2 Peter 1:9, commentary and pictures

He that lacks these things lacks faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, which are to be added to faith and to abound. Such a one is spiritually blind and shortsighted, unable to see what lies ahead and forgetful of cleansing from past sins. Not seeing afar off is inability to see beyond the immediate and present, to reason from cause to effect, and to discern outcomes, eternal interests, and spiritual realities. Having forgotten purging is having forgotten forgiveness and cleansing from former sins bought by Christ's blood, the experience of repentance, baptismal vows to die to the world and live to Christ, and the obligations then undertaken. Giving diligence to add these graces step by step makes calling and election sure, keeps from falling and from barrenness in the knowledge of Christ, and ministers an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom, while neglect leaves blindness, a return to sin, and unfitness for eternal life.

Words and Immediate Context

“These things” are faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance or self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity or love. They begin with faith and are to be added to faith, added one to another, and made to abound rather than merely possessed. When present and abounding they make a person fruitful in the knowledge of Christ, neither barren nor unfruitful in knowing Him. Their growth is joined to making calling and election sure, to never falling, and to an abundant entrance into Christ’s everlasting kingdom.

He that lacketh these things is spiritually blind and shortsighted. He cannot see afar off or what lies ahead, and he has forgotten that he was cleansed from past, former, old sins. Professed faith without growth in these added qualities obscures spiritual understanding and the memory of redemption. Failure to live in the light of that cleansing shows failure to live by the plan of addition that prepares for eternal life, while disobedient character-building leaves a person unfit for entry into God’s kingdom.

Cannot see afar off is inability to see far ahead and beyond the immediate and present. It is inability to reason from cause to effect, to see the outcome of choices, and to discern outcomes, eternal interests, and spiritual realities. Even pride in education cannot supply this sight when the heart is unsubmitted to Christ, at the risk of losing eternal life. Hath forgotten that he was purged is having forgotten forgiveness and cleansing from old and former sins. It includes forgetting the experience of repentance, past commitments to God, the pledge to die to the world and live to Jesus Christ, and obligations undertaken in turning to Christ including baptismal vows.

The verse stands where grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus. There divine power gives all things pertaining to life and godliness, and exceeding great and precious promises are given by which to partake of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust. That escape calls for living connection with Christ, knowledge of His life and character, desire to become like Him, earnest effort to overcome temptation, and faith that God’s promises will be fulfilled. The same chapter urges diligence lest believers be barren and unfruitful, presses them to make calling and election sure for abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom, and calls for revival through prayer for the Holy Spirit and remembrance of Christ’s suffering to secure pardon for sinners.

Growth by Addition Plan

The chapter sets out a ladder of eight rounds to be climbed step by step from the lowest to the very top, with feet placed first on the lowest round and not on the highest, advancing successively until perfect love for God and for others crowns the character and opens an abundant entrance into the kingdom. Sanctification is not instantaneous or finished in a moment but comes through climbing these successive steps, beginning with the first and pressing toward the highest, as preparation for Christ's appearing and the reason for full consecration to God. Every soul entering the city must climb this ladder of self-denial by strength drawn from the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, without which temptation leads to destruction. The ladder is Christ connecting earth with heaven, and being saved is looking to Christ, clinging to Christ, and mounting round after round to the heights of Christ, so that He is made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. This is man's cooperation with God in salvation, working on the plan of addition with all the graces manifest in the Christian character, becoming partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, which assures eternal life through growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Held up before backsliders and those who have never begun to serve the Lord, that ladder leading to the final abundant entrance which is the overcomer's reward calls for thorough work, heartfelt confession, and reconciliation with one another, opening the way for the Spirit of God to sweep over in solemn victory.

There is no graduation in the school of Christ and no standing still, for the faith required is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, and lacking virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity added to faith is lacking that faith. Believers must by constant diligence through the grace of Christ live on the plan of addition while the Lord works on the plan of multiplication, adding grace to grace daily with no time to be lost, making calling and election sure so that doing these things they shall never fall and an abundant entrance shall be ministered into the everlasting kingdom. Genuine religion gives power through faith and conformity to the will of God to cooperate with the Saviour on the plan of addition while He works on the plan of multiplication, becoming Christlike, partakers of the divine nature, and constantly advancing in the knowledge of Christ instead of remaining barren and unfruitful. These words contain the science of Christianity and show how to obtain security for the life that measures with the life of God, by diligently cultivating the graces of the Spirit, crucifying self, speaking only blessing words, and bringing strong Christlike love for Christ and for one another into daily experience. Without such diligent cultivation of faith and love at all times and under all circumstances, strong love for the Saviour cannot be kept alive and a spurious faith takes its place that leads only to confidence in self and criticism of others and quenches every spark of Christlike love. Perfection of character is made possible through this human cooperation with divinity and God's provision in Christ.

