I remember the first time I had to wear corrective lenses when I was in college. Before that, I have always assumed that my eyesight is normal. I noticed that I have trouble seeing things from afar. But I just thought that the reason why I could not clearly see things from a distance was because they were far from me. So, I went to an optometrist and to my surprise learned that I got myopia or shortsightedness. I could clearly see things that are near but not those that are far. I remember I was on my way home from the optometrist and I clearly saw that I could not see things clearly. Everything suddenly appeared so fuzzy.
I think that’s the way it is in life. All along we thought that we see things clearly in life. We assumed we are living the normal life. But when we finally saw how God sees us through His Word, we realize that we are really out of focus. Let us read 2 Peter 1:9. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”[1] Let us pray…
We already saw that we have to grow spiritually. According to verses 5 to 7 we have to “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue… knowledge… self-control… godliness… brotherly affection… [and] love.”[2] Verse 8 tells us: “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I already pointed out that the conjunction “for” in Greek means “reason” here in 2 Peter. Here in verse 8, the first reason why we must grow spiritually is that it makes us fruitful and effective.
Then verse 9 tells us what will happen when we don’t develop those qualities: “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” Again, the conjunction “for” here means reason. The second reason why we must grow spiritually is that we become FOCUSED and not forgetful.
Was Peter talking here of believers or unbelievers? 2 Corinthians 4:4 regards unbelievers as blind people:[3] “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” But Peter was talking about a person who “is so nearsighted that he is blind”. The Good News Version goes like this: “you are so shortsighted that you cannot see”. He is not really blind. He is just nearsighted. He could actually see. But he is so out of focus that it is as if he could not see. He is as good as a blind person. Therefore, he was talking about a believer who became spiritually out of focus.
This nearsightedness is not something involuntary. According to the Bible Exposition Commentary, “A person has to be born again before his eyes are opened and he can see the kingdom of God. But after our eyes are opened, it is important that we increase our vision and see all that God wants us to see.” But instead of increasing his vision, this person closed the very eyes that God has opened. The word “nearsighted” is active in Greek. So, “the meaning may be ‘shutting the eyes to the truth,’ the intention being to emphasize the responsibility of the believer”.[4] He chose not to see. He is blind by choice. He defocused himself. He did it voluntarily.
Then, look at the explanatory clause: “having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” So, what are those “former sins”? Peter was talking about the person’s way of life before he became a believer. This person was actually cleansed from those sins. He just chose to forget that he was already cleansed. It was not something involuntary. That’s the reason why he became nearsighted. When we don’t grow spiritually we became so out of focus and forgetful.
What was this nearsighted person doing? Because he chose not to remember from where God saved him, he chose to return to his old ways. He is like what 2 Peter 2:20-22 graphically describes. “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.’”
Of course, Peter here was describing false teachers. These people were exposed to the truth. At first they appeared to have embraced the truth. But later on they turned their back away from the truth. Therefore “they are in worse shape than they were at first.”[5] The nearsighted person is a believer. But because he chose to close his eyes to the truth and he chose not to remember, he is in no better shape than the false teachers. They are both like dogs licking their vomit. They are both like pigs who just took a bath but returned to the mud. The problem is when we go back to our old ways we would end up in a much worse condition than we were before we became believers. Our lives could even end up worse than unbelievers.
It is like when you try to diet the wrong way. To deprive ourselves is not really dieting. For example, we chose not to eat at all. We skip a meal. But when we could no longer control our hunger, we end up eating more than what we could have eaten if we did not skip a meal. We end up binging. The key is not merely to skip a meal. The key is to substitute your meal from what is unhealthy to what is healthy.
Yes, in a sense we are to forget the past. We are not to dwell on our past or delight in it. But we should decide not to forget that we were “cleansed from [our] former sins.” We have a saying here, “Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.” He who does not look back cannot go forward. So, for example, when you think of your past failures, think of the lessons. Remember the lessons and forget the failures. Don’t focus on the sins. Focus on the forgiveness of your sins.
I remember the Israelites in the wilderness. God through Moses rescued them from slavery. Yet time and again they would long for what they ate in Egypt. They forgot from where God redeemed them. They forgot that they were slaves in Egypt and they are now free in the wilderness.
A nearsighted person is only focused on the present. Someone wrote, “Spiritual blindness manifests itself as short-sightedness. Instead of ‘fixing our hope’ on the spiritual and eternal certainties which God has promised and provided for us, we see only in the present. No wonder this generation has been called the ‘now generation.’”[6] The nearsighted person is focusing on what he is missing from his past but he is forgetting what he is enjoying in the present. You think you had fun when you were not yet believers. Think again. That’s nothing compared to the joys you can experience now that you are a believer. One of the best Bible teachers nowadays, John Piper, said, “The problem with the person who does not strive toward all the fruit of faith is that he is blind in two directions. When he looks to the future, it’s all a haze, and the promises of God are swallowed up in a blur of worldly longings. I think that is what it means by shortsighted. And when he looks to the past, the forgiveness that made him so excited at first is well-nigh forgotten, and all he sees is an empty prayer and a meaningless ritual of baptism.” Let’s read 2 Peter 1:9 again: “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” We became out of focus because we became forgetful. We became forgetful because we failed to grow. So, when we grow spiritually, we become focused and not forgetful.
Brothers and sister let us become focused and not forgetful. Truly our spiritual growth is a passion worth pursuing passionately. Let us pray…
[1]All Bible verses are from the English Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.
[2]2 Peter 1:5-7.
[3]We should not think that the Bible is not sensitive to the needs of the visually-impaired.
[4]New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament.
[5]Contemporary English Version.
[6]Robert Deffinbaugh, “A Secured Faith that Keeps the Saints from Stumbling (2 Peter 1:8-11).” From http://bible.org/seriespage/secured-faith-keeps-saints-stumbling-2-peter-18-11
