2 Peter 1:9

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 μυωπαζων 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, ληθην λαβων του καθαρισμου των παλαι αυτου αμαρτιων, 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 apostle’s expression here, in which he alludes to baptism, together with Ananias’s 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 Ananias’s 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 1:9. Γὰρ, for) in its proper sense.—τυφλός ἐστι, κ.τ.λ., 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.—μυωπάζων, dim-sighted) Hesychius, μυωπάζων, ὀφθαλμιῶν affected with ophthalmia.—λήθην λαβὼν) 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.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_1:9 gives in negative form an explanation of the preceding verses.

ᾧ γὰρ μὴ πάρεστι ταῦτα] antithesis to ταῦτα … πλεονάζοντα, 2Pe_1:8. The possession of these graces furthers knowledge, for he who does not possess them is τυφλός, that is, in so far as he is, and remains, without the true knowledge of Jesus Christ. μή 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]

τυφλός ἐστι, μυωπάζων] ΜΥΩΠΆΖΕΙΝ (ἍΠ. ΛΕΓ.) means: to be a ΜΎΩΨ, i.e. one short-sighted:[37] accordingly μυωπάζων serves more nearly to define the term τυφλός as one who can see only what is near, not what is far off. Schott correctly explains μυωπάζων by weak-sighted. The older commentators, following Oecumenius, for the most part take μυωπάζειν as synonymous with τυφλώττειν; 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: ψηλαφῶν, perhaps with reference to Deu_28:28-29; Isa_59:10. Wolf interprets the word, after Bochart (Hierozoic l. l. c. 4), by καμμύειν oculos claudere;[38] but ΜΥΩΠΆΖΕΙΝ is not derived from ΜΎΕΙΝ ΤᾺς ὮΠΑς, but from ΜΎΩΨ. A ΜΎΩΨ, 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, μυωπάζων 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.

ΛΉΘΗΝ ΛΑΒΏΝ] ἍΠ. ΛΕΓ. equal to oblitus; Vulgate: oblivionem accipiens; cf. ὙΠΌΜΝΗΣΙΝ ΛΑΒΏΝ, 2Ti_1:5 (cf. Joseph. Ant. ii. vi. 9; Wetstein, Lösner, Krebs in loc.); taken strictly, the translation is: having received the λήθη. 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 ΜΥΩΠΆΖΩΝ. 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.

τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι αὑτοῦ ἁμαρτημάτων] 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 πάλαι shows, ΚΑΘΑΡ. does not here mean a continuous (to be obtained by repentance perhaps, etc.), but a completed process. Not, however, the (ideal) ΚΑΘΑΡΙΣΜΌς of sins for the whole world of sinners, accomplished through Christs death on the cross;

ΑὙΤΟῦ is opposed to this; but the cleansing, i.e. forgiveness, procured by the individual in baptism (thus to Brückner, Schott, Hofmann; Wiesinger less aptly applies it to the calling), so that πάλαι 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: μνωπάζοντες: οἱ ἐκ γενετῆς τὰ μὲν ἐγγὺς βλέποντες, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀποστάσεως οὐχ ὁρῶντες· ἐναντία δὲ πάσχουσιν οἱ γερῶντες τοῖς μυωπάζουσιν· τὰ γὰρ ἐγγὺς μὴ ὁρῶντες τὰ πόῤῥωθεν βλέπουσιν.

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

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 1:9 . μυωπάζων : “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 τυφλός . Spitta and Von S. translate “wilfully blind”. Mayor (p. 61.) (following Beza Grotius, Huther, etc.) interprets the word as limiting τυφλός . “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.” λήθην λαβὼν . A periphrastic form. Cf. Jos. Ant. ii. 6, 9; also 2Ti 1:5 , Heb 11:29 . τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν . Is the reference to baptism? This view is rendered very probable by the use of πάλαι . 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 καθ . as the work of Christ on the moral life. Cf. 2Pe 2:20-22 , 1Jn 3:3 . While καθαρισμός 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).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that hath not an effectual knowledge of God in him, is blind as touching the kingdom of God, for he cannot see things that are afar off, that is to say, heavenly things.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

But--Greek, "For." Confirming the need of these graces (Pe2 1:5-8) by the fatal consequences of the want of them.

he that lacketh--Greek, "he to whom these are not present."

blind--as to the spiritual realities of the unseen world.

and cannot see afar off--explanatory of "blind." He closes his eyes (Greek) as unable to see distant objects (namely, heavenly things), and fixes his gaze on present and earthly things which alone he can see. Perhaps a degree of wilfulness in the blindness is implied in the Greek, "closing the eyes," which constitutes its culpability; hating and rebelling against the light shining around him.

forgotten--Greek, "contracted forgetfulness," wilful and culpable obliviousness.

that he was purged--The continually present sense of one's sins having been once for all forgiven, is the strongest stimulus to every grace (Psa 130:4). This once-for-all accomplished cleansing of unbelievers at their new birth is taught symbolically by Christ, Joh 13:10, Greek, "He that has been bathed (once for all) needeth not save to wash his feet (of the soils contracted in the daily walk), but is clean every whit (in Christ our righteousness)." "Once purged (with Christ's blood), we should have no more consciousness of sin (as condemning us, Heb 10:2, because of God's promise)." Baptism is the sacramental pledge of this.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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, μυωπαζων, 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!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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. 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 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you; but ye are washed,” etc.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(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 graces—viz., 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 won’t 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 Christ’s 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 forgetfulness—a unique expression in the New Testament. The phrase does not necessarily imply that the forgetfulness is voluntary; it is the inevitable result of wilful neglect—the 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).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Act 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 Co2 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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] μυωπαζοντες, 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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, (μυωπάζων muōpazōn,) 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Groping,[2] like one that is blind. The Greek may signify one who hath his eyes shut, or that is like a blind mole. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Manu tentans, Greek: muopazon.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off; literally, for he to whom these things are not present is blind, short-sighted. We cannot attain to the knowledge of Christ without these graces, for he who has them not is blind, or, at the best, short-sighted, like one who blinks with his eyes when he tries to see distant objects, and cannot bear the full light of day. Such a man can only see the things which lie close around him earth and earthly things; he cannot lift up his eyes by faith and behold "the land that is very far off;" he cannot "see the King in his beauty". (Isa_33:17) The word for "short-sighted"(muwpazwn) occurs only here in the New Testament. And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins; literally, having incurred forgetfulness of the cleansing from his old sins. St. Peter is apparently thinking of the one baptism for the remission of sin. Ananias had said to Saul, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins"; (Act_22:16) St. Peter himself had said, in his first great sermon, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Those who do not realize in the religious life that death unto sin of which holy baptism is the sign and the beginning, incur forgetfulness of the cleansing from sin which they then received; they do not use the grace once given for the attainment of those higher graces of which St. Peter has been speaking. The one talent once entrusted to them must be taken from them; they are idle and unfruitful, and cannot reach unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (comp. 1Co_6:11; Eph_5:26; 1Pe_3:21)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But he that wanteth these - That does not add them to his faith. Is blind - The eyes of his understanding are again closed. He cannot see God, or his pardoning love. He has lost the evidence of things not seen. Not able to see afar off - Literally, purblind. He has lost sight of the precious promises: perfect love and heaven are equally out of his sight. Nay, he cannot now see what himself once enjoyed. Having, as it were, forgot the purification from his former sins - Scarce knowing what he himself then felt, when his sins were forgiven.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

sins

Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9–11. He that lacketh these things. The qualities named in verses 5–7. Is blind. Shows that he has a defective moral vision. Cannot see afar off. Is short sighted; does not see what his future good requires. Hath forgotten. If he could remember how he was cleansed from his own sinful state, he would show greater diligence lest he should again fall into sin.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9. On the other hand their absence makes a man spiritually blind, or at least short-sighted.

μυωπάζων (the more natural form of the word would have been μυωπιάζων, cf. μυωπία) means screwing up the eyes in order to see, as a short-sighted man does. It limits the word τυφλός, and does not emphasize it.

λήθην λαβών, etc. He forgets the cleansing of his former sins, which took place when he was baptized. A phrase in Heb 1:3 combines two of the words used here “διʼ ἑαυτοῦ καθαρισμὸν ποιησάμενος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.” Among other passages quoted by Mayor, one from 1Co 6:11 is specially apt: καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε ἀλλὰ ἀπελούσασθε, ἀλλὰ ἡγιάσθητε. The man’s forgetfulness of the cleansing he received in baptism paralyses his efforts to put away evil habits.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9.] Reasons for the foregoing exhortations: 1. positive, the advantage of these Christian graces in bringing forth fruit towards the mature knowledge of Christ: 2. negative, the disadvantage of their absence from the character.

9.] For (negative reason: see above: and that, with reference not only to the exhortations of vv. 5, 6, 7, but by this γάρ connected also with ver. 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 ταῦτα ὑμῖν ὑπάρχοντα κ. πλεονάζοντα, ver. 8) is blind (lacks discernment altogether of his own state as a member or Christ and inheritor of heaven), short-sighted (μυωπάζειν λέγονται οἱ ἐκ γενετῆς τὰ μὲν ἐγγὺς βλέποντες, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀποστάσεως οὐχ ὁρῶντες· ἐναντία δὲ πάσχουσιν οἱ γέροντες τοῖς μυωπάζουσιν, τὰ γὰρ ἐγγὺς μὴ ὁρῶντες τὰ πόῤῥωθεν βλέπουσιν, 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 ψηλαφῶν. Thl. explains it by τυφλώττειν, ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν μυῶν τυφλῶν εἰς ἅπαν διατελούντων: but thus we should have a mere tautology. Wolf adopts the interpretation “shutting the eyes,” seeing that Hesych. and Suidas explain it by καμμύειν, and that μυωπάζειν is only μύειν τὰς ὦπας. “Itaque,” he proceeds, “τυφλὸς μυωπάζων is dicitur qui ideo cæcus 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, λήθην λαβόντες τῆς Κρητῶν περὶ τὸν βίον εὐκοσμίας. 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 πάλαι and αὐτοῦ. And thus almost all the Commentators, καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος ἐπιγνοὺς ἑαυτὸν διὰ τὸ καθαρθῆναι τῷ ἁγίῳ βαπτίσματι, ὅτι πλήθους ἁμαρτιῶν ἐξεπλύθη, δέον εἰδέναι ὅτι καθαρεὶς καὶ ἁγιότητα ἔλαβε, νήφειν ἵνα διαπαντὸς τηρῇ τὸν ἁγιασμόν, οὗ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν κύριον, ὁ δὲ ἐπελάθετο. Œc. and so Thl.).

10,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

He that lacketh these things [ω μη παρεστιν ταυτα] . 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 [τυφλος] . Illustrating Peter's emphasis on sight as a medium of instruction. See Introduction.

And cannot see afar off [μυωπαζω] . 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 [ληθην λαβων] . 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 [του καθαρισμου] . Rev., more literally, the cleansing.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.