2 Peter 3:8

(8) Second Answer to the sceptical argument: Time is the condition of man’s thought and action, but not of God’s. His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways; what seems delay to us is none to Him.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing.—Although these scoffers are willingly ignorant of what refutes their error, do not you be ignorant of what will lead you to the truth.

One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.—This half of the saying is quite original, and has no equivalent in Psa_90:4. The second half is only partially parallel to “a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past.” Consequently, we cannot be sure that the Apostle had this passage from the Psalms in his mind, though it is probable enough that he had. That God Can punish in one day the sins of a thousand years is a thought which is neither in the text nor in the context. What is insisted on is simply this—that distinctions of long and short time are nothing in the sight of God; delay is a purely human conception. Justin Martyr, about A.D. 145 (Trypho, lxxxi.), gives “the day of the Lord is as a thousand years” as a quotation, and in this form it is closer to 2Pe_3:8 than to Psa_90:4. As another possible reference to our Epistle follows in the next chapter, it may be regarded as not improbable that Justin knew the Epistle. (See above, second Note on 2Pe_2:1.) But the saying may have been a favourite one, especially with those who held Millenarian views. In the Epistle of Barnabas (xv. 4) we read,” For a day means with Him a thousand years, and He Himself witnesseth, saying, Behold, to-day shall be as a thousand years,” where for “to-day” the Codex Sinaiticus reads “the day of the Lord.” Irenæus has “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years” twice—(V. xxiii. 2; xxviii. 3); Hippolytus has it once (Comm. on Daniel, Lagarde, p. 153); Methodius once (in Photius’ Bibliotheca, cod. 235). In no case, however, is the context at all similar to the verses before us.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years - This 2Pe 3:8-9 is the second consideration by which the apostle meets the objection of scoffers against the doctrine of the second coming of the Saviour. The objection was, that much time, and perhaps the time which had been supposed to be set for his coming, had passed away, and still all things remained as they were. The reply of the apostle is, that no argument could be drawn from this, for that which may seem to be a long time to us is a brief period with God. In the infinity of his own duration there is abundant time to accomplish his designs, and it can make no difference with him whether they are accomplished in one day or extended to one thousand years. Man has but a short time to live, and if he does not accomplish his purposes in a very brief period, he never will. But it is not so with God. He always lives; and we cannot therefore infer, because the execution of His purposes seems to be delayed, that they are abandoned. With Him who always lives it will be as easy to accomplish them at a far distant period as now. If it is His pleasure to accomplish them in a single day, He can do it; if He chooses that the execution shall be deferred to one thousand years, or that one thousand years shall be consumed in executing them, He has power to carry them onward through what seems, to us, to be so vast a duration. The wicked, therefore, cannot infer that they will escape because their punishment is delayed; nor should the righteous fear that the divine promises will fail because ages pass away before they are accomplished. The expression here used, that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, etc.,” is common in the Rabbinical writings. See Wetstein in loc. A similar thought occurs in Psa 90:4; “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2Pe 3:8. Be not ye ignorant — Whatever they are; of this one thing — Which casts much light on the point in hand; that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day — This is an allusion to Psa 90:4, where Moses had said, A thousand years in thy sight are as one day, which words St. Peter applies with regard to the period intervening between the time when he wrote, and the last day; denoting thereby, 1st, God’s eternity, whereby he exceeds all measure of time in his essence and in his operation: 2d, His knowledge, to which all things past, or to come, are present every moment: 3d, His power, which needs no long delay in order to bring his work to perfection: and, 4th, His long-suffering, which excludes all impatience of expectation and desire of making haste. But it must be observed, that neither the apostle nor the psalmist meant that God does not perceive any difference between the duration of a day and that of a thousand years; but that these differences do not affect either his designs, or actions, or felicity, as they do those of finite creatures. So that what he brings to pass on the day he declares his purpose, is not more certain than what he will bring to pass a thousand years after such declaration. In like manner, what is to be brought to pass a long time after his declaration, is not less certain than if it had been done when declared. See Abernethy’s Sermon’s, vol. 1. p. 218. The apostle’s meaning is in substance, that in one day, yea, in one moment, he could do the work of a thousand years; therefore he is not slow, he is always equally able, equally ready to fulfil his promise; and a thousand years, yea, the longest time, is no more delay to the eternal God than one day is to us: therefore he is longsuffering; he gives us space for repentance without any inconvenience to himself. In a word, with God time passes neither slower nor swifter than is suitable to him and his economy. Nor can there be any reason why it should be necessary for him either to delay or hasten the end of all things. How can we comprehend this? If we could have comprehended it, St. Peter needed not to have added, with the Lord.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

2Pe_3:8. One day, etc.—The time-element gave opportunity to the scoffers. The time-measures of God must not be thought of as like those of men. It is to misrepresent this verse, to regard it as fixing God’s measure for a day as being a thousand years. To do so would make God’s judgment-day a thousand years long, and the day of Christ’s coming also a thousand years long. The Millennium is a day, if the last sentence of this verse be taken literally.

2Pe_3:9. Not slack.—The apparent delay is arranged in Divine wisdom, and with due consideration of the saints. “God is long-suffering, because He is eternal” (Augustine). To us-ward.—“Toward you.”

2Pe_3:10. Great noise.—Rushing noise. Elements.—Or “heavenly bodies.” Macknight says, “The electrical matter, the sulphurous vapours, the clouds, and whatsoever floats in the air, with the air itself.”

2Pe_3:11. Shall be dissolved.—Lit. “are being dissolved.” All holy conversation, and godliness.—Both words are in the plural. All forms of holy living.

2Pe_3:12. Hasting.—(Omit “unto”). Hasting the coming by holy lives. Wherein.—Or “on account of which.”

2Pe_3:13. New heavens, etc.—See Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22; Rev_21:1. The idea is fully expanded in the book of Enoch.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—2Pe_3:8-13

Long-suffering is not Indifference.

I. The Divine time-measures.—2Pe_3:8 contains the “second answer to the sceptical argument. Time is the condition of man’s thought and action, but not of God’s. His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways; what seems delay to us is none to Him.” The figurative expression of this text has been much misrepresented and misused. It is when it is treated as a precise statement, and made the basis of minute calculations. The whole conception of a Millennium rests on a figurative expression. When it is said that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” it is simply meant to assert that God’s prophecies and promises must never be tested by human time-measures. If He says a thing will happen to-day we must always keep in mind that it is His “to-day,” not ours; and that His to-day may cover even what we should call a “thousand years.” As an argument against the scoffer this is effective enough. The force of his scoff is broken when he is compelled to reckon the fulfilment of promises by God’s time-measures.

II. The patience of Divine delay.—It needs to be clearly seen that, since God must always keep moral ends in view, He can never make an unconditional promise. The promise is a moral force. If that promise fulfils its end the promise can be made good at once. If that force is in any way hindered, the fulfilment must be left over until the moral force has duly affected its mission. And the Divine patience is seen in being willing even to be misunderstood and misrepresented, rather than to cease exerting the graciously redeeming moral force. There is no sublimer revelation of God than that which comes to us in the Divine delayings. He can wait and bear, in view of the ends of His infinite love for man. He is “not slack concerning His promise.” We never may think that He is indifferent—that “He has forgotten to be gracious.” That never can explain the Divine action. We may always find long-suffering patience. He is not willing that any should perish. He stretches opportunity of repentance to its utmost limit. He gives warning after warning, until the utter hopelessness of any further warning is made quite plain, and the cup of self-willedness and iniquity is quite full.

III. The certain ending of times of Divine delay.—“But the day of the Lord will come.” If judgment be threatened as a flood, the flood will come, unless men repent. A hundred and twenty years may pass, and men may grow bold in their impious self-security; they may laugh away all fears as they enjoy their sunny days; but the flood will come. The Flood came. God’s “word never returns to Him void.” It will certainly be the same in regard to the promise of Christ’s coming, whether that be viewed as the vindication of the saints, or as judgment on their persecutors. Divine delay in no sense indicates that the Divine purpose is abandoned. Let nobody for one moment think that. Christ will come. “The day of the Lord will come.” And if the scoffer persists in scoffing, let him remember that the sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar; there was every prospect of another splendid summer day; but that day the fire of God fell. Certain as death is judgment—is Christ’s coming to judgment.

IV. The certainty of Divine judgment is present blessing.—It is a constant and a gracious persuasion to virtue. This is its proper influence upon us. It makes us say, “What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness.” By the earnestness of our endeavours in cultivating the godly life, and growing in grace, we should be “looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” Not “looking for” in any sense of idly watching at a window; but looking for, as Christ taught us the good servant looks for the return of his Master, by all devoted obediences, all earnest activities, all careful preparations. Christ is coming; then let us “be diligent, that we may be found of Him in peace.”

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

2Pe_3:8. A Thousand Years as a Day.—The latter half of this saying is quite original, and has no equivalent in Psa_90:4. The second half is only partially parallel to “a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past.” Consequently we cannot be sure that the apostle had this passage from the psalms in his mind, though it is probable enough that he had. That God can punish in one day the sins of a thousand years is a thought which is neither in the text nor in the context. What is insisted on is simply this: that distinctions of long and short time are nothing in the sight of God; delay is a purely human conception. Justin Martyr (about A. D. 145) gives “the day of the Lord is as a thousand years” as a quotation, and in this form it is closer to this verse than to Psa_90:4. As another possible reference to our epistle follows in the next chapter, it may be regarded as not improbable that Justin knew the epistle. But the saying may have been a favourite one, especially with those who held Millenarian views. In the epistle of Barnabas (15:4) we read, “For a day means with Him a thousand years, and He Himself witnesseth, saying, Behold, to-day shall be as a thousand years,” where for “to-day” the Codex Sinaiticus reads the day of the Lord.” Irenseus has, “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years” twice. Hippolytus has it once, Methodius once. In no case, however, is the context at all similar to the verses before us.—A. Plummer, M.A.

The Brevity of God’s Delays.—No delay which occurs is long to God; as to a man of countless riches, a thousand guineas are as a single penny. God’s œnologe (eternal-ages measurer) differs wholly from man’s horologe (hour-glass). His gnomon (dial-pointer) shows all the hours at once in the greatest activity and in perfect repose. To Him the hours pass away, neither more slowly, nor more quickly, than befits His economy. There is nothing to make Him need either to hasten or delay the end.—Fausset.

2Pe_3:11. What is a Holy Conversation?—The Revised Version reads “holy living,” but the word “conversation” may be taken as altogether more suggestive. It is a very searching thing to require a holy tone and character upon all the turning about, in and out, here and there, to and fro, with this man and that, in all the everyday and commonplace associations of life. And that is what is meant by the “holy conversation” of the text. It may seem at first sight as if “godliness” were very much the same thing as “holy conversation,” but we may distinguish between the actual conduct of life and the inspiring motive of it. The inspiring motive should be “godliness.” “Godliness” is the realisation of God’s abiding presence, the fruits of which are reverence and trust. But the argument by which a “holy conversation” is urged upon us by the apostle is certainly somewhat peculiar. Because all present material things are to be dissolved; because the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; because the elements shall melt with fervent heat; because the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up;—therefore, we ought to be supremely concerned about our “holy conversation and godliness.” If this stood alone it would be perplexing; but when St. Peter adds Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” we begin to understand him. A great testing time awaits God’s people; what it was to be could only be conceived under the forms of an overwhelming commotion of material things. In that time of testing nothing could possibly stand but steadfast goodness, an established “holy conversation and godliness.” Out of that time of testing will come a condition of confirmed holiness; there will be a “new heaven and a new earth,” whose supreme characteristic should be that in it “dwelleth,” “abideth,” “righteousness.” Only they who maintain the “holy conversation and godliness” can have any place in that “new earth”; but he who has persistently kept righteous during the testing time shall then be “righteous still.” That, then, is our work as the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to earnestly maintain our “holy conversation and godliness,” as our true preparation for every time of strain that may be coming, and as providing the only sure defence from the evil influences which that time may bring. And we are to maintain it because only those who are holding it fast can have any “entrance ministered unto them into the everlasting kingdom” of righteousness. It is very significant that the apostles, while anxious about right opinion, are so much more anxious about right conduct and right character. The two may go together, and always should, but conduct and character must come first, and be esteemed as of supreme importance. “Only let your conversation be such as becometh the gospel of Christ.” We do well, then, to try and understand what a “holy conversation” is; or, to put the same thing in other words, what actual and practical ordering and shaping of our human life and relationships is involved in our making a Christian profession. “What manner of persons ought we to be?”

I. A holy conversation is a daily life ordered by principle.—One Scripture writer earnestly counsels us not to let our life drift. But it is precisely that we are tempted to do. To let things go. To live on, day by day, simply responsive to the accidents of the day, and fitting our wisdom and skill, as well as we can, to the duties and emergencies of the day. It is but a butterfly kind of life, flitting lazily from flower to flower, and sipping what nectar we can. A “holy conversation” was never attained in that way. It is easy enough to drift into a low, careless kind of life, but no man ever yet put a stamp of character upon his conduct until he gained a clear meaning and purpose for his life. It is the greatest work of education to inspire the boy with a great resolve. He is not educated unless he has come to see a meaning in his life, to set before himself a noble purpose, and to recognise the law or principle by which all his efforts to attain are to be ruled. To start in life without a fixed principle is like starting a voyage on the unknown and wind-driven seas, without a guiding and controlling helm. Sometimes the principle chosen for the ordering of a life is not a good principle, but even then it has its power as a principle, and in the sway of it the man reaches altogether grander things than the man possibly can who drifts through life, anyhow and anywhere, without any guiding principle at all. But there is no reason against our choosing such a principle as will secure for us a “holy conversation.” We can resolve that life shall be ordered on the principle of always and simply doing what we know to be the will of God. For us that will is in part declared in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in part witnessed every day afresh, in adaptation to the circumstances of life, by the indwelling Holy Spirit. And what we call “conversion” is precisely this: the dethroning of the old principle of seeking the interests of Self, and enthroning the principle of service to the holy will of God. Just in the measure in which a man’s life is ordered and toned by that principle will his daily life and association be described as a “holy conversation.” That is the first thing, and there is nothing more absolutely essential to right living. We can attain nothing unless we are purposed to attain it. We can attain no high thing unless our purpose be based on a principle, and that principle be the noblest that can give character to a life. It is but putting this in figurative form for the apostle to say, “I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice … which is your reasonable service.”

II. A “holy conversation” is a daily life shaped to a pattern.—We want help in finding befitting expression for our principle in the actual details of our daily association and duty and influence. We see this want very clearly in the case of the Christians connected with the early Gentile Churches. It was most difficult and perplexing work to get the new Christian principle, altering, re-moulding, and re-toning all the common, every-day thoughts, feelings, and relations of life; and we know how, in all the epistles, practical counsels for guidance were given, and how, in the epistles to the Corinthians, the more special cases of perplexity were carefully dealt with. Was this principle, which we have commended as the right, the highest, the most sanctifying principle that can order a human life, ever so worked out into the details of any one human career that such a man’s life-story can be taken as an absolutely satisfactory pattern? We can take any and every good man as an example of something; but then each ordinary good man is almost as much a warning as an example. Was there ever a case in which the pattern of the life-principle, worked into all details, was perfect? A case in which the life contains nothing whatever which we must be warned not to copy? That supremely important question has never yet received more than one answer. It never will receive more than one. That one is entirely satisfactory. The “Man, Christ Jesus” is the model life of details, in which the power of the controlling principle is seen; and whosoever takes that human life for his pattern increasingly finds himself satisfied with it, and inspired by it so as to attain a “holy conversation.” But we shall misuse that pattern if we merely slavishly imitate it; if we inconsiderately say, Jesus did and said such and such things, and we must say and do exactly the same. That is childish imitation, not intelligently using our pattern. What we require is to see that Christ’s pattern is simply but precisely this: the varying suggestion of ways in which the great life-principle finds befitting expression in the details of human conduct. What we have to ask, if we would follow the example of Christ aright, is this: How would Christ have expressed the great principle if He had been placed in just these particular circumstances in which I am placed? And we can get practical help from observing how Christ did act in circumstances that were similar. To “follow His steps” is to express principle as He did. Is it not quite plain that shaping life after the pattern which Christ has set will ensure a “holy conversation”? It did. No other terms are befitting as the description of the life of the Lord Jesus. Take what meanings you may please to attach to the term “holy,” they are all satisfied in the blessed life of Him who “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth”; “who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” And a “holy conversation” is possible to us in the measure in which we answer to the pattern, have the “mind that was in Christ Jesus,” and are made “like unto Him in all things”—changed into His image.

