knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,
Show the surrounding paragraph
2 Peter 3:3-5 sits inside this longer paragraph.
This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you, that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Parallel Translations
-
knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts
and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,
-
This fyrst vnderstode that ther shall come in the last dayes mockers which will walke after their awne lustes
and saye. Where is the promes of his comynge? For sence the fathers dyed all thinges cotinue in the same estate wher in they were at the begynninge.
This they knowe not (and that willyngly) how that the hevens a great whyle ago were and the erth that was in the water appered vp out of the water by the worde of god:
Show all 3 translations
-
This first vnderstande, that there shall come in the last dayes, mockers, which wil walke after their lustes,
And say, Where is the promise of his comming? for since the fathers died, all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly know not, that the heauens were of olde, and the earth that was of the water and by the water, by the word of God.
Cross-references (40)
- Hebrews 11:3 (v5) By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which…
- Jude 1:18 (v3) They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”
- Jeremiah 17:15 (v4) Behold, they ask me, “Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
- Genesis 1:9 (v5) God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.
- Psalms 24:2 (v5) For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
Show all 40 cross-references
- Genesis 1:6 (v5) God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
- Malachi 2:17 (v4) You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in…
- Psalms 33:6 (v5) By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.
- Psalms 136:6 (v5) to him who spread out the earth above the waters; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Jeremiah 5:12-13 (v4) They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. The prophets will become wind,…
- Luke 12:45 (v4) But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and…
- 1 Timothy 4:1-2 (v3) But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of…
- Isaiah 5:18-19 (v4) Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope, who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his…
- 2 Peter 2:10 (v3) but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to…
- Ecclesiastes 8:11 (v4) Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- John 3:19-20 (v5) This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.…
- Matthew 24:48 (v4) But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
- 2 Corinthians 4:2 (v3) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 (v5) and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be…
- Jude 1:16 (v3) These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain…
- Genesis 19:14 (v4) Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh…
- Ezekiel 12:22-27 (v4) “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?’ Tell them…
- Romans 1:28 (v5) Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- 1 Thessalonians 2:19 (v4) For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
- 2 Peter 1:20 (v3) knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.
- Proverbs 1:22 (v3) “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
- Ecclesiastes 1:9 (v4) That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the…
- Mark 13:19 (v4) For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until…
- Colossians 1:17 (v5) He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
- 2 Timothy 3:1 (v3) But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come.
- Proverbs 3:34 (v3) Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.
- Proverbs 14:6 (v3) A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.
- Isaiah 5:19 (v3) who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,…
- Ezekiel 11:3 (v4) who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’
- Revelation 3:14 (v4) “To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these…
- Isaiah 29:20 (v3) For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—
- Hosea 7:5 (v3) On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.
- Mark 10:6 (v4) But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.
- 1 John 2:18 (v3) Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we…
- Isaiah 28:14 (v3) Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Knowing this first. The participle knowing may be…
3. Knowing this first. The participle knowing may be applied to the Apostle, and in this way, “I labor to stir you up for this reason, because I know what and how great is your impending danger from scoffers.” I however prefer this explanation, that the participle is used in place of a verb, as though he had said, “Know ye this especially.” For it was necessary that this should have been foretold, because they might have been shaken, had impious men attacked them suddenly with scoffs of this kind. He therefore wished them to know this, and to feel assured on the subject, that they might be prepared to oppose such men.
But he calls the attention of the faithful again to the doctrine which he touched upon in the second chapter. For by the last days is commonly meant the kingdom of Christ, or the days of his kingdom, according to what Paul says, “Upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11.) The meaning is, that the more God offers himself by the gospel to the world, and the more he invites men to his kingdom, the more audacious on the other hand will ungodly men vomit forth the poison of their impiety.
Read full note →
He calls those scoffers, according to what is usual in Scripture, who seek to appear witty by shewing contempt to God, and by a blasphemous presumption. It is, moreover, the very extremity of evil, when men allow themselves to treat the awful name of God with scoffs. Thus, the first Psalm speaks of the seat of scoffers. So David, in Psalms 119:51, complains that he was derided by the proud, because he attended to God’s law. So Isaiah, in the 28th chapter, having referred to them, describes their supine security and insensibility. Let us therefore bear in mind, that there is nothing to be feared more than a contest with scoffers. On this subject we said something while explaining the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. As, however, the Holy Scripture has foretold that they would come, and has also given us a shield by which we may defend ourselves, there is no excuse why we should not boldly resist them whatever devices they may employ.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–5 He voucheth the second coming of Christ against the…
He voucheth the second coming of Christ against the Epicureans by name.
Monstrous men, who will seem wise by their contempt of God, and wicked boldness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in…
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
Ver. 3. Scoffers] Those worst kind of sinners, Psa 1:1; those abjects of the people, Psa 35:15; those pests (λοιμος), as the Septuagint render them, LXXE Psa 1:1; those atheists that jeer when they should fear, and put far away the evil day, that make no more matter of God’s direful and dreadful menaces than Leviathan doth of a sword; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear, Job 41:29. They make children’s play of them, as the word here used importeth, εμπαικται.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Knowing this first; especially, as being very necessary to…
Knowing this first; especially, as being very necessary to be known. The apostle having in the former chapter cautioned these saints against the more close enemies of the gospel, seducers and false teachers, here he foretells them of more open enemies, profane scoffers.
In the last days: see 1Co 10:11; 2Ti 3:1.
Read full note →
Scoffers; profane contemners of God, and deriders of his truth, Psa 1:1; 119:51; Isa 28:14,22.
Walking after their own lusts; such as are natural to them; lusts of ungodliness, Jud 1:18.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Observe here, 1. The persons foretold, or what sort…
Observe here, 1. The persons foretold, or what sort of men should be found in these last days; namely, scoffers. These are the dregs of mankind, found in the dregs of time; they scoff sometimes at the word of God, sometimes at religion and the ways of good men; sometimes at sin, and the follies of those that are bad. The scoffing spirit, is a vile spirit; it is better to be a fool than a flouter; better to have a dull spirit than a deriding spirit; to deride God and religion is the height of impiety. Such as are in the chair of the scorner are in the highest form in the devil’s school.
Observe, 2. What it was that these men scoffed at; namely, at the prediction of our Saviour’s coming to judge the world; they say, Where is the promise of his coming? because Christ did not come when some looked for him, they concluded he would not come at all, but that all things should go on in a constant course, as they had done from the beginning of the creation.
Read full note →
Observe, 3. The character of the persons who are called scoffers; they are said to walk after their own lusts, men of sensual spirits, and licentious lives. No wonder, that they who give themselves up to all manner of sensuality, to deny a judgment to come; for, as it is expedient for them that there should be none, so they endeavour to persuade themselves that there shall be none, and are glad to find arguments to fortify themselves in that persuasion. But surely God scorneth the scorners, he will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their desolation cometh. Lord! what a black and horrid ingratitude is this, to scoff at the author of our beings, and the Patron of our lives; to live in definace of him in whom we live? Is it not time for God to come and judge the world, when men begin to doubt whether ever he made it?
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v3 To quicken and excite us to a serious minding…
To quicken and excite us to a serious minding and firm adhering to what God has revealed to us by the prophets and apostles, we are told that there will be scoffers, men who will make a mock of sin, and of salvation from it. God's way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ is what men will scoff at, and that in the last days, under the gospel. This indeed may seem very strange, that the New Testament dispensation of the covenant of grace, which is spiritual and therefore more agreeable to the nature of God than the Old, should be ridiculed and reproached; but the spirituality and simplicity of New Testament worship are directly contrary to the carnal mind of man, and this accounts for what the apostle seems here to hint at, namely, that scoffers shall be more numerous and more bold in the last days than ever before. Though in all ages those who were born and walked after the flesh persecuted, reviled, and reproached those who were born and did walk after the Spirit, yet in the last days there will be a great improvement in the art and impudence of bantering serious godliness, and those who firmly adhere to the circumspection and self-denial which the gospel prescribes. This is what is mentioned as a thing well known to all Christians, and therefore they ought to reckon upon it, that they may not be surprised and shaken, as if some strange thing happened unto them. Now to prevent the true Christian's being overcome, when attacked by these scoffers, we are told,
I. What sort of persons they are: they walk after their own lusts, they follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, and carnal affections, not the dictates and directions of right reason and an enlightened well-informed judgment. This they do in the course of their conversation, they live as they list, and they speak as they list; it is not only their inward minds that are evil and opposite to God, as the mind of every unrenewed sinner is (Rom 8:7), alienated from God, ignorant of him, and averse to him; but they have grown to such a height of wickedness that they proclaim openly what is in the hearts of others who are yet carnal; they say, "Our tongues are our own, and our strength, and time, and who is lord over us? Who shall contradict or control us, or ever call us to an account for what we say or do?" And, as they scorn to be confined by any laws of God in their conversation, so neither will they bear that the revelation of God should dictate and prescribe to them what they are to believe; as they will walk in their own way, and talk their own language, so will they also think their own thoughts, and form principles which are altogether their own: here also their own lusts alone shall be consulted by them. None but such accomplished libertines as are here described can take a seat, at least they cannot sit in the seat of the scornful. "By this you shall know them, that you may the better be upon your guard against them."
