Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Peter 3:4
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.
4. Where is the promise of his coming? ] The question indicates the comparatively late date of the Epistle. St James had spoken (probably a. d. 50) of the Judge as standing at the door; St Paul had written twice as if he expected to be living on the earth when the Judge should come ( 1Th 4:15 ; 1Co 15:51; 2Co 5:4), and yet He came not. Men began to think that the Coming was a delusion.
for since the fathers fell asleep ] Ordinarily, the “fathers,” as in Rom 9:5, would carry our thoughts back to the great progenitors of Israel as a people. Here, however, the stress laid by the mockers on the death of the fathers as the starting-point of the frustrated expectation, seems to give the word another application, and we may see in the “fathers” the first generation of the disciples of Christ, those who had “fallen asleep” without seeing the Advent they had looked for (1Th 4:15); those who had reached the “end of their conversation” (Heb 13:7). The scoffers appealed to the continuity of the natural order of things. Seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, followed as they had done from the beginning of the creation. In the last phrase we may trace an echo of Mar 10:6; Mar 13:19. “You have told us,” they seem to have said, “of an affliction such as there has not been from the beginning of the creation, and lo! we find the world still goes on as of old, with no great catastrophe.” The answer to the sneer St Peter gives himself, but it may be noted that the question of the scoffers at least implies the early date of the writings in which the expectation of the Coming is prominent.
In the use of the verb to “fall asleep” for dying, we are reminded of our Lord’s words “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth” (Joh 11:11); of St Paul’s “many sleep” (1Co 11:30). So in Greek sculpture Death and Sleep appear as twin genii, and in Greek and Roman epitaphs nothing is more common than the record that the deceased “sleeps” below. Too often there is the addition, as of those who were without hope, “sleeps an eternal sleep.” In Christian language the idea of sleep is perpetuated in the term “cemetery” ( = sleeping-place) as applied to the burial-place of the dead, but it is blended with that of an “awaking out of sleep” at the last day, and even with the thought, at first seemingly incompatible with it, that the soul is quickened into higher energies of life on its entrance into the unseen world.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? – That is, either, Where is the fulfillment of that promise; or, Where are the indications or signs that he will come? They evidently meant to imply that the promise had utterly failed; that there was not the slightest evidence that it would be accomplished; that they who had believed this were entirely deluded. It is possible that some of the early Christians, even in the time of the apostles, had undertaken to fix the time when these events would occur, as many have done since; and that as that time had passed by, they inferred that the prediction had utterly failed. But whether this were so or not, it was easy to allege that the predictions respecting the second coming of the Saviour seemed to imply that the end of the world was near, and that there were no indications that they would be fulfilled. The laws of nature were uniform, as they had always been, and the alleged promises had failed.
For since the fathers fell asleep – Since they died – death being often, in the Scriptures, as elsewhere, represented as sleep. Joh 11:11 note; 1Co 11:30 note. This reference to the fathers, by such scoffers, was probably designed to be ironical and contemptuous. Perhaps the meaning may be thus expressed: Those old men, the prophets, indeed foretold this event. They were much concerned and troubled about it; and their predictions alarmed others, and filled their bosoms with dread. They looked out for the signs of the end of the world, and expected that that day was drawing near. But those good men have died. They lived to old age, and then died as others; and since they have departed, the affairs of the world have gone on very much as they did before. The earth is suffered to have rest, and the laws of nature operate in the same way that they always did. It seems not improbable that the immediate reference in the word fathers is not to the prophets of former times, but to aged and pious men of the times of the apostles, who had dwelt much on this subject, and who had made it a subject of conversation and of preaching. Those old men, said the seeing objector, have died like others; and, notwithstanding their confident predictions, things now move on as they did from the beginning.
All things continue as they were, from the beginning of the creation – That is, the laws of nature are fixed and settled. The argument here – for it was doubtless designed to be an argument – is based on the stability of the laws of nature, and the uniformity of the course of events. Thus far, all these predictions had failed. Things continued to go on as they had always done. The sun rose and set; the tides ebbed and flowed; the seasons followed each other in the usual order; one generation succeeded another, as had always been the case; and there was every indication that those laws would continue to operate as they had always done. This argument for the stability of the earth, and against the prospect of the fulfillment of the predictions of the Bible, would have more force with many minds now than it had then, for 1,800 years (circa 1880s) more have rolled away, and the laws of nature remain the same. Meantime, the expectations of those who have believed that the world was coming to an end have been disappointed; the time set for this by many interpreters of Scripture has passed by; men have looked out in vain for the coming of the Saviour, and sublunary affairs move on as they always have done. Still there are no indications of the coming of the Saviour; and perhaps it would be said that the farther men search, by the aid of science, into the laws of nature, the more they become impressed with their stability, and the more firmly they are convinced of the improbability that the world will be destroyed in the manner in which it is predicted in the Scriptures that it will be. The specious and plausible objection arising from this source, the apostle proposes to meet in the following verses.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Where is the promise of his coming?] Perhaps the false teachers here referred to were such as believed in the eternity of the world: the prophets and the apostles had foretold its destruction, and they took it for granted, if this were true, that the terrestrial machine would have begun long ago to have shown some symptoms of decay; but they found that since the patriarchs died all things remained as they were from the foundation of the world; that is, men were propagated by natural generation, one was born and another died, and the course of nature continued regular in the seasons, succession of day and night, generation and corruption of animals and vegetables, c. for they did not consider the power of the Almighty, by which the whole can be annihilated in a moment, as well as created. As, therefore, they saw none of these changes, they presumed that there would be none, and they intimated that there never had been any. The apostle combats this notion in the following verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And saying, Where is the promise? Questioning or denying the great truths of the gospel, thereby to encourage themselves in walking after their own lusts.
