Lexical Summary blemma: Look, gaze, sight Original Word: βλέμμα Strong's Exhaustive Concordance seeing. From blepo; vision (properly concrete; by implication, abstract) -- seeing. see GREEK blepo NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom blepó Definition a look NASB Translation what he saw (1). Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 990: βλέμμαβλέμμα, βλεμματος, τό (βλέπω); "a look, glance: βλέμματι καί ἀκοή, in seeing and hearing," 2 Peter 2:8 (cf. Warfield in Presbyt. Rev. for 1883, p. 629ff). (Euripides, Aristophanes, Demosthenes, Plutarch, others.) Topical Lexicon Canonical Setting The solitary New Testament appearance of the term is in 2 Peter 2:8, within Peter’s recounting of Lot’s life in Sodom: “for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (Berean Standard Bible). Here “sight” (βλέμματι) is paired with “hearing,” framing the totality of sensory exposure that vexed Lot’s conscience. Moral Weight of Sight in Scripture 1. Sight as a Gateway to the Heart. Job 31:1 shows the deliberate guarding of vision: “I have made a covenant with my eyes.” Jesus intensifies the same ethic in Matthew 5:28. Old Testament Foundations Visual perception frequently triggers either faith or failure. Eve “saw that the tree was good” (Genesis 3:6); conversely, the bronze serpent was lifted up for all to see and live (Numbers 21:8-9). Prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel are “seers,” receiving visions that bear divine authority. Thus the sense of sight carries covenantal responsibility. Christological Focus Jesus’ earthly ministry involved deliberate visual engagement: He “saw the crowds” and was moved with compassion (Matthew 9:36); He “looked around at them in anger” when hardness of heart appeared (Mark 3:5). The Savior’s perfect response to what He saw becomes the pattern for redeemed eyesight (Hebrews 12:2). Apostolic Teaching Beyond 2 Peter Paul exhorts believers to set their minds “on things above” (Colossians 3:2) and to walk “by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). John warns against “the lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:16). Together these texts highlight the tension: physical sight can both inform righteous action and arouse sinful desire. Practical Discipleship Implications • Vigilance. Modern exposure to evil through media parallels Lot’s daily encounter; believers must cultivate disciplined vision. Pastoral and Homiletical Use 2 Peter 2:8 serves preachers as a vivid illustration of righteous suffering in a depraved culture. Sermons may contrast Lot’s “seeing and hearing” with the apathetic spectatorship of our age, urging congregations to both guard and engage their senses under Scripture’s authority. Historical Reception Early church writers (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Origen) treated Lot as an example of the chaste mind assaulted by external vice. Reformers highlighted the verse when warning against worldly entertainments. Contemporary evangelical ethics draw from the same principle in discussions of visual media and pornography. Doctrinal Summary The single New Testament use of βλέμμα underscores a larger biblical theme: physical vision is morally consequential. What the eyes take in can either confirm faithfulness, incite temptation, or elicit righteous grief. Proper stewardship of sight enables believers to navigate a fallen world while maintaining a pure heart, anticipating the day when “they will see His face” (Revelation 22:4). Forms and Transliterations βλεμματι βλέμματι blemmati blémmatiLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts |
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