Read full note →
II. We also are forewarned how far they will proceed: they will attempt to shake and unsettle us, even as to our belief of Christ's second coming; they will scoffingly say, Where is the promise of his coming? Pe2 3:4. Without this, all the other articles of the Christian faith will signify very little; this is that which fills up and gives the finishing stroke to all the rest. The promised Messiah has come, he was made flesh, and dwelt among us; he is altogether such a one as in stated before, and has done all that for us which has been before taken notice of. These principles the enemies of Christianity have all along endeavoured to overturn; but as these all rest upon facts which are already past, and of which this and the other apostles have given us the most sure and satisfying evidence, it is probable that they will at last grow weary of their opposition to them; and yet, while one very principal article of our faith refers to what is still behind, and only has a promise to rest upon, here they will still attack us, even to the end of time. Till our Lord shall have come, they will not themselves believe that he will come; nay, they will laugh at the very mention of his second coming, and do what in them lies to put all out of countenance who seriously believe and wait for it. Now therefore let us see how this point stands, both on the believer's part and on the part of these seducers: the believer not only desires that he may come, but, having a promise that he will come, a promise that he himself has made and often repeated, a promise received and reported by faithful witnesses, and left upon sure record, he is also firmly and fully persuaded that he will come: on the other hand, these seducers, because they wish he never may, therefore do all that in them lies to cheat themselves and others into a persuasion that he will never come. If they cannot deny that there is a promise, yet they will laugh at that very promise, which argues much higher degrees of infidelity and contempt: Where is the promise, say they, of his coming?
III. We are also forewarned of the method of their reasoning, for while they laugh they will pretend to argue too. To this purpose they add that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation, Pe2 3:4. This is a subtle, though not a solid way of reasoning; it is apt to make impressions upon weak minds, and especially upon wicked hearts. Because sentence against them is not speedily executed, therefore they flatter themselves that it never will, whereupon their hearts are fully set in them to do evil (Ecc 8:11); thus they act themselves, and thus they would persuade others to act; so here, say they, "The fathers have fallen asleep, those are all dead to whom the promise was made, and it was never made good in their time, and there is no likelihood that it ever will be in any time; why should we trouble ourselves about it? If there had been any truth or certainty in the promise you speak of, we should surely have seen somewhat of it before this time, some signs of his coming, some preparatory steps in order to it; whereas we find to this very day all things continue as they were, without any change, even from the beginning of the creation. Since the world has undergone no changes in the course of so many thousand years, why should we affright ourselves as if it were to have an end?" Thus do these scoffers argue. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, Psa 55:19. They neither fear him nor his judgments; what he never has done they would conclude he never can do or never will.
IV. Here is the falsehood of their argument detected. Whereas they confidently had said there had not been any change from the beginning of the creation, the apostle puts us in remembrance of a change already past, which, in a manner, equals that which we are called to expect and look for, which was the drowning of the world in the days of Noah. This these scoffers had overlooked; they took no notice of it. Though they might have known it, and ought to have known it, yet this they willingly are ignorant of (Pe2 3:5), they choose to pass it over in silence, as if they had never heard or known any thing of it; if they knew it, they did not like to retain it in their knowledge; they did not receive this truth in the love of it, neither did they care to own it. Note, It is hard to persuade men to believe what they are not willing to find true; they are ignorant, in many cases, because they are willing to be ignorant, and they do not know because they do not care to know. But let not sinners think that such ignorance as this will be admitted as an excuse for whatever sin it may betray them into. Those who crucified Christ did not know who he was; for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (Co1 2:8); but, though ignorant, they were not therefore innocent; their ignorance itself was a sin, willing and wilful ignorance, and one sin can be no excuse for another. So it is here; had these known of the dreadful vengeance with which God swept away a whole world of ungodly wretches at once, they would not surely have scoffed at his threatenings of any after equally terrible judgment; but here they were willingly ignorant, they did not know what God had done because they had no mind to know it. Now therefore we shall proceed to consider the representation which the apostle here lays down both of the destruction of the old world by water and that which awaits this present world at the final conflagration. He mentions the one as what God has done, to convince and persuade us the rather to believe that the other both may be and will be.
1. We begin with the apostle's account of the destruction which has once already come upon the world (Pe2 3:5, Pe2 3:6): By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. Originally the world was otherwise situated, the waters were most wisely divided at the creation and most beneficially for us; some of the waters had proper repositories above the firmament, here called the heavens (as it is also Gen 1:8), and others, under the firmament, gathered together unto one place; there were then both sea and dry land, commodious habitation for the children of men. But now, at the time of the universal deluge, the case is strangely altered; the waters which God had divided before, assigning to each part its convenient receptacle, now does he, in anger, throw together again in a heap. He breaks up the fountain of the great deep, and throws open the windows (that is, the clouds) of heaven (Gen 7:11), till the whole earth is overflowed with water, and not a spot can be found upon the highest mountains but what is fifteen cubits under water, Gen 7:20. Thus he made known at once his terrible power and his fierce anger, and made an end of a whole world at once: The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished, Pe2 3:6. Is not here a change and a most awful change! And then it is to be observed that all this was done by the word of God; it was by his powerful word that the world was made at first, and made in so commodious and beautiful a frame and order, Heb 11:3, Katērtisthai. He said, Let there be a firmament, etc., Gen 1:6, Gen 1:7. And let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, etc., Gen 1:9, Gen 1:10. Thus he spoke, and it was done, Psa 33:9. Thus, says our apostle, by the word of the Lord the heavens were, as they were of old (that is, at first creation) and the earth (as it was at first a terraqueous globe) standing out of the water and in the water. Not is it only the first frame and order of the world that is here said to be by the word of God, but the after-confusion and ruin of the world, as well as the utter destruction of its inhabitants, were also by the same word; none but that God who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth could destroy and overthrow such a vast fabric at once. This was done by the word of his power, and it was also done according to the word of his promise; God had said that he would destroy man, even all flesh, and that he would do it by bringing a flood of waters upon the earth, Gen 6:7, Gen 6:13, Gen 6:17. This was the change which God had before brought upon the world, and which these scoffers had overlooked; and now we are to consider,
2. What the apostle says of the destructive change which is yet to come upon it: The heavens and the earth, which now are, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, Pe2 3:7. Here we have an awful account of the final dissolution of the world, and which we are yet more nearly concerned in. The ruin that came upon the world and its inhabitants by the flood, we read, and hear, and think of, with concern, though those who were swept away by it were such as we never knew; but the judgment here spoken of is yet to come, and will surely come, though we know not when, nor upon what particular age or generation of men; and therefore we are not, we cannot be, sure that it may not happen in our own times: and this makes a very great difference, though it should be admitted that they were equal in every other respect, which yet must not be allowed, for there were some, though very few, who escaped that deluge, but not one can escape in this conflagration. Besides, we were not in reach of the one, but are not sure that we shall not be included in the other calamity. Now therefore to see the world to which we belong destroyed at once - not a single person only, not a particular family only, nor yet a nation (even that which we are most nearly interested in and concerned for), but the whole world, I say, sinking at once, and no ark provided, no possible way left of escaping for any one from the common ruin, this makes a difference between the desolation that has been and what we yet are to expect. The one is already past, and never to return upon us any more (for God has said expressly that there shall never any more be a flood to destroy the earth, Gen 9:11-17); the other is still behind, and is as certain to come as the truth and the power of God can make it: the one came gradually upon the world, and was growing upon its inhabitants forty days, before it made an utter end of them (Gen 7:12, Gen 7:17); this other will come upon them swiftly and all at once (Pe2 2:1): besides, there were in that overthrow (as we have said) a few who escaped, but the ruin which yet awaits this world, whenever it comes, will be absolutely a universal one; there will not be any part but what the devouring flames will seize upon, not a sanctuary left any where for the inhabitants to flee to, not a single spot in all this world where any one of them can be safe. Thus, whatever differences may be assigned between that destruction of the world and this here spoken of, they do indeed represent the approaching as the most terrible judgment; yet that the world has once been destroyed by a universal deluge renders it the more credible that it may be again ruined by a universal conflagration. Let therefore the scoffers, who laugh at the coming of our Lord to judgment, at least