III. A “holy conversation” is a life sustained by consecrated energy.—It is necessary to dwell upon this, because Christ’s holy life may seem to us a far easier thing than we shall ever find a holy life to be; and we may readily get disheartened when we are impressed with the contrast between our Lord’s easy attainment and our ever difficult and doubtful struggle. It really should not be felt a surprising thing that we can but, at the best, come a long way behind Christ—a very long way indeed it will be unless we put consecrated energy into our endeavour. Such energy is demanded because the life-principle we have chosen is never so established and confirmed in us as to be beyond peril; and even more than that, it has a way of fading down in us and becoming ineffective if we do not perseveringly and persistently keep it well to the front, and make it have its say about everything. A true life-principle in a man must be everything or nothing, everywhere or nowhere. There is therefore constant demand for the consecrated energy which will keep power and vigour in the principle which makes a “holy conversation.” The holy life is a life in earnest, and it can be nothing else. The hair and fur of animals reveals at once lowered vitality. Keep up the energy of the soul’s life, and all the signs will be right; there will surely be the “holy conversation.” And the consecrated energy is further needed because the practical outworking of our life-principle in the details of conduct is never easy for us, if it was always easy for Christ. Our Lord expressed a truth which was applicable to more than the entrance into the kingdom when He said, “Strive” (agonise) “to enter in.” It is quite true that the effort for us will grow easier as years unfold, and will become easier in particular things, but it will never cease to make demands upon watchfulness, self-mastery, and consecrated energy. If we would attain the “holy conversation,” we must be prepared to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” and we must be constantly lifting ourselves afresh up to the holy enduring. What is wanted, always wanted, is earnestness put into the endeavour to live the holy life. We must mean it, and strive for it.

IV. A “holy conversation” is life toned by righteousness.—There are so many things in life that would be beautiful if they were polished. Things never do become lovely until they get their bloom. What marvellous improvements have been made in the paper of our books and magazines! Now it has its polish on and shines. It may be of first importance that a Christian’s conversation should be right—that it should be of sterling worth; the ring of it must be sound and true. But it does not answer to the description “holy conversation” until it gets its polish, until upon it lies the bloom. It must be beautiful and gracious. The fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,” make up the bloom, and no man has gained the “holy conversation” until he is strong, true, and beautiful in Christ. Yes, in Christ. For there is a marvel about our Pattern. The Pattern proves to be a Person, a living Person, with whom we can have so real a fellowship that the glow of Him shall be reflected from us. Like Moses, when he saw God, the shine will be on our faces, the Christ-tone will be on all our intercourse. The Christ-bloom creeps all over us if we really come into soul-nearness to Him. Surely the question with which we started has been fully answered. What is a “holy conversation”? It is a human life ordered by the principle that ruled the human life of Christ. It is a human life in all its details shaped after the pattern of the “Man, Christ Jesus.” It is a human life into which is put the energy of a vigorous life and a consecrated purpose. It is a human life that is kept within the radiance of Christ, and shines out His light upon men. Seeing that the great strain-time, taking one form or another, must come to us all; and seeing that through the strain-time we may hope to come to the world where all is righteous;—“what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”

2Pe_3:13. Heaven: its Nature and Character.—There is great confusion, both in the language and the opinions of men, in regard to the final dwelling-place which is promised in Scripture to the righteous. We speak of heaven continually, yet have but a vague and unconnected notion of what it positively is. There is no perspicuous and definite idea impressed upon the mind: we are wandering in the regions of generality, or probability. It may be this, or it may be that. It is a speculation rather than an article of faith. With our very limited faculty of intelligence, and with our many imperfections and impurities clinging on all sides around us, we shall never be able entirely to penetrate those sacred mysteries of futurity which God has but partially disclosed. To be wise beyond the Scriptures would be the height of impiety; but, nevertheless, there is no reason why we should not strive to be wise up to the Scriptures.

I. Heaven is a place, a tangible, material locality.—Heaven, as a word, is used with various significations.

1. The region of air or atmosphere immediately surrounding the earth.

2. The firmament, or vast expanse of space which is beyond or above the atmosphere, wherein the stars appear.

3. As the place of God’s residence, and the dwelling of angels. Many persons have taken up the idea that heaven is nothing more than a sort of indefinite ethereal abode; that the grossness of materialism cannot enter there; that it is filled with nothing but certain mental and spiritual essences of glory and love, unallied to anything that savours of body or of matter; and so they attenuate and dwindle away all notion of it, till it disappears in nothing; and when pressed home, they find that their minds have been dwelling upon that which is purely imaginative, and has no foundation. The source of this is not difficult to detect. By our present connection with the world in which we dwell, our notion of materialism is inseparably connected with a notion of imperfection and sin; and by the exalted pictures which Scripture gives us of the joys of heaven, we are loth to admit, as within its comprehension, anything that appertains to our present state. The contemplative mind cannot think of heaven as constituted of any such material elements as here he sees around him. But there is a fallacy in such reasoning, and the fallacy is this: we look upon the material things of nature as they are now, and not as God made them originally; we look upon the human body as it is now, in sin, and not as the Almighty originally constituted it—in glory and holiness. Man was a sinless creature; there was naught for him but loveliness and beauty; there was no such thing as sorrow, no such thing as pain. The paradise in which Adam and Eve dwelt, we must consider to have been a perfect and blissful abode; and yet it was a local abode. It was not till Adam fell that materialism ceased to be holy. It was not till sin entered into the world that there was any drawback in the works of nature, as now looked upon by us. Then, indeed, the whole of the works of God were changed from their original destination. But who would say that, because this material state, in which we now are, cannot form such a place as heaven, that no material state shall? Then Scripture asserts the resurrection of the body, and the reunion of the body and soul, before entering the future abode of eternity. Christ, in His human nature, as a body, is in heaven, at God’s right hand. We cannot conceive this at all, unless we conceive of God’s right hand as a place. In all the descriptions of the blessedness of the righteous, that which describes their happiness infers that happiness as depending on organs of sensation, as seeing, conversing with, and listening to, other beings who shall there be associated with us. If there is material vision, material hearing, material recognition, there must be a material abode, and material objects on which they are to be exercised. The promised abode of righteous men, we may confidently say, is of a local and material character. It is materialism, purged indeed from sin, and cleansed of all those imperfections which attach to it here—but still materialism.