Of his coming; viz. Christs, mentioned 2Pe 3:2. Possibly these scoffers might drop the name of Christ by way of contempt, not vouchsafing to mention it, as the Jews did, Joh 9:29; q.d. Where is the promise of his coming whom you expect?
His coming, to judge the world; q.d. His promised coming doth not appear, the promise of it is not fulfilled.
For since the fathers, who died in the faith of Christs coming, and had the promise of it,
fell asleep; i.e. died; the usual phrase of Scripture, which these scoffers seem to speak in derision; q.d. It is so long since the fathers fell asleep, (as you call it), that it were more than time for them to be awakened, whereas we see the contrary.
All things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation; i.e. the world continues to be the same it was, and hath the same parts it had; we see nothing changed, nothing abolished, but still nature keeps its old course. Thus they argue, that because there had been no such great change, therefore there should be none; because Christ was not yet come to judgment, therefore he should not come at all; not considering the power of God, who is as able to destroy the world as to make it, nor the will of God revealed in his word concerning the end of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. (Compare Psa 10:11;Psa 73:11.) Presumptuousskepticism and lawless lust, setting nature and its so-called lawsabove the God of nature and revelation, and arguing from the pastcontinuity of nature’s phenomena that there can be no futureinterruption to them, was the sin of the antediluvians, and shall bethat of the scoffers in the last days.
Whereimplying that itought to have taken place before this, if ever it was to take place,but that it never will.
the promisewhich you,believers, are so continually looking for the fulfilment of (2Pe3:13). What becomes of the promise which you talk so much of?
hisChrist’s;the subject of prophecy from the earliest days.
the fathersto whom thepromise was made, and who rested all their hopes on it.
all thingsin thenatural world; skeptics look not beyond this.
as they werecontinueas they do; as we see them to continue. From the time of thepromise of Christ’s coming as Saviour and King being given to thefathers, down to the present time, all things continue, and havecontinued, as they now are, from “the beginning ofcreation.” The “scoffers” here are not necessarilyatheists, nor do they maintain that the world existed from eternity.They are willing to recognize a God, but not the God ofrevelation. They reason from seeming delay against the fulfilmentof God’s word at all.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?…. That is, of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, 2Pe 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, Joh 14:3; the angels, at his ascension, declared he would come from heaven in like manner as he went up, Ac 1:11; and all his apostles gave out that he would appear a second time to judge both quick and dead, Ac 10:42 1Pe 4:5, and that his coming was at hand, Php 4:5; but where is the fulfilment of all this? he is not come, nor is there any sign or likelihood of it:
for since the fathers fell asleep; or “died”: which is the language of the Scriptures, and here sneered at by these men, who believe them so fast asleep as never to be awaked or raised more; and by “the fathers” they mean the first inhabitants of the world, as Adam, Abel, Seth, c. and all the patriarchs and prophets in all ages the Ethiopic version renders it, “our first fathers”:
all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation; reasoning from the settled order of things, the constant revolution of the sun, moon, and stars, the permanency of the earth, and the succession of the inhabitants of it, to the future continuance of things, without any alteration; and consequently, that Christ would not come, as was promised, to raise the dead, judge mankind destroy the world, and set up a new state of things: the fallacy of which reasoning is exposed by the apostle in the following words.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Where is the promise of his coming? ( ;). This is the only sample of the questions raised by these mockers. Peter had mentioned this subject of the in 1:16. Now he faces it squarely. Peter, like Paul (1Thess 5:1; 2Thess 2:1), preached about the second coming (2Pet 1:16; Acts 3:20), as Jesus himself did repeatedly (Mt 24:34) and as the angels promised at the Ascension (Ac 1:11). Both Jesus and Paul (2Th 2:1f.) were misunderstood on the subject of the time and the parables of Jesus urged readiness and forbade setting dates for his coming, though his language in Mt 24:34 probably led some to believe that he would certainly come while they were alive.
From the day that (‘ ). “From which day.” See Lu 7:45.
Fell asleep (). First aorist passive indicative of , old verb, to put sleep, classic euphemism for death (Joh 11:11) like our cemetery (sleeping-place).
Continue (). Present active indicative of , to remain through (Lu 1:22). In statu quo.
As they were (). “Thus.”