consider that it may be. There is nothing said of it in the word of God but what is within reach of the power of God, and, though they still should laugh, they shall not put us out of countenance; we are well assured that it will be, because he has said it, and we can depend upon his promise. They err, not knowing (at least not believing) the scriptures, nor the power of God; but we know, and we do or ought to depend upon, both. Now that which he has said, and which he will certainly make good, is that the heavens and the earth which now are (which we are now related to, which still subsist in all the beauty and order in which we see them, and which are so agreeable and useful to us, as we find they are) are kept in store, not to be, what earthly minds would wish to have them, treasures for us, but to be what God will have them, in his treasury, securely lodged and kept safely for his purposes. It follows, they are reserved unto fire. Observe, God's following judgments are more terrible than those which went before; the old world was destroyed by water, but this is reserved unto fire, which shall burn up the wicked at the last day; and, though this seems to be delayed, yet, as this wicked world is upheld by the word of God, so it is only reserved for the vengeance of him to whom vengeance belongs, who will at the day of judgment deal with an ungodly world according to their deserts, for the day of judgment is the day of the perdition of ungodly men. Those who now scoff at a future judgment shall find it a day of vengeance and utter destruction. "Beware therefore of being among these scoffers; never question but the day of the Lord will come; give diligence therefore to be found in Christ, that that may be a time of refreshment and day of redemption to you which will be a day of indignation and wrath to the ungodly world."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Knowing this first,.... In the first place, principally, and…
Knowing this first,.... In the first place, principally, and chiefly, and which might easily be known and observed from the writings of the apostles and prophets; see Ti1 4:1;
that there shall come in the last days scoffers, or "mockers"; such as would make a mock at sin, make light of it, plead for it, openly commit it, and glory in it; and scoff at all religion, as the prejudice of education, as an engine of state, a piece of civil policy to keep subjects in awe, as cant, enthusiasm, and madness, as a gloomy melancholy thing, depriving men of true pleasure; and throw out their flouts and jeers at those that are the most religious, for the just, upright man, is commonly by such laughed to scorn, and those that depart from evil make themselves a prey; and particularly at the ministers of the word, for a man that has scarcely so much common sense as to preserve him from the character of an idiot, thinks himself a wit of the age, if he can at any rate break a jest upon a Gospel minister: nor do the Scriptures of truth escape the banter and burlesque of these scoffers; the doctrines of it being foolishness to them, and the commands and ordinances in it being grievous and intolerable to them; yea, to such lengths do those proceed, as to scoff at God himself; at his persons, purposes, providences, and promises; at Jehovah the Father, as the God of nature and providence, and especially as the God and Father of Christ, and of all grace in him; at Jehovah the Son, at his person, as being the Son of God, and truly God, at his office, as Mediator, and at his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, which they trample under foot; and at Jehovah the Spirit, whom they do despite unto, as the spirit of grace, deriding his operations in regeneration and sanctification, as dream and delusion; and, most of all, things to come are the object of their scorn and derision; as the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, a future judgment, the torments of hell, and the joys of heaven; all which they represent as the trifles and juggles of designing men: such as these, according to the prophets and apostles, were to come in "the last days"; either in the days of the Messiah, in the Gospel dispensation, the times between the first and second coming of Christ; for it is a rule with the Jews (s), that wherever the last days are mentioned, the days of the Messiah are intended; see Heb 1:1; when the prophets foretold such scoffers should come; or in the last days of the Jewish state, both civil and religious, called "the ends of the world", Co1 10:11; a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, when iniquity greatly abounded, Mat 24:11; or "in the last of the days"; as the words may be rendered; and so answer to , in Isa 2:2, and may regard the latter part of the last times; the times of the apostles were the last days, Jo1 2:18; they began then, and will continue to Christ's second coming; when some time before that, it will be a remarkable age for scoffers and scorners; and we have lived to see an innumerable company of them, and these predictions fulfilled; from whence it may be concluded, that the coming of Christ is at hand: these scoffers are further described as
Read full note →
walking after their own lusts; either after the carnal reasonings of their minds, admitting of nothing but what they can comprehend by reason, making that the rule, test, and standard of all their principles, and so cast away the law of the Lord, and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel; or rather, after their sinful and fleshly lusts, making them their guides and governors, and giving up themselves entirely to them, to obey and fulfil them; the phrase denotes a continued series of sinning, a progress in it, a desire after it, and pleasure in it, and an obstinate persisting in it; scoffers at religion and revelation are generally libertines; and such as sit in the seat of the scornful, are in the counsel of the ungodly, and way of sinners, Psa 1:1.
(s) Kimchi in Isa. ii. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4–5 Saying, Where is the promise of his coming -…
Saying, Where is the promise of his coming - To judgment (They do not even deign to name him.) We see no sign of any such thing. For ever since the fathers - Our first ancestors. Fell asleep, all things - Heaven. water, earth. Continue as they were from the beginning of the creation - Without any such material change as might make us believe they will ever end.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Verse 3. Knowing this first] Considering this in an…
Verse 3. Knowing this first] Considering this in an especial manner, that those prophets predicted the coming of false teachers: and their being now in the Church proved how clearly they were known to God, and showed the Christians at Pontus the necessity of having no intercourse or connection with them.
There shall come-scoffers] Persons who shall endeavour to turn all religion into ridicule, as this is the most likely way to depreciate truth in the sight of the giddy multitude. The scoffers, having no solid argument to produce against revelation, endeavour to make a scaramouch of some parts; and then affect to laugh at it, and get superficial thinkers to laugh with them.
Read full note →
Walking after their own lusts] Here is the true source of all infidelity. The Gospel of Jesus is pure and holy, and requires a holy heart and holy life. They wish to follow their own lusts, and consequently cannot brook the restraints of the Gospel: therefore they labour to prove that it is not true, that they may get rid of its injunctions, and at last succeed in persuading themselves that it is a forgery; and then throw the reins on the neck of their evil propensities. Thus their opposition to revealed truth began and ended in their own lusts.
There is a remarkable addition here in almost every MS. and version of note: There shall come in the last days, IN MOCKERY, εν εμπαιγμονη, scoffers walking after their own lusts. This is the reading of ABC, eleven others, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and several of the fathers. They come in mockery; this is their spirit and temper; they have no desire to find out truth; they take up the Bible merely with the design of turning it into ridicule. This reading Griesbach has received into the text.
The last days] Probably refer to the conclusion of the Jewish polity, which was then at hand.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3–4 2Pe 3:3. Knowing this first — That your faith…
2Pe 3:3. Knowing this first — That your faith in the prophetic word may not be shaken, but that you may be armed and prepared for the trial; that there shall come in the last days — The expression here used, επ’ εσχατου των ημερων, is different from υστεροις χρονοις, future, or latter times, (1Ti 4:1,) and from εσχαταις ημεραις, the last days, 2Ti 3:1. It is also different from επ’ εσχατων των χρονων, these last times, 1Pe 1:20. And it probably means the last part of the days of the world’s duration. Scoffers — Or mockers, who shall ridicule the expectation of such awful events, and deride the truths, promises, and threatenings of the divine word; walking after their own lusts — Influenced by their appetites and passions, and their earthly and sensual inclinations. Here the apostle has laid open the true source of infidelity, and of men’s scoffing at religion. “They may pretend to religion,” as Dr. Benson says, “but they are governed by sense and appetite, and they take refuge in infidelity, and scoff at religion, to make themselves easy in their vices.” “When the apostle wrote this passage, there were Epicureans and others among the Gentiles, and Sadducees among the Jews, who ridiculed the promises of the gospel concerning the resurrection of the dead, the general judgment, the destruction of the earth, and a future state of rewards and punishments. Wherefore, seeing the scoffers, of whom St. Peter here speaks, had not yet appeared, but were to come in the last period of the duration of the world, it is probable that they were to arise in the church itself. Accordingly they are reproved, (2Pe 3:5,) for being wilfully ignorant of the Mosaic history of the creation and of the deluge; and Jude says, (Jud 1:18-19,) the scoffers separated themselves from other Christians, and had not the Spirit, though they pretended to be inspired. The evil of scoffing at the doctrines and promises of the gospel may be learned from Psa 1:1, where scoffing at religion is represented as the highest stage of impiety.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Knowing this first - As among the first and…
Knowing this first - As among the first and most important things to be attended to - as one of the predictions which demand your special regard. Jude Jud 1:18 says that the fact that there would be “mockers in the last time,” had been particularly foretold by thom. It is probable that Peter refers to the same thing, and we may suppose that this was so well understood by all the apostles that they made it a common subject of preaching.
