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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Pe_3:8-10
8But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
2Pe_3:8
NASB "do not let this one fact escape your notice"
NKJV "do not forget this one thing"
NRSV "do not ignore this one fact"
TEV "do not forget one thing"
NJB "there is one thing. . .you must never forget"
This is a present imperative with a negative particle, which usually implies "stop an act in process." Because of the persecution (cf. 1 Pet.) and the false teachers (cf. 2 Pet.) believers were beginning to question the trustworthiness of the biblical eschatological events.
▣ "one day is like a thousand years" This is an allusion to Psa_90:4. It asserts the truth that time is not a factor with an eternal God. Only His creatures experience past, present, and future. We are time-bound, time-conscious. Believers must hold on to the truth that what God promises, God will do (cf. 1Ki_8:24; 1Ki_8:26; 1Ki_8:56). We trust in His character, His promises, His word, and His Son! Time is irrelevant although God uses time for His unfolding purposes.
The first generation of believers expected Jesus to return quickly (cf. Mar_13:30). This is one reason why they did not write down Jesus' words and deeds (the Gospels) for many years. But with the continuing delay
1. the eyewitnesses began to die
2. false teachers began factions
3. some began to wonder why
Both Paul (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2) and Peter (cf. 2 Peter 3) address this subject of the delayed Second Coming. Even in the teachings of Jesus there is a tension between the imminent return (cf. Mat_10:23; Mat_24:27; Mat_24:34; Mat_24:44; Mar_9:1; Mar_13:30) and "some events must occur first"
1. return world-wide evangelization, cf. Mat_24:15; Mar_13:10
2. the revelation of the "man of sin," cf. Mat_24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 13
3. the great persecution, cf. Mat_24:21; Mat_24:24; Revelation 13
Peter uniquely links the delay with God's compassion for the lost! God is delaying Christ's return so that more may repent and turn to Him through Christ. Believers' godly lives are to point the unbelievers toward God!
2Pe_3:9 "the Lord is not slow" This use of "the Lord" must refer to YHWH. God's unfolding plan (cf. Hab_2:3) of creation and redemption seems so slow to humans. The time element allows us to exercise trust within time. This period of our lives is the only time believers live by faith, which pleases God. Our patience and godly living are expressions and evidence of our faith/trust commitment to Him.
▣ "but is patient toward you" One of the characteristics of God is His long-suffering patience toward both sinners and saints. However, His patience is taken advantage of by both groups. His patience has a purpose, the restoring of the image lost in the Fall.
▣ "not wishing for any to perish" This is a Present middle (deponent) participle. God wants all humans to be saved (cf. Eze_18:23; Eze_18:32; Eze_33:11; Joh_3:16; Joh_4:42; Act_17:30; Rom_11:32; 1Ti_2:4; 1Ti_2:6; 1Ti_4:10; Tit_2:11; Heb_2:9; 1Jn_2:2). Because all humans are made in His image for personal fellowship, He sent His Son to die so that all may respond to Him (cf. Rom_5:12-21). This is an important balance to theological systems which major on God's place in salvation, but minimize mankind's needed covenantal response. I have included my notes from 1Ti_2:4 (Vol. 9, p. 25) regarding this topic.
Notes from my commentary on 1Ti_2:4
2Pe_2:4 "who desires all men to be saved" Believers are to pray for all people because God wants all people saved. This was a shocking statement to the exclusivistic false teachers, whether Gnostic or Jewish or, more probably in the pastoral letters, a combination. This is the great truth about God's love for all mankind (cf. 1Ti_4:10; Eze_18:23; Eze_18:32; Eze_33:11; Joh_3:16; Act_17:30; Rom_11:22; 1Ti_2:4; 1Ti_2:6; 1Ti_4:10; Tit_2:11; Heb_2:9; 2Pe_3:9; 1Jn_2:2). This verse shows the imbalance of dogmatic, super-lapsarian, double-edged predestination which emphasizes God's sovereignty to the exclusion of any needed human response. The stated truths of "five point" Calvinism, especially "irresistible grace" and "limited atonement" violate the covenant aspect of biblical faith. It is improper to reduce God to a puppet of human free will, as it is also improper to reduce mankind to a puppet of divine will. God in His sovereignty has chosen to deal with fallen mankind by means of covenant. He always initiates and structures the covenant (cf. Joh_6:44; Joh_6:65), but He has mandated that humans must respond and continue to respond in repentance and faith (cf. Mar_1:15; Act_3:16; Act_3:19; Act_20:21), as well as obedience and perseverance!