From the beginning of creation (‘ ). Precisely so in Mr 10:6, which see.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
From the beginning of the creation [ ] . Not a common phrase. It occurs only Mr 10:6; Mr 13:19; Rev 3:14. Fell asleep [] . A literal and correct translation of the word, which occurs frequently in the New Testament, but only here in Peter. Some have supposed that the peculiarly Christian sense of the word is emphasized ironically by these mockers. It is used, however, in classical Greek to denote death. The difference between the pagan and the Christian usage lies in the fact that, in the latter, it was defined by the hope of the resurrection, and therefore was used literally of a sleep, which, though long, was to have an awaking. See on Act 7:60.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
CYNICS AND SCOFFERS AT THE LORD’S RETURN
1) “And saying, Where is the promise of hi coming.” (Greek kai legontes) “and asking, deriding,” (sarcastically) Greek pou estin he epangelia) “where is the promise.” (Greek tes parousias autou); “of the body presence of Him?”
a) This type of sarcasm was mouthed by skeptical Jews who rejected His first coming, Isa 5:18-19; Jer 17:15; Eze 12:22; Eze 12:27.
b) It will prevail again before His second visible appearance. Mat 24:48-51; Luk 12:45-46.
2) “For since the fathers feel asleep “ (Greek aph es gar) “For from which” (time or day) (hoi patres ekoimethesan) “the fathers fell asleep,” all died in the flood, — the forerunners of these skeptics.
3) “All things continue as they were.” (Greek panta) all” (all things) (houtos diamenei) “thus,” alike, “continues, remains, or goes on.”
4) “From the beginning of creation.” (ap arches ktiseos) Are all things now, as they were, prior to the flood, from creation? The answer is “no”. False prophets and teachers will keep on lying, exaggerating, casting aspersions, cynical remarks, regarding the supernatural revelations about the personal return of the Lord, until He returns. The wise, children of light, will recognize such persons and their false blasphemies. 1Th 5:1-9; But none of the wicked, religious or irreligious, shall understand. Dan 12:10; Joh 7:17; Joh 8:47.
SCOFFERS
Voltaire spoke of the Bible as a short lived book. He said that within a hundred years it would pass from common use. Not many people read Voltaire today, but his house has been packed with Bibles as a depot of a Bible society.
–Bruce Barton
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Where is the promise. It was a dangerous scoff when they insinuated a doubt as to the last resurrection; for when that is taken away, there is no gospel any longer, the power of Christ is brought to nothing, the whole of religion is gone. Then Satan aims directly at the throat of the Church, when he destroys faith in the coming of Christ. For why did Christ die and rise again, except that he may some time gather to himself the redeemed from death, and give them eternal life? All religion is wholly subverted, except faith in the resurrection remains firm and immovable. Hence, on this point Satan assails us most fiercely.
But let us notice what the scoff was. They set the regular course of nature, such as it seems to have been from the beginning, in opposition to the promise of God, as though these things were contrary, or did not harmonize together. Though the faith of the fathers, they said, was the same, yet no change has taken place since their death, and it is known that many ages have passed away. Hence they concluded that what was said of the destruction of the world was a fable; because they conjectured, that as it had lasted so long, it would be perpetual.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Where is the promise?Not meaning, of course, In what passages of Scripture is any such promise to be found?but, What has come of it? where is there any accomplishment of it? (Comp. Psa. 42:3; Psa. 79:10; Jer. 17:15; Mal. 2:17.)
Of his coming.His instead of the Lords indicates not merely that only one Person could be meant, but also the irreverent way in which these scoffers spoke of Him.
Since the fathers fell asleep.What fathers are meant? Four answers have been given to this question: (1) The ancestors of the human race; (2) the patriarchs and prophets; (3) the first generation of Christians; (4) each generation of men in relation to those following. Probably nothing more definite than our remote ancestors is intended. The expression fell asleep is used of St. Stephens death in Act. 7:60 (comp. Mat. 27:52; 1Co. 7:39, where the word is not literally translated; 1Co. 15:6; 1Co. 15:18, &c). The thoroughly Christian term cemetery (=sleeping-place), in the sense of a place of repose for the dead, comes from the same Greek root.
There is a passage quoted by Clement of Rome (circ. A.D. 100) which seems at first sight to contain a reference to this verse: Far be from us this Scripture where He saith, Wretched are the double-minded, who doubt in heart and say, These things we heard in the times of our fathers also, but behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened to us (Epistle to the Corinthians, xxiii.). But the remainder of this Scripture, as quoted by Clement, is so utterly unlike the verse before us, that one suspects some other source. And this suspicion is confirmed when we find the same passage quoted in the so-called Second Epistle of Clement (xi.) as the prophetic word. (See on 2Pe. 1:19 and on 2Pe. 2:9). The differences between the two quotations are such that the pseudo-Clement appears to be quoting independently, and not merely borrowing from the true Clement. In neither case does close inspection encourage us to believe that our present verse is the source of the quotation. But the quotation by the true Clement is important as a complete refutation of the objection that the fathers means the first Christians, and consequently no such scoffing argument as this would be possible in the lifetime of St. Peter This very argument was not only in existence, but was condemned in a document which Clement before the close of the first century could quote as Scripture. Comp. Epistle of Poly carp, chap. vii.: Whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says there is neither resurrection nor judgment, he is the firstborn of Satan.