II. There is a certain character attached to the place without which character no man can attain unto its glories.—“Wherein dwelleth righteousness.” As some have theorised away the notion of heaven, by lifting it up beyond the cognisance of our senses altogether, so others, men of sensual and earthly affections, have so debased their notion of it as to represent it as a mere place of such corporeal pleasures as prevail in this world. But such an absurdity—let alone its profaneness—as that picture of Paradise which the Koran describes, can never for a moment be entertained by one who reads the Bible. The most perfect and hallowed goodness must of necessity belong to the saints in light. Harmony of views, identity of interests, unison of affections—in short, universal good—shall fill every bosom, and stimulate every heart. What must the character of the soul of man be, before he can become the fit inhabitant of such a heaven? Clearly, we human beings must be changed; we must be spiritualised; we must be lifted up to God, for God cannot be brought down to us. And when may this change be effected? Certainly not after death. If we attain not to holiness and spirituality of character while on this earth, we shall not attain unto the spirituality of the character which belongs to the new earth. What you are here, you will be hereafter. Heaven cannot but be a place of holiness. He therefore that is unholy can have no place therein. It appears, then, that as one part of heaven, the material part, cannot be commenced here, but must wait for the final restitution of all things, so, in proportion, the other part of heaven, the spiritual part, must be commenced here, otherwise the fruition of eternal joy never can be ours. The spiritual heaven, the temper of mind, the patience, the meekness, the purity, the love of heaven—that, unless we have a foretaste of it now, we shall not be in a capacity for enjoying hereafter.—William J. E. Bennett, M.A.

New Heavens and New Earth.—What is our conception of the new heaven and the new earth that we desire? Is it a mere absence of annoyances? Is it an egotism, expanded to infinitude? Is it a sensual Mohammedan paradise? Is it a selfish palace of art? Is it a city paved with gold, or a pagoda of jewels, like the Jerusalem of St. John, in its merely external aspect? Childish must we be indeed if we have not get beyond these symbols, if we do not know that man is, in his essence, a spiritual being, and that for a spiritual being there can be no felicity save in spiritual conditions—in communion with God, in serenity of mind, in purity of heart. We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Shall we ever enjoy that heaven hereafter? Yea, if we truly seek it now.—Dean Farrar.

Attainableness of Righteousness.—Is righteousness attainable by man? If it be, then the essence of God’s kingdom is not beyond man’s reach. If righteousness be attainable here and now, then here and now we may at least enter into the kingdom of heaven. Is our conception of happiness identified with righteousness? Is that the thing which we desire? Is that our ideal? Is that the one goal to which we are stretching forward in the heavenly race? If so, then for us, even here and now, “the path to heaven lies through heaven, and all the way to heaven is heaven.” What sort of a condition answers to the heaven of which you dream, for which you sigh? Is it a state of things which you vaguely call glory? Is it a starry crown—the symbol of supreme self-aggrandisement? Is it a golden throne, the summit of individual exaltation? Is it the rest of an untroubled indolence? If so, our heaven may prove to be indeed a chimera, both now and hereafter. Such notions of heaven betray the unsuspected fact that, after all, our high spiritual hopes resolve themselves into mere earthliness, into an ill-concealed amalgam of vanity and selfishness. The true conception of heaven is holiness.—Dean Farrar.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3

2Pe_3:12. Ready for the Voyage.—The Christian, at his death, should not be like the child, who is forced by the rod to quit his play; but like one who is wearied of it, and willing to go to bed. Neither ought he to be like the mariner whose vessel is drifted by the violence of the tempest from the shore, tossed to and fro upon the ocean, and at last suffers wreck and destruction; but like one who is ready for the voyage, and, the moment the wind is favourable, cheerfully weighs anchor, and, full of hope and, joy, launches forth into the deep.—Gotthold’s “Emblems.”

Influence of Fire upon the Earth.—“What has fire done upon the earth? Fire has only re-constructed and destroyed. Nothing has found an origin in fire. Fire itself is an effect, and not a cause it is in the atmosphere, it is in the flint in the earth, it is in the water; in each it is a thing by itself, unseen or unfelt; certain conditions bring it into active existence, but it cannot be traced in either element as a matter of course; yet it is here, there, and everywhere: it has built up Cotopaxi to the height of 18,000 feet; Teneriffe has been shot up by its labours from an unknown depth beneath the sea to 12,000 feet above it; Etna is heaped up with lava, ashes, and scoriæ some 11,000 feet; Iceland has grown into a great island under its influence; and Vesuvius has grown to a height of 3,751 feet, from a reconstruction of earthy matter by force.”—Malet.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 28

THE LORD IS NOT SLACK

2Pe_3:8-9

"ALL things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation," said the mockers. It was foolish, therefore, to believe in, or to think of a judgment to come. In the words before us the Apostle not only supplies an answer to the scorners, but gives a precious lesson to Christians for all time on the nature of God and His government of the world. It is but a single thought, but when the mind of the believer has grasped its significance, he will look out upon the world untroubled. No mockery will disturb his faith.

"But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Here the Apostle quotes some words from that psalm (Psalms 90) which is entitled "A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God." In it the Psalmist is contrasting Gods eternity with the frailty of man and the shortness of human life. "A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past." But St. Peter not only adopts, but adapts, the words for his own purpose. He wants to teach the Christians in their trials that, while what is long in mans estimation may in Gods providence be counted but little, yet through Gods decree what to man appears little may be big with mightiest consequences. He therefore first inverts the words of the Psalmist. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, while a thousand years may be as one day. One day of His deluge swept a whole generation out of the world, while His day of Pentecost remains potent in the history of His grace for all the ages which are yet to come. Through a mistaken literalness, men have sometimes expounded the lesson as if Jehovahs dealings were a question of arithmetic. Nothing could be farther from the Apostles thought, who would have us know that of great and little Gods work makes no account. With Him there is no short or long in time. What he does is not to be measured by the petty standards of humanity. Men must take note of time, for they feel its lapse, and its loss. They are ever conscious that a period is coming after which what is undone must continue undone. Again, the length of time is known to them by the recurrence of the various acts of life, and by the weariness which comes of continued labor, and by the grief of protracted waiting. These things force them to speak of short and long, but with God it is not so. For Him all time is one. He knows nothing of toil. Whatsoever He pleaseth, that doeth He in heaven and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places. {Psa_135:6} The Psalmist had attained a true conception. The whole world and all worlds were in His control, and their order the working of His eternal will. He needs no rest; He slumbereth not, nor sleepeth. To Him there is no waiting, no weariness. Hence the past, the present, and the future are for Him one unbroken now.

This is the one thing which the Apostle offers to the Christian brethren for their support and consolation against the scoffers. And the knowledge is mighty for those who grasp it. It helps them to cast themselves securely upon the almighty arms, convinced that Gods working is not to be estimated according to mans days and years, but is certain in its effect. One generation passeth away, and another cometh; but death, they learn, does not take men out of the knowledge or the hand of God, be it for mercy they are reserved, or for judgment. God does not defer His action because He lacks power to perform, neither does He tarry because He is unmindful of His servants or insensible to what they endure.

Such thoughts can minister to the faithful abundant consolation, and this was the desire of the Apostle. But they raise for all time large questions which can find no answer here, questions concerning the lot of those who pass from this brief day of life into the eternal world and have not known Gods will, that they might do it; questions concerning a discipline which may yet be reserved for some who have not bent themselves to it here, perhaps from want of light; questions of how far hope may extend itself beyond the veil which divides this world from the next. Such questions rise within many earnest souls, often rather for the sake of others than themselves; but God has vouchsafed us no answer, lest men should wax presumptuous.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness." Many things conspire to make the doings of men to tarry. At one time pledges are given beyond what foresight would warrant; and when the day of performance arrives, they are forced to plead that events have falsified their expectation, and they cannot do the things that they would. Again, men, with the most earnest zeal, attempt a work beyond their powers, and of necessity have to delay the fulfillment of their promises; while some are taken away untimely from the midst of their fellows, ere life has enabled them to achieve what they counted on once as certain. Want of knowledge, of time, and of power is the heritage of the sons of men; and therewith conspires not seldom a change of mind and consequent want of will. But He with whom is no variableness, the omnipotent, omniscient, eternal Lord of all, is subject to no hindrance. Whether events appear to men to linger or to be sudden, all move under the control of the same unchanging will. He is not slack, as men are slack, either to rescue the righteous or to punish the ungodly. Of this the son of Sirach spake: "The Lord will not be slack, neither will the Almighty be patient…till He have taken away the multitude of the proud and broken the scepter of the unrighteous…till He have judged the cause of His people and made them to rejoice in His mercy" (Ecclus. 35:18). Here is a medicine for fainting souls, of whom there must have been many among these Asian Christians. And it is a solace furnished, too, by the teachings of prophecy. "The vision," says one, "is yet for an appointed." {Hab_2:3} Gods Will has ordered when and how it shall be accomplished; all moves by His decree. "At the end it shall speak, and not lie." There is no disappointment to those who wait upon the purposes of God. "Though it tarry, wait for it," even though the waiting may last beyond this life, "because it will surely come; it will not tarry. The just shall live by his faith."

Tηε ορδερ οφ τηε ωορδσ ιν τηε οριγιναλ (ο κυριος της επαγγελιας) and the unwonted construction of the verb, of which no other example is forthcoming, have suggested to some to render thus: "The Lord of the promise is not slack." Even so the words give a powerful sense. God, who makes the promise to men, is supreme over all on which its faithfulness depends, supreme both as Maker and Fulfiller of His word. He sees and controls the end from the beginning. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.

"But is long-suffering to you-ward." The Authorized Version reads "to usward." And some have thought it more in accord with the Apostles manner and humility to include himself with the brethren. The other reading is better supported, and none will doubt on that account St. Peters sense of Gods long-suffering towards himself. The term which he here employs to describe the Divine character implies the holding back of wrath. God might justly punish, but He stays His blow. Men have sinned, and still sin; but His love prevails above His anger. The word is formed by the LXX translators to render one expression in that passage {Exo_34:6} where God proclaims unto Moses the attributes by which He would be known unto men. Through all the list mercy is the dominant feature.

Term upon term seems devised to magnify the tenderness of Jehovah towards His people, though at last, if the continual offers of mercy are despised, He "will by no means clear the guilty." No other language furnishes such a word, for no other people had such a knowledge of the God of all grace.

"Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." We are wont to connect statements like this with the gracious messages of the New Testament. Yet some saints of earlier time felt all that St. Peter here teaches. The writer of Ecclesiasticus has some striking words. He is connecting Gods mercy with the shortness of mans life, and his language anticipates in the main this teaching of the Apostle: "The number of a mans days at the most are a hundred years. As a drop of water unto the sea, so are a thousand years to the days of eternity. Therefore is God patient with them, and poureth forth His mercy upon them. The mercy of man is toward his neighbor, but the mercy of God is upon all flesh; He reproveth, and nurtureth, and teacheth, and bringeth again as a shepherd his flock" (Ecclus. 18:9-14). In such wise had some who waited for the consolation of Israel grasped Gods promises by anticipation, seeing them afar off, and being persuaded of them. Such men owned themselves, equally with the Apostle, to be strangers and pilgrims, and sought for that inheritance which Christ sent him to preach.

The word "wishing" (βουλομενος) implies deliberate consent. This God does not give to the death of any sinner. If any perish it is not because God so desired or designed. But some will ask, "Why, then, should any perish?" St. Peter in this sentence, full of grace, supplies the answer. They continue in sin, and repent not. Even offers of mercy are of no avail. But why does not the Almighty Father drive them to repentance by His judgments? Because He has made His children free, and asks from them a willing service. They are to come to repentance. The invitation is full and free. Christ says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor." Nay, God makes at times a less demand: "Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." Could words breathe more of mercy? To come, to look-that is the sole demand. God bestows all besides. Let men but manifest a desire, and His grace is poured forth. He wisheth not that any should perish.

And Christ, too, when He speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, has the same lesson. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all conspire to further the work of mans salvation. "All things," said our Lord, "whatsoever the Father hath, are Mine. Therefore said I, He shall take of Mine, and shall show" (R.V. declare) "it unto you." But the eye to see what He shows, the ear to hear His declarations-these He asks from men. He willeth that they should come to repentance, and through that gate should come to Him.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

3:8 Peter alludes to Ps 90:4. God operates according to his time scale. He will send his Son in his own good time.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Pe 3:8. Ἓν δὲ τοῦτο) but this one thing; namely, that which pertains to this subject. This one thing only pertains to teaching in this epistle; which (epistle) in other respects admonishes, but does not teach.—μὴ λανθανέτω) do not suffer it to escape your notice.—ὑμᾶς, you) Antithetical to them, 2Pe 3:5. He does not so fully reply to the mockers, as he instructs the faithful.—μία ἡμέρα παρὰ Κυρίῳ ὡς χίλια ἔτη, καὶ χίλια ἔτη ὡς ἡμέρα μία, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, Psa 90:4, Septuagint, ὅτι χίλια ἔτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, Κύριε, ὡς ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἥτις διῆλθε, καὶ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτί. for a thousand years, O Lord, are in Thy sight as yesterday, which is gone, and as a watch in the night. The preceding words convey this meaning: Thou art our refuge, Eternal God; and not we ourselves, frail weak men. The reason is added: for a thousand years, etc. Moses describes the eternity of God much more absolutely: Peter describes it in the relation which it bears to the last day, and to men looking for that day; so that His eternity may itself be perceived, by which in essence and in operation, He wonderfully exceeds all measure of time; and that His divine knowledge may also be included in the idea, that knowledge to which all future things are present: and His Power (may be recognised), which does not require long delays for the performance of its work; and His Long-suffering, from which all impatient expectation is absent and all eager haste. With the Lord one day is as a thousand years (Peter adds this to the saying of Moses): that is, He is equally blessed in one day, or in one moment, and in a thousand years and a whole age: He is able to perform the work of a thousand years in one day. Wherefore in the following verse it is added: He is not slow: It is always in His power to fulfil His promise. And a thousand years are as one day (thus Peter, while in this clause he re-echoes the former one, and accommodates both to the subject in hand, appropriately varies the words of Moses): that is, no delay happens which is long to God. As to a man of excessive wealth, a thousand guineas are as a single penny; so to the Eternal God a thousand years are as one day: wherefore in the next verse it is added: but is long-suffering: He gives us space for repentance without any annoyance to Himself. Comp. Sir 18:10-11. The sum of Peter’s words is, the age-measurer (so to speak) of God differs from the hour-reckoner of mortals. His gnomon[20] shows at once all hours in the greatest activity and in the greatest repose. To Him the times pass away neither more slowly nor more quickly than is befitting to Him and to His economy. There is no reason why He should consider it needful either to delay or to hasten the end. How shall we understand this? If we were able to understand it, there would be no occasion for Moses and Peter to add, with the Lord.

[20] Gnomon properly denotes the pin of a sun-dial.—T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_3:8 refers to the reason given in ἀφʼ ἧς, 2Pe_3:4, on which the scoffers based their assertion; it points out that the delay, also, of the Parousia is no proof that it will not take place.

ἓν δὲ τοῦτο] this one thing, as a specially important point.

μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς] let it not be hid from you; said with reference to 2Pe_3:5.

ὅτι μία ἡμέρα κ.τ.λ.] a thought that echoes Psa_90:4. The words lay stress on the difference between the divine and the human reckoning of time. It does not designate God as being absolutely without limitations of time (cui nihil est praeteritum, nihil futurum, sed omnia praesentia; Aretius), for it is not the nature of God that is here in question, but Gods reckoning of time which He created along with the world, and the words only bring out that it is different from that of man.[95] For this purpose the words of the Psalms were not sufficient: ΧΊΛΙΑ ἜΤΗ ἘΝ ὈΦΘΑΛΜΟῖς ΣΟΥ Ὡς Ἡ ἩΜΈΡΑ Ἡ ἘΧΘΈς; and therefore on the basis of them the author constructs a verse consisting of two members.

ΠΑΡᾺ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ] with God, i.e. in Gods way of looking at things. Since, then, time has a different value in Gods eyes from that which it has in the eyes of men, the tarrying hitherto of the judgment, although it had been predicted as at hand, is no proof that the judgment will not actually come.[96]

[95] Hofmann is consequently equally incorrect when he says that the passage in the Psalm asserts that for God time is no time, but here that for Him it is neither short nor long.

[96] The following thoughts are not expressed here, although they may he inferred from what is said: In one single day of judgment God can punish the sin of centuries, and can adjust that great inequality which, by so long a duration, has been introduced into eternity (Dietlein); and in one day a mighty step onwards may be taken, such as in a thousand years could hardly have been expected; and then again, if retarded by the will of God, the march of development will, for a thousand years hardly move faster than otherwise it would have done in a single day (Thiersch, p. 107).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 3:8-10 . A further argument to explain the apparent delay . “One thing beloved, you must not forget. The sense of the duration of time in the Divine Mind is not the same as in the human. One day is the same to God as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God must not be judged as slack by human standards, in the fulfilment of His promise. He is better than the promise. He is long-suffering to usward, not willing that some should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We know not when His long-suffering will be exhausted. The day of the Lord will come as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with hurtling noise, and the elements being burned, shall pass away, and the earth and the works of men contained in it, will be made manifest.”

2Pe 3:8 . μία ἡμέρα , κ . τ . λ . Cf. Psa 40:4 . The literal application of this statement to the story of creation, employed by patristic writers, in which one day is interpreted as 1000 years, and therefore the creation in six days really means 6000 years, is of course absurd. On the other hand, it can scarcely be said that the writer of 2 Peter has attained to the conception that the category of time does not exist for the Divine Mind. Rather the meaning is that infinite compassion overrides in the Divine Mind all finite reckoning. Cf. Barnabas, 15, Justin, Dialogue , 81.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The taking away of an objection: in that he seemeth to defer this judgment a long season, in respect of us it is true, but not before God with whom there is no time either long or short.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The apostle comes in these words to instruct and establish Christians in the truth of the coming of the Lord, where we may clearly discern the tenderness and affection wherewith he speaks to them, calling them beloved; he had a compassionate concern and a love of good-will for the ungodly wretches who refused to believe divine revelation, but he has a peculiar respect for the true believers, and the remaining ignorance and weakness that the apprehends to be in them make him jealous, and put him on giving them a caution. Here we may observe,

I. The truth which the apostle asserts - that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day. Though, in the account of men, there is a great deal of difference between a day and a year, and a vast deal more between one day and a thousand years, yet in the account of God, who inhabits eternity, in which there is no succession, there is no difference; for all things past, present, and future, are ever before him, and the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him as the deferring of any thing for a day or an hour is to us.

II. The importance of this truth: This is the one thing the apostle would not have us ignorant of; a holy awe and reverential fear of God are necessary in order to our worshiping and glorifying him, and a belief of the inconceivable distance between him and us is very proper to beget and maintain that religious fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This is a truth that belongs to our peace, and therefore he endeavours that it may not be hidden from our eyes; as it is in the original, Let not this one thing be hidden from you. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such a one as themselves. Yet how hard is it to conceive of eternity! It is therefore not very easy to attain such a knowledge of God as is absolutely necessary.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

be not ignorant--as those scoffers are (Pe2 3:5). Besides the refutation of them (Pe2 3:5-7) drawn from the history of the deluge, here he adds another (addressed more to believers than to the mockers): God's delay in fulfilling His promise is not, like men's delays, owing to inability or fickleness in keeping His word, but through "long-suffering."

this one thing--as the consideration of chief importance (Luk 10:42).

one day . . . thousand years-- (Psa 90:4): Moses there says, Thy eternity, knowing no distinction between a thousand years and a day, is the refuge of us creatures of a day. Peter views God's eternity in relation to the last day: that day seems to us, short-lived beings, long in coming, but with the Lord the interval is irrespective of the idea of long or short. His eternity exceeds all measures of time: to His divine knowledge all future things are present: His power requires not long delays for the performance of His work: His long-suffering excludes all impatient expectation and eager haste, such as we men feel. He is equally blessed in one day and in a thousand years. He can do the work of a thousand years in one day: so in Pe2 3:9 it is said, "He is not slack," that is, "slow": He has always the power to fulfil His "promise."

thousand years as one day--No delay which occurs is long to God: as to a man of countless riches, a thousand guineas are as a single penny. God's Å“onologe (eternal-ages measurer) differs wholly from man's horologe (hour-glass). His gnomon (dial-pointer) shows all the hours at once in the greatest activity and in perfect repose. To Him the hours pass away, neither more slowly, nor more quickly, than befits His economy. There is nothing to make Him need either to hasten or delay the end. The words, "with the Lord" (Psa 90:4, "In Thy sight"), silence all man's objections on the ground of his incapability of understanding this [BENGEL].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Be not ignorant] Though they are wilfully ignorant, neglect not ye the means of instruction.

One day is with the Lord as a thousand years] That is: All time is as nothing before him, because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity; therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before him; no lapse of ages impairs his purposes, nor need he wait to find convenience to execute those purposes. And when the longest period of time has passed by, it is but as a moment or indivisible point in comparison of eternity. This thought is well expressed by PLUTARCH, Consol. ad Apoll.: "If we compare the time of life with eternity, we shall find no difference between long and short. Τα γαρ χιλια, και τα μυρια ετη, στιγμη τις εστιν αοριστος, μαλλον δε μοριον τι βραχυτατον στιγμης· for a thousand or ten thousand years are but a certain indefinite point, or rather the smallest part of a point." The words of the apostle seem to be a quotation from Ps 90:4.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. But be not ignorant of this one thing. He now turns to speak to the godly; and he reminds them that when the coming of Christ is the subject, they were to raise upwards their eyes, for by so doing, they would not limit, by their unreasonable wishes, the time appointed by the Lord. For waiting seems very long on this account, because we have our eyes fixed on the shortness of the present life, and we also increase weariness by computing days, hours, and minutes. But when the eternity of God's kingdom comes to our minds, many ages vanish away like so many moments.

This then is what the Apostle calls our attention to, so that we may know that the day of resurrection does not depend on the present flow of time, but on the hidden purpose of God, as though he had said, “Men wish to anticipate God for this reason, because they measure time according to the judgment of their own flesh; and they are by nature inclined to impatience, so that celerity is even delay to them: do ye then ascend in your minds to heaven, and thus time will be to you neither long nor short.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

8. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing] Literally, the construction being the same as in 2Pe_3:5, let not this one thing be hidden from you.

that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years …] The latter clause has its origin in the words of the Psalmist, “A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday” (Psa_90:4); but while the Psalmist dwells only on the littleness of our greatest time-measures, the Apostle completes the thought by joining with it the possible greatness of that which to our sight is almost infinitely little. “A day” (probably with special reference to the day of judgment) may be pregnant with results for the spiritual history of mankind or of an individual soul as great as those of a millennium. The delay of a millennium may be but as a day in the evolution of the great purposes of God. The words have the additional interest of having impressed themselves as a “faithful saying” or axiom of religious thought on the minds of the apostolic age, and are quoted as such in the Epistle that bears the name of Barnabas (chap. 15). This forms the second answer of the Apostle to the sneering question of the mockers.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,.... Here the apostle addresses the saints he writes unto, and for whom he had a tender affection and regard, and for whose welfare he was concerned, lest they should be stumbled at the length of time since the promise of the coming of Christ was given, and which these scoffers object; and therefore he would have them know, observe, and consider this one thing, which might be of great use to them to make their minds easy, and keep up their faith and expectation of the coming of Christ:

that one day is, with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; referring either to Psa 90:4; or to a common saying among the Jews, founded on the same passage, , "the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years" (z); suggesting, that though between thirty and forty years had elapsed since the promise was given out that Christ would come again, and should even a thousand, or two thousand years more, run off, before the coming of Christ, yet this should be no objection to the accomplishment of the promise; for though such a number of years is very considerable among men, ye not "with God", as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, with whom a thousand years, and even eternity itself, is but as a day, Isa 43:13. Unless this phrase should be thought to refer, as it is by some, to the day of judgment, and be expressive of the duration of that: it is certain that the Jews interpreted days of millenniums, and reckoned millenniums by days, and used this phrase in confirmation of it. Thus they say (a),

"in the time to come, which is in the last days, on the sixth day, which is the sixth millennium, when the Messiah comes, for the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years.''

And a little after,

""the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man". This is in the time of the Messiah which is in the sixth day.''

And elsewhere (b),

"the sixth degree is called the sixth day, the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years. And in that day the King Messiah shall come, and it shall be called the feast of gathering, for the holy blessed God will gather in it the captivity of his people.''

So they call the sabbath, or seventh day, the seventh millennium, and interpret (c).

""the song for the sabbath day", Psa 92:1 title, for the seventh millennium, for one day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years.''

To which agrees the tradition of Elias, which runs thus (d);

"it is the tradition of the house of Elias, that the world shall be six thousand years, two thousand years void (of the law), two thousand years the law, and two thousand years the days of the Messiah;''

for they suppose that the six days of the creation were expressive of the six thousand years in which the world will stand; and that the seventh day prefigures the last millennium, in which will be the day of judgment, and the world to come; for

"the six days of the creation (they say (e)) is a sign or intimation of these things: on the sixth day man was created; and on the seventh his work was finished; so the kings of the nations of the world (continue) five millenniums, answering to the five days, in which were created the fowls, and the creeping things of the waters, and other things; and the enjoyment of their kingdom is a little in the sixth, answerable to the creation of the beasts, and living creatures created at this time in the beginning of it; and the kingdom of the house of David is in the sixth millennium, answerable to the creation of man, who knew his Creator, and ruled over them all; and in the end of that millennium will be the day of judgment, answerable to man, who was judged in the end of it; and the seventh is the sabbath, and it is the beginning of the world to come.''

(z) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 8. fol. 7. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 19. fol. 160. 2. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 216. 1. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 20. 1. Zohar in Exod. fol. 60. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 157. 1. & Nishmet Chayim Orat. 1. c. 5. fol. 12. 1. (a) Zohar in Gen. fol. 13. 4. (b) Ib. fol. 16. 1. (c) Bartenora in Misn. Tamid, c. 7. sect. 4. (d) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 1. & Avoda Zara, fol. 9. 1. (e) Ceseph Misna in Maimon. Hilchot Teshuva, c. 9. sect. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Ver. 8. One day is with the Lord, &c.] Nullum tempus occurrit regi; how much less to the Ancient of days! In God there is no motion or flux; therefore a thousand years to him are but as one day.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be not ignorant of this one thing; i.e. be sure of it: the same word is here used as 2Pe 3:5; and so he cautions them against the ignorance of scoffers, and to prevent it, would have them certainly know this one thing, which is extant in the Scripture, which foretells Christ’s coming.

That one day is with the Lord; the Lord Jesus Christ, of whose coming he speaks.

As a thousand years; by a synecdoche, a thousand years is put for any, even the longest revolution of time; and the sense is, that though there be great difference of time, long and short, with us, who are subject to time, and are measured by it; yet with Him who is eternal, without succession, to whom nothing is past, nothing future, but all things present, there is no difference of time, none long, none short, but a thousand years, nay, all the time that hath run out since the creation of the world, is but as a day; and we are not to judge of the Lord’s delay in coming by our own sense, but by God’s eternity.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Our apostle now returns to the all-important caution in regard to time. It is on this point that the sceptical scoffers will fix. Remember that God’s hours are ages. Note on Act_1:7.

One day… a thousand years—In the prophetic predictions of the second advent the Spirit speaks by the arithmetic of God, in which the terms soon, quickly, humanly indicating a few days, divinely allow a few ages. Psalms 90.

And now the question may well arise, Why has inspiration thus used phrases of such nearness to designate an event which was to be, as near two thousand years’ experience has proved, so distant? Or, to express the thought in higher terms, Why has a divine arithmetic been thus used to express such a distance to human minds? Our reply would be this: The Spirit’s purpose is, to preserve in our minds an impressive conception of its nearness in spite of its distance. The divine intention is, to prevent our banishing it from our thoughts on account of its far futurity. In its momentousness to us it is nigh at hand, and time is no rightful factor in our calculations. Nay, the very greatness of its distance, far millenniums, perhaps, hence, demands that thought and language should bring it near. Sensible time is very relative. To us in the intervening spirit-world millenniums may pass with inconceivable rapidity. There ever is to us but a step, as it were, to the judgment-day. Note on Mat_25:6. Hence, Scripture uniformly points us, with warning, not to the day of death, but to the resurrection and the judgment-seat of Christ.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing; literally, let not this one thing escape you, as especially important. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

the Lord" means in his sight, in his estimate of things. (comp. Psa_90:4, "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday Bengel finely says, "Dei aeoniologium (sic appellare liceat) differt ab horologic mortalium. Illius gnomon omnes homis simul indicat in summa actione et in summa quiete. Ei nec tardius nec celerius labuntur tempera quam ipsi et oeconomiae ejus aptum sit. Nulls causa est cur finem rerum aut protelare aut accelerare necessum habeat. Qui hoc comprehendemus? Si comprehendere possemus, non opus foret a Mose et Petro addi, apud Dominum." God is eternal: his thought is not, like ours, subject to the law of time; and even we can understand that one day, as the day of the Saviour"s death, may have far more of intense action compressed into it, and far more influence upon the spiritual destiny of mankind, than any period of a thousand years. This passage seems to be quoted by Justin Martyr, the "Epistle of Barnabas," Irenaeus, and Hippolytus; but they may be referring to Psalm 90, though the quotations resemble the words of St. Peter more closely than those of the psalm.

The Eternal"s independence of time.

In all likelihood this sublime statement was suggested by the language of the ninetieth psalm, "A thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday when it is past." It is a glorious conception of the Divine greatness which is in this passage brought before our minds; whilst at the same time it has a practical bearing of a most valuable character upon the conduct of human life.

I THE GREAT TRUTH ASSERTED. Time is for man, not for God. We human beings have but a few years allotted to us as the period of earthly work; within the scant limits of those years we must do what we have power to do, or we must leave it for ever undone. This is not so with the Eternal He has the vast range of all human history in which to carry out his designs. The dispensations follow one another with no haste. The ages are the province within which God works.

II THE APPLICATION OF THIS TRUTH TO IMPENITENT SINNERS. It cannot be otherwise than that those who defy God"s authority should be affected by the deliberation with which the Almighty Ruler conducts his government.

1. Judgment deferred is made an excuse for perseverance in sin. If theDivine King were under the same restrictions as to time by which an earthly ruler is governed, the case would be otherwise. As it is, the withholding of retribution is misconceived. Yet judgment deferred is, in truth, not judgment reversed, but judgment delayed.

2. If the matter be regarded from the Divine side, another lesson comes tolight. Judgment delayed is an opportunity for repentance. Long-suffering on God"s part has this merciful significance. Time may teach when other instructors are disregarded; forbearance may be fruitful even when threatening is barren.

III THE APPLICATION OF THIS TRUTH TO THE TRIED AND TEMPTED PEOPLE OF GOD. Sometimes deliverance deferred is made a ground for fear that deliverance may never come. But the Christian is appointed to learn that deliverance deferred is only deliverance delayed.

The day of disappointment, of persecution, of seeming desertion, may appear to the afflicted like a year; the year may appear to be an age. But if the matter be regarded from the Divine side as our text invites us to regard it what a change comes over it! The distinction between a longer and a shorter period now almost vanishes. "What of the night? The morning cometh; and also the night." The rescue is near; the daybreak has already begun. Interposition is to be measured, not by years or by centuries, but by Divine purposes and promises.

APPLICATION. These considerations should check the arrogance of scoffers and unbelievers; and should sustain the faith, the courage, and the hope of the Church militant. J.R.T. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing; literally, let not this one thing escape you, as especially important. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

the Lord" means in his sight, in his estimate of things. (comp. Psa_90:4, "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday Bengel finely says, "Dei aeoniologium (sic appellare liceat) differt ab horologic mortalium. Illius gnomon omnes homis simul indicat in summa actione et in summa quiete. Ei nec tardius nec celerius labuntur tempera quam ipsi et oeconomiae ejus aptum sit. Nulls causa est cur finem rerum aut protelare aut accelerare necessum habeat. Qui hoc comprehendemus? Si comprehendere possemus, non opus foret a Mose et Petro addi, apud Dominum." God is eternal: his thought is not, like ours, subject to the law of time; and even we can understand that one day, as the day of the Saviour"s death, may have far more of intense action compressed into it, and far more influence upon the spiritual destiny of mankind, than any period of a thousand years. This passage seems to be quoted by Justin Martyr, the "Epistle of Barnabas," Irenaeus, and Hippolytus; but they may be referring to Psalm 90, though the quotations resemble the words of St. Peter more closely than those of the psalm.

The Eternal"s independence of time.

In all likelihood this sublime statement was suggested by the language of the ninetieth psalm, "A thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday when it is past." It is a glorious conception of the Divine greatness which is in this passage brought before our minds; whilst at the same time it has a practical bearing of a most valuable character upon the conduct of human life.

I THE GREAT TRUTH ASSERTED. Time is for man, not for God. We human beings have but a few years allotted to us as the period of earthly work; within the scant limits of those years we must do what we have power to do, or we must leave it for ever undone. This is not so with the Eternal He has the vast range of all human history in which to carry out his designs. The dispensations follow one another with no haste. The ages are the province within which God works.

II THE APPLICATION OF THIS TRUTH TO IMPENITENT SINNERS. It cannot be otherwise than that those who defy God"s authority should be affected by the deliberation with which the Almighty Ruler conducts his government.

1. Judgment deferred is made an excuse for perseverance in sin. If theDivine King were under the same restrictions as to time by which an earthly ruler is governed, the case would be otherwise. As it is, the withholding of retribution is misconceived. Yet judgment deferred is, in truth, not judgment reversed, but judgment delayed.

2. If the matter be regarded from the Divine side, another lesson comes tolight. Judgment delayed is an opportunity for repentance. Long-suffering on God"s part has this merciful significance. Time may teach when other instructors are disregarded; forbearance may be fruitful even when threatening is barren.

III THE APPLICATION OF THIS TRUTH TO THE TRIED AND TEMPTED PEOPLE OF GOD. Sometimes deliverance deferred is made a ground for fear that deliverance may never come. But the Christian is appointed to learn that deliverance deferred is only deliverance delayed.

The day of disappointment, of persecution, of seeming desertion, may appear to the afflicted like a year; the year may appear to be an age. But if the matter be regarded from the Divine side as our text invites us to regard it what a change comes over it! The distinction between a longer and a shorter period now almost vanishes. "What of the night? The morning cometh; and also the night." The rescue is near; the daybreak has already begun. Interposition is to be measured, not by years or by centuries, but by Divine purposes and promises.

APPLICATION. These considerations should check the arrogance of scoffers and unbelievers; and should sustain the faith, the courage, and the hope of the Church militant. J.R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But be not ye ignorant - Whatever they are. Of this one thing - Which casts much light on the point in hand. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day - Moses had said, Psalm xc, 4, "A thousand years in thy sight are as one day;" which St. Peter applies with regard to the last day, so as to denote both his eternity, whereby he exceeds all measure of time in his essence and in his operation; his knowledge, to which all things past or to come are present every moment; his power, which needs no long delay, in order to bring its work to perfection; and his longsuffering, which excludes all impatience of expectation, and desire of making haste. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years - That is, in one day, in one moment he can do the work of a thousand years. Therefore he "is not slow:" he is always equally ready to fulfil his promise. And a thousand years are as one day - That is, no delay is long to God. A thousand years are as one day to the eternal God. Therefore "he is longsuffering:" he gives us space for repentance, without any inconvenience to himself. In a word, with God time passes neither slower nor swifter than is suitable to him and his economy; nor can there be any reason why it should be necessary for him either to delay or hasten the end of all things. How can we comprehend this? If we could comprehend it, St. Peter needed not to have added, with the Lord.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle here answers the cavil and objection of the fore-mentioned scoffers, namely, That if Christ intends to come to judgment, why does he so long defer his coming?

To this our apostle replies,

1. By assuring them that this delay ought not to be judged according to our sense and apprehension of things, for God does not measure time as we do, but a thousand years, which seem so long to us, are but a day, yea, but a moment to him who is eternal, and inhabiteth eternity. To the eternity of God no finite duration bears any proportion; to eternity all time is equally short; God does not measure time by our pole, nor cast up years by our arithmetic.

2. He assures them farther, that God’s delay of judgment did not proceed from slackness, but from divine patience and goodness. He delays his coming, on purpose to give men time to repent, and by repenting, on purpose to give men time to repent, and by repentance to prevent their own eternal ruin.

Learn hence, 1. That God’s delay of judgment is no ground for sinners to conclude that he will not come to judgment, for our Saviour has now here fixed and determined the time of it. We can neither be sure when our Lord will come, nor certain when he will not come.

Learn, 2. That the true reason why God defers judgment is, to give sinners opportunity for repentance, if this be not complied with, he reserves those who are incorrigibly bad to a more remarkable ruin, condemning them that will not be saved, but obstinately destroy themselves.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8–13. But, beloved, be not ignorant. Delay was the objection of the scoffers, but time is no element in the counsels of God. He has eternity in which to work out his purposes. He can as well take a thousand years as a day. If he seems to us short lived creatures to delay it for wise purposes. See Ps. 90:4.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

It should not escape your notice

"You should not fail to understand this" or "Do not ignore this"

that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years

"that from the Lord's point of view, one day is like a thousand years"

The Lord does not move slowly concerning his promises

"The Lord does not move slowly to fulfill his promises"

as some consider slowness to be

Some people think that the Lord is slow to fulfill his promises because their perspective of time is different than God's.

translationWords

beloved

lord

promise

patient

perish

repent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8. ὑμᾶς, emphatic, opposed to αὐτούς in 2Pe 3:5.

Not only are the mockers mistaken as to the immutability of the world: they forget also (but you must not) that time is nothing in God’s sight. He delays His vengeance in mercy, but it will come.

μία ἡμέρα κ.τ.λ. The words go back to Psa 90:4 χίλια ἔτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἥτις διῆλθεν, καὶ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτί.

The writer does not apply the words in a sense which very usually attached to them among Jews and Christians. The belief arose (we cannot exactly trace by what steps), that since the world had been created in six days, and since a day and a thousand years are in God’s sight the same, so it would last six thousand years; and, as at creation the seventh day of rest followed, so the six thousand years would be succeeded by a seventh thousand of Sabbatical rest, the Millennium, as it is commonly called. We cannot dwell upon the importance of the belief in a Millennium: but the text before us was constantly invoked in support of that belief.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8-10.] Second contradiction to the scoffers: we are not to judge God, in the case of delay, as we do men, seeing that His thoughts are not as our thoughts.

8.] But let this one thing not escape you, beloved (ἓν τοῦτο, as especially important: λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς, in allusion to ver. 5), that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (the saying is the completion of that in Psa_90 (reff.), setting forth also in a wonderful way, that one day may be in God’s sight as productive of events as a millennium: in other words, when both clauses are considered, placing Him far above all human limits of time. “Summa: Dei æonologium (sic appellare liceat) differt ab horologio mortalium. Illius gnomon omnes horas simul indicat in summa actione et in summa quiete. Ei nec tardius nec celerius labuntur tempora, quam Ipsi et œconomiæ ejus aptum sit. Nulla causa est cur finem rerum aut protelare aut accelerare necessum habeat. Qui hoc comprehendemus? Si comprehendere possemus, non opus foret a Mose et Petro addi, apud Dominum.” Bengel).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.