Neglecting to add and cultivate these graces through carelessness, divided service, and failure to overcome leaves blindness, shortsightedness, and forgetfulness of cleansing from old sins, for carelessness and forgetfulness make repeated reminders necessary. Such failure describes a divided state that indulges appetite and passionate speech rather than governing self, lacking the moral strength to live by the principles that lead to overcoming intemperate habit and receiving the crown of life. Giving diligence to make calling and election sure by doing these things and following the plan of addition is an eternal life insurance policy that keeps believers from ever falling and ministers an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. The first chapter sets forth practical godliness to be read and practiced day by day, working out its sum of addition by adding grace to grace on God's definitely prescribed plan, while Christ works for the doer on His plan of multiplication of grace to fulfill its requirements. Those who do that work secure the everlasting life insurance Christ gave His life that every soul could secure through His grace, obtained through obedience to the law of God and giving the entire self to Christ as His soldier under Christ the Captain of salvation, warring the grand warfare until victory is gained with personal experience testifying that Christ has not died in vain. Believers are therefore to keep adding grace, knowledge, and faith rather than decline through careless words or wrong actions, using the opportunities given for daily growth and following on to know the Lord, which prepares them for eternal life and to see the King in His beauty.

Blessings of Diligent Growth

When faith is followed by virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity, and these qualities are present and abounding, they keep the believer from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. That fruitful knowledge is living knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, giving spiritual vitality and strength to follow Him and power to resist temptation. Cleansing from former sins is thus meant to lead on to a transformed character, not to stand alone.

Giving all diligence to add these graces and to do them makes calling and election sure. The one who so lives shall never fall, but remains rooted and established, walking securely and understandingly in the truth. This assurance is an eternal life insurance policy, secured by the life of Christ and endorsed by God.

To the diligent overcomer an entrance is ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the overcomer's reward, bringing peace, comfort and good hope in this life and immortal life to come. Living by this plan of addition is part of preparing for eternal life.

Without this growth, disobedient character-building leaves a person unfit for entry into God's kingdom and excluded from eternal life. Neglect to add grace to grace loses the soul and forfeits the crown of life through failure to advance and final fall. Even pride in education cannot save when the heart is not submitted to Christ, and backsliding into coldness, indifference, carelessness and imitation of the world shows the same blindness and forgetfulness.

Meaning of Spiritual Blindness

Blindness is obscured spiritual eyesight fixed on earthly things, unable to perceive heavenly light and the blessings of life with God and ignorant of what brings peace. It cannot discern between the sacred and the common, mingling common fire with the sacred until God turns away with displeasure. Although claiming to believe the Bible, it fails to practice its truth and cannot see the spiritual realities that should guide life, revealing lack of the Holy Spirit's practical work in mind and heart. Without continuing to grow in grace and knowledge and bearing good works, the person remains in blindness, ignorance, self-indulgence and sin, standing as a sinner despite once having repented.

It is the condition of professed Christians who live the old life of sin with the same objectionable traits as before claiming to receive Christ. By indulging corrupt tendencies they forget to be doers of the Word, do not feed on Christ and practice His words and works, grieve Him and put Him to open shame by manifesting a character like Satan's. Losing sight of Jesus and trusting human power brings failure and fading of the graces, leaving a stunted religious experience where profession without corresponding works is nothing.

This state is backsliding into coldness, indifference and carelessness, imitating the world's practices and fashions. Having pledged to die to the world and live to Christ, the person returns to the same course as before and spoils the record. Failing to purify the soul daily through prayer and watchfulness, he drifts with worldly influences and makes a new record of sin on the enemy's ground, girded with selfishness as with bands of steel and encircled by a cloud of darkness, yet still borne with long and offered light beyond if the bands are broken.

