The Bible Says
2 Peter 3:3-4 Meaning

In 2 Peter 3:3-4, Peter points out that in the last days mockers will claim that the delay in Jesus’s return means He is not coming back: Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the Promise of His coming? (v. 3-4a).

The phrase first of all translates the Greek word “protos” and indicates that what Peter is saying here is of primary importance. These mockers have the same basic spirit as the false teachers. The false teachers followed their sensuality (2 Peter 2:2, 18) and were filled with greed (2 Peter 2:3). The Greek word “epithymia,” translated lusts, occurs three other times in 2 Peter:

• 2 Peter 1:4 speaks of “corruption that is in the world by lusts [‘epithymia’]”
• 2 Peter 2:10 speaks of “the flesh in its corrupt desires [‘epithymia’]”
• 2 Peter 2:18 speaks of “fleshly desires [‘epithymia’] by sensuality”

The pattern is consistent; Peter is speaking of lusts that are evil desires from our sin nature. That these mockers are following after their own lusts means they are obeying their fleshly desires.

Believers are new creations in Christ, but we also still have our sinful nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul speaks of himself being “of flesh” and prone to sin, even “doing the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:14-15). Paul urges believers not to “turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). Paul asserts that walking in the flesh leads to biting and devouring one another (Galatians 5:15).

Peter will state in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that Paul’s letters are part of the “Scriptures,” so we should not be surprised that he and Paul say the same things in different ways. The mockers will have the same basic issue as the false teachers, they will have been captured by their flesh and fallen into the error of sin (2 Peter 2:18-19).

Peter desires his readers to understand that this mockery is a sign for being in the last days. He infers that he believes the last days is the time period in which he is living. This would tell us that the last days refers to a period of time between Christ’s ascension and His second coming to earth. This is likely the same period Paul refers to as “the fullness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25).

It could be that the false teachers Peter spoke of in the previous chapter are also the mockers of whom he speaks. A mocker is a person who ridicules and makes fun of a person or belief. In the context of this letter, the person who is mocked is Christ and the belief which is mocked is the promise of Christ’s coming to earth again to judge the world.

We see in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 that there were some first-century believers who expected Jesus to return any minute, and when He did not and some believers died, they were concerned that the dead believers might not be resurrected. Similarly, 2 Thessalonians 2:2 tells us that some were believing false teachers who said Jesus had already returned. Then in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11, it appears some who were expecting Jesus’s return had decided to “retire.” Since Jesus’s return was imminent, these believers stopped working jobs which provided for their basic needs and then mooched off of other believers.

This tells us that in the first century there was already a lot of discussion as well as misunderstanding about Jesus’s return to earth. This is understandable, since Jesus had left the earth not many years prior and the Apostles heard the angels tell them that He would return again (Acts 1:11). Further, the Apostles taught that if the first generation of Jews who had seen Christ would repent, Jesus would return and set up the “times of refreshing” (Acts 3:19).

But these are not seekers desiring to know and learn. Rather they are mockers who will come following after their own lusts. This means that these mockers, rather than pursuing truth, are living their lives controlled by their strong sinful desires. They are like those in Philippians 3:19 whose “god is their appetite” and therefore whose “glory is in their shame.”

The content of their mocking is verbalized, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (v. 4). These mockers were mocking the prophetic Word by questioning the reality of Christ’s coming again (2 Peter 3:12). The mockers’ rationale is as follows: “For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."

Peter explains the reason why these mockers are ridiculing and questioning the promise of Christ’s coming: for ever since the fathers fell asleep refers to the death of the Jewish Patriarchs, from Adam to Abraham. The mockers assert that since that time, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

Their reasoning is that nothing has changed, all is as it has always been. This means they reject some of the realities of history, such as Noah’s flood, which Peter will speak of next. This also predicts that some in the future would maintain that creation can be explained by a theory that all things that are-all that exists-reflect slow and gradual processes over a long period of time. This thesis flies in the face of both what can be observed as well as the biblical narrative, as Peter will next explore.

Whether or not Peter had in mind the current false teachers as being the mockers of whom he spoke, in hindsight we can know that the Spirit was speaking through him and telling us of a future time when such mockers would come; therefore we should be on the watch and beware their mocking, lest they lead us astray (2 Peter 1:21).