That there shall come in the last days - In the last dispensation; in the period during which the affairs of the world shall be wound up. The apostle does not say that that was the last time in the sense that the world was about to come to an end; nor is it implied that the period called “the last day” might not be a very long period, longer in fact than either of the previous periods of the world. He says that during that period it had been predicted there would arise those whom he here calls “scoffers.” On the meaning of the phrase “in the last days,” as used in the Scriptures, see the Act 2:17 note; Heb 1:2 note; Isa 2:2 note.
Read full note →
Scoffers - In Jude Jud 1:18 the same Greek word is rendered “mockers.” The word means those who deride, reproach, ridicule. There is usually in the word the idea of contempt or malignity toward an object. Here the sense seems to be that they would treat with derision or contempt the predictions respecting the advent of the Saviour, and the end of the world. It would appear probable that there was a particular or definite class of men referred to; a class who would hold special opinions, and who would urge plausible objections against the fulfillment of the predictions respecting the end of the world, and the second coming of the Saviour - for those are the points to which Peter particularly refers. It scarcely required inspiration to foresee that there would be “scoffers” in the general sense of the term - for they have so abounded in every age, that no one would hazard much in saying that they would be found at any particular time; but the eye of the apostle is evidently on a particular class of people, the special form of whose reproaches would be the ridicule of the doctrines that the Lord Jesus would return; that there would be a day of judgment; that the world would be consumed by fire, etc. Tillotson explains this of the Carpocratians, a large sect of the Gnostics, who denied the resurrection of the dead, and the future judgment.
Walking after their own lusts - Living in the free indulgence of their sensual appetites. See the notes at 2Pe 2:10, 2Pe 2:12, 2Pe 2:14, 2Pe 2:18-19.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Scoffers [1] with deceit, (such as make a jest…
Scoffers [1] with deceit, (such as make a jest of all revealed religion) walking according to their own lusts, as if they might indulge themselves in every thing which their inclinations prompt them to, saying: where is his promise, or his coming? They have no belief nor regard for what has been revealed concerning the coming of Christ to judge every one, to reward the good, and punish the wicked. Such were the Sadducees, who believe not the immortality of the soul, nor the resurrection; such were at all times those atheistical men, who endeavoured to persuade themselves that all religion is no more than a human and politic invention; of this number are they who some in our days call free-thinkers. St. Peter here gives us the words of these unbelieving libertines, whom he calls scoffers: where, they say, is his promise? those pretended promises of God, those predictions and menaces in the Scriptures? what appearance of Christ’s coming to judge the world? for, since the Fathers slept, ever since the death of the patriarchs and prophets, all things continue. (Witham)
===============================
Read full note →
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
In deceptione illusores; the true reading in the Greek is, as Dr. Wells has restored it, Greek: en empaigmone empaiktai, illusione illudentes.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Knowing this first--from the word of the apostles.
Knowing this first--from the word of the apostles.
shall come--Their very scoffing shall confirm the truth of the prediction.
Read full note →
scoffers--The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate add, "(scoffers) in (that is, 'with') scoffing." As Rev 14:2, "harping with harps."
walking after their own lusts-- (Pe2 2:10; Jde 1:16, Jde 1:18). Their own pleasure is their sole law, unrestrained by reverence for God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Knowing this first—The great precaution is here now…
3. Knowing this first—The great precaution is here now premised in regard to the judgment-day prophecies. The readers must not suppose that the terms of immediacy of time in the prophetic announcements of the second advent really mean that they are now, humanly, at hand. The same caution given in St. Paul’s first epistle, (2Th_2:1,) is repeated in this, Peter’s last.
The last days—The very caution defines the phrase. They are the last days before the second advent, however far or near that day may be. That they may be a very distant last days it is the very purpose of the present passage to show, and to explain that the distance of time is not contradictory to the immediacy of the terms. See supplemental note to Matthew 25. Also notes on 2Th_2:1-8; Rev_1:1; Rev_1:3; Rev_22:20.
Read full note →
Scoffers—These words, and the entire passage 3-5, we identify with Rev_20:7-9, when Satan, released from his millennial imprisonment, “the nations” are once more “deceived,” and an apostasy takes place. Compare notes on Mar_13:24-27; Luk_18:8.
After their own lusts—A sceptical spirit and a licentious life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. knowing this first, that there shall come in…
3. knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers] The better MSS. give the emphatic Hebrew idiom of reduplication (comp. Gen_22:17), scoffers shall come in their scoffing. The first noun is found only here and in the parallel passage of Jdg_1:18; the latter, here only.
walking after their own lusts, and saying …] This is given as the ground of their mocking temper. The habit of self-indulgence is at all times the natural parent of the cynical and scoffing sneer.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 SECOND PREDICTION: Scoffers shall throw doubt on Christ’s return.
SECOND PREDICTION: Scoffers shall throw doubt on Christ’s return.
(3) In the last days.—Comp. 1Pe_1:20; Heb_1:2; and the parallel passage to this, Jud_1:18. “Know this first, children, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” is quoted in a homily attributed on doubtful authority to Hippolytus. (See above on 2Pe_2:1.)
Read full note →
Scoffers.—The best authorities add “in scoffing,” intensifying the meaning by repetition (as in Eph_1:3; Rev_14:2; comp. Luk_22:15). There are other repetitions of this kind in the New Testament, which have been rendered by strengthening the verb in some other way (Joh_3:29; Act_4:17; Act_5:28; Jas_5:17).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the…
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers. (For the irregular construction of ginwskontev, see Winer, 3:63, 2, a.) St. Peter has the words, "knowing this first," in 2Pe_1:20, where he is speaking of the interpretation of prophecy; he repeats them now when referring to the scoffers who mocked at the long delay of the Lord"s coming foretold by the prophets. (For "the last days," see note on 1Pe_1:20) The Revised Version has, "Mockers shall come with mockery." This represents the words ejn ejmpaigmopnh, found in nearly all the best manuscripts, which give emphasis to the expression after the Hebrew manner. The word ejmpaigmonh occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and ejmpaiktai, scoffers, only in the parallel passage, Jud_1:18. Walking after their own lusts. Self-indulgence often leads to skepticism. This verse is quoted in a homily ascribed to Hippolytus. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers. (For the irregular construction of ginwskontev, see Winer, 3:63, 2, a.) St. Peter has the words, "knowing this first," in 2Pe_1:20, where he is speaking of the interpretation of prophecy; he repeats them now when referring to the scoffers who mocked at the long delay of the Lord"s coming foretold by the prophets. (For "the last days," see note on 1Pe_1:20) The Revised Version has, "Mockers shall come with mockery." This represents the words ejn ejmpaigmopnh, found in nearly all the best manuscripts, which give emphasis to the expression after the Hebrew manner. The word ejmpaigmonh occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and ejmpaiktai, scoffers, only in the parallel passage, Jud_1:18. Walking after their own lusts. Self-indulgence often leads to skepticism. This verse is quoted in a homily ascribed to Hippolytus.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 There shall come in the last days scoffers.
2Pe_3:3-4
There shall come in the last days scoffers.
Read full note →
The character of the last days
I. The personal qualifications of the disputers here described. To be a scoffer is sure no very laudable character, being the joint result of pride and malice, the doing mischief, and the doing it in sport. But as this temper is most injurious, it is also ignorant and indocile. The sure effect of knowledge is an humble sense of the want of it; the deeper we immerse ourselves in any art or science, the greater difficulties are started by us. But over and above the ingredients, of pride, ill-nature, and incorrigible folly, the mockers of the text are branded with immorality and vice--to walk after their own lusts. And sure there cannot be a more prodigious impudence than that guilty persons liable to the severest punishments should dare to awaken observation by being sharp on others.
