On Sunday we spent a bit of time considering God’s plan to
harden Pharaoh’s heart and then judge him for his obstinate refusal to let the
people go. The passage has
implications for our understanding of God’s control of human decisions. This subject is not only difficult to
understand, but also is difficult to reconcile with other passages of Scripture
that seem to uphold that God does not harden people or that He desires for all
people to be saved.
In a blog series many moons ago, I worked through some of
these passages seeking to explain them in their appropriate contexts. But it’s been a long time and I’m sure
it would be helpful to revisit these things, especially as we’re working our
way through Exodus, where we will be confronted on numerous occasions with the
meticulous sovereignty of God.
2 Peter 3:9 is a verse that is frequently cited as being a
difficulty for the notion that God hardens some sinners and elects others to
salvation.
The Lord is not slow
to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but
that all should reach repentance.
A cursory reading of this verse, outside of its context,
would seem to present a very different picture from passages like Exo 4:21-23
and Romans 9:6-26, which teach that God hardens some and draws others. Peter, here, seems to say the opposite
– that God desires all people, not just some