2 Peter 3: Beware deceiving scoffers

• v.1-4 Beware Scoffers
• v.5-9 You can trust God’s word
• v.10-18 The Day will come so be prepared

[Chapter 3 Synopsis: This final chapter challenges us not to listen to scoffers who say Jesus won’t return. If he appears to delay it is simply to give time for more people to repent. He will come and wind all things up prior to the Final Judgment. These things should help keep us on track.]

v.1-4 Beware Scoffers

[Passage Synopsis: This letter is a reminder to go all out for God and so beware deceiver who scoff at the thought of the Lord returning]

v.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.

v.2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.

v.3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

v.4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

[Note: This, my second letter, continues to remind you to think rightly. Remember the prophets and what the Lord himself said through the apostles, remember the warning that in the last days scoffers will come who will question whether our Lord will ever return.]

v.5-9 You can trust God’s word

[Passage Synopsis: But you can always trust God’s word, whether it was to create the world or bring judgment and if He appears to be holding back, it’s just to give you more time to repent]

v.5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

v.6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

v.7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

v.8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

v.9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

[Note: They question His word but forget it was by His word He created all things, and then used the water to bring judgment, but He has also warned of fire destroying at the end. But God’s timing is not like ours; if He waits He’s just giving people space in which to repent.]

v.10-18 The Day will come so be prepared

[Passage Synopsis: There will a be a Final Judgment and a final winding up of this present world to make way for a new heaven and new earth, so live accordingly.]

v.10-13 The promised end acts as a motivation now

v.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

v.11,12 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

v.13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

[Note: But the end will come when He winds up all things, and this should stir us to live good and godly lives awaiting the day of The Judgment, remembering we’ll inherit and new heaven and a new earth.]

v.14-16 Work at righteousness, as Paul also taught

v.14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

v.15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

v.16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

[Note: So remember this and work to be sin-free. Remember Paul also wrote about these things, maybe sometimes in ways that are a bit difficult to understand and it’s foolish people who distort his writings.]

v.17,18 The final call to hold steady

v.17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

v.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

[Note: So now you’ve been warned, be careful, grow in the knowledge of God and His grace.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: