2 Peter · chapter 3 of 3
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2 Peter 3 answers the scoffers who ask where the promise of Christ's coming is. Peter recalls that God created and judged the world by his word, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and that he is not slow but patient, because he does not want anyone to perish. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and believers wait for new heavens and a new earth and are to live in holiness and grow in grace.
This is the last chapter of the letter, and its purpose is to give hope. After warning about false teachers, Peter faces a specific mockery: if Christ promised to return, why has he not yet come? The apostle's answer teaches us to wait for the Lord's return with patience, with a holy life and with our eyes on what God has promised.
Peter says that this is his second letter, and that in both he aims to stir up his readers so that they remember the words of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord given through the apostles (vv. 1-2).
In the last days scoffers will come, following their own passions, and ask: Where is the promise of his coming? Since the fathers fell asleep, they say, all things continue as they were from creation. But they deliberately overlook that by the word of God the heavens and earth came to be, and that by that same word the world of that time was destroyed by water. The present heavens and earth are stored up by the same word for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly (vv. 3-7).
Peter asks them not to forget that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. The day of the Lord will come like a thief; the heavens will pass away with a roar, the heavenly bodies will be dissolved with fire and the earth and the works done on it will be exposed (vv. 8-10).
Since all this will be dissolved, how should they live? In holiness and godliness, hastening the day of God. Believers wait, according to his promise, for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So they should strive to be found without spot, at peace with him, and count the Lord's patience as salvation. Paul wrote the same, though there are things hard to understand that the ignorant twist, as they do the other Scriptures. Peter warns them not to be carried away by error and urges them to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen (vv. 11-18).
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Peter teaches that God does not measure time as we do, and that the believers' waiting is not a sign of abandonment.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise but is patient, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. What looks like delay is actually an opportunity for salvation.
Believers wait, according to God's promise, for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Christian hope is not an escape from the world but seeing God renew it.
Peter ends by urging believers to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and by giving him glory. The letter, which began with the knowledge of God, ends with the same call.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Where the promise of his coming is. — 2 Peter 3:3-4
Answer: That God created the heavens and the earth by his word and that the world of that time was destroyed by water. — 2 Peter 3:5-6
Answer: As a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. — 2 Peter 3:8
Answer: Because he is patient and does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. — 2 Peter 3:9
Answer: Like a thief. — 2 Peter 3:10
Answer: New heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. — 2 Peter 3:13
2 Peter 3 teaches us to wait well. The delay of Christ's coming can produce doubt or indifference, but Peter presents it as a time of patience and opportunity. In a group we can ask: whom does God want us to invite to repentance while he waits?
The chapter also encourages holy living. Someone who waits for new heavens and a new earth cannot live as if this world were final. Growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ is a daily task, and it is done by reading the Bible, praying and serving in community.
With 2 Peter 3 the letter ends with a doxology: glory to Christ now and to the day of eternity. The hope of the Lord's return and the call to grow in grace are the apostle's final legacy to his readers.
The letter gives no date. It says that the day will come like a thief, that is, unexpectedly, and that God is patient so that more people may repent. Christians hold different views about the order of the final events, but agree that Christ will return and that we must live prepared.
The text speaks of the heavens passing away, the heavenly bodies being dissolved by fire, and the earth and its works being exposed. Some understand that the present world will be destroyed and replaced; others, that it will be purified and renewed. In both cases verse 13 affirms that God will bring new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Peter says that Paul wrote with the wisdom God gave him and that his letters contain things hard to understand, which the ignorant twist, as they do the other Scriptures. This passage places Paul's letters on the level of other biblical writings.