Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:1 Peter mentions that this is the second letter he has written to this particular audience. It is all but certain that 1 Peter was the earlier letter in view here. Peter calls his readers beloved (Gk. agapētos), demonstrating his deep concern for them as he reminds them of the Lord's return. On the importance of reminders, see 1:12-15.

3:2 remember. Peter wants the church to remember what the holy prophets predicted, and what the apostles handed down as the commandment of the Lord. The prediction Peter especially has in mind is the second coming.

3:3 The last days will feature scoffers who mock according to their own sinful desires. Their desire to live in sin with impunity drives them to deride biblical truth and those who believe it. Peter understands, as do the rest of the NT authors, that the "last days" have already arrived (see note on Acts 2:17).

3:4-6 Scoffers (v. 3) will call into question the biblical promise of the Lord's coming (Gk. parousia). They scoff at the promise of the Lord's return, arguing that because everything has remained the same since creation, God will not intervene in the world (cf. 2:10b-11). Fathers (plural of Gk. patēr) is a reference to the OT patriarchs, since this term is never used in the NT to refer to first-generation Christians. But these scoffers deliberately overlook (consciously, willfully ignore) the fact that God did intervene when he created the heavens and the earth with the word of his mouth (Gen. 1:3-31; Ps. 33:6; Heb. 11:3), and also when he judged the earth with water and it perished (Genesis 6-9). God in fact intervenes in his creation whenever he desires, as is evidenced numerous times in both the OT and NT. Peter cites two obvious occasions of God's intervention, namely, when God acted at creation to form the earth (out of water and through water, see Gen. 1:6-10), and also when he acted decisively in history, destroying the earth by means of the flood in the days of Noah (see Gen. 7:17-24).

3:7 By the same word, the powerful word of God that creates and sends judgment, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, when the ungodly will also be judged. The day of reckoning is coming for scoffers, and their place is reserved for them. History will not go on forever; the end is coming.