a washing off · noun — genitive singular masculine
from
ἁμαρτιῶν.hamartiōn
G266
a sin (properly abstract) · noun — genitive plural feminine
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
old
πάλαιpalai
G3819
(adverbially) formerly · adverb
sins
ἁμαρτίαhamartía
G266
a sin (properly abstract)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 John 2:9-11 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
2 Peter 2:18-20 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were cle…
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
James 2:14-26 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us…
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Peter 1:5-11
In these words the apostle comes to the chief thing intended in this epistle - to excite and engage them to advance in grace and holiness, they having already obtained precious faith, and been made partakers of the divine nature. This is a very good beginning, but it is not to be rested in, as if we were already perfect. The apostle had prayed that grace and peace might be multiplied to them, and now he exhorts them to press forward for the obtaining of more grace. We should, as we have opportunity, exhort those we pray for, and excite them to the use of all proper means to obtain what we desire God to bestow upon them; and those who will make any progress in religion must be very diligent a…
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 culpabl…
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 see…
The Church Fathers
If these virtues are present, we can see God, but if they are absent, we are blind.
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. "has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." This is similar to what was said by blessed James: "For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer: he shall be compared to a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. For he saw himself, and went his way." (James 1:23-24) For when he had known that he had been cleansed by holy baptism, because he had been washed from the multitude of sins, he ought to have known that it is necessary to be vigilant in order to maintain his purity and sanctity, without which no one will see God (Heb. 12:14): but he indeed forgot.
When we hear these things, we must fortify ourselves and obey what is said, and cleanse ourselves from earthly things. If we do that, we shall share in his blessings, and we shall not need anything else. But if we do not obey, we shall be destroyed. What difference does it make whether we are destroyed through wealth or through laziness? Or if not through laziness, through cowardice? For when a farmer destroys his crop, it hardly matters how he does it. On the other hand, he will raise us up to do all the good works which he has predicted we shall do. Therefore it is necessary that once someone has been cleansed and has partaken of holiness, that he hold on to it through thick and thin, for without it he will not see the Lord.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Peter, Second Epistle of — The question of the authenticity of this epistle has been much discussed, but the weight of evidence is wholly in favour of its claim to be the production of the apostle whose name it bears. It…
Unfaithfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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 h…
2 Peter 1:5-9
5. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
5. Atque in hoc ipsum omne studium applicantes, subministrate in fide vestra virtutem, in virtute autem scientiam;
6. And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
6. In scientia verae temperantiam, in temperantia autem patientiam, in patientia ver? pietatem,
7. And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
7. In pietate autem fraternum amorem, in fraterno ver? amore charitatem.
8. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesu…
The stair-step structure of these verses, with each virtue leading to another, is a common literary device called a sorites. The sequence in such passages is not stressed—e.g., Peter does not imply that moral excellence must come before knowledge. Yet love is the pinnacle of the virtues (1:7).
