one another.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:6 {6} And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
(6) He brings up certain and other principal virtues, of which some pertain to the first table of the law, others to the last.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Self-control" (Gr. egkrates) means mastery of self, disciplined moderation, controlling one’s desires and passions (cf. Pro 16:32; Pro 25:28; Act 24:25; 1Co 9:24-27; Gal 5:23; Php 3:12-16; 1Ti 4:7-8; Jas 4:17). Many of the early Christian heresies taught that since the body was evil (some claimed) or unimportant (others claimed) it was not necessary to curb fleshly lusts, only to think correctly.
"Any religious system which claims that religious knowledge emancipates from the obligations of morality is false." [Note: Hiebert, "The Necessary . . .," p. 46.]
"Perseverance" is the need to keep on keeping on in spite of adversity. It is patient endurance in holiness when we encounter temptation to give in or to give up (cf. Rom 5:3-4; Rom 15:4-5; 2Co 1:6; 2Co 6:4; Col 1:11; 1Th 1:3; 2Th 1:4; Jas 1:3). The Greek word (hypomonen) literally means to remain under something, such as a heavy load.
"Many folk have the wrong concept of what patience really is. They think it means sitting in a traffic jam on the freeway in the morning without worrying about getting to work. Well, that is not patience. It just gives you an excuse for being late to work. Patience is being able to endure when trials come." [Note: McGee, 5:723.]
"Godliness" (Gr. eusebeia) refers to behavior that reflects the character of God (cf. 2Pe 1:3; 2Pe 3:11; et al.). It presupposes a desire to please God in all the relationships of life.