2 Peter 3:1-7
Peter writes again to awaken sincere minds through remembrance, urging believers to hold fast to the prophetic word and apostolic command because mockers will arise in the last days, deliberately dismissing the promise of Christ's coming; yet their skepticism collapses before the God whose word created the world, judged it by flood, and now reserves the present heavens and earth for final judgment by fire.
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you,
2 that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,
6 by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished.
7 But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Peter writes again to awaken sincere minds through remembrance, urging believers to hold fast to the prophetic word and apostolic command because mockers will arise in the last days, deliberately dismissing the promise of Christ's coming; yet their skepticism collapses before the God whose word created the world, judged it by flood, and now reserves the present heavens and earth for final judgment by fire.
After the severe exposure of false teachers in chapter 2, Peter returns in chapter 3 to pastoral address and covenant remembrance. He shifts from describing the corrupt character of deceivers to fortifying believers against the mocking message they spread. This paragraph restates a major theme from chapter 1: the church must remember the words spoken beforehand by the prophets and the command delivered through the apostles of the Lord and Savior. The specific issue now in view is eschatological mockery. The next paragraph, 2 Peter 3:8-13, will answer that mockery more fully by explaining divine patience, the certainty of the day of the Lord, and the hope of new heavens and a new earth.
The Day of the Lord, Patient Mercy, and Holy Readiness
Because the day of the Lord is certain and the Lord's patience is salvation, believers must reject scoffing unbelief, live holy and godly lives, and grow steadily in the grace and knowledge of Christ while awaiting the new creation.