2 Peter 3:3-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Peter 3:3-7

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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Peter 3:8

The apostle comes in these words to instruct and establish Christians in the truth of the coming of the Lord, where we may clearly discern the tenderness and affection wherewith he speaks to them, calling them beloved; he had a compassionate concern and a love of good-will for the ungodly wretches who refused to believe divine revelation, but he has a peculiar respect for the true believers, and the remaining ignorance and weakness that the apprehends to be in them make him jealous, and put... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 2 Peter 3:3-4

3:3-4 To begin with, you are well aware that in the last days there will come mockers with their mocking, guiding their steps by the law of their own lusts and saying, "What has happened to the promise of his Coming? For, since the day when our fathers fell asleep, everything remains the same as it was from the foundation of the world." The characteristic of the heretics which worried Peter most of all was their denial of the Second Coming of Jesus. Literally, their question was: "Where is... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 2 Peter 3:5-6

3:5-6 What they wilfully fail to see is that long ago the heavens were created and the earth was composed out of water and through water; and through these waters the ancient world perished, when it was overwhelmed in a deluge of water. Peter's first argument is that the world is not eternally stable. The point he is making is that the ancient world was destroyed by water, just as the present world is going to be destroyed by fire. The detail of this passage is, however, difficult. He... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 2 Peter 3:7

3:7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are treasured up for fire, reserved for the day of judgment and the destruction of impious men. It is Peter's conviction that, as the ancient world was destroyed by water, the present world will be destroyed by fire. He says that that is stated "by the same word." What he means is that the Old Testament tells of the flood in the past and warns of the destruction by fire in the future. There are many passages in the prophets which he... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 2 Peter 3:8-9

3:8-9 Beloved, you must not shut your eyes to this one fact that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. It is not that God is dilatory in fulfilling his promise, as some people reckon dilatoriness; but it is that for your sakes he patiently withholds his hand, because he does not wish any to perish, but wishes all to take the way to repentance. There are in this passage three great truths on which to nourish the mind and rest the heart. (i) Time is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:3

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 1 Timothy 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,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:4

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming ?.... That is, of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, 2 Peter 3:2 ; the object of their scorn and derision, and whom they name not, through contempt; and the meaning is, what is become of the promise of his coming? where the accomplishment of it? The prophets foretold he would come; he himself said he would come again, John 14:3 ; the angels, at his ascension, declared he would come from heaven in like manner as he went up, Acts 1:11 ; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:5

For this they willingly are ignorant of ,.... Namely, what follows; for as these men were such as had professed Christianity, and had the advantage of revelation, and had the opportunity of reading the Scriptures, they might have known that the heavens and the earth were from the beginning; and that they were made by the word of God; and that the earth was originally in such a position and situation as to be overflowed with a flood, and that it did perish by a general inundation; and that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:6

Whereby the world that then was ,.... The old world, as it is called in 2 Peter 2:5 ; and as the Ethiopic version here renders it; the world before the flood, that had stood from the creation 1656 years: being overflowed with water ; by the windows of heaven being opened, and the waters over the earth poured down upon it; and by the fountains of the great deep being broken up in it; thus by these waters from above and below, a general inundation was brought upon it; for that the deluge... read more

Group of Brands