2 Peter

Chapter 3

vs 1

Its nice when biblical authors flat out state why they are writing, to whom and how often. It stops us from having to guess.

vs 2

So by wholesome thinking, it seems he means about God's Word.

vs 3

Is Peter now talking about scoffers as opposed to false teachers? I think that's entirely possible. Although it could also be that the false teachers were scoffing at the orthodox teaching to make it look weaker.

vs 4

Wow, talk about contemporary comments! People saying that Jesus hasn't come yet and hence will never come. People saying that nothing has changed. Both ignore key facts, and Peter now explains them in his own Apostly way.

vs 5-6

You really need to read these verses together. I don't think there's anything super special in Peter's saying the world was created of and by water, unless you read it with its first destruction by water. This goes to show you just how different life has been since the beginning of creation.

vs 7

And now things will be different again, and I think Peter is saying that because of the reservation by God of a different judgement (fire), it will be just as surprising when it comes.

vs 8

How many times do we use this verse, and yet it's stuck in the poky end of a poky littly book. There's nothing really super special to say about it - no greek will make us understand it better - I think it speaks for itself.

vs 9

From these verses we gain our understanding not only of how God's presence works in time, but also why God takes his time (well, our time, because he's atemporal). It's not because he's a huge hulking colossus that takes years to lift a finger, it's because he's a big patient being that seeks to see his will be done as fruitfully as possible.

As people going to heaven, we should understand this - because our futures are secured, we should be prepared to suffer on earth as long as necessary. Instead, I think sometime we have the attitude that we want it to all be over and to just be with God. Nothing wrong with this attitude necessarily (Paul had it after all) but since it's all bound up in God's will, our joy is bound up in him, whether we get to die sooner or not.

When Peter wrote this verse, I wonder if he really thought Jesus might be another few thousand years... just show's God's providence for us in stating it that way.