“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Peter 3:9 Mean?
2 Peter 3:9 reinterprets divine delay as divine mercy — and the reinterpretation answers the scoffers' primary accusation. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise" — ou bradunei kurios tēs epangelias. Bradunō — to be slow, to delay, to lag behind schedule. Peter denies it: the Lord isn't slow. The promise (epangelia — the pledge of Christ's return) isn't behind schedule. What looks like tardiness is something else entirely.
"As some men count slackness" — hōs tines bradutēta hēgountai. Some (tines — certain people, the scoffers of v. 3) interpret the delay as bradutēta — slowness, inefficiency, failed delivery. They count it — hēgountai, they reckon, they evaluate — as evidence that the promise is empty. The delay proves the promise is fake. That's the scoffers' logic. Peter says: your interpretation is wrong.
"But is longsuffering to us-ward" — alla makrothumei eis humas. Makrothumeō — to be long-tempered, to delay wrath, to extend patience. The delay isn't slackness. It's longsuffering. The patience is directed: eis humas — toward you, aimed at you, for your benefit. The time the scoffers interpret as failure, God intends as grace.
"Not willing that any should perish" — mē boulomenos tinas apolesthai. Boulomenos — willing, desiring, intending. Apolesthai — to perish, to be destroyed, to be lost. God doesn't want anyone to perish. The delay exists because more people haven't repented yet — and God is giving them time.
"But that all should come to repentance" — alla pantas eis metanoian chōrēsai. All — pantas, everyone. Repentance — metanoia, the change of mind that produces the change of life. God's patience is targeted: He's waiting for repentance. Every day the return doesn't happen is a day someone might turn.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you interpreted God's delay as slackness — as evidence that the promise isn't real?
- 2.How does knowing the delay is patience (not failure) change your relationship with God's timing?
- 3.Who might be the person God is being patient for right now — the one who needs one more day to repent?
- 4.If God is 'not willing that any should perish,' how does that shape your urgency about the people in your life?
Devotional
The delay isn't slackness. It's patience. And the patience is for you.
The scoffers ask: where is the promise of His coming? (v. 4). Everything continues as it always has. Nothing has changed. The return hasn't happened. Therefore: the promise is empty. The logic sounds airtight — until Peter reinterprets the data.
The Lord is not slow. The same delay the scoffers call failure, Peter calls longsuffering. Makrothumeō — long-tempered, patient to the point of endurance. The delay isn't evidence of God's incompetence. It's evidence of God's mercy. Every day Christ doesn't return is a day more people have to repent. The gap between the promise and the fulfillment isn't empty. It's full — of grace, of patience, of God refusing to close the door while people are still walking toward it.
"Not willing that any should perish." The scope of God's desire: anyone. Tinas — any single person. God doesn't want a single human being to perish. The delay that frustrates the faithful and encourages the scoffers is the patience of a God who keeps the repentance window open as long as possible — because He'd rather wait than lose even one.
"But that all should come to repentance." All — pantas. The patience isn't passive. It's purposeful. God is waiting for something specific: the turning. The metanoia. The change of mind that redirects a life. And every day the return is delayed is another day someone has to make that turn.
If you've been frustrated by the delay — by the silence, by the apparent absence, by the world continuing as if Christ isn't coming — Peter says: the delay is mercy. Not for you only. For the person who hasn't repented yet. The person who needs one more day, one more conversation, one more chance. The patience is for them. And the patience might be the thing that saves them.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,.... The Syriac version reads in the plural, "his promises", any of his…
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise - That is, it should not be inferred because His promise seems to be long…
The Lord is not slack - They probably in their mocking said, "Either God had made no such promise to judge the world,…
We are here told that the Lord is not slack - he does not delay beyond the appointed time; as God kept the time that he…
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness We enter here on the third answer, and it…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture