3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.  In this passage we see clearly displayed the principles of preaching which Peter observed.

(1) He believed in the value of repetition. He knows that it is necessary for a thing to be said over and over again if it is to penetrate the mind.

(2) He believed in the need for reminder. Again and again the New Testament makes it clear that preaching and teaching are so often not the introducing of new truth but the reminding of a man of what he already knows.

(3) He believed in the value of a compliment. The Greek word literally means “sun-judged.” A piece of pottery was “sun-judged” when it was held up to the sunlight in order to see any flaws or cracks. The thinking and intentions of God’s people must be able to stand up under scrutiny and not be led astray by immoral desires (Philippians 4:8–9). It is his intention to rouse their pure mind. By using this phrase Peter appeals to his people as having minds uncontaminated by heresy. It is as if he said to them: “You really are fine people—if you would only remember it.”

3:2 That you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. (4) He believed in the unity of Scripture. As he saw it there was a pattern in Scripture; and the Bible was a book centered in Christ. The Old Testament foretells Christ; the gospels tell of Jesus the Christ; and the apostles bring the message of that Christ to men.

Because God’s Word is true, we must pay attention to it and take its message seriously. New converts must be taught the Word and established in the doctrines of the faith, for new Christians are the false teacher’s primary targets. But older Christians must also be reminded of the importance of Bible doctrine and, in particular, the doctrines that relate to the return of Christ. Prophetic teaching must not lull us to sleep. Rather, it must awaken us to live godly lives and to seek to win the lost.

3:3 First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts. The “last days” began with Christ’s resurrection and will continue until his return.

The more the false teachers scoff, the more the Christians should be settled in their faith, knowing that this was only further assurance of Christ’s second coming.

3:4 And saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!”  What is their argument? The uniformity of the world. “Nothing cataclysmic has happened in the past,” they argue, “so there is no reason to believe it will happen in the future.” They take the “scientific approach” by examining evidence, applying reason, and drawing a conclusion. The fact that they willfully ignore a good deal of evidence does not seem to disturb them.

The scientific approach works admirably in matters that relate to the material universe, but you cannot take Bible prophecy into a laboratory and treat it as though it were another hypothesis.

For that matter, the so-called “laws of science” are really only educated conclusions based on a limited number of experiments and tests. These laws are generalizations, always subject to change, because no scientist can perform an infinite number of experiments to prove his claim. Nor can he completely control all the factors involved in the experiments and in his own thinking.

3:5–6  They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. What these scoffers were forgetting in their argument (that the world had remained unchanged since creation) was that God had created the world. The Creation disproves their “all things continue” argument because the creation of the earth was an imposed change on the formless void (Genesis 1:1–2). The very reason the world was continuing on in a stable, predictable pattern was because God, in his grace, had created it that way.

By the word of God the heavens were created (Genesis 1:6–8). By the word of God, an earth was formed out of water and by means of water (referring to the waters being gathered to allow the dry land to appear, Genesis 1:9–10).

However, this stability should not be taken for granted. The false teachers deliberately chose to ignore the fact that God had been involved in the world. For the waters that had parted in order to allow the dry land to appear had returned and covered the entire world—this was God’s judgment.

Peter continued:  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  As the creation was an act of God, so was the Flood. World refers to God’s judgment and destruction of the inhabitants of the world, not the world itself.

3:7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.  By God’s word, the heavens and the earth were created (3:5); by his word, the earth’s inhabitants were destroyed in judgment (3:6); by the same word God will bring future judgment and destruction. God had intervened before; he will intervene again.

But instead of destruction by water, Peter wrote that the heavens and earth have been reserved for fire. In Noah’s day the earth was judged by water; at the Second Coming it will be judged by fire.

Peter’s point was that destruction would come and the godless (those who have not believed) will not escape.

3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  Not only were they ignorant of what God had done in the past (2 Peter 3:5), but they were also ignorant of what God was like. When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late.

He could have created the entire universe in an instant, yet He preferred to do it over a period of six days. He could have delivered Israel from Egypt in a moment, yet He preferred to invest eighty years in training Moses. For that matter, He could have sent the Savior much sooner, but He waited until “the fullness of the time was come” (Gal. 4:4). While God works in time, He is not limited by time.

To God, a thousand years is as one day, and one day as a thousand years. God can accomplish in one day what it would take others a millennium to accomplish! He waits to work, but once He begins to work, He gets things done!

The question still remained, “Why was the Lord delaying so long?”  Peter offered two reasons in 3:8–9. First of all, the Lord does not count time as people do. He is above and outside of the sphere of time. God sees all of eternity past and eternity future.

3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The second reason for the Lord’s delay concerning His promise (the promise of his return) was not slackness. God was not tardy or late. Unlike people, God does not forget his promises, nor is he late in following through on them. Instead, the Lord is delaying his return because he is longsuffering and compassionate. He wants as many people as will to come to faith in him.

The Christian has three bold reasons for believing in His return: (1) He was once here (John 1:1-17; 1 John 1:1-3); (2) He has promised to return (John 14:1-3; Acts 1:10, 11; Revelation 22:12); (3) Jerusalem was destroyed (A.D. 70) and overridden by the Gentiles as Jesus prophesied would take place prior to His return (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). What Jesus foretold concerning Jerusalem has come to pass and cannot be denied.

Love is the reason that he delays the destruction of the world. God desires all people to be saved. He is not indifferent. God gave people free will. Some will exercise their free will and reject God, but this is not God’s desire.

God is loving, but he also executes perfect justice. His perfect love causes him to be merciful to those who recognize their sin and turn back to him, but he cannot ignore those who willfully sin.

God’s “delay” is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. There should be no question in anybody’s mind whether God wants sinners to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:4 affirms that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” These verses give both the negative and the positive, and together they assure us that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11). He shows His mercy to all (Rom. 11:32) even though not all will be saved.

 3:10   But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  The day of the Lord is the day of Christ’s return and of God’s judgment on the earth. Peter explained that no matter how long it might take, the Day of the Lord will come, and it will come unexpectedly. We should live each day as though Christ could return at any moment. Christians must be morally clean and spiritually alert.

The Day of the Lord will be a time of judgment and destruction, for  the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.