SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:9
Pero el que no tiene estas cosas, es ciego, y anda tentando el camino con la mano, habiendo olvidado de la purgacin de sus antiguos pecados.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 1:9
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, muwpazwn, 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!
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. But he that lacketh these things , etc.] 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 Acts 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 2 Corinthians 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - Faith unites the weak believer to Christ, as really as it does the strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; an every sincere believer is by his faith justified in the sight of God Faith worketh godliness, and produces effects which no other grace in the soul can do. In Christ all fulness dwells, and pardon, peace grace, and knowledge, and new principles, are thus given through the Holy Spirit. The promises to those who are partakers of a Divin nature, will cause us to inquire whether we are really renewed in the spirit of our minds; let us turn all these promises into prayers for the transforming and purifying grace of the Holy Spirit. The believe must add knowledge to his virtue, increasing acquaintance with the whole truth and will of God. We must add temperance to knowledge moderation about worldly things; and add to temperance, patience, or cheerful submission to the will of God. Tribulation worketh patience whereby we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and submission To patience we must add godliness: this includes the holy affection and dispositions found in the true worshipper of God; with tende affection to all fellow Christians, who are children of the sam Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family travellers to the same country, heirs of the same inheritance Wherefore let Christians labour to attain assurance of their calling and of their election, by believing and well-doing; and thus carefull to endeavour, is a firm argument of the grace and mercy of God upholding them so that they shall not utterly fall. Those who ar diligent in the work of religion, shall have a triumphant entrance int that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever; and it is in the practice of every good wor that we are to expect entrance to heaven.
Greek Textus Receptus
ω 3739 γαρ 1063 μη 3361 παρεστιν 3918 5748 ταυτα 5023 τυφλος 5185 εστιν 2076 5748 μυωπαζων 3467 5723 ληθην 3024 λαβων 2983 5631 του 3588 καθαρισμου 2512 των 3588 παλαι 3819 αυτου 846 αμαρτιων 266
Vincent's NT Word Studies
9. But (gar). Wrong. Render as Rev., for.He that lacketh these things (w mh parestin tauta). 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 (tuflov). Illustrating Peter's emphasis on sight as a medium of instruction. See Introduction.
And cannot see afar off (muwpazw). 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 John ix. 41. Rev. renders, seeing only what is near.
And hath forgotten (lhqhn labwn). Lit., having taken forgetfulness. A unique expression, the noun occurring only here in the New Testament. Compare a similar phrase, 2 Tim. i. 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 (tou kaqarismou). Rev., more literally, the cleansing.