All things continue as they were.Rather, as they are. The error has probably arisen from a desire to get rid of the slight difficulty of two dates being given: (1) from the death of the fathers, and (2) from the beginning of the creation. The suggestion that the fathers are the first progenitors of the human race is another attempt to get rid of the difficulty by making the two dates virtually one and the same. But the second date is an after-thought, frequent in Thucydides, intensifying and strengthening the first. Since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they arenay, more, since the beginning of the creation.
This sceptical argument is used with increased force as each generation passes away. It will be at its strongest just before the fallacy of it is irrefragably exposedon the eve of the day of judgment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Where is What has become of? These scoffers truly come from out the millennial Church. They long believed that old promise embraced in the Apostles’ Creed, that Christ would “come to judge the quick and the dead.” But ages have passed, and this coming is proved to be a ridiculous superstition.
His coming The word here is parousia, and when predicated of Christ, always denotes his literal bodily presence. The verb come, and noun coming, are often used of spiritual interpositions, but this parousia never. Note on 1Co 15:23. The word parousia occurs in the following passages: Mat 24:3; Mat 24:37; Mat 24:39; 1Co 15:23; 1Th 2:19 ; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:15; 2Th 2:1 ; 2Th 2:8-9; Jas 5:7-8; 2Pe 1:16 ; 2Pe 3:4; 2Pe 3:12; 1Jn 2:28.
The fathers The old fathers of the Church, who predicted and believed in the second advent. Through all the ages, from their time to the day of these scoffers, no Christ has come. But Satan has come in his spiritual power; and he has deceived these sceptics into the belief that there is no judgment-day, no divine Christ, no true God. Let loose from all religious restraints, they “walk after their own lusts.”
Continue as they were Literal Greek, remain just so. Dr. Chalmers was the first, we believe, to note that Peter here gives the argument of Hume against all miracle. It is the argument of the visible permanence of the order of nature. This continuous fact of the actual visible and reliable uniformity of nature’s order, is formulated by some presumptuous scientists into such a law as to exclude the Creator from interposing in the very succession of events which his divine will carries on. But every sensible theist can understand that things would stop of themselves if not energized by the constant influx of divine energy, and it is nonsense to doubt whether He who continues the series cannot interpose his power and act between the events that compose the series. God interposed when he originated terrene life; he interposed when he first created man; he interposed by Christ’s first advent; he will again interpose at his second advent. God’s clock is a clock of ages; after a long period it strikes; and sceptics fix their eyes on the length of that period, and forget that the stroke will ever again come.
When God’s hour is complete it is his own hand that strikes.
From the beginning of the creation Extending their affirmation a great way beyond their knowledge. That no interposition has ever taken place is more than any philosopher ever knew.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And saying, “Where is the promise of his coming (parousia – presence)? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” ’
Unlike Jude Peter spells out one aspect of their mockery. It lies in the fact that they jeer at what to them is the non-appearance of ‘the Christ’ in open glory to transform the world. They say mockingly, ‘when is this supposed historical Messiah coming?’ In other words, where is the fulfilment of all the promises about the Messiah? And they stress that everything just goes on like it has from the beginning of creation. How then can people claim that the Messiah has come or will come?
The promises about the Messiah as popularly held were of a great and powerful figure who would come and transform the world in one great act. It was the non-appearance of this figure that they were emphasising. As far as they were concerned all still went on as it had from the beginning of time. Their view was that God had not interfered in history at all. They were totally oblivious of Jesus Christ and His real intervention in history, which had resulted in His death and resurrection and would culminate in His second coming, the coming of which Peter was an actual eyewitness as he had pointed out in 2Pe 1:16-18. They were blind as to the presence of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It should be noted that that is precisely how Jesus said it would be. They would be ‘eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage’ (Mat 24:38), just as they had since the beginning of creation. They would be working in the fields and grinding at the mill (Mat 24:40-41) as they always had. And then unexpectedly He would come. Thus the unexpectedness of His coming was actually to be expected.
‘From the day that the fathers fell asleep.’ In view of the reference back to the beginning of creation this must mean ‘the fathers’ from the beginning, that is, from Adam onwards. This is illuminating. It emphasises how these teachers saw Jesus. They did not see His birth, life and death, together with the resurrection, as an earth shattering event that had changed the course of history. To them ‘All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’. And to them Jesus Christ was simply part of a myth which could produce mystical experiences. They were far from Palestine, and at that distance the historicity of His coming could grow dim. It could become just an idea. We can see now why Peter had emphasised that He had been an eyewitness of His heavenly glory revealed in history on earth (2Pe 1:16-18; compare 1Pe 5:1). They denied His ‘Parousia’. They did not believe that God had manifested Himself on earth, or indeed would do so. But Peter had seen His power and Parousia (2Pe 1:16). And he knew that that Parousia had been revealed and would be finally manifested in glory.
Thus the beliefs of these false teachers are such that they have not seen how earth shattering the coming of Jesus has been. Peter is amazed by it. After all he had himself seen the ‘power and coming (parousia) of the One Who came as God’s beloved Son (2Pe 1:16-18), as a foretaste of what was to come. And he cannot conceive how, if they believed in Him at all, they can have failed to see that, His glory having been revealed in history, it has broken up history into before and after. Their words make clear that they have not seen the glory of His cross and resurrection (for they say ‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’). That is why earlier he had said that they denied the Master Who bought them (2Pe 2:1). They have not realised that One Who was both truly God and truly man has been among men, has truly died for them and has divided up history. They simply see Him as a semi-mythical figure in their proto-Gnostic ritual. They simply see history continuing as it always has, as if He had not appeared in the flesh. For them there was no BC and AD.
So to them the Christian message is only a cunningly devised myth (2Pe 1:16) which is simply a part of the creation history, while all the talk about His personal coming, especially in judgment, is a load of nonsense. And they mock because it has not happened. As far as they are concerned there has been no break in history at all, and all this talk of Christ’s literal power and presence (parousia) is redundant. For they are blind to the true break that has taken place in history in the coming of Jesus. And thus they are self-satisfied in their complacency. And their belief is that things will continue on as they always have.
We can note here that the Messiah’s ‘Parousia’ is seen by Peter as one event, firstly in His coming to this world as man, revealing His glory and dying and rising again, and then in His final coming when He comes to judge and restore. We can compare a similar uniting of the two events in Heb 9:26-28, ‘but now once at the end of the ages has He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and inasmuch as it has been appointed unto men once to die, and after this judgment, so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those who wait for Him unto salvation’. So to both writers the ‘two’ comings are seen as one Parousia, in a similar way to that in which the High Priest at the Day of Atonement first enters the Holy Place having offered the sacrifices, and then enters the Holy of Holies and returns with final atonement having been accomplished, all part of one ceremony.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Pe 3:4. Where is the promise of his coming? The promise is here put for the thing promised. The meaning of the question was, “Where is the promised advent of Christ? What proof or sign is there of his appearing again?” By this question these scoffers intended to insinuate, that there was no hope or prospect of his coming again; and that, as it was so long delayed, the promise was vain and delusive, and would never be accomplished.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Pe 3:4 . The scoffing words of the .
] The question expresses the negation; “quasi dicunt: nusquam est, evanuit; denique vana est et mendax;” cf. 1Pe 4:18 . The same form of speech with : Psa 42:4 ; Psa 79:10 ; Mal 2:17 ; Luk 8:25 .
, i.e. Christi, cujus nomen ex re ipsa satis poterat intelligi (Grotius). Gerhard assumes that the scoffers did not mention the name of Christ per ; thus also Wiesinger, Hofmann. According to the connection (2Pe 3:2 ), the meant is that of the O. T. (cf. chap. 2Pe 1:19 ff. [87] ). In what follows we have the thesis of the scoffers in opposition to the , and the basis of it. The thesis is: ; its basis is indicated by the words: ( sc . ) . On the assumption that the . ., as used by the scoffers, means the period marking off the commencement of the , and that . . serves only as a more precise definition of it (Brckner, Schott), then by must be understood “the ancestors, the first generations of the human race.” But on this view . . . is an entirely superfluous determination (Wiesinger), nor would there thus be any indication of the ground on which the scoffers based their thesis; if, however, this be contained in . . ., the reference in can be only either to the fathers of the Jewish people, to whom the was given, cf. Heb 1:1 (Wiesinger), or those of the generation to which the scoffers belong (de Wette, Thiersch, Fronmller, Hofmann). Now, since the falling asleep of the fathers of Israel, before its fulfilment, could not well be brought as a proof that the promise was of none effect, inasmuch as it referred to a time beyond that in which they lived (cf. 1Pe 1:10 ff.), preference must be given to the second view. Wiesinger, indeed, says that the time of the composition of the epistle does not agree with this; but as the tarrying of the had already been the occasion of wonder in the church, and Christianity, when this letter was composed, had now been in existence for at least thirty-five years, it is quite possible that even at that time those who held Libertine views could have supported their denial of the Parousia by the fact that the expectation cherished by the early Christians had remained unrealized, thus calling forth the prophecy here made. At any rate, it is a point not to be overlooked, that the words here used are represented as to be spoken at a time then still in the future. 2Pe 3:8 , which otherwise would stand totally unconnected with 2Pe 3:4 , also favours this view. [88] The connection of the two members of the verse is certainly a loose one, since on none of the different interpretations does . . . stand in close connection with . The thought which has been somewhat inadequately expressed is: Since the fathers fell asleep, nothing has changed, the promise has not been fulfilled, a proof that everything remains as it has been since the creation. With , cf. 1Co 7:39 ; 1Co 15:6 , and other passages.
does not require any supplement properly so called: “the scoffers point as it were with the finger to the (sacred) status quo of the world” (Steinfass).
does not mean “has remained,” nor is it “will remain,” but the present expresses the continuous, uniform duration; strengthens the idea .
: “since creation took its beginning.”