Often the theological discussion of God's sovereignty (predestination) and human free will deteriorates into a proof-texting contest. The Bible clearly reveals the sovereignty of YHWH. However, it also reveals that His highest creation, mankind, made in His image, had been given the awesome personal quality of moral decision making. Humans must co-operate with God in every area of life.
The term "many" has been used to assert that God has chosen some (the elect) but not all; that Jesus died for some, not all. A careful reading of the following texts shows that these are used in a parallel sense!
Isaiah 53
2. "many" (Isa_53:11-12)
2. "many" (Rom_5:19)
hyperlink
▣ "for all to come to repentance" Notice the emphasis on "all," not just "some" (i.e., elect). Everyone is potentially elect in Christ. See hyperlink at Mar_1:4.
2Pe_3:10 "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" This phrase "the day of the Lord" is an OT phrase for the end of time. Thieves are often used as a metaphor for an unexpected visitation (cf. Mat_24:43-44; Luk_12:39; 1Th_5:2; Rev_3:3; Rev_16:15) from God (i.e., Judgment Day/Second Coming/Resurrection Day).
▣ "the heavens will pass away" This is a recurring theme (i.e., physical creation will cease, but not God's word, cf. Mar_13:31; Mat_5:18; Mat_24:35) describing the temporality and finitude of physical creation (cf. Rev_21:1).
NASB, NJB "with a roar"
NKJV "with a great noise"
NRSV "with a loud noise"
TEV "with a shrill noise"
This word has the connotation of a whizzing sound of something moving rapidly through the air. The consummation and cleansing of the new age will come with a sound and flame much like the inauguration of the new age at Pentecost (cf. Act_2:2-3).
▣ "the elements" Most words develop from a literal, physical sense to a metaphorical extension. This term (stoicheia) originally referred to something in a row, a series. It developed into several connotations:
1. The basic physical building blocks of the world (air, water, earth, and fire, cf. 2Pe_3:10; 2Pe_3:12).
2. The basic teachings of a subject (cf. Heb_5:12; Heb_6:1 for Judaism).
3. The angelic powers behind the heavenly bodies (cf. I Enoch 52:8-9; the early church fathers; Col_2:8; Col_2:20; 1Co_15:24) or the angelic ranks (aeons) of the Gnostic false teachers (cf. Col_2:10; Col_2:15; Eph_3:10).
4. Angels hostile to mankind who tried to stop the giving of the Law to Moses (cf. Act_7:38; Heb_2:2).
5. Possibly the impersonal structures of our fallen world that allow fallen mankind to appear independent from God (education, government, medicine, religion, etc., cf. Gal_4:3; Gal_4:8-9 and Hendrik Berkhof's Christ and the Powers by Herald Press, p. 32).
▣ "with intense heat" This is a present passive participle implying God as an unnamed agent. This was a medical term to denote high fever.
NASB "the earth and its works will be burned up"
NKJV "the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up"
NRSV "the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed"
TEV "the earth with everything in it will vanish"
NJB "the earth and all it contains will be burned up"
There are many Greek manuscript variants in this phrase.
1. "will be discovered" (cf. MSS à , B, K, P)
2. "will be found destroyed" (cf. MS P72)
3. "will be burned up" (cf. MS A)
4. "will be hidden" (cf. MS C)
There is no certainly of the original Greek text, or even probability, in the translation of this phrase.