“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.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Peter 3:4 Mean?
Peter quotes the scoffers who mock the promise of Christ's return: "Where is the promise of his coming?" Their argument sounds reasonable on the surface — since the founding generation died ("the fathers fell asleep"), nothing has changed. The world keeps spinning. The sun keeps rising. If Jesus was going to return, wouldn't something have shifted by now?
The phrase "all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" reveals their underlying philosophy: uniformitarianism — the assumption that because things have always been a certain way, they always will be. It's the logic of someone who has never seen a flood mocking the idea of rain.
Peter will go on to dismantle this argument by pointing to the flood itself — a cataclysmic interruption that the scoffers' own logic can't account for. But the deeper issue isn't cosmological; it's spiritual. The scoffers aren't making a scientific observation. They're using the appearance of normalcy to justify their desire that no judgment is coming and no accountability exists.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you ever struggled with doubt because Christ's return seems delayed?
- 2.How does the appearance of 'normalcy' in the world affect your sense of spiritual urgency?
- 3.What's the difference between patience and complacency when it comes to waiting for God to act?
- 4.The scoffers used the delay to justify living however they wanted — where might you be doing something similar?
Devotional
This verse hits differently when you realize we're still having the same conversation two thousand years later. "Where is this 'coming' you keep talking about?" The delay of Christ's return is one of the oldest objections to Christian faith, and it can be one of the most quietly destabilizing.
Because the scoffers aren't entirely wrong about the observation — things do seem to continue as they were. The bills still come. The news cycle keeps churning. The world doesn't look like it's building toward a climax. And in that apparent normalcy, it becomes easy to functionally live as though nothing is coming — even if you technically believe it is.
But Peter's point is that normalcy is not the same as permanence. The world looked normal the day before the flood too. Stability is not proof that things won't change; sometimes it's just the pause before they do.
The real question this verse poses isn't about eschatology — it's about how you live in the waiting. Do you let the apparent delay make you complacent? Or does the promise of his coming continue to shape your choices, even when everything around you says nothing is about to change?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?.... That is, of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, Pe2 3:2; the object…
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? - That is, either, Where is the “fulfillment” of that promise; or, Where…
Where is the promise of his coming? - Perhaps the false teachers here referred to were such as believed in the eternity…
To quicken and excite us to a serious minding and firm adhering to what God has revealed to us by the prophets and…
Where is the promise of his coming? The question indicates the comparatively late date of the Epistle. St James had…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture