Today we are starting up a new series of posts dealing with verses that are, 9 times out of 10, misused and made to say things they were never meant to say. We are going to title the posts after the line used by Inigo Montoya in the movie The Princess Bride. When Inigo was talking with Vizzini, Vizzini kept using the word INCONCEIVABLE incorrectly. Inigo told him, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." When verses are taken out of context, people think they mean things that are completely foreign to their actual meaning. When these verses are ripped out of their proper context and made to say whatever people want them to say, God is dishonored and robbed of His rightful glory because His word is taken out of context and made to say what it does not. Thus, the meaning of the title behind this series. So, without further ado, let's get started..........
But 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. The 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. (2 Peter 3:8-9)
These verses, especially verse 9, are go to verses for those who want to prop up the belief and teaching Jesus Christ died for every single person, that He is being patient, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. Is that not what these verses say? It is true...those are the words of Scripture. BUT, I do not think these verses mean what you think they mean.
If this interpretation of these verses is true, there is a problem. This interpretation implies an impotent God, sitting around WISHING for something to happen. This portrays a God, the creator of the universe, having no sway over His own creation. That is not the God of the Bible. He does not sit idly by, wringing His hands, WISHING that people won't perish and go to hell. He is active in the saving of His own:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has CAUSED us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...(1 Peter 1:3)
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He MADE you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions...(Colossians 2:13)
For I am confident of this very thing, that He WHO BEGAN a good work in you WILL PERFECT IT until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, MADE us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Ephesians 2:4-5)
That is the testimony of the New Testament about the proactive nature of God in our regeneration and salvation. Those are just a few of the verses. The Old Testament bears witness to this fact too. This is probably the best example:
Moreover, I WILL GIVE you a new heart and PUT a new spirit within you; and I WILL REMOVE the heart of stone from your flesh and GIVE you a heart of flesh. I WILL PUT My Spirit within you and CAUSE you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
The above Scripture is God speaking to the nation of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. But, even though this particular Scripture isn't necessarily for us, we can take application from it because it is a perfect description of the new birth in the life of an individual. These verses, from the Old and New Testaments, are what God Himself says about His role in regeneration and salvation.
As with any verse or verses of Scripture, one of the first major rules to be employed in the interpretation of said verse or verses is to look at the portion of Scripture in its CONTEXT. That is to say, look at the verses surrounding the portion in question to get the larger picture of what was being said and to whom it was being said.
As we look at 2 Peter 3:8-9, the first word that stands out is the word "beloved". Who are the "beloved"? If we go back to the beginning of chapter 3, we get a clue as to who the "beloved" are:
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you...." (2 Peter 3:1)
We can assume that Peter is talking about the 1st epistle in the Scripture that bears his name, 1st Peter. If we go to the beginning of 1st Peter, we read this:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure." (1 Peter 1:1-2)
In these verses, Peter spells out who his audience is.....those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. He is providing instruction, encouragement and hope to believers. He is not writing to every single human being. He is writing to a specific group of people; the chosen. The meaning of 2 Peter 3:8-9 hinges on this understanding of Peter's audience in his two epistles. His audience is believers...Christians...those who are saved...not unbelievers.
With that in mind, let's go back to 2 Peter....specifically 3:8-9:
But 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. The 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. (2 Peter 3:8-9)
Ok, to make sure we are on the same page, Peter is talking to the "beloved". Again, this means those who are saved. His brethren in the Lord. The chosen of God. We know this by doing a little work to see who "beloved" refers to and we discover that by looking at 1 Peter 1:1.
He says to the "beloved" that "the Lord is not slow about His promise". What promise? The entirety of 2 Peter chapter 3 is about the 2nd coming of the Lord. Peter is telling his brethren that there will be mockers and scoffers. They will be belittling Christians, making fun of them for their belief in the return of Christ....for their belief in Christ, period. "Where is He?" they will ask. Everything is the same as it always has been they will say. Peter makes an important point here in verse 7. Here it is in context:
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. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 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.
(2 Peter 3:5-7)
He says that these mockers deliberately malign God's word about creation, deliberately malign God's word about the flood that destroyed the world (you can read into this verse that the world was destroyed because of the wickedness of the ungodly) and that, by the same word, God's word, the word mockers malign, the world is reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and the destruction of the ungodly. Remember this....we will come back to it.
Back to verse 9. The Lord is not slow about His promise....what promise?....the promise of His coming and the destruction of the ungodly. Then Peter says this, "is patient toward you". Who is the you? We have already determined that Peter is writing to the "beloved", correct? So the "you" right here must be the beloved. That IS to whom Peter is writing, correct? So, therefore, it makes sense that the you is the beloved.
An aside here....as God waits for His own, He endures an unimaginable amount of blasphemy and idiocy from people who hate Him, belittle Him, malign Him, speak untruths about Him. That is how much God loves, and is patient on account of, "the sheep", for whom He laid down His life (John 10:15).
Peter continues, "not wishing for ANY to perish". Who is the any in this sentence? Logically, the any refers to whom Peter is writing..."beloved" or "chosen", as he referred to them in 1 Peter. Go back to 2 Peter 3:5-7 from above. What does Peter say in verse 7? He says:
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.
If the heavens and the earth are reserved for fire and are being kept for "the day of judgment and destruction of the UNGODLY", then how can His patience be directed at everyone? His patience is not directed at everyone. His patience is in staying His hand in the destruction of the ungodly as He waits to receive His own. He is patient toward you, His chosen, His beloved, not WISHING for ANY of those to perish.
And as a little extra bonus here, as we saw in several verses at the beginning of this post, God does not sit idly by WISHING for people to be saved. He saves them. That's what He does. Matthew tells us:
You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21)
Jesus has a people already. What does this verse say? It says He WILL save them. Not maybe. Not He wishes He could. Not He sure does hope He can. It says HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE. Who are His people? We are told about them in the Scriptures repeatedly. Here is just one example:
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)
This does not depict a God who sits around, pacing the floor, wishing people would come to Him. Contrary to popular belief, God doesn't need you or your acceptance of Him. He needs nothing at all. We need His acceptance, if you will. Not the other way around. This ends the extra little bonus. We move on.
Back to the next part of this verse..."but for ALL to come to repentance". Who is the "all"? Again, basic logic and grammar determines that the "all" is the same as the "any".....it is the "you" which refers to the "beloved" or "chosen'. You can read the word "wishing" into this verse before the word "all" if you want. It doesn't change the meaning. He is "not WISHING" that any (of His chosen) should perish but He is "WISHING for all (of His chosen) to come to repentance." Also, taking the entire context of the passage into consideration, it is talking about the judgment and destruction of the ungodly. There will be no destruction of the ungodly if all are coming to repentance.
That is the meaning of these verses. I know that there will be some people who flat out deny that this is what these verses are teaching. That's fine with me. You can be mad at me or think I'm a dolt and buffoon who has no idea what I'm talking about. That's fine. You aren't disputing with me. You are disputing with the Holy Spirit. Take up your beef with Him. He is the one who dictated these words to the apostle Peter. All I have done here is take the verses apart using some context and logic to exegete (draw out) the meaning.
This is the first post in what will be many because there are so many Scriptures that are tortured and contorted as to make them all but ridiculous in what people want them to say. I hope you all will come along with me as we go through these together, learning more about God and who He is along the way.
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