II. The force of their discoursings. Where is the promise of His coming? The delaying of performance is no prejudice against it. With Almighty God everything, however distant it may seem, is actually present. First, the apostle denies the proposition that all things continue as they were since the Creation; and secondly, he denies the consequence drawn from thence, Though all things did continue, it no way follows they shall for ever do so.
III. As they are a recital of a prophecy. The appearance of these scoffers in the world is itself a very signal mark of its approach (Jud_1:17-18; 1Th_5:1; Mat_24:37). Will they find arguments of mockery and laughter in the place of weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth? If they can do this, in Gods name let them mock on, deny a future judgment, or what is more brave, let them dare it. (John Fell, D. D.)
The nature, folly, and danger of scoring at religion
I. To consider the nature, folly, and danger of scoffing at religion, than which nothing can be more offensive to a considerate mind.
1. Is there anything ridiculous in the belief of a Deity, a supreme, infinite, and intelligent mind, the creator and governor of the universe? Is it absurd to assert that He who made the world exercises an universal providence and directs all the affairs of it? What is there ludicrous in any of the duties of piety, in a supreme reverence and love of God? What is there that has a ridiculous aspect, or can excite any but the laughter of fools, in justice, temperance, etc.? Again, is it at all unsuitable to our most worthy notions of God to believe, that when the world was universally corrupted, He would graciously interpose for the good of His creatures, and teach them their duty by an extraordinary revelation? Is it in the least irrational to suppose that this revelation has fixed, with the utmost distinctness, the terms of our acceptance with God, and thereby removed distracting suspicions and superstitious terrors?
2. Further, the grand principles and duties of religion are so far from having anything ridiculous in them, that they are some of the plainest and most obvious dictates of reason, which renders the guilt of the scoffer much more aggravated and his impertinence and folly more insupportable.
3. Let me only add that religion is of the utmost consequence to the comfort of mens minds, the peace of society, and the general good of the world. So that whoever sets himself to vilify these important truths not only fixes certain reproach upon himself by misplacing his ridicule on what has really nothing absurd in it, but is, in fact, whatever his intention may be, whether to gratify a trifling humour, display the forwardness of his genius, or corrupt the morals of the age, an enemy to society and the general happiness of mankind.
4. And as the guilt of these scoffers is very great, their danger is in proportion. For if the principles of religion should happen to be true, he that has so abused his reason, that noblest gift of God, as to employ it against his Maker, and all that is amiable and useful in human life, must expect to be treated with the utmost rigour and severity.
II. To inquire into the causes of it.
1. It sometimes springs from a levity of mind which disposes men to treat all subjects ludicrously.
2. Again, bantering religion frequently proceeds from ignorance and superficial inquiry.
3. Sometimes again it happens that the fashion of the age they live in, or the general humour of the company they frequent, makes persons set up for scoffers.
4. Scoffing at religion may, in some persons, proceed from a direct hatred of it, occasioned by a prejudice in favour of their vices. This was the case of the scoffers mentioned in the text, who are expressly described as walking after their own lusts. I may safely assert that immorality in the practice is the source of the most invincible prejudices against religion. How natural is it for those, who live as without God in the world, to wish that there was no such Being, that by destroying the first principle of all religion they may justify the want of it in their practice. I shall only add, that when men are averse to the principles of religion, they will naturally decline all further inquiries into the reasonableness of them, and be fond of everything that looks plausible on the side of infidelity.
Learn:
1. Into what extreme corruption the mind of man, which is indued with such noble faculties and formed for Godlike perfection, is capable of being sunk, even to mistake confusion for order and deformity for beauty?
2. Again, that we may not be imposed on by the scoffers of our own times, let us always take care to distinguish between reasoning and ridicule. We should examine what it is that is really ridiculous: whether it be religion itself, or something of a different nature substituted in the place of it.
3. Finally, that we may keep at the utmost distance from this crime, let us employ our reason in defending religion and representing it in a just and amiable light. Let our natural abilities be devoted to this service, and all our studies and improvements made subservient to it. (James Foster.)
The folly of scoffing at religion
I. We will consider the nature of the sin here mentioned, which is scoffing at religion. There shall come scoffers. In those times there was a common persuasion among Christians, that the day of the Lord was at hand. Now this, it is probable, these scoffers twitted the Christians withal. They looked upon all things as going on in a constant course.
II. the character which is here given of these scoffers. They are said to walk after their own lusts. St. Jude, in his epistle, gives much the same character of them that St. Peter here does (verses 18, 19). To deride God and religion is the highest kind of impiety. And men do not usually arrive to this degree of wickedness at first, but they come to it by several steps. I remember it is the saying of one, who hath done more by his writings to debauch the age with atheistical principles than any man that lives in it, that when reason is against a man, then a man will be against reason. I am sure this is the true account of such mens enmity to religion--religion is against them, and therefore they set themselves against religion. Besides that, men think it some kind of apology for their vices that they do not act contrary to any principle they profess.
III. The heinousness and the aggravations of this vice. If it prove true that there is no God, the religious man may be as happy in this world as the atheist. Besides that, the practice of religion and virtue doth naturally promote our temporal felicity. It is more for a mans health, and more for his reputation, and more for his advantage in all other worldly respects, to lead a virtuous than a vicious course of life. And for the other world, if there be no God, the case of the religious realm and the atheist will be alike, because they will both be extinguished by death and insensible of any further happiness or misery. But then if the contrary opinion should prove true, then it is plain to every man, at first sight, that the case of the religious man and the atheist must be vastly different; then where shall the wicked and the ungodly appear? I will but add one thing more, to show the folly of this profane temper. And that is this: that as it is the greatest of all other sins, so there is in truth the least temptation to it. Profane persons serve the devil for nought. Lessons:
1. To take men off from this impious and dangerous folly of profaneness, which by some is miscalled wit.
2. To caution men not to think the worse of religion, because some are so bold as to deride it.
3. To persuade men to employ that reason and wit which God hath given them, to better and nobler purposes, in the service and to the glory of that God who hath bestowed these gifts on men. (Abp. Tillotson.)
The sin of scoffing at religion
I. The nature of the vice.
1. It is not the serious inquirer that I complain of, let his objections be raised against whatever doctrines they may, but the individual who treats the subject with a spirit of levity, derision, and contempt.
(1) In some instances this unhappy and unholy disposition goes so far as to despise every kind of religion, natural as well as revealed.
(2) In other cases, the scorner appears in the character of a deist, who, while he professes to believe the truth, and to submit to the obligations of natural religion, attacks the system of Divine revelation. He reviles the Scriptures as forgeries.
(a) Much unhallowed ridicule is thrown by some on what are considered by us as the most sublime and important doctrines of revelation--I mean the trinity of persons in the Godhead, and the atonement of our Lord.
(b) The scorner will not unfrequently be found avowing his belief in the important articles which I have just mentioned, while, at the same time, he ridicules the only legitimate influence and valuable results of these doctrines. Has not the term saint, that highest appellation which can be given to man or glorified spirit, been bandied about society as a term of reproach?
(c) Another way of scoffing at religion is to pitch upon the imperfections of good men and to expose them to public ridicule. But how hateful is the malignity which delights to throw all the praiseworthy parts of the character into the shade of one ludicrous trait.
(d) It is a miserable device, which many have had recourse to, to select the absurdities of fanaticism and the hollow pretences of hypocrisy, as they have been exhibited in some false professors, and thus to raise a prejudice against all genuine religion.
2. To inquire where and when the practice of scoffing is indulged in.
(1) In the theatre.
(2) How often the social circle is the scene of this unhallowed sport and the entertainment of the convivial party is heightened by profane ridicule.
(3) How saturated with the sin of scoffing at religion are many of the publications, and much of the periodical literature of the present day.
II. The causes of scoffing.
1. There are many subordinate and proximate ones.
(1) Of these, pride and an unmortified opinion of self takes the lead.
(2) Scoffing is sometimes the result of a prevailing and indecent levity of mind, an habitual and indulged frivolity, which alike indisposes and unfits a man for any serious pursuit.
(3) A silly affectation of novelty combined with a wish to be thought superior to the terrors of superstition, leads in many cases to the sin of ridiculing piety.
(4) Many are led on to assume the character of the scorner by the power of fashion and the contagion of evil company.
(5) Inability to attack religion in any other way induces some to assail it with their scorn.
2. But the chief source of scoffing is that which the apostle has mentioned in the text, Scoffers walking after their own lusts.