The blindness stumbles in the pathway and brings church trials when sent light and counsel are refused and mere talk of truth is substituted for cooperation with God. Small matters grow into serious differences, moral strength is wasted on trifles while great things are treated as small, and eternal interests and the working of satanic agencies go unseen until ensnared by alluring temptation. It appears in harsh angry words and conduct unlike Christ, in returning to envy, jealousy, evil suspicions and evil speaking, in faultfinding, prideful condemnation of others and self-exaltation while focusing on how others should behave instead of tending to one's own duty.

Not seeing afar off is also narrow vision that expects too little and limits faith in what can be done to advance the message. It mistakes worldly learning, such as knowledge of Greek and Latin, for fitness for the kingdom and for higher education. It fails to see the needs of a dying world and distant mission fields, and unless transformed from grace to grace and awakened from lethargy to seek the good of every soul, it becomes shallow by absorbing itself in life's small matters and refusing noble work through self-denial and self-sacrifice in sharing the water of life.

Meaning of Forgotten Cleansing

To forget being purged from old sins is to forget forgiveness itself and the obligations undertaken in turning to Christ, including the vows made at baptism before Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to die to the world and live to Jesus Christ, to serve Christ and to keep His will. Such forgetfulness does not belong to one who never repented, but to one who once repented and then ceased to live faithfully, treating baptism or church membership as the end of the Christian life instead of continuing to grow in grace and knowledge and in good works. It is blindness to heavenly light and to what makes for peace, a fixation on earthly things, a failure to take hold of the divine nature through the knowledge of Jesus Christ though even the simplest person may do so, and a drifting with temptation rather than determined cooperation with Christ. To remember is the opposite: to stand complete in Christ, precious in God's sight as Daniel was, beloved of God, an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ to the immortal inheritance.

The purging forgotten was bought with a price, even the precious blood of the Son of God who gave His life, His life on the cross paying the penalty of transgression so that all willing to receive Him might be redeemed. It is applied through the merits of Jesus by which the sinner is made clean and white, true purging being by Jesus Christ as substitute and surety whose blood cleanses from all sin, which is transgression of the law. That cleansing leads the convicted sinner to repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ and back to allegiance to God's holy, unalterable, eternal law, for law and gospel go hand in hand to produce unfeigned love and faith, law without faith in the gospel being unable to save and gospel without law being powerless. It occurs when the penitent forgiven by Christ rises at baptism as a new creature to seek things above, and remembering it requires faithfulness to the vow, taking hold of the promises and acting on them to develop Christian character through God's grace and power. A great name or exalted favor is of no value without the simplicity of true virtue and practical, genuine godliness worked out in and through the merits of Christ, while adding grace to grace by increasing trust in and reverence for God brings peace, makes one a light amid moral darkness and a power to bless, and gives power to resist the satanic antagonist.

Those who forget return to the same course as before, spoiling the record and making a new record of sin by drifting with worldly influences through neglect of daily prayer and watchfulness. Their robes of character are stained like the many in Sardis who defile their garments, unlike the few faithful names who have not stained their white robes and are worthy to walk in white. They remain uncleansed as before, full of passion, wrath, and bitterness, corrupting their ways before God, careless and insensible of obligations to God. With fog enveloping the mind they lack spiritual discernment, so that true reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness are kicked against and denied though every word is true, and inherited wrong tendencies cherished in this state block discernment of deeper truth and the valuing of self-control, holiness, and virtuous character.

The cleansing is not only a past event to remember but a state to keep, and walking in the counsel of God keeps one from forgetting it. Those purged through the sacrifice of the Son of God are to remember the cleansing, daily seek more of Christ's grace, and not return to transgression, their freedom from sin being a reason to live faithfully. False repentance has grief of mind only for a short time and is humbled only by most grievous and glaring sins, and when it thinks itself pardoned it ceases to feel need of humiliation and walks once more in crooked paths. It soon forgets its falsehoods and prevarications until sin no longer appears so grievous, whereas remembered cleansing gives a constant realization of the wickedness of the past course.