[87] This Hofmann disputes, saying: “by the promise is not to be understood the Old Testament promise, nor by the future the future of Christ, since those who speak thus are members of the Christian church; but with respect to the Old Testament prophecy, they speak of Jehovah’s coming, and, with respect to Christ’s prophecy, of His own coming, might comprehend the one as well as the other;” the context, however, is in favour of the interpretation which Hofmann disputes.
[88] Dietlein’s interpretation is altogether wrong. According to it, means: “One generation after another always standing in the relation of fathers to the race succeeding it.” Peculiar, but certainly quite unjustifiable, is the opinion of Steinfass, that the scoffers, with reference to the promise contained in the Book of Enoch, understood to mean “the prophetical, or more definitely, the eschatological patriarchs, beginning with Enoch and extending down to Daniel.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Ver. 4. Where is the promise, &c. ] The sleeping of vengeance causeth the overflow of sin (the sinner thinks himself hail-fellow a with God, Psa 50:21 ), and the overflow of sin causeth the awakening of vengeance.
a On such terms, or using such freedom with another, as to accost him with ‘hail, fellow!’; on a most intimate footing; over familiar or unduly intimate. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 .] and saying, Where is the promise of His coming ( , implying that it is no where, has passed away and disappeared: cf. reff. , of Christ: whose name would be understood as of course) ? for from the day when ( , sc. : reff.) the fathers fell asleep, all things continue thus from the beginning of creation (the assertion is not easy to apportion grammatically. One thing is certain and may be first cleared away, that we cannot after supply , “as they were,” E. V.: simply referring to the present; as they are, as we now see them, and belonging only to the verb, . This being so, we still have two predicatory clauses following the verb: . ., and . The way of explaining this must be, that the time of waiting for the promise necessarily dates from the death of the , and the duration of things continuing as they are now extends back beyond the death of the fathers: so that the meaning will be, ever since the death of those to whom the promise was made, things have continued as we now see them (and as they have ever continued even before those fathers) from the beginning of creation. So that is a general proposition applicable to all time: , the ‘terminus a quo’ this general proposition is taken up and applied to the case in hand. And now we have cleared the way to enquiring, who are meant by . And the answer is plain: largely and generally, those to whom the promise was made: the same as are indicated Rom 9:5 , : yet not exclusively these, but simultaneously with them any others who may be in the same category, e. g. those who bear to the N. T. church the same relation as they to that of the O. T. The assertion, as coming from the , must not be pressed to any particular date, but given that wide reference which would naturally be in the mind of one making such a general charge).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Pe 3:4 . , . . . The coming or our Lord in the near future was evidently an integral part of the apostolic teaching, cf. 2Pe 1:16 . “There is no sure evidence that Jesus sought to undermine the assumption of His followers, that the and glory would be manifested in their day; and even this we may fairly qualify with the remembrance that a main motive of the principal eschatological discourse, reported by the Synoptists, is to warn the disciples against premature expectations” (J.H. Muirhead, Eschatology of Jesus , pp. 126, 127). : See note on 2Pe 1:16 . , . . . “The fathers,” must mean those of the preceding generation, in whose life-time the was expected. = in statu quo. , i.e. , “contrary to all previous human experience”. The Teaching of our Lord Himself in one aspect would imply that the actual , would be attended with no outward previous disturbance of life to act as a warning. Men would be engaged in their ordinary occupations and pleasures (Mat 24:36-42 ). The development and ripening of the moral and spiritual issues of men’s lives are often not outwardly apparent ( cf. Paget’s “ Studies in the Christian Character ,” “ The Hidden Issues ,” pp. 89 ff).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
coming. See Mat 24:3.
since = from (App-104.) the (day).
fell asleep. App-171.
continue. Greek. diameno. See Gal 1:2, Gal 1:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] and saying, Where is the promise of His coming ( , implying that it is no where, has passed away and disappeared: cf. reff. , of Christ: whose name would be understood as of course)? for from the day when ( , sc. : reff.) the fathers fell asleep, all things continue thus from the beginning of creation (the assertion is not easy to apportion grammatically. One thing is certain and may be first cleared away, that we cannot after supply , as they were, E. V.: simply referring to the present; as they are, as we now see them, and belonging only to the verb, . This being so, we still have two predicatory clauses following the verb: . ., and . The way of explaining this must be, that the time of waiting for the promise necessarily dates from the death of the , and the duration of things continuing as they are now extends back beyond the death of the fathers: so that the meaning will be, ever since the death of those to whom the promise was made, things have continued as we now see them (and as they have ever continued even before those fathers) from the beginning of creation. So that is a general proposition applicable to all time: , the terminus a quo this general proposition is taken up and applied to the case in hand. And now we have cleared the way to enquiring, who are meant by . And the answer is plain: largely and generally, those to whom the promise was made: the same as are indicated Rom 9:5, : yet not exclusively these, but simultaneously with them any others who may be in the same category,-e. g. those who bear to the N. T. church the same relation as they to that of the O. T. The assertion, as coming from the , must not be pressed to any particular date, but given that wide reference which would naturally be in the mind of one making such a general charge).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Pe 3:4. , where is?) They think, either that it ought already to have taken place, or that it never will take place. This is also their meaning when they say, all things continue as they were.- , the promise) Mockers thus term it, not in respect of themselves, but in mimicry,[17] because the righteous earnestly desire the fulfilment of the promise.-, of Him) Of the coming Lord, whom they disdain to mention by name.- ) (), from the day in which.- , the fathers) who rested their hopes on the promise.-, all things) the heaven, the water, the earth.-, thus) An adverb of pregnant meaning; that is, thus continue, as they do continue.- , from the beginning of the creation) These mockers at any rate confess, that the world did not exist from eternity.
[17] See Append. on MIMESIS.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
where: Gen 19:14, Ecc 1:9, Ecc 8:11, Isa 5:18, Isa 5:19, Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13, Jer 17:15, Eze 12:22-27, Mal 2:17, Mat 24:28, Luk 12:45
from the beginning: Mar 13:19, Rev 3:14
Reciprocal: Exo 32:1 – delayed Psa 58:11 – verily he Pro 9:12 – General Eze 11:3 – It is not Eze 12:27 – for Amo 5:18 – desire Amo 6:3 – put Zep 1:12 – The Lord Zep 2:2 – the decree Mat 24:27 – the coming Mat 25:5 – the Mar 10:6 – the beginning 1Co 4:5 – until 1Co 15:6 – are 1Th 4:13 – which are 2Th 2:2 – nor by letter Jam 5:7 – unto 2Pe 1:16 – we have 1Jo 2:28 – at his
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Pe 3:4. Promise is from a word that is somewhat general and includes the idea of “announcement.” It is that feature of the term that was worrying the scoffers, because it was announced that when Jesus comes he will condemn the wicked. Where is the promise. What has become of this promise that was predicted? The fathers comes from a word with so various a meaning that the connection will need be considered in each passage. One of the definitions of Thayer is, “The founder of a race or tribe, progenitor of a people, forefather.” This is the sense Peter uses and hence it refers to the patriarchs in the beginning, because he mentions the flood as coming after these fathers fell asleep. The scoffers asserted that since that happened there have been no interruptions into the course of things that were arranged in the creation. Their point is to pooh-pooh such “pessimism” as that any change will ever take place.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Pe 3:4. and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? The coming is again expressed here by the word parousia, presence; as to which see on chap. 2Pe 1:16. The question, put with triumphant scorn by these mockers, repeats the cherished terms used by believersthe promise in which they trusted, the coming which they looked for with vivid expectancy, the very form (His Coming, not Christs Coming, or the Lords Coming) in which they were accustomed to refer to Him who was so much the one object of their thoughts as to need no identification by name among them. Those who believe, says Bengel, having the heart filled with the memory of the Lord, easily supply the name. John repeatedly exhibits this style of reference to the common Lord of Christians, without naming the name, e.g. 1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 3:3; 1Jn 3:5; 1Jn 3:7; 1Jn 3:16; 1Jn 4:17; 3Jn 1:7. With the scornful incredulity expressed in the question compare such O. T. passages as Isa 5:19, Mal 2:17, which record similar gibes flung out against the words of the prophets in the ancient Israel. For the interrogative form, which imparts the tone of mocking triumph to the denial, compare also Psa 42:3; Psa 79:10; Jer 17:15.
for from the day when the fathers fell asleep all things continue thus from the beginning of the creation. These words indicate how the scoffers will reason out their rejection of the promise. Their argument will be taken from the delay in the fulfilment of that blessed hope (Tit 2:13) of the Christian brotherhood, and from the unbroken uniformity of things. The idea seems to be that, taking it for granted that some great disturbance in the system of the world will be necessarily involved in such an event as the Advent of Christ, and failing to see any signs of an interruption in the old order, they will deride the event itself. The precise force of the terms, however, and the exact relation in which the several parts of the sentence stand to each other, are very differently interpreted. The fathers are variously understood as the patriarchs of the human race, the patriarchs of the Jewish nation, all those to whom the promise was given, the men of the first Christian generation, or generally those who preceded each particular generation. Undoubtedly it would be most natural, did other things permit, to suppose that the patriarchs of Israel were meant; in which sense the phrase the fathers occurs, e.g., in Rom 9:5; Heb 1:1. But as the writer speaks here of a state of things which belongs still to the future, and as the fact that the O. T. patriarchs died before the fulfilment of the promise of the Lords Return would be a strange argument for these mockers to urge against the Christian hope, it seems necessary to understand by the fathers here those who stood in a relation to the Christian Church resembling that occupied by the Jewish patriarchs to the Church of Israel. The first generation of Christian believers received this promise (Act 1:11, etc.), and lived in the hope of its sure and speedy fulfilment. They died without witnessing that, and this would be used with their children as an argument for discrediting the promise itself. The second specification of time seems to be added in order to give emphasis to the first, and to exhibit in the strongest possible form the constancy of the natural order of things. The meaning is the same as if the sentence had taken this more regular form: In spite of this promise, your fathers to whom it was given have passed away, and all things still continue the same since then, as indeed they have continued from their first creation. Greater vivacity is added to the assertion of unbroken uniformity by the use of the present tense continue (the verb itself also is a compound form expressing continuance persisting through an indefinite length of time), and by the simple thus by which the idea of as they are, or as we see them, is conveyed. The A. V. tames down the abrupt confidence of the utterance by inserting the words as they were after the continue. The phrase fell asleep (with which compare Joh 11:11; Act 7:60, Act 13:3; 1Co 15:6; 1Co 15:18; 1Co 15:20; 1Th 4:14, etc.) is now to be noticed. The expression, frequent as it is in the Pauline writings, is found only this once in Peter. On the lips of scoffers here it may be, as is supposed by some (e.g. Lillie), another instance of ironical accommodation to the dialect of faith and of the hope of the resurrection. The comparison of death to sleep is one which lies near at hand, and is by no means peculiar to Scripture. In Homer (Il. xiv. 231, xvi. 672, 682) Sleep and Death are twins of winged race, of matchless speed but silent pace, and the goddess Aphrodit is represented as hasting over the sea to the island of Lemnos in quest of the cave of Deaths half-brother, Sleep. In the literature of many nations sleep is recognised as deaths image. What is peculiar to the New Testament use of the natural figure (and in part also to its Old Testament use) is the new conceptions with which Revelation has filled itthe hopeful conceptions of rest, continued life, and, above all, reawakening in newness of energy. So to the Christian the grave has become the cemetery, i.e the dormitory or sleeping-place. All the bodily pains, all the wants of human sympathy and carefulness, all the suddenness of the wrench from life, in the midst of health and strength, all this shall not prevent the Christians death from deserving no harsher name than that of sleep (T. Arnold).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
2Pe 3:4-6. Where is the promise of his coming To raise the dead, judge mankind, and destroy the earth? We see no sign of any such thing. The promise of Christs coming we have Mat 15:27, The Son of man shall come in his glory, &c.; Joh 14:3, I will come and receive you to myself, &c., and in many other passages of the gospel; a promise which was renewed by the angels at our Lords ascension, and is spoken of in many passages of the epistles, especially in those of St. Paul. By representing Christs promised coming as a delusion, the scoffers set themselves and others free from all fear of a future judgment, and bereft the righteous of their hope of reward. For since the fathers fell asleep Since our ancestors died; all things Heaven, earth, air, water; continue as they were from the beginning of the creation Without any such material change as might make us believe they will ever have an end. So say these scoffers. For this they willingly are ignorant of As if he had said, It is from their ignorance, their gross, affected ignorance, that they argue after this manner. He says willingly ignorant, to signify that they had sufficient means of knowing better, but that they did not care to know or consider any thing respecting it. That by the word of God His almighty word, which bounds the duration of all things, so that it cannot be either longer or shorter; the heavens As by the heavens here the apostle means the atmosphere which surrounds this earth, the plural is put for the singular by a change of the number very common in the Scriptures; were of old Anciently before the flood; and the earth standing Or subsisting, (as more properly signifies,) out of the water Which had before covered it, namely, emerging from it by the divine command, (the earth being formed out of the chaos, which had been previously brought into existence for that purpose,) and the liquid element retiring to the channels prepared for it; and in the water By which God appointed that it should be surrounded, nourished, and supported, water being the life of the vegetable creation; whereby , by which things, thus constituted; the world that then was The whole antediluvian race, with all the brute animals, except such as were with Noah in the ark; being overflowed with water, perished Perhaps , by which things, refers to the heavens mentioned above, and may relate to the windows of heaven being opened, as the expression is Gen 7:11, and pouring forth upon the earth a destructive deluge of water. The apostle means that these scoffers did not consider Gods power manifested in making the world, which must enable him also to destroy it if he pleased, and that they had little reason for saying that all things continued as they were from the creation.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 4
The promise of his coming, that is, the coming of Christ.–Since the fathers, &c. Their argument was, that the course of nature had gone on steadily the same from the days of the fathers, and that it still continued without any indication of an approaching change. To this the apostle replies in the 2 Peter 3:4-13, that the course of nature had not always gone on unchanged,–that the earth has once been destroyed by water, and he asserts that it will be again destroyed by fire.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:4 {3} And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.
(3) The reason that these mockers pretend that the course of nature is as it was from the beginning, therefore the world was from everlasting, and shall be forever.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
One could hardly find a better summary anywhere of the philosophy of naturalism that so thoroughly permeates contemporary western civilization than what this verse contains. Peter referred to a denial of supernaturalism and an assertion of uniformitarianism. In particular, the scoffers denied the promise of the Lord Jesus that He would return (Joh 14:1-3; Act 1:11; et al.). They assumed that God does not intervene in the world.
"Those who give way to their own lusts will always mock at any incentive to noble living." [Note: Wheaton, p. 1257.]
The "fathers" are probably physical forefathers, more likely the Old Testament patriarchs rather than the first generation of Christians. This is the normal use of the word in the New Testament.
Peter proceeded to answer the second statement in this verse in 2Pe 3:5-7 and then responded to the scoffers’ rhetorical question in 2Pe 3:8-10. So this section has a somewhat chiastic structure.