III. The character of this vice.
1. It is irrational. Ridicule is neither the test of truth in others nor the way to obtain it for ourselves.
2. It is rude and uncivil. A decent respect is due to every mans convictions on the subject of religion, though they may be erroneous.
3. It is a most cruel and inhuman sin. Did he but consider how many there are who, amidst the vicissitudes and the trials of life, have no ray of consolation from any other source to fall upon their dreary path, would he follow them to their last refuge and attempt to drive them by unhallowed scorn even from thence?
4. It is a most hardening vice. The sacred writers speak of a scorner as almost irreclaimable.
5. But its impiety in the sight of God surpasses all description. Religion is at once the production and the image of Deity; and to scoff at religion, therefore, is to scoff at God.
6. It is a contagious and injurious vice. Scorners are the chief instruments of Satan, the promoters of his cause, his most zealous apostles, his most able advocates, and his most successful emissaries.
IV. The punishment of the scorner.
1. Are there, tell me scoffers, no midnight scenes of terror and self-reproach? How will this be increased on the bed of death?
2. I cannot conceive of any character with whom Jehovah will be so awfully severe as the scoffer; his is the loftiest height of vice, and his will be the lowest depth of punishment. Gods patience in bearing with such impious creatures is wonderful; and His justice in punishing them will be in proportion.
3. And then, who shall tell the secrets of his prison, or conceive of what the scorner shall endure in the dark world of hell? There will be no saint near him there on whom to utter the effusions of his ridicule. Not one flash of wit will for a moment relieve the darkness of eternal night; not one sally of humour resist the oppression of eternal despair. (J. A. James.)
Where is the promise of His coming?--
The delay of the advent of Christ
I. The scientific difficulty.
1. So far as the objection relates to the delay of the second advent, it would seem that, in a scientific age like the present, it would least of all have weight. For the history of the earth, as related by geology, and the history of the cosmical system, as related by astronomy, present periods so vast, that the eighteen hundred years, during which Christianity has been evolving its work among men, shrink into utter insignificance in the comparison. Certainly, the man of science, of all men, should recognise the utter inadequacy of human standards of time as measures of the development of the plans of the Creator.
2. Again, so far as the objection relates to other aspects of the subject, such as the regularity and immutability of natural law which, it is alleged, forbid any such catastrophe as the end of the world, I suggest--
(1) That creation is the fundamental fact on which all our knowledge rests. Science is compelled to admit the beginning of the Kosmos. The very principle of evolution which, in some form or other, is now generally adopted as a twin generalisation with gravitation, carries with it the idea of a beginning. Even if the Kosmos had been self-evolved, the seed out of which it evolved itself must be assumed. But does not this suggest that it is working towards an end? an ultimate solution?
(2) That the three leading ideas involved in the second advent, and that which is associated with it, at least in perspective, the end of the world, find clear analogies in the latest theories of science.
(a) The second advent involves the idea of the imagination of a higher stage of life and being for man--emancipation from old fetters, the ascent to a higher plane, the taking on a new body with new powers, and under new and higher conditions. But this is just in the line of the story which science is telling us--whether in astronomy, geology, natural history, or sociology--the several spheres in which the law of evolution is traced.
(b) The second advent involves the sudden manifestation of the Son of God, and a new birth of the world resulting from it. But again, the scientific man at our side teaches us that the ascent of matter and force to higher planes, though indeed in orderly succession, has not been by infinite gradation as upon a sliding scale, but always by paroxysms. The story of a chemist is a story of successive births of force into higher and higher forms, the transformation of dead into living matter, of physical into chemical force, and again of chemical into vital force. These are all instances of sudden births into higher conditions with new properties and powers which could not have been imagined before.
(c) The second advent--or that great event which, in the perspective, is contiguous with it, though in reality it may lie far beyond it (like two distant peaks, which seem to spring from the same base though a wide valley really intervenes)--involves also stupendous natural phenomena--the regeneration by fire, the new heavens and the new earth. But here again the analogy of science is in harmony with the scriptural revelation; for the geologist, in telling of an internal treasure-house of fire, as well as the astronomer in his theory of planetary old age, clearly establish that harmony. And, moreover, if there is a law of conservation of force, there is also, as its antithesis, a law of dissipation of energy. Says Le Comte, All scientific speculations on the subject of the final destiny of the Kosmos bankrupt nature. The final result is, the running down of all forms of force into heat, and so the final death of the Kosmos.
II. The historical difficulty. Christ promised to come again in person to judge the world. He said, Behold, I come quickly. But He has not come. Long cycles of history have rolled round, yet still He comes not. Now how do we meet this objection? Exactly as St. Peter did--by reminding the objector that with the Lord a thousand years are as one day. He is the strong and patient worker. Whether we study the record of races or of civilisations, the conclusion is the same--that the God who orders the course of history does indeed reckon a thousand years as one day, maturing His purposes through long tracts of time, and refusing to hasten His work in obedience to the impatience of men. Great nations are not born in a day; strong civilisations are not the product of a generation; both are rather the resultant of a combination of forces and influences whose origin must be sought in remote antiquity. Judging, then, from the analogy of history, what should be the case of Christianity? Here was a new spiritual kingdom set up on earth, designed to be as wide as the world, and as universal as man. How would its results be reached? Surely we should expect that such a design could only be wrought out through long cycles of time; or, at least, this is certain, leaving out of view what could be done (for who shall limit the power of the Almighty?) if experience shall prove that the kingdom of God is to establish itself slowly and through long ages of development, this is only what the analogy of history would teach us to expect. But does not this slow ripening of the great periods of history and civilisation, while it removes the difficulty occasioned by the long delay of the second advent, create at the same time a presumption against the manner of its imagination? The Scripture picture represents a sudden event, a great crisis and catastrophe in the history of the world, in the second coming of Christ. But this, too, finds its frequent analogies in history. The records of mankind afford instances not a few of great crises in the history of cities and nations and races, when sudden destruction has overtaken them, when the long pent-up clouds of wrath have burst upon them and swept them away from among the families of the earth. Such was the case with Nineveh and Babylon. Such was the case with Accad, a city older than either of these, which was indeed the cradle of civilisation, but which so utterly disappeared, that its existence was not even known forty years ago, and was only brought to light by the discovery of the key to the arrow-headed characters, in which the story of the Accadians, with their laws and literature and religion, had remained securely locked up for more than three thousand years. Such was the case with Jerusalem, which when it filled up the measure of its guilt, perished in that sudden storm of indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. Such was the case with the Roman Empire, when it sank to rise no more before the devastating flood of the Northern barbarians. Similar examples are not wanting in modern history, illustrating the principle in question, and giving ground for the assertion that the analogy of history is in harmony with the prophecy that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night--a day of judgment and indignation and wrath to those who are disobedient and rebellious against the Son of God, but a day of Redemption to all them that wait for His appearing. (R. H. McKim, D. D.)
All things continue as they were.
Mans external universe as read by the scoffing sceptic
I. They get from it a one-sided idea. The idea they obtained from the observation of nature was, that it was unchanging. Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue, etc. This is only partially true. We thank God for this constancy. Without it the farmer would have no motive to cultivate his field, the mariner no chart to guide him over the deep, the philosopher no data on which to prosecute his inquiries or to build up his science. All would be confusion. Man, without plan, and without hope, would move under the wild impulses which the casualties of the moment awakened. Still, nature has her changes. Nay, amidst all this constancy are there not incessant revolutions? Does not the inorganic change in its appearance? Old mountains, rivers, islands disappear, and new ones emerge. The vegetable and animal worlds succeed each other. Nay, perhaps there is nothing the same--all things change. A one-sided view of u many-sided thing is evermore erroneous.
II. They apply this one-sided idea against the written word. Where is the promise of His coming? Now, has not the sceptic always read nature in this way? Whether he has looked at its astronomical, geological, or physiological phases, has he not always so read it as to get some false idea of it, in order to turn it against the Bible?
III. They do this from a sad perversity of heart. They are scoffers walking after their own lusts and willingly ignorant. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Miracles are now neither necessary to the conviction of unbelievers, nor the conversion of sinners
I shall consider the words as a standing objection of scoffers or free-thinkers against the truth and authority Of the Christian religion.
I. That miracles are not now necessary to the conviction of unbelievers. It is sufficient that we are assured there was a time when the Christian religion was confirmed by numerous and undoubted miracles. Those who contend for the continuance of miracles in order to evince more effectually the truth of revealed religion, proceed upon one of these suppositions. Either that it is necessary every particular person should for his own satisfaction be an eye-witness of some miraculous fact, or else, that once at least in every age and nation, God should exert His omnipotence, and the miracle be committed to some public and standing record for the information of those who were not eye-witnesses of it. As to what is here required in the last place, it is obviated by staying that we have all the evidence of the miracles recorded in the gospel, that any man, who is not an eye-witness of it, can have of a miracle done in his own age or nation. Upon the former supposition, miracles would be so frequent that they would become of little force or consideration. This is certain, that the effects which miracles have upon men depend upon a good, docile, and obedient temper of mind. He that is in this good disposition needs no further evidence of miracles for his conviction; but he that is not, would not be convinced by them, though we should suppose them more frequent.
II. But if miracles are not necessary to the conviction of unbelievers, may they not re necessary to the conversion of sinners? or to reclaim those who already believe from walking after their own lusts, prod bring them to repentance? I answer again in the negative.
1. The same motives which now induce men to put off their repentance would, in all probability, be as prevalent, though we should suppose miracles more frequent. Would a miracle tend to convince a sinner of the Divine authority of the laws of the gospel? That we here suppose him convinced of already. Would it tend to enforce his obedience to those laws by conveying any sanctifying graces into his nature? What would it then do in order to his conversion? You will say it might be aa occasion of bringing him to a better temper of consideration, and to make him take up some speedy resolutions of amendment. It is granted; but then such a resolution is no more than what we see sinners taking up daily, and yet, notwithstanding this, how ordinary is it for them to shift off their repentance from time to time, till it be past time!
2. It is not reasonably to be expected such an impression should be of any long or lasting continuance.
3. Though what is here asserted could not be made appear from probable reasons and arguments; yet it is confirmed by experience and undeniable shatters of fact. We have numerous examples in Scripture, and it may not be improper to instance some few of them to this purpose.
(1) Who would have thought that Pharaoh, after all the miracles which were done before his eyes, and which he did not only see, but feel the dreadful effects of, should still have persisted in his disobedience to the commands of God?
(2) So, again, notwithstanding the many miracles Moses afterwards wrought in the deliverance of the Jews, what little effect had they towards reclaiming them either from the error or evil of their ways!
1. And when I say that miracles are not now necessary to the conviction of unbelievers, I would be understood as speaking only of such unbelievers as live among Christians, and may at any time have the proofs of Christianity laid clearly before them.
2. If, then, God Almighty has afforded us all sufficient means to convince us of the truth of our holy religion, let us faithfully endeavour to employ those means to the ends they are designed; let us frequently reflect on the reasonableness of Christianity, and the evidence of its truth, that our faith may be built upon a solid foundation. (R. Fiddes, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v5 Chapter 27
Chapter 27
JUDGMENT TO COME
Read full note →
2Pe_3:5-7
"THE world lasts on" (διαμενει) "through all time," say the scoffers, "just as it was at the Creation. There has been no change; there will be none." But out of their own mouth their folly is rebuked. How can these men speak of a creation? If there is to be no judge, why believe that there has been a Creator? That must be included in the general denial. "For this they willfully forget." Yes, here is the reason of their conduct, the root of all the evil. They forget because they wish to forget; they speak of the fathers, but of set purpose ignore the history of Noah; they are casting God out of all their thoughts: and so even to the things that are made, and by which He testifies to all men alike His eternal power and Godhead, they close their eyes, and refuse to read His wide-open lesson-book. And still less do they regard all that His written word records of the worlds past history and Gods discipline for men therein.
"That there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God." They close their ears as well as their eyes. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." As the study of nature progresses men are learning to comprehend more of the vastness of that phrase "in the beginning," and in the light of science to read a larger meaning into St. Peters words, "There were heavens from of old." But even in that generation to which the Apostle soon alludes the unchanging character of the skies spake of duration and permanence. The antediluvian world had run a long course; from Adam to Noah men had beheld the sun rise and set daily in the skies, just as it rose on the morning of the Deluge. And the mockers then living could say, and doubtless did say, to the preacher in their midst, "These things have always been as they are, and will be so for evermore." The later scorners had their prototypes of old, who pointed to the existence of an eternal law, and willfully forgot that law implies a lawgiver, and that He who made must have the power to unmake.
St. Peter takes their text, but reads from it a very different lesson. There were heavens from of old, yea, long before there was an earth fit for man to dwell in. This world in that old time was formless and void, and the waters covered its face like a garment. The word of the Lord went forth, and the waters were gathered together as a heap, and the depth was laid up in Gods storehouses. Then the dry land appeared; then there was an earth. The streams took their appointed place down the mountain-sides and in the valleys, and rivers began to roll onward to the sea; the waters of ocean learnt their bounds, neither turned again to cover the earth. The Divine word clothed in all the glory of vegetation the hitherto barren land, making it a fit home for man, who was not yet; and the water ministered sustenance to everything that grew out of the ground. Birds, beasts, and fishes were made, and the waters were the birthplace of most of these. For God said, "Let the water bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life," not its own tenants only, but fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. So there was an earth, not the bare ground only, but the whole wealth of vegetable and animal life; and this was all existent, compacted, supported out of water and by means of water (δι υδατος). For without it nothing could have flourished. God had laid up water above the firmament and water below the earth, and by means of watery vapor refreshed and blessed everything that grew. This was the reign of Gods law, and ere the Flood came men could point to it and say, "What mean you to talk of a deluge? The sand is made the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; the earth is set high above the waters, and has been so from old time." But that long duration did not hinder the same productive, nurturing water being turned, by the word of the Lord, into an agency of destruction.
"By which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Every word in the Apostles sentence is meant to tell. God employed as means of overthrow the very powers which at first He ordained for blessing. His word makes things what they are. The reign of law endures until He, who is before all law and the source of all law, gives another direction to those forces which his law has always been controlling. In this way the World that then was, the world which had endured and been steadfast from the Creation to the Flood, perished. The world was full of order, full of glory. The name (κοσμος) expresses all this. Yet, for the sin of man, it repented God that He had made this glorious order; and this it was which perished. The earth was not destroyed; it only received again that covering of primeval waters which, at Gods word, had retired and let the dry land appear. At the same word both earth and heaven combined to destroy the goodliness with which creation was adorned. For, on the day of the Deluge, {Gen_7:11} all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the waters came again to cover the earth. They prevailed exceedingly, and all flesh died that moved upon the earth; even the fowls and the moving creatures, which had been brought forth from the teeming waters, perished, and all things were destroyed from off the earth. Thus does St. Peter lay bare the unwisdom of those who will not listen to, who are willfully forgetful of, the parables of Gods word; who close their eyes to His judgments, sent that by them men may learn righteousness.
"But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire." The Apostle now turns away from what the Old Testament Scriptures relate as history of the past to what the same records teach us concerning the future; and he deals partly with promise, partly with prophecy. The earth will not be destroyed again by a deluge. God hath made His covenant: "I will establish My covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth". {Gen_9:11} But there will be a judgment; and then not, as in the days of Noah, will the κοσμος, the beautiful order of nature, alone be destroyed, but heaven and earth alike shall be involved in the common overthrow. Here the Apostle is but the expositor of the words of psalmists and prophets of the older times. He who sang, "Of old Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands," was inspired to add, "They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of-them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed." {Psa_102:25-26} Isaiah, the evangelist among the prophets, saw more, and connects this mighty change with the day of the Lords vengeance: "Then shall all the host of heaven be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll"; {Isa_34:4} and in another place he foresees how "the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…for Mine arms shall judge the people"; {Isa_51:6} and yet again in more solemn wise, "The Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire, for by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh". {Isa_66:15} And this He proclaims as the preparation for "the new heavens and the new earth which He will make." Daniel also tells us of Gods "throne of judgment to be set, which is like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire". {Dan_7:9}
With such light from the lamp of prophecy, the Apostle in his exegesis proclaims the nature of the final judgment. Like other New Testament writers, he has attained, since the day of Pentecost, a deeper insight and a firmer grasp of the purport of what Moses in the Law and the prophets did write. We can see how on that very day thoughts like these which he expresses in his letter were borne in upon his mind. For not only does he apply the prophecy of Joel to the events which then struck the multitude with wonder, but he carries on the lesson further to the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord, and reminds his hearers that "then God will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood". {Act_2:19-20} And the like illumination had been bestowed on St. Paul. For he too tells {1Co_3:13} of a day when each mans work shall be proved by fire; and more definitely he assures the Thessalonians, to whom he wrote much concerning the day of the Lord, that there will come a "revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ". {2Th_1:8}
In such wise did the Apostles read the utterances of prophecy; and thus did they apply them as lessons for their own and all future times. They felt that not unto themselves, but unto us, did the prophets minister. And St. Peter does but put their message into his own words when in his bold figure he says that the heavens that now are and the earth are stored up for fire.
The Revised Version on its margin renders the last words "stored with fire." And when we reflect on the storing of the waters at the Creation, afterwards to be let forth to destroy the world which hitherto they had made fruitful and lovely, the parallelism is very suggestive. God has stored the earth within with fire, which from time to time makes its mighty presence and power for destruction known. The visitations of earthquakes may therefore well remind us that He who used the treasures of waters in the Deluge for His ministers may in like manner hereafter employ this treasury of fire.
"Being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." When God no longer waits for sinners to repent, then will come the judgment and destruction of the ungodly. At that day the heavens that now are and the earth shall be exchanged or transformed. God will prepare a new heaven and a new earth wherein the righteous may find a congenial home with their Lord. Here they can never be other than pilgrims and sojourners, seeking to be clothed upon with their house which is from heaven. What the destruction of the ungodly shall be we can only judge and speak of in the terms of Scripture. The language of St. Paul to the Thessalonians seems to teach us that the very advent of the Judge shall bring their penalty: "They shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction" (the word is not the same which St. Peter uses) "from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might," {2Th_1:9} in the presence of which nothing that is defiled can dwell. So God, of His mercy, still reserves the heavens and the earth, and thus to every new generation offers His mercy, saying continually through their silent witness, in the spirit in which he spake to Israel at the close of the volume of prophecy, "I am Jehovah"-that is, the merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin-"I change not; therefore ye sinners are not destroyed."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Knowing this first. The apostles and prophets have…
3. Knowing this first. The apostles and prophets have reminded them that there will be scoffers in the last days. Under the last dispensation.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The answer of St. Peter, showing the certainty of…
The answer of St. Peter, showing the certainty of the Lord’s return:
v. 5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water;
Read full note →
v. 6. whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
v. 7. But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
v. 8. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
v. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
v. 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
St. Peter’s rejoinder charges the scoffers with malicious ignorance: For this escapes their notice of their own purpose, that the heavens were originally and the earth out of water and through water was formed by the word of the Lord. Peter maintains that there are certain facts connected with the creation of the world which are evident even to the casual observer, the denial of which, therefore, reveals the tendency which governs the mind of the scoffers. It escapes them, it is hidden from them, because they willfully shut their eyes to the evidence presented. From the beginning the heavens were there; they were made by the Lord at the very beginning of His creative labors, Gen 1:1. And the earth, the dry land, was set up, being formed by the separation of the earth and the water, just as it is to this day kept fruitful through water, Gen 2:6. Thus the earth did not come into existence by itself, it was not developed in the course of eons, or millions of years, out of some original atoms, but it was created by the word of God, called into being by the word of His almighty power.
Upon this world descended the destroying wrath of God: Through which the world then existing, being submerged by water, was destroyed. By the word of the Lord the world was created, through the agency of water it maintained its existence. But again by the word of God and through water as a destroying agency, the world, as then existing, perished. The waters that had receded at the almighty word of God arose again at His command, and the dry land was submerged, and all creatures that had the breath of life in them perished with—the exception of the few that were placed into the ark at God’s command. Here is an answer to the scoffers that things did not always remain as they were in the beginning.
The apostle now, in contrast to this vain jangling, sets forth the truth: But the present heavens and earth are treasured up by the same word, set apart for fire for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the godless men. The sky, or heaven, as it now appears over our heads, and this earth, as its various forms blossomed forth to new life after the Deluge, are now being kept like a treasure, held together, not through eternal and blind forces of nature, but through the word of the Lord. But the purpose of this careful watch of the Lord is not to have the world last forever. It is being kept, rather, for destruction by fire. The world, as the men from Adam to Noah knew it, was destroyed by water; the world, as it was peopled by the descendants of Noah, is being saved for the fire which will attend the last Judgment. The scoffers may now jeer and ridicule, but the day will come when the patience of God will have an end. Then He will hold judgment; then every sinful thought, word, and deed will have to be accounted for; then the godless, the scoffers, the unbelievers, will be condemned to everlasting destruction.
To his first argument concerning the coming of the Day of Judgment the apostle now adds another to explain the apparent delay: But this one thing should not be hidden from you, beloved, that one day before the Lord is as thousand years and thousand years as one day. There is always danger that the ridicule of the unbelievers may leave just a little doubt in the heart of the Christians, especially since so many of the signs which were to precede the Lord’s coming have been fulfilled. But Christians should not permit themselves to be led astray. They should not forget, should not lose sight of the fact, that their Lord is the eternal God, before whom a thousand years of human reckoning are as a day and a single day like a thousand years. Time does not exist for the eternal God, Psa 90:4. What seems long to us is to the Lord only as the day that has just passed. If to our finite minds the return of the Lord seems to be unduly delayed, we still know that His Word and promise stand safe and sure.
Moreover, it is not a mere caprice on the Lord’s part to delay His coming: The Lord does not delay with the promise, as some consider it a delay, but He is long-suffering on your account, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. To speak of the Lord’s delaying, of His being slack in the fulfillment of His promise, is not right, does not square with the facts. He is the true and faithful God, who keeps His promises and fulfills them at the time when He believes the fulfillment should come. The reason why He has not yet permitted the Day of Judgment to dawn is rather one which again opens to our view the wonderful love toward sinners which fills His heart. He is patient, He is long-suffering; He is still sending out His servants into every part of the world because He does not desire the death of a single sinner. He wants all men to turn to Him in true repentance and faith; He wants them all to accept His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ the Savior. His loving-kindness and tender mercy is adding one year after another to the time of grace, as it were, in order that as many men as possible will hear the message of salvation and come to the Lord.
All these considerations, however, do not change one fact: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a crackling noise, and the elements, being burned, will be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it will be burned. Every word of this verse emphasizes the inevitable certainty of the Lord’s coming. The day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment, is corning beyond the shadow of a doubt. Moreover, the believers should keep in mind that this day is coming like a thief, Mat 24:43; 1Th 5:2; Rev 3:3; Rev 16:15, that is, its coming will be sudden unexpected, its actual coming a surprise to all. The coming of the Lord on that day will inaugurate the end of the world. The firmament of the heavens will quake and break and vanish, with a crackling noise and roar as of a devouring flame. The elements of which the earth is composed will be dissolved in their present form by burning, and the earth itself and all the works in the world, all the mighty and magnificent structures of man’s hands, the immense cities with their proud sky-scrapers, the great ships and all conveyances which the ingenuity of man has devised for use in the sea, on land, in the air, all the wonderful works of art which are exhibited with such self-satisfaction: they all will perish by fire in the destruction of the last day. Of this fact the Christians must never lose sight; it must, in a way, be a norm controlling all their actions in this world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5 Know this first
Know this first
"Know this as the most important thing." See how you translated this in 2 Peter 1:20.
Read full note →
proceed according to their own desires
Here the word "desires" refers to sinful desires that are opposed to God's will. AT: "live according to their own sinful desires" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
proceed
act, behave
Where is the promise of his return?
The mockers ask this rhetorical question to emphasize that they do not believe that Jesus will return. The word "promise" refers to the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus will return. AT: "The promise that Jesus would return is not true! He will not return!" (See: Rhetorical Question and Metonymy)
our fathers fell asleep
Here "fathers" refers to ancestors who lived long ago. Falling asleep is a euphemism for dying. AT: "our ancestors died" (See: Euphemism)
all things have stayed the same, since the beginning of creation
The mockers exaggerate with the word "all", and they argue that since nothing in the world has ever changed, it cannot be true that Jesus will return. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
since the beginning of creation
This can be translated as a verbal phrase. AT: "since God created the world" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
mock
last day
promise
ancestor
asleep
create
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3–5 3:3 in the last days: Peter was not merely…
3:3 in the last days: Peter was not merely predicting an event in the future; he was speaking about his readers’ situation. In the New Testament, the last days refers to the period from Jesus’ first coming to his second coming (see Acts 2:17; Heb 1:2). It is the time when God’s promises are fulfilled. • scoffers will come: See Prov 1:22; 9:7-8; 13:1. Rather than using evidence and logic to argue, scoffers belittle and make fun of the truth.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.