Such forgetfulness includes forgetting to pay God His tithe and robbing God while still expecting His blessing, which explains lack of vitality and power and grace, and forgetting that God will purge the sin of covetousness. It applies to those who break the Sabbath for worldly gain, unable to see the lasting loss their choice brings and living as though cleansing were forgotten. It makes a person self-sufficient, acting as though he can serve without Christ, turned from right principles and therefore unfit to hold responsibility in God's work where selfishness and injustice harm others. In the last days it appears in those who know the truth yet unite with Satan in afflicting, distressing, and discouraging God's people and causing them all possible trouble, their spiritual anointing lost as the enemy's sophistry blinds them so they cannot see far. It is the opposite of the living Christian who has not left first love and whose candlestick is not removed, for though the weak, erring, frail, sinful, and imperfect fail to maintain consecration, the Lord still holds out partnership with Himself and divine instruction so that by uniting with Christ they may work the works of God, whereas departure from faith and rejection of warnings, as in Jones's departure, is this blindness.

Doctrinal Teachings Affirmed

The verse belongs to Peter's steps by which Bible sanctification is attained, and sanctification is progressive rather than instantaneous or completed in a moment. The Christian life has but just begun when in conversion the sinner finds peace with God through the blood of the atonement, and he is then to go on unto perfection and grow up unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. This is done by giving all diligence to add to faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, with continual advancement and thorough character-building. Lacking those qualities needed to represent Christ's character leaves the progressive work undone, estranges the believer from God, and leaves him unfit for the kingdom, while doing them keeps from falling and fits those who receive Christ and persevere for heaven, for Christ has paid the price for every person and His blood justifies, sanctifies, and saves.

The faith of the chapter is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, and he that lacks virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity lacks that faith. Profession without corresponding works is nothing, as seen in the professed Christian who lives his old life of sin and retains the same objectionable traits he had before claiming to receive Christ. Such a one forgets to be a doer of the Word, does not eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, does not practice Christ's words or do His works, but by indulging corrupt tendencies grieves the Lord Jesus and puts Him to open shame by manifesting a character after the similitude of Satan. The chapter is therefore to be read as guidance for gaining victory over evil through continued spiritual growth, conversion, and genuine Christian experience, since obedience to the gospel is the remedy for sin and selfishness.

True purging is by Jesus Christ as substitute and surety, whose blood cleanses from all sin, which is the transgression of the law. It leads the convicted sinner to repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ and back to allegiance to God's holy, unalterable, eternal law, after which the transgressed law ceases to be a yoke of bondage and becomes the law of liberty esteemed above fine gold. Law and gospel go hand in hand and blended together produce love and faith unfeigned, for law without faith in the gospel cannot save and gospel without law is powerless, while merely claiming "I am saved" while showing contempt for God's great moral standard of righteousness proves the heart is still at enmity with the law and does not know saving grace. There is no standing still in the knowledge of Christ but continual advancement by adding grace to grace and climbing heavenward, and to stop adding is to lose spiritual sight; forgetting purging means forgetting the forgiveness experienced through repentance and faith, which leaves a person unable to understand the work of Christ who makes atonement in the heavenly sanctuary for those who confess their sins and come to Him by faith.

Spiritual sight requires partaking of the divine nature through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to those who do unrighteously, for God gives peace and comfort and a good hope in this life to those who strive to overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust. Although they claim to believe the Bible, those who fail to practice its truth cannot see the spiritual realities that should guide their lives, and claiming belief while failing in practical godliness leaves a stunted religious experience. Even the simplest person may take hold of the divine nature, remembering that cleansing from former sins was bought with a price, even the precious blood of the Son of God who gave His life, and standing in Christ with determined cooperation instead of drifting with temptation makes one complete in Christ and precious in God's sight like Daniel, an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ to the immortal inheritance. Without the Holy Spirit uniting with human understanding even diligent study of the living words of God leaves blindness, because the human mind has not united with the divine, while the touch of the Holy Spirit on the human mind makes a decided change so that passages from the living oracles are seen in a new light, as the faltering, erring, misunderstanding disciples who did not understand Christ's humiliation, rejection and crucifixion understood after His resurrection and after the Spirit came at Pentecost.

The ladder of eight rounds is Christ, who connects earth with heaven, with feet to be placed not on the highest round but on the lowest and then to climb step by step to the very top through self-denial. Christian character grows as faith is joined with virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, and this perfection of character is made possible through human cooperation with divinity and God's provision in Christ. Lacking these things is failure in man's cooperation with God in the plan of salvation, for God works in and through human agents who become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, and who work upon the plan of addition with all the graces manifest in the Christian character. Being saved is climbing round after round, looking to Christ, clinging to Christ, mounting step by step to the heights of Christ, relying on the merits of the crucified and risen Savior for strength without which temptation leads to destruction, so that He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, which assures eternal life through growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ; Christ's life paid the penalty of transgression and can redeem everyone willing to receive Him, but believers must take hold of the promises and act on them to develop Christian character and be fitted for the kingdom.

Practical Warnings and Duties

Escape from the world's corruption requires a living connection with Christ, knowledge of His life and character, desire to become like Him, earnest effort to overcome temptation, and faith that God's promises will be fulfilled. The whole chapter should be impressed on mind and heart and read in the church, calling for revival through prayer for the Holy Spirit and remembrance of Christ's suffering to secure pardon for sinners. To escape blindness the person must follow on to know the Lord by searching the Scriptures and carrying them out in daily life, for practice of the Word gives assurance and makes calling and election doubly sure. That practice through prayer, watchfulness and service to God confirms religious experience, keeps in present truth, and gives right to enter through the gates into the city with abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The chapter is guidance for victory over evil through continued growth, conversion and genuine experience, including faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Failure to purify the soul daily through prayer and watchfulness leaves blindness to what is near and present and forgetfulness of cleansing, making a new record of sin while drifting with worldly influences. Obedience to the Word in both letter and spirit must be sought with the converting influence of the Holy Spirit through prayer, taking God into the thoughts and working from inward to outward in full consecration without divided service, acting at once on light received.

Believers are to keep adding grace, knowledge and faith rather than decline through careless words or wrong actions, for opportunities for growth have been given and growth prepares for eternal life and seeing the King in His beauty. There are to be no backward steps but continued advance in knowing the Lord, continually adding grace to grace and persevering in overcoming faults while depending on Christ for wisdom, strength and righteousness that make obedience possible. Diligent effort in developing abilities prepares for usefulness, joined to grace and peace multiplied by God. That diligence includes caring responsibly for the body as Christ's purchased property, working and exercising wisely rather than neglecting or overtaxing, living faithfully in obedience to God's commandments and representing Christ well. Christ has paid the price for every person, but those who receive Him and persevere in this growth in His qualities by the plan of addition are fitted for the kingdom and prepared for heaven, and children are to be taught step by step toward conversion.

The warning reaches teachers whose spiritual sight is obscured so they cannot distinguish the sacred from the common, calling them to full consecration to God. It reaches students forming character, who must develop the Christian qualities while caring for health and obedience. It reaches physicians, editors, leaders, and those long in the truth who play the Pharisee, for without wisdom for one's own eternal good a person cannot rightly guide others, but obstructs new believers and reveals Satan's attributes until humbled. These qualities are experiences that prepare men and women to serve God effectively. Hearing truth is not enough without decided response, coming forward for prayer, seeking the Lord to reveal Himself, giving Him service of whole mind and heart with every capability in use, and taking firm position in obedience even after long hesitation.

Obedience to God's requirements is essential to salvation, as receiving and living out the principles of righteousness is a definite requirement. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness takes heart, mind, soul and strength and affects the entire character, so that all who follow the chapter's principles secure life as they seek Christ's righteousness, become one with the Saviour, partake of the divine nature, have character molded after Christ's likeness into a holy temple, and shine light to church and world. Those who take the Christian name must honor it by obeying the instruction of the chapter with thoroughly cultivated mind, forbidding no aspiration or enterprise that pure religion sanctions, and they will be richly blessed. A definite outline of character for entrance into God's city requires being spiritual-minded and living in harmony with God and others, for peaceful death or good deeds alone do not assure salvation unless the life shows love for God and neighbor with wrongdoing repented of and restitution made. Acting at once upon light and evidence, including taking a stand to keep the Sabbath, brings victory.

The assurance of the chapter is straight from heaven and is to be grasped and acted on at once, taking hold of the promise and doing what it calls for rather than waiting until it is felt. Feeling follows doing, by beginning the work of praising God, seeing the beauty of holiness and expressing it, and doing that work intelligently. Having the named qualities is essential to avoiding a fall and gives assurance of entrance into everlasting life through Jesus Christ, an everlasting life insurance policy offered to every congregation. When its truths fill heart and mind they give comfort and encouragement to all of like precious faith, with strength to resist every temptation to look on the dark side and talk discouragement, holding fast what God has given against the powers of darkness.