II PETER 1 8-12 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing

measure, they will keep you from being ineffective

and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

BARES, "For if these things be in you, and abound - If they are in you in rich abundance; if you are eminent for these things.

They make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful - They will show that you are not barren or unfruitful. The word rendered barren, is, in the margin, idle. The word idle more accurately expresses the sense of the original. The meaning is, that if they evinced these things, it would show.

(1) That they were diligent in cultivating the Christian graces, and,

(2) That it was not a vain thing to attempt to grow in knowledge and virtue.Their efforts would be followed by such happy results as to be an

encouragement to exertion. In nothing is there, in fact, more encouragement than in the attempt to become eminent in piety. On no other efforts does God smile more propitiously than on the attempt to secure the salvation of the soul and to do good. A small part of the exertions which men put forth to become rich, or learned, or celebrated for oratory or heroism, would secure the salvation of the soul. In the former, also, men often fail; in the latter, never.

CLARKE, "For if these things be in you and abound - If ye possess all there graces, and they increase and abound in your souls, they will make - show,

you to be neither , idle, nor , unfruitful, in the acknowledgment of

our Lord Jesus Christ. The common translation is here very unhappy: barren and unfruitful certainly convey the same ideas; but idle or inactive, which is the

proper sense of , takes away this tautology, and restores the sense. The

graces already mentioned by the apostle are in themselves active principles; he who was possessed of them, and had them abounding in him, could not be inactive; and he who is not inactive in the way of life must be fruitful. I may add, that he who is thus active, and consequently fruitful, will ever be ready at all hazard to acknowledge his Lord and Savior, by whom he has been brought into this state of salvation.

GILL," For if these things be in you,.... Are wrought in you by the Spirit of God, and exercised and performed by his assistance, who works in his people both to will and do:

and abound; increase in their acts and exercises by the frequent performance of them: they make you; both by way of influence and evidence,

that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a knowledge of Christ which is barren and fruitless; and those that have it are so in their conversations, and it will be of no avail to them another day: and this is a mere notional and speculative knowledge, such as is not attended with any inward experience and application of Christ to themselves, or any fruits of righteousness in their lives, and is a bare theory of things relating to his person, offices, and works; but there is a knowledge of him that is spiritual and experimental, by which a soul not only approves of Christ, but places its trust and confidence in him, and appropriates him to himself, and practically observes his commands and ordinances in the faith of him; and in love to him he performs the above duties, and exercises the above graces; from whence it appears, that he is neither barren nor unfruitful himself in the profession of his knowledge of Christ; "or in the acknowledgment of him", as it may be rendered; nor is that a vain, empty, and useless thing: he is not like the barren fig tree, or the earth that bears briers and thorns, and is nigh to cursing and burning, but like a tree planted by a river of water, and is green, flourishing, and fruitful. This is used as an argument to enforce the foregoing exhortation, to add to, that is, to exercise and perform the above graces and duties, in conjunction with each other.

JAMISO, "be Greek, subsist that is, supposing these things to have an actual subsistence in you; be would express the mere matter-of-fact being (Act_16:20).

aboundmore than in others; so the Greek.make render, constitute you, habitually, by the very fact of possessing these graces.barren inactive, and, as a field lying fallow and unworked (Greek), so barren and useless.unfruitful in rather, ... in respect to, The full knowledge (Greek) of Christ is the goal towards which all these graces tend. As their subsisting in us constitutes us not barren or idle, so their abounding in us constitutes us not unfruitful in respect to it. It is through doing His will, and so becoming like Him, that we grow in knowing Him (Joh_7:17).

CALVI, "8.For if these things be in you. Then, he says, you will at length prove

that Christ is really known by you, if ye be endued with virtue, temperance, and the

other endowments. For the knowledge of Christ is an efficacious thing and a living

root, which brings forth fruit. For by saying that these things would make them

neither barren nor unfruitful, he shews that all those glory, in vain and falsely, that

they have the knowledge of Christ, who boast of it without love, patience, and the

like gifts, as Paul also says in Ephesians 4:20,

Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off the old man, etc.

For he means that those who possess Christ without newness of life, have never been

rightly taught his doctrine.

But he would not have the faithful to be only taught patience, godliness, temperance,

love; but he requires a continual progress to be made as to these endowments, and

that justly, for we are as yet far off from the goal. We ought, therefore, always to

make advances, so that Gods gifts may continually increase in us.

COKE, "2 Peter 1:8. For if these things be in you, and abound, &c. For your

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ will not be barren and fruitless, if these virtues

take place and improve in you. Heylin. The words make youneither barren nor

fruitless, are, by a meiosis, put for will make you very diligent and fruitful. One

grand end of our Christian knowledge andtruth is, that we may be diligent and

fruitful, in works of holiness and righteousness. Titus 3:8; Titus 3:14.

COFFMA, ""It is the necessity of possessing these things enumerated in 2 Peter

1:5-7 and to be achieved at least in part by human effort, that is here stressed."[26]

If ... How frequently this word appears in the ew Testament! suggesting here that

in the last analysis, there is a vital and necessary contribution that man himself must

make in the direction of his salvation, but in the sense of doing those things without

which not even God can save his soul.

EDOTE:

[26] Albert E. Barnett, op. cit., p. 178.

BESO, "2 Peter 1:8. For if these things be in you This faith, this courage, this

knowledge, &c. ot if they be understood and professed by you merely, but if they

be in you, experienced in your hearts, and evinced in your lives; and abound

Increase more and more, otherwise you fall short; they make you They cause;

that ye shall neither be barren Or rather, slothful, as signifies; nor

unfruitful Cumberers of the ground; or taking pains to do good, but without

succe, your efforts being fruitless through your want of one or other of these graces.

But these graces, possessed by you and kept in lively exercise, will neither suffer you

to faint in your minds, nor be without fruit in your lives. Observe, reader, if there be

in us less faithfulness, less watchfulness and care, less tenderness of conscience, less

fervour of spirit, and diligence in working out our salvation: and serving God, and

his cause, and people, since we were pardoned, than there was before; less outward

obedience to the law of God, and less zeal and conscientiousness in doing his will,

and glorifying him in and with our body and spirit, which are his, than when we

were seeking remission of sins and regenerating grace, we are both slothful and

unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ That is, in the faith, which in that case does

not, cannot work by love.

BARCLAY, "O THE WAY (2 Peter 1:8-11)

1:8-11 For, if these things exist and increase within you, they will make you not

ineffective and not unfruitful in your progress towards the knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. For whoever does not possess these things is blind, short-sighted, and

has lapsed into forgetfulness that the sins of his old way of life have been cleansed

away, So, brothers, be the more eager to confirm your calling and your choice. For,

if you do practise these virtues, you will never slip, for you will be richly gifted with

the right of entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter strongly urges his people to keep climbing up this ladder of virtues which he

has set before them. The more we know of any subject the more we are fit to know.

It is always true that "to him that hath it shall be given." Progress is the way to

more progress. Moffatt says of ourselves and Jesus Christ: "We learn him as we live

with him and for him." As the hymn has it:

May every heart confess thy name,

And ever thee adore,

And, seeking thee, itself inflame

To seek thee more and more.

To keep climbing up the ladder of the virtues is to come ever nearer to knowing

Jesus Christ; and the further we climb, the further we are able to climb.

On the other hand, if we refuse to make the effort of the upward climb, certain

things happen. (a) We grow blind; we are left without the guiding light that the

knowledge of Jesus Christ brings. As Peter sees it, to walk without Christ is to walk

in the dark and not to be able to see the way. (b) We grow what Peter calls

muopazon (Greek #3467). This word can have either of two meanings. It can mean

short-sighted. It is easy to become short-sighted in life, to see things only as they

appear at the moment and to be unable to take the long view of things, to have our

eyes so fixed upon earth that we never think of the things beyond. It can also mean

blinking, shutting the eyes. Again, it is easy in life to shut our eyes to what we do not

wish to see, and to walk, as it were, in blinkers. To walk without Christ is to be in

danger of taking the short-sighted or the blinkered view of life.

Further, to fail to climb the ladder of virtue is to forget that the sins of the old way

of life have been cleansed away. Peter is thinking of baptism. At that time baptism

was adult baptism; it was a deliberate act of decision to leave the old way and to

enter upon the new. The man who, after baptism, does not begin upon the upward

climb has forgotten, or never realized, the meaning of the experience through which

he has passed. For many of us the parallel to baptism in this sense is entry into the

membership of the Christian Church. To make our commitment and then to remain

exactly the same, is to fail to understand what church membership means, for our

entry into it should be the beginning of a climb upon the upward way.

In view of all this, Peter urges his people to make every effort to confirm their

calling by God. Here is a most significant demand. In one way all is of God; it is

God's call which gives us entry into the fellowship of his people; without his grace

and his mercy we could do nothing and could expect nothing. But that does not

absolve us from every possible effort.

Let us take an analogy, which, although not perfect, may help us to understand.

Suppose a man who is wealthy and kind picks out a poor lad, who would never

otherwise have had the chance, and offers him the privilege of a university

education. The benefactor is giving the lad something which he could never have

achieved for himself; but the lad cannot make use of that privilege unless he is

prepared to work, and the harder he works the more he will enter into the privilege

offered to him. The gracious free offer and the personal hard work have to combine

before the privilege becomes fully effective.

It is so with us and God. God has called us in his free mercy and his unmerited

grace; but at the same time we have to bend every effort to toil upwards and

onwards on the way.

If we follow this upward way, Peter says, we shall in the end be richly gifted with

the right of entry into his eternal kingdom; and we shall not slip upon the way. By

this Peter does not mean that we will never sin. The picture in his mind is of a

march and he means that we will never fall out upon the march and be left behind.

If we set out upon this upward and onward way, the effort will be great but God's

help will also be great; and in spite of all the toil, he will enable us to keep going

until we reach our journey's end.

ELLICOTT, (8) For if these things be in you.First reason for the preceding

exhortationthe benefit of having these graces. The original of be in you is a strong

expression, implying permanent and not mere momentary existence.

And abound.Strictly, and multiply or increase. (Comp. Romans 5:20, and Note

there; Romans 6:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, where the same inadequate translation occurs in

the Authorised version.)

Neither be barren nor unfruitful.Better, not idle nor yet unfruitful. Cranmer, Tyndale,

and Geneva all have ydle. The Greek word literally means without worki.e., doing

nothing, as unfruitful means producing nothing. That ye shall be is not in the Greek,

and is not needed. The two adjectives idle and unfruitful exactly correspond to the

two verbs be in you and increase. If these things be in you, you will be morally

active; if they increase, you will be morally productive.

In the knowledge.Rather, unto the knowledge; the fuller, more advanced knowledge

of 2 Peter 1:2-3, and 2 Peter 2:20. This is the goal towards which all these virtues tend,

the fruit which they tend to producethe perfect knowledge of Christ. Those who are the

most like Christ in their lives have the fullest knowledge of Him in this world, a

knowledge to be perfected in the next world, when, purified from sin, we shall see Him

as He is. This clause, without the negatives, accurately describes the condition of the

false teachers whom the Apostle has in view. They were both idle and unfruitful unto the

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. They neither did nor produced anything that in any

degree advanced such knowledge either in themselves or others. The list of virtues just

commended (2 Peter 1:5-7) constitutes a solemn indictment against them. Practical

infidelity leading to vicious conduct; a hollow and pretentious philosophy leading to

libertinism; an impatience of control leading to utter godlessness; a selfish indifference to

the claims of those nearest to them ending in absolute heartlessness towards all men

such is the charge brought against them, by implication here, directly in 2 Peter 2.

PULPIT, For if these things be in you, and abound; literally, for these things belonging

to you and abounding make, etc. The word used here ( ??pa????ta) implies actual

possession; these graces must be made our own; they must be wrought into our

characters: then they will increase and multiply, for the grace of God cannot lie still, it

must ever he advancing from glory to glory. They make you that ye shall neither be barren

nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; literally, they make you not idle

nor yet unfruitful towards the full knowledge. The Greek word for "knowledge" is e?p?

???s?? (on which see 2 Peter 1:2, and note there). Here we know only in part, we see

through a glass darkly; but that imperfect knowledge should be ever growing, increasing

in fullness and distinctness (see 2 Peter 3:18). The various graces of the Christian

character, realized in the heart, will lead us on towards that fuller knowledge of Christ; if

they are really ours, they will not allow us to be idle, they must bring forth the fruit of

good works; and the life of righteousness by faith draws the Christian onwards in the

knowledge of Christ: we learn to knew him by following him (comp. Philippians 3:9,

Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:10).

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, Ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.

Fruits of the knowledge of Christ

Among the most beautiful emblems of the Christian life in Scripture are those employed to shadow forth its fruitfulness. The choicest and noblest trees, the majesty and gracefulness of whose form delight our eye, or whose fruits regale our taste, are the Divinely chosen types of saved and sanctified men.

I. The supreme importance of Christian fruitfulness. It was not that your leaves might idly wave in the sun, be fanned with the pleasant breath and sprinkled with the refreshing dews of heaven, that you were taken from the wild forest of nature and planted in the garden of God; but that you might reward the husbandmans

care with abundance of the fruits of righteousness. And, if this result is not realised, you may read His deep sorrow and anger in the words pronounced over Israel (Isa_5:6). Fearful is the doom of barrenness (Heb_6:7-9).II. Fruitfulnessin what it consists. It is in a mans works and words and influence that, according to the view of the apostle, we are to find the fruits of the Christian life. Do not tell us of feelings and experiences, of qualities and graces, of which you say you are conscious; unless these inward impulses and affections make your life fertile in holy and loving purposes and performances. It is by what a man does that it becomes known what he is. The fruit proceeds from the tree, but is distinct from it. It is elaborated by the tree from the juices that circulate through root and stem and branch. The air, and light, and moisture, and nutritious elements of the soil contribute the materials; but the tree, out of these, by the power of its wondrous life, forms a product altogether new. And so, like the bounteous fruit-tree, every man who rightly fills his place in Gods vineyard is not a consumer only but a producer. The world is the better for him. What has been taken into his own soul from above and from aroundthe doctrine of Gods Wordthe influences of Gods Spiritthe lessons of nature and Providencemingles with his being, and is changed and elaborated into holy thoughts, which may refresh thousands of heartsinto precious words of truth and power to become the germs of life in others, and into deeds of holiness and love.III. The degree in which fruitfulness is attainable. Barren and unfruitfulare not two terms to express the same idea. A fallow field, which yields nothing for the reapers sickle, is barren in the sense here meant. A field which rewards the husbandmans toil with only a scanty crop would be appropriately designated unfruitful. He is far from exhibiting the perfection of the Divine life, who, like the bleak patch beside the lonely cottage on the side of some stony bill, produces but a poor and precarious harvest, although he has made a great and happy transition from the desert barrenness of an unregenerate state. Maturity in grace, with its rich and mellow clusters, is a spectacle as lovely as it is rare. Where it does exist, it is often hidden from the view in many a humble home, in many a sequestered path. It is by our bearing much fruit, our Saviour tells us, that His Father is glorified in us. It is His continual aim that the fruitful branch may become more fruitful still.IV. The productive energies of the life of faith. To be fruitful, all the functions of a tree must be in a healthy, vigorous state, its roots drawing nutriment from beneath, its leaves drinking in the dew and sunshine, the sap stirring through trunk and branch and leaf. If all its activities are in full and healthy play, its energies will not be wasted in excessive growths of foliage and useless sprays, but it will in its season bring forth fruit. What qualities must our souls possess in order to secure fruitfulness? They are virtue, knowledge, self-restraint, patience, godliness, brotherliness, charity. They impart to the soul a stamina and vigour, which not only preserve its life in the drought of summer and amid the icy winds of winter, but load the boughs with fruit. (W. Wilson, M. A.)

The choir of graces

In ancient Athens there was a class of officers called chorus-leaders, who represented the various tribes and at public festivals or religious rejoicings for a victory, brought out a chorus to lead the songs of the people. These leaders were not always singers or practical musicians, but they equipped the chorus and paid the cost of marshalling it upon public occasions. Hence the term which denoted their office came to mean in general, one who provides supplies, and, therefore, as in the text, add to or supply to faith, virtue, and the whole train of graces. Faith is the leader of this choir; virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly-love, and charity are marshalled under faith as their leader, to swell the praises of Christ from an obedient and loving soul. Faith is the clef which gives the key in which these seven notes of the perfect scale are sounded. Faith organises and sustains the chorus and has a place for each in its well-trained band. When all are assembled faith drills them into harmony. But if any one be wanting faith itself appears defective, and the soul is out of tune. It is as if the first violin were wanting at a Philharmonic concert, or the trumpet obligate should fail to sound in the resurrection scene of Handels Messiah.

1. That one who is wanting in these graces and takes no pains to cultivate them has no warrant to believe himself a Christian. Every one of these virtues being thus inward and spiritual, and having an intimate and necessary relation to faith in Christ, where these are wanting there can be no living germinating faith. I do not understand the apostle to teach that completeness in each of these virtues, and the exact proportion and harmony of the whole are essential to a Christian character; but are not these graces themselves, each and all of them, so essential to that character that if any one of them is wholly wanting, neither possessed nor sought after, he who is thus deficient is blind and destitute as to the Christian character and life? A true Christian may betray a lack of moral courage in certain emergencies, as did Peter after the arrest of Jesus. But suppose Peter had continued to deny Christ at every approach of danger, should we not have classed him with the apostate Judas? One may be a true Christian whose knowledge of Christian doctrine is meagre, and who makes frequent mistakes in practice. But if, after five, ten, twenty years, one knows no more of the Bible and has no more heart-knowledge of Christ, shall we continue to regard his experience of conversion as genuine? A Christian may sometimes neglect a call of charity, or set aside a real claim upon his love. But if he never heeds such a call, can he be a child of our Father in heaven? Moreover, since all these graces may be imitated, the positive and entire lack of one proves the rest to be counterfeit or superficial.

2. A full and symmetrical development of these graces is the most satisfactory evidence and the most beautiful exhibition of Christian faith. The mind delights its symmetry. The symmetrical development of the human form, in which each member and feature, perfect in itself, is well proportioned to every other, is our ideal of beauty. This symmetry of form and feature, extending to every line of the countenance and every muscle of the anatomy, is the life-like perfection of the statue; proportion is indispensable to beauty in architecture; symmetry and perspective to the harmony of colours, to the effect of painting; chord and harmonies, preserved even in the most difficult combinations of sound, are the

highest charm of music; rhythm, the measured and regular succession of sounds, is essential to good poetry; the proportion of numbers and of mathematical laws enters into every science which aims at completeness. But in nothing is this symmetry so strenuously insisted upon as in moral character. The sharp and sometimes carping criticism of men of the world upon the faults and even the peccadilloes of professed Christians shows the demand of conscience for completeness of character, and does homage to Christianity itself as a complete system of morality. Hence the New Testament lays much stress upon completeness of Christian character; for the word perfection signifies not so much the absolute sinlessness of a sanctified nature, as the completeness, the full symmetrical development of the renewed man in all the graces of the Christian life. This conscious, steady, visible growth in all the graces is the best evidence of a renewed heart. This full and symmetrical development of the Christian graces makes to the world a most beautiful and convincing exhibition of the Christian faith. A perfect Christian character is one in enumerating whose graces you can always say and, and never interpose a but. The average Christian character is sadly marred by that little disjunctive conjunctionHe is a very good manbut; He is kind and charitable at heartbut rough and irritable in manner; he is temperate and patientbut lacking charity; he is reverent and devoutbut lacks moral courage.3. The abounding of these graces in the soul will make it fruitful in the knowledge of Christwill insure for it a progressive and rewarding piety. The relation of heart-culture to the enjoyment of religion is like that of good agriculture to a good crop. You cannot have a garden by merely purchasing a place. The soil may be of excellent quality, and the situation most favourable; the title may be well secured, and the party of whom you buy may make most abundant promises as to the fertility and beauty of the ground; but unless you give all diligence to make and stock the garden, unless you dig and plant, and weed and trim, your title, deed, and promises will not give you a single shrub or flower. If well-selected fruits and flowers are in your garden and abound, they will make you fruitful in the knowledge of its capacities and in the enjoyment of its pleasures. Two reflections are obvious here.1. If Christians find no enjoyment in religion, it is because they have failed to cultivate its particular and combined graces.2. The highest fruitfulness of a Church is to be secured by the perfecting of personal character in its members. (Joseph P. Thompson.)

Two sorts of Christians

I. The bright picture of what every christian may and should be.

1. Every Christian may have for his own in assured possession that whole series of lustrous beauties of character (2Pe_1:5-7). You may be strong and discerning and temperate, etc. It is a prize within your reach; is it in any sense a prize within your possession?

2. We may each have an increasing possession of all these graces. If these things be yours and abound, or, as the word ought more accurately to be rendered and

increase. The expression suggests that if in any real sense they are in you, they will be increasingly in you. The oftener a man lavishes the treasures of his love the richer is the love which he has to lavish. The more rigidly he schools and disciplines himself the more complete becomes his command over his unruly nature.3. We may all, if we will, have these graces making us diligent and faithful. The meaning of the word rendered barren is, as the Revised Version and the margin of the Authorised give it, idle. Well, that seems a little thing, that all that aggregation of Christian graces has only for its effect to make men not idle, not unfruitful. And it seems, to some extent, too, illogical, because all these graces are themselves the result of diligence, and are themselves fruit. But the apparent difficulty, like many of the other anomalous expressions of Scripture, covers deep thoughts. The first is thisLook after your characters and work will look after itself. The world says, Do! do! do! Christianity says, Be! be! be! If you are right, then, and only then will you do right. So learn this lesson, do not waste your time in tinkering at actions, go deeper down and make the actor right, and then the actions will not be wrong. The highest exercises of these radiant gems of Christian graces is to make men diligent and fruitful, Again, it takes the whole of these Christian graces to overcome our natural indolence. The pendulum will be sure to settle into the repose that gravitation dictates unless the clock be kept wound up, and it needs all the wheels and springs to keep it ticking for its four and twenty hours. The homely duty of hard work, the prosaic virtue of diligence, is the very flower and highest product of all these transcendent graces. Then, still further, there is a lesson here in the collocation of the words before us, namely, an idle Christian is certain to be a barren one. And now the last point in this picture of what all Christian people may be isby the exercise of diligence and fruitfulness attain to a fuller knowledge of Christ. Literally rendered, the text reads, towards the knowledge. There be two measures of knowledge of Christ. There is that initial one which dawns upon a heart in the midst of its sin and evil, and assures it of a loving friend and of a Divine Redeemer; and there is the higher, constantly expanding, deepening, becoming more intimate and unbroken, more operative on the life and transforming in the character, which is the reward and the crown of earth, and the crown and heaven of heaven. And it is this knowledge which the apostle here says, will follow if, and only if, we have striven to add to our faith all these graces, and they have made us strenuous in service and fruitful in holiness.II. The contrasted outlines of the black picture of what some of us are.

1. It is possible for a man to be purged from his old sins and yet not to be growing. It is a case of arrested development, as you sometimes see a man with the puny limbs of childhood; or, as you sometimes see a plant, which you cannot say is dead, but it has not vitality enough to flower or to fruit.

2. Further, such a one is blind, or, as the apostle goes on to explain, or, if you like, to correct himself, he cannot see afar off. The apostle employs a unique word to express cannot see afar off, which, if you will pardon the vulgarism for the sake of the force, I would venture to translate blinks. There was a time when you had clear vision. The smoky roof of your cabin was rent, and you saw through

it up to the Throne, but your eyes have gone dim because you have been careless to develop your faith; and where there is no development of faith there is retrogression of faith. Therefore, all the far-off glories have faded, and the only things that you see are the things that are temporal, the material, the pressure of present cares, and the like.3. Let me remind you of the last point in this sad picture. He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Yes! These idle unfruitful Christians have in their memories, if they would only open the cupboard door and look, a blessed gift long ago given that might, and that ought to stimulate them. They are their own worst condemnation. There was a time when they felt the burden of sin upon their consciences when they hated it and desired to be free from it. And what has it all come to? The sins forgiven have come back; the sins hated have reasserted their dominion; Pharaoh has caught them again. The moments emancipation has been followed by a recrudescence of all the old transgressions. So they contradict themselves and their own past and contravene the purpose of God in their pardon, and, with monstrous ingratitude, are untouched by the tender motives to growth in holiness which lie in the pouring out of the blood which cleanses from all sin. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ

As He is Lord He can, as He is Jesus He will, as He is Christ He doth, as He is Our He shall save us. Lord; consider His righteousness. Jesus; consider His sweetness. Christ; consider His willingness. Our; consider His goodness that gives us interest in Himself and vouchsafes us to challenge His mercy. Lord, in regard of His dominion (Psa_99:1). Jesus, in regard of His salvation (Psa_68:20). Christ, in regard of the promise (Joh_7:26; Joh_7:41). Our, in regard of His appropriating Himself unto us (Heb_2:16). Lord, in His power, His works declare Him to be the Lord (Psa_135:6). Jesus, in being made (Gal_4:4; Joh_1:14). Christ, in being sacrificed and crucified for us (1Co_11:24). Our, in respect of the covenant (Heb_8:10). Infinite mercy! The Lords Christ is become our Jesus (Luk_2:26). (Thos. Adams.)

GUZIK, 4. (8-9) How to use these qualities to measure our Christian walk.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

a. If these things are yours and abound: If we have these things, and abound in these things, it is evident to everyone that we are not barren nor unfruitful in our knowledge of Jesus.

i. The words barren and unfruitful characterize the lives of many Christians, who lack these qualities because they lack in their knowledge of God, that is, knowing Him relationally in an increasingly fuller and deeper sense.

ii. Abound: Some may feel good that these qualities are seen in us from time to time. But Peter says they should abound in us.

b. He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness: If we lack these things, it shows we have "eye trouble." We are shortsighted, unable to see God, only ourselves. This makes us virtually blind, showing we have forgotten that we were cleansed from his old sins.

i. "Such a man sees the things of time, and fails to discern those of eternity . . . he sees himself and his fellowmen, but not God. This nearsightedness is destructive of a true Christian experience, and therefore makes advance impossible." (Morgan)

ii. The reason for this condition is also stated; such a one has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. "That is to say, he has failed to respond to all the enlargement of life and vision which came to him when he received the cleansing of his nature at the very beginning of his Christian life." (Morgan)

iii. Perhaps this one has forgotten how bad he was, and how much he needed this cleansing. Perhaps this one has forgotten the great cost of this purging of sin's dirty stain. Perhaps this one has forgotten how great and complete the cleansing is, making a once guilty sinner now as

pure and as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18 ).

9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted

and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed

from their past sins.

BARES, "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, ( mupazn,) 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.

CLARKE, "But he that lacketh these things - He, whether Jew or Gentile, who professes to have Faith in God, and has not added to that Faith fortitude, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and universal

love; is blind - his understanding is darkened, and cannot see afar off, ,

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

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

GILL," 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 2Co_7:1, but the words are better rendered agreeably to the original text, "and hath forgotten the purification of his old, or former sins"; or "sins of old"; as they are rendered by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; that is, he does not consider, nor think of it, that he was a sinner of old, a sinner in Adam, that he was conceived and shapen in sin, and went astray, and was called a transgressor from the womb; he does not think that he stands in any need of being purged from former sins; and is entirely unmindful of, and neglects, the purification of them by the blood of Christ.

JAMISO, "But Greek, For. Confirming the need of these graces (2Pe_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 willfulnessin 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, willful and culpable obliviousness.that he was purged The continually present sense of ones 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 Christs blood), we should have no more consciousness of sin (as condemning us, Heb_10:2, because of Gods promise). Baptism is the sacramental pledge of this.

CALVI, "9.But he that lacketh these things. He now expresses more clearly that

they who profess a naked faith are wholly without any true knowledge. He then says

that they go astray like the blind in darkness, because they do not see the right way

which is shewn to us by the light of the gospel. (151) This he also confirms by adding

this reason, because such have forgotten that through the benefit of Christ they had

been cleansed from sin, and yet this is the beginning of our Christianity. It then

follows, that those who do not strive for a pure and holy life, do not understand even

the first rudiments of faith.

But Peter takes this for granted, that they who were still rolling in the filth of the

flesh had forgotten their own purgation. For the blood of Christ has not become a

washing bath to us, that it may be fouled by our filth. He, therefore, calls them old

sins, by which he means, that our life ought to be otherwise formed, because we

have been cleansed from our sins; not that any one can be pure from every sin while

he lives in this world, or that the cleansing we obtain through Christ consists of

pardon only, but that we ought to differ from the unbelieving, as God has separated

us for himself. Though, then, we daily sin, and God daily forgives us, and the blood

of Christ cleanses us from our sins, yet sin ought not to rule in us, but the

sanctification of the Spirit ought to prevail in us; for so Paul teaches us in 1

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

PULPIT, 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 himearth 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" (Isaiah 33:17). The word for "short-sighted" ( ??pa???) occurs only

here in the ew 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" (Acts 22:16); St.

Peter himself had said, in his first great sermon, "Repent, and be baptized every one

of you in the ame 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.

ELLICOTT, (9) But he that lacketh.Rather, for he that lacketh. Geneva and Rheims have for. The for introduces the second reason for the exhortation to furnish forth all these gracesviz., the evil of not having them. The Greek implies absence of possession in any degree, not

merely absence of permanent possession. (See first Note on 2 Peter 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., 2 Peter 1:3; 1 John 1:5 ; 1 John 2:4 ; 1 John 2:27-28 ; 1 John 4:2-3 ; 1 John 4:6 ); he puts the case in a new way, with a new metaphor equally, applicable to the subject of knowledge. Note that he does not say will be blind, but is blind. The very fact of his possessing none of these graces shows that he has no eye for them.

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

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

His old sins.Those committed before he was purged in baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:26 ; 1 Peter 3:21 ).

COKE, "2 Peter 1:9. And cannot see afar off, The word signifies

literally winking, or closing the eyes against the light. The apostle having

represented the professed Christian, who is destitute of the graces and virtues of the

Christian life, as blind, immediately informs us what sort of blindness that is, and

intimates that it is a voluntary blindness. He does not see his way, because he

voluntarily shuts his eyes against the light. The Christian religion does so often and

so clearly represent the absolute necessity of a holy life unto all that would be saved,

and the light of the Holy Spirit is so far given or offered to every man, that whoever

can read the scriptures, and does not perceive the nature of the gospel so far, as to

press after acceptance with God through Jesus Christ his Son, and holiness of heart

and life in consequence thereof, is indeed blind, but wilfully so: blinded by criminal

prejudice, by lust, passion, or a love of vice. They must be wilfully blind, who see not

that Christianity requires a holy life as necessary to eternal salvation.

COFFMA, "Blind, seeing only what is near ... The last clause is a limitation on the

blindness, showing the kind Peter meant, which was not "total blindness" but

myopia, or extreme near-sightedness.

SPIRITUAL MYOPIA

Alas, this is the blindness that afflicts all unspiritual souls who sacrifice the hope of

eternal life for immediate convenience or pleasure. There are many Biblical

examples of persons afflicted with spiritual myopia. (1) Lot pitched his tent toward

Sodom, solely because the immediate prospect seemed favorable. (2) The rich man

neglected Lazarus begging at his gate, rather than accepting whatever

inconvenience of the moment that might have been incurred in his relief. (3) Demas

was dazzled by the near-at-hand attractiveness of the present age and forsook Paul

(2 Timothy 4:10). (4) The parable of the prodigal son gives another example of one

for whom the romantic allure of the "far country" with its short term promise of

diversion, pleasure and entertainment, etc., blinded him to the tragedy of ultimate

consequences. It is not hard to see that the world still has its share of those who are

the spiritual sons of Lot, Demas, the prodigal son, and the rich man of the parable.

SPIRITUAL HYPEROPIA

There is also a spiritual malady exactly the opposite of spiritual myopia except in

the one particular of producing the same undesirable consequences. It is spiritual

hyperopia, or far-sightedness. It is generally accepted as a compliment when people

are told that they are "far-sighted"; but there is a type of far-sightedness that goes

much too far: (1) The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth (Proverbs 17:24). (2)

The one concerned with the mote in his brother's eye while at the same time being

unable to see the beam in his own eye is another example. (3) Hyperopia afflicts the

emotions of some who cannot appreciate present blessings, who are restless and

dissatisfied even with abundance, because they have set their eyes upon some

Utopia, despising all present good in the fevered pursuit of some fantastic Shangrila.

Harriet Winslow addressed these lines to sufferers of such a malady:

Why thus longing, thus forever sighing, For the far-off, unattained, and dim? While

the beautiful all around thee lying, Offers its low, perpetual hymn.

(4) Hyperopia also interferes with the work that people should do, making it

impossible for those afflicted with it to find anything close at hand to do. Like Sir

Launfal, they set their eyes on the ends of the earth, dashing off in pursuit of some

great thing to do, while their only opportunity for service and salvation lies ignored

and forgotten at their feet. It is this class which Jesus warned with his words,

"Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to

me" (Matthew 25:45). What far-sighted souls we are! We go in a trance dreaming of

worlds to conquer while at our very doors and within our very homes the Master is

hungry and sick and in prison!

Illustration. At a religious convention in Pittsburg a few years ago, a young woman

from a western village sought funds to remain in Pittsburg and do social welfare

work. When the committee in charge inquired of the work she had been doing at

home, it came out that she had never done anything; and the chairman said, "Young

lady, what you need is to learn how to move in your own burg before you move to

Pittsburg!"

Great spiritual opportunities do not lie at the foot of some Andean rainbow, but

here, not upon some nebulous tomorrow, but today and now. As Paul put it: "The

word that is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith

which we preach" (Romans 10:8).

"Having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins ... "This refers to wrong acts

committed prior to baptism, not to inherited depravity of human nature."[27]

"Peter is apparently thinking of the one baptism for the remission of sin."[28] This

expression is an allusion to baptism."[29] It refers to "the cleansing he received in

baptism."[30] "His old sins ..." means "those committed before he was `purged' in

baptism."[31] William Barclay has this:

Failure to climb the ladder of virtue is to forget that the sins of the old way of life

have been cleansed away. Peter is thinking of baptism. At that time baptism was

adult baptism, a deliberate act of decision to leave the old way and to enter upon the

new.[32]

This passage sheds light on a number of important questions; and the following

deductions would appear to be justified: (1) Conversion does not occur until

baptism takes place. (2) "Old sins" are totally remitted at the time of baptism. (3)

The salvation in this is neither final nor irrevocable. (4) Obedience to the commands

of Christ is prerequisite both for cleansing from "old sins" and for the ultimate and

eternal cleansing.

[27] Ibid., p. 179.

[26] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 5.

[27] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 528.

[28] B. C. Caffin, op. cit. p. 5.

[29] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 528.

[30] J. R. Dummelow, One Volume Commentary on the Holy Bible (ew York: The

Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1050.

[31] Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 446.

[32] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 306.

BESO, "2 Peter 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 amely, the

things of another world, but only the things of this world, which are present. The

word signifies literally, he is pur-blind. He has lost sight of the precious

promises: perfect love and heaven are equally out of sight. ay, he cannot now see

what he himself once enjoyed, having, as it were, forgot that he was purged, &c.

Greek, , having forgotten

the purification from his former sins; not remembering, or not having a proper

sense of what he himself felt when his past sins were forgiven him, and he wasfirst

assured of his acceptance with God. The apostles expression here, in which he

alludes to baptism, together with Ananiass words to Paul, (Acts 22:16,) Arise and

be baptized, and wash away thy sins, is thought by many to imply, that in baptism

the guilt of former sins is washed away. But Paul himself hath taught the sound

meaning of Ananiass words, (Hebrews 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.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make

every effort to COFIRM YOUR calling and

election. For if you do these things, you will never

stumble,

BARES, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence - 2Pe_1:5. In view of these things, give the greater diligence to secure your salvation. The considerations on which Peter based this appeal seem to have been the fact that such promises are made to us, and such hopes held out before us; the degree of uncertainty thrown over the whole matter of our personal salvation by low attainments in the divine life, and the dreadful condemnation which will ensue if in the end it shall be found that we are destitute of all real piety. The general thought is, that religion is of sufficient importance to claim our highest diligence, and to arouse us to the most earnest efforts to obtain the assurance of salvation.

To make your calling and election sure - On the meaning of the word calling, see the notes at Eph_4:1. On the meaning of the word election, see the Rom_9:11 note; 1Th_1:4 note. Compare Eph_1:5. The word rendered election

here, ( eklogn,) occurs only in this place and in Act_9:15; Rom_9:11;

Rom_11:5, Rom_11:7,Rom_11:28; 1Th_1:4; though corresponding words from the same root denoting the elect, to elect, to choose, frequently occur. The word here used means election, referring to the act of God, by which those who are saved are chosen to eternal life. As the word calling must refer to the act of God, so the word election must; for it is God who both calls and chooses those who shall be saved. The word in the Scriptures usually refers to the actual choosing of those who shall be saved; that is, referring to the time when they, in fact, become the children of God, rather than to the purpose of God that it shall be done; but still there must have been an eternal purpose, for God makes no choice which he did not always intend to make.

The word sure, means firm, steadfast, secure, ( bebaian.) Here the

reference must be to themselves; that is, they were so to act as to make it certain to themselves that they had been chosen, and were truly called into the kingdom of God. It cannot refer to God, for no act of theirs could make it more certain on his part, if they had been actually chosen to eternal life. Still, God everywhere treats men as moral agents; and what may be absolutely certain in his mind from the mere purpose that it shall be so, is to be made certain to us only by evidence, and in the free exercise of our own powers. The meaning here is, that they were to obtain such evidences of personal piety as to put the question whether they were called and chosen, so far as their own minds were concerned, to rest; or so as to have undoubted evidence on this point. The Syriac, the Vulgate, and some Greek manuscripts, insert here the expression by your good works; that is, they were to make their calling sure by their good works, or by holy living.

This clause, as Calvin remarks, is not authorized by the best authority, but it does not materially affect the sense. It was undoubtedly by their good works in the sense of holy living, or of lives consecrated to the service of God, that they were to obtain the evidence that they were true Christians; that is, that they had been

really called into the kingdom of God, for there is nothing else on which we can depend for such evidence. God has given no assurance to us by name that he intends to save us. We can rely on no voice, or vision, or new revelation, to prove that it is so. No internal feeling of itself, no raptures, no animal excitement, no confident persuasion in our own minds that we are elected, can be proof in the case; and the only certain evidence on which we can rely is that which is found in a life of sincere piety. In view of the important statement of Peter in this verse, then, we may remark:(1) That he believed in the doctrine of election, for he uses language which obviously implies this, or such as they are accustomed to use who believe the doctrine.(2) The fact that God has chosen those who shall be saved, does not make our own efforts unnecessary to make that salvation sure to us. It can be made sure to our own minds only by our own exertions; by obtaining evidence that we are in fact the children of God. There can be no evidence that salvation will be ours, unless there is a holy life; that is, unless there is true religion. Whatever may be the secret purpose of God in regard to us, the only evidence that we have that we shall be saved is to be found in the fact that we are sincere Christians, and are honestly endeavoring to do his will.(3) It is possible to make our calling and election sure; that is, to have such evidence on the subject that the mind shall be calm, and that there will be no danger of deception. If we can determine the point that we are in fact true Christians, that settles the matter - for then the unfailing promise of God meets us that we shall be saved. In making our salvation sure to our own minds, if we are in fact true Christians, we have not to go into an argument to prove that we have sufficient strength to resist temptation, of that we shall be able in any way to keep ourselves. All that matter is settled by the promise of God, that if we are Christians we shall be kept by Him to salvation. The only question that is to be settled is, whether we are in fact true Christians, and all beyond that may be regarded as determined immutably. But assuredly it is possible for a man to determine the question whether he is or is not a true Christian.

(4) If it can be done, it should be. Nothing is more important for us to do than this; and to this great inquiry we should apply our minds with unfaltering diligence, until by the grace of God we can say that there are no lingering doubts n regard to our final salvation.

For if ye do these things - The things referred to in the previous verses. If you use all diligence to make as high attainments as possible in piety, and it you practice the virtues demanded by religion, 2Pe_1:5-7.Ye shall never fall - You shall never fall into perdition. That is, you shall certainly he saved.

CLARKE, "Wherefore - Seeing the danger of apostasy, and the fearful end of them who obey not the Gospel, and thus receive the grace of God in vain; give all

diligence, , hasten, be deeply careful, labor with the most intense

purpose of soul.

To make your calling - From deep Gentile darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel.And election - Your being chosen, in consequence of obeying the heavenly

calling, to be the people and Church of God. Instead of , calling, the Codex

Alexandrinus has , consolation.

Sure - Firm, solid. For your calling to believe the Gospel, and your

election to be members of the Church of Christ, will be ultimately unprofitable to you, unless you hold fast what you have received by adding to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, etc.For if ye do these things - If ye be careful and diligent to work out your own salvation, through the grace which ye have already received from God; ye shall

never fall, ***, ye shall at no time stumble or fall; as the Jews have

done, and lost their election, Rom_11:11, where the same word is used, and as apostates do, and lose their peace and salvation. We find, therefore, that they who do not these things shall fall; and thus we see that there is nothing absolute and unconditional in their election. There is an addition here in some MSS. and versions which should not pass unnoticed: the Codex Alexandrinus, nine others, with the Syriac, Erpens Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, later Syriac with an

asterisk, the Vulgate, and Bede, have *** (+) , That By

(your) Good Works ye may make your calling and election firm. This clause is found in the edition of Colinaeus, Paris, 1534, and has been probably omitted by more recent editors on the supposition that the edition does not make a very orthodox sense. But on this ground there need be no alarm, for it does not state that the good works thus required merit either the calling and election, or the eternal glory, of God. He who does not by good works confirm his calling and election, will soon have neither; and although no good works ever did purchase or ever can purchase the kingdom of God, yet no soul can ever scripturally expect to see God who has them not. I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: go, ye cursed. I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; etc., etc.; come, ye blessed.

GILL," Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence,.... To exercise the afore mentioned graces, and to perform the above duties, since this is the way

to make your calling and election sure; by calling is not meant a call to any office in the church, nor an external call, either by the voice of nature, or by the ministry of the word; but an internal and effectual call by special grace, to grace here, and glory hereafter; instead of "calling", the Alexandrian copy reads, "comfort": and by "election" is meant, not a national, nor church election, but a particular and personal one, since scattered saints, and particular believers, are here written to, and each called upon to be diligent to make their own, and not another's, calling and election sure; nor is a choice of persons to an office designed, seeing the apostle writes not to officers of churches in particular, but to

believers in common; nor a separation of persons from the world by the effectual calling, since these two are both mentioned here, and as distinct from each other, and to be made sure; but an election of particular persons to eternal life and salvation is here intended, which is an eternal act of God, arises from his free grace and favour, and is according to his sovereign will and pleasure; and is absolute, and independent of any condition, foreseen, or required in men, as faith, holiness, and good works; all which are fruits and effects, and not causes and conditions of electing grace. These may be made "sure", not in themselves, or with respect to God, for in this sense they cannot be made surer than they are: effectual calling is according to the purpose of God, which cannot be frustrated, and is, without repentance, irreversible, and irrevocable, and is inseparably connected with eternal glory; and election stands not upon the foot of works, but upon the free grace of God, which cannot be made void, and upon the will of God, which cannot be resisted; and is also closely connected with glorification; see Rom_8:30 nor are those to be made sure by saints, with respect to themselves; for though they may sometimes be at a loss about them, and may have some scruples and doubts in their minds concerning their interest in them, and an assurance of their being both called and chosen, may be after all attained unto by them; yet this is not their work, but it is the work of the Spirit of God, to certify and make sure unto them, or assure them of their calling and election of God: but the sense is, that diligence is to be used by the saints, to make their calling and election sure to others; not their election by their calling only, which is to themselves; for both are to be made sure, and that to others, and by some third thing; either to their fellow Christians, which they may do by giving them an account of the work of God upon their souls, joined with a testimony of their good lives and conversations; or rather to the world "by good works", as the Vulgate Latin version and two copies of Beza's read; or "by your good works", as the Alexandrian copy and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions read; or by the exercise of the graces, and the discharge of the duties before mentioned, whereby the men of the world may be certified and assured, by the best evidence the saints are capable of giving to them, or they of receiving, that they are the called and chosen of God, they profess themselves to be; and which is a reason why those things should be done: and another follows,

for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; or "sin", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it; not that they should never fall at all, or in any sense, for in many things we all offend or fall; or should ever commit any act of sin, or fall into sin, for there is no man that lives, and sins not; or that they should not fall from a degree of the lively exercise of grace, or from a degree of steadfastness in the doctrine of faith, but that they should never sin the sin against the Holy Ghost, or fall totally and finally; for though they fall, they should rise again by faith and repentance, through the grace and power of Christ, who is able to keep them from falling: and besides, while they were exercising those graces, and doing those duties, they should not fall; for these are the means of final perseverance, and therefore the rather to be regarded. Another argument, strengthening the exhortation, follows:

JAMISO, "Wherefore seeking the blessed consequence of having, and the evil effects of not having, these graces (2Pe_1:8, 2Pe_1:9).

the rather the more earnestly.brethren marking that it is affection for them which constrains him so earnestly to urge them. Nowhere else does he so address them, which makes his calling them so here the more emphatical.give diligence The Greek aorist implies one lifelong effect [Alford].to make Greek middle voice; to make so far as it depends on you; to do your part towards making. To make absolutely and finally is Gods part, and would be in the active.your calling and election sure by ministering additionally in your faith virtue, and in your virtue knowledge, etc. God must work all these graces in us, yet not so that we should be mere machines, but willing instruments in His hands in making His election of us secure. The ensuring of our election is spoken of not in respect to God, whose counsel is steadfast and everlasting, but in respect to our part. There is no uncertainty on His part, but on ours the only security is our faith in His promise and the fruits of the Spirit (2Pe_1:5-7, 2Pe_1:11). Peter subjoins election to calling, because the calling is the effect and proof of Gods election, which goes before and is the main thing (Rom_8:28, Rom_8:30, Rom_8:33, where Gods elect are those predestinated, and election is His purpose, according to which He called them). We know His callingbefore His election, thereby calling is put first.fall Greek, stumble and fall finally (Rom_11:11). Metaphor from one

stumbling in a race (1Co_9:24).

CALVI, "10.Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence. He draws this

conclusion, that it is one proof that we have been really elected, and not in vain

called by the Lord, if a good conscience and integrity of life correspond with our

profession of faith. And he infers, that there ought to be more labor and diligence,

because he had said before, that faith ought not to be barren.

Some copies have, by good works; but these words make no change in the sense,

for they are to be understood though not expressed. (152)

He mentions calling first, though the last in order. The reason is, because election is

of greater weight or importance; and it is a right arrangement of a sentence to

subjoin what preponderates. The meaning then is, labor that you may have it really

proved that you have not been called nor elected in vain. At the same time he speaks

here of calling as the effect and evidence of election. If any one prefers to regard the

two words as meaning the same thing, I do not object; for the Scripture sometimes

merges the difference which exists between two terms. I have, however, stated what

seems to me more probable. (153)

ow a question arises, Whether the stability of our calling and election depends on

good works, for if it be so, it follows that it depends on us. But the whole Scripture

teaches us, first, that God's election is founded on his eternal purpose; and secondly,

that calling begins and is completed through his gratuitous goodness. The Sophists,

in order to transfer what is peculiar to God's grace to ourselves, usually pervert this

evidence. But their evasions may be easily refuted. For if any one thinks that calling

is rendered sure by men, there is nothing absurd in that; we may however, go still

farther, that every one confirms his calling by leading a holy and pious life. But it is

very foolish to infer from this what the Sophists contend for; for this is a proof not

taken from the cause, but on the contrary from the sign or the effect. Moreover, this

does not prevent election from being gratuitous, nor does it shew that it is in our

own hand or power to confirm election. For the matter stands thus, God

effectually calls whom he has preordained to life in his secret counsel before the

foundation of the world; and he also carries on the perpetual course of calling

through grace alone. But as he has chosen us, and calls us for this end, that we may

be pure and spotless in his presence; purity of life is not improperly called the

evidence and proof of election, by which the faithful may not only testify to others

that they are the children of God, but also confirm themselves in this confidence, in

such a manner, however, that they fix their solid foundation on something else.

At the same time, this certainty, mentioned by Peter, ought, I think, to be referred to

the conscience, as though the faithful acknowledged themselves before God to be

chosen and called. But I take it simply of the fact itself, that calling appears as

confirmed by this very holiness of life. It may, indeed, be rendered, Labor that your

calling may become certain; for the verb is transitive or intransitive. Still,

however you may render it, the meaning is nearly the same.

The import of what is said is, that the children of God are distinguished from the

reprobate by this mark, that they live a godly and a holy life, because this is the

design and end of election. Hence it is evident how wickedly some vile unprincipled

men prattle, when they seek to make gratuitous election an excuse for all

licentiousness; as though, forsooth! we may sin with impunity, because we have been

predestinated to righteousness and holiness!

For if ye do these things. Peter seems again to ascribe to the merits of works, that

God furthers our salvation, and also that we continually persevere in his grace. But

the explanation is obvious; for his purpose was only to shew that hypocrites have in

them nothing real or solid, and that, on the contrary, they who prove their calling

sure by good works, are free from the danger of falling, because sure and sufficient

is the grace of God by which they are supported. Thus the certainty of our salvation

by no means depends on us, as doubtless the cause of it is beyond our limits. But

with regard to those who feel in themselves the efficacious working of the Spirit,

Peter bids them to take courage as to the future, because the Lord has laid in them

the solid foundation of a true and sure calling.

COKE, "2 Peter 1:10-11. Wherefore the rather, &c. The connection seems to be

this: "As he who is destitute of the graces and virtues of the Christian life, is

voluntarily blind; therefore, my Christian brethren, do you give the more diligence

to make your calling and election firm and steadfast, by the exercise and practice of

those graces and virtues which I have already enumerated: for, if youperform these

thingsif you live in the exercise of these graces and virtues, you shall never

stumble like the blind man mentioned 2 Peter 1:9 but your way shall be made plain,

and a wide, smooth, and easy entrance granted you into the everlasting kingdom of

our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Those Jews and Gentiles to whom the gospel

was preached, were called to come and embrace it; just as all the Roman citizens

were called together when it was proposed to levy an army. Then all who were

capable of bearing arms were by a public summons called to the standard, and

obliged thereupon to appear. Those Jews or Gentiles who under the blessing of God

came with well disposed minds, and embraced the gospel, were chosen out from

among the rest; and baptism was like the sacramental

ormilitaryoathoffidelity;wherebythey obliged themselves to be faithful soldiers

under Jesus Christ, the great Captain of their salvation. As they were not in this

sense chosen till after they were called, and had embraced that call, it is evident that

this text can have no reference to any decrees of God made from all eternity,

concerning those particular persons to whom St. Peter is here writing. It is

moreover to be observed, that they were not so called or elected; but that if they did

not exercise and perform the graces and virtues here recommended, they would

stumble and even fall both from their calling and election, or from the happy

consequences of both; and if they had so fallen, the fault would have been their own,

and not owing to God, nor to any thing in his decrees. Faith was the condition on

which they were called into the Christian church, and elected to be of the number of

God's people here upon earth. And they were so called and elected, with a view to

their obtaining everlasting salvation: for, as Christians, they had all things

pertaining to a godly life, and the best advantages for preparing for everlasting life:

but the bestowing that life, even upon such as are called and elected, is suspended,

upon the condition that they, according to the measure of grace given them, and the

opportunities afforded them, do internally and externally exercise these graces and

virtues. Otherwise, both their callingand election will prove in vain, and they will

finally miss ofa happy immortality. See on 2 Peter 1:7.

ELLICOTT, (10) Wherefore the rather.Exhortation resumed, with still more earnestness, for the reasons just stated in 2 Peter 1:8-9 . The direct address, brethren, is a mark of this increased earnestness, and also assures those addressed that they are not included among the mere nominal Christians described in the preceding verse.

Give diligence.Recalling bringing all diligence in 2 Peter 1:5 .

Calling and election.By God into the kingdom of heaven. Calling and election are two aspects of the same fact, calling referring to Gods invitation, election to the distinction which this invitation makes between those who are called and those who are not. Election is one of St. Pauls words. One of the best MSS. and several versions insert by means of your works, which gives the right sense, although the words are wanting in authority. It is by following the in junctions

given (2 Peter 1:5-7 ) that our election is made secure. God calls us to salvation (2 Peter 1:3), selects us from the heathen; it is for each one of us to respond to the call, and thus ratify His choice.

If ye do these things.Showing that the making sure of our election is not a single act, but

multiform, viz., the furnishing the graces commended (2 Peter 1:5-7 ).

Never fall.The same word is translated offend (James 2:10 ; James 3:2 ); and stumble (Romans 11:11 ). It means to knock ones foot and stumble. The man who has acquired these graces has his path freed from many stumbling-blocks, and his vision cleared to see and avoid the rest.

COFFMA, "Calling and election ... are two of the biggest theological words in the

ew Testament; and this verse is invaluable in the revelation that neither calling

nor election is a thing finally and irrevocably determined by God apart from what

the Christian himself does. Also, any thought of impossibility as regards a Christian

falling away and being lost is far away from the apostle's mind in a statement like

this verse. "If" ye do these things! (See under verse 8). As Payne put it: "ote the

emphasis on God's initiative and man's response; both are essential, or the

Christian may fall (literally stumble)."[33] "All Christians have been called, but

they must work out their salvation" (Philippians 2:12).[34] We are amazed at the

comment of Wheaton, who said, "Peter even hints at the possibility that one can fall

from grace!"[35] Reference to Peter's warnings in this letter as a "hint" reminds

one of the gang leader in Boston, who when five of his henchmen were shot-gunned

to death in the basement of a bar, said, "I believe there is a hint of opposition in

this!"

[33] David F. Payne, A ew Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 600.

[34] James William Russell, op. cit., p. 590.

[35] David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1253.

BESO,"2 Peter 1:10-11. Wherefore Considering the miserable state of these

apostates; the rather That you may not be destitute of these things, but be fruitful

in all graces and virtues; brethren St. Peter nowhere uses this appellation, in

either of his epistles, but in this important exhortation; give diligence amely, by

the exercise and increase of the fore-mentioned graces. The word

means also be in earnest, and make haste, the matter being of infinite moment, and

delays extremely dangerous. To make your calling and election sure ,

firm. As if he had said, God hath called you by his word, his providence, and his

Spirit, to repentance, fai, and new obedience. By obeying this call, and turning

sincerely to God, you became Gods elect or chosen people; even elect, through the

sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience. See on 1 Peter 1:2. ow as you made

your calling firm or effectual by obeying it: so make your election firm by enduring

to the end, remembering the Lords words: Many are called, but few finally chosen.

For if ye do these things If you thus give diligence, and are thus in earnest,

without delay, to add the graces and virtues here inculcated to your faith, and to

make your calling and election firm; ye shall never finally fall ay, ye shall not

fall, , once, or at any time, into known sin, so as to come under guilt,

condemnation, and wrath; nay, , yshall not so much as stumble

at any time. Stumbling-blocks will, indeed, be in your way, probably not a few, but

you shall not stumble at them, much less shall you fall over them; but you shall

proceed forward on your way with steadiness, alacrity, and joy. For so an entrance

shall be ministered unto you abundantly , richly, freely, and in the most

honourable manner; into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour The

kingdom of his eternal glory. You shall depart hence in peace and trium, knowing

that as soon as you are absent from the body you shall be present with the Lord;

and you shall be received as with a cordial welcome, and shall sail, as it were, into

that blessed harbour with a full gale of consolation and joy.

CHARLES SIMEO, "MAKIG OUR CALLIG AD ELECTIO SURE

2 Peter 1:10-11. Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for

if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto

you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I the system of religion which the inspired penmen have transmitted to us, duty

and privilege go hand in hand. It is the Divine power alone which gives us all

things which pertain unto life and godliness: but we must exert ourselves in

dependence on that power, to escape the corruption that is in the world through

lust. This plain and scriptural idea gives the true solution to many difficulties that

occur in the sacred volume, and particularly so to those which arise from the words

before us.

In the text are set before us,

I. Our duty

Though all are agreed that our duty is here declared, the opinions of men differ

widely respecting the precise nature of that duty. Our first point therefore is to fix

the true meaning of the text

[By our calling and election, is meant that effectual call which men receive when

they are truly converted unto God [ote: This is manifest from 1 Corinthians 1:26.],

and which both evinces, and results from, Gods eternal purpose to save their souls

[ote: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5.].

ow those who deny the doctrine of election, argue thus. We are commanded to

make our election sure; and, if we neglect to do so, we may fall and perish for

ever: therefore there is no such thing as is generally understood by election; and

that which is so called in Scripture, is nothing more than a designation of God to the

enjoyment of outward