2 Peter 3

Read 2 Peter 3

Helpful Background Information: 

• In 2 Peter 3, Peter is writing to believers who are getting pressured by mockers and false teachers. He points them back to scripture (2 Peter 3:2). Peter also warns them not to be shocked when scoffers show up “in the last days” (2 Peter 3:3). Specifically, those who Mock Jesus for taking so long to return, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:4).

• Peter answers the scoffers by reminding them that God has intervened in history before, especially in creation and the flood (2 Peter 3:5–6). So the world has not “always continued” unchanged (2 Peter 3:4). The same God who spoke the world into being and judged it with water will judge it again, this time for the last time (2 Peter 3:7, 10). 

• But Peter also explains why the return feels delayed: God’s timeline is not ours (2 Peter 3:8), and what looks like slowness is actually mercy. God is being patient, wanting people to repent (2 Peter 3:9). That patience, though, should not make believers sleepy. Since “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10), Peter turns the whole chapter practical: what kind of people should we be? (2 Peter 3:11). 

Reflection Questions: 

• Peter says he’s writing to “stir up” your sincere mind “by way of reminder” (2 Peter 3:1). What truths do you tend to forget first when life gets busy or stressful?

• Peter says scoffers “deliberately overlook” creation and the flood (2 Peter 3:5–6). What are some truths about God that we today are tempted to choose to ignore because they’re inconvenient?

• “The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10). If Jesus returned today, what part of your life would you feel is the most “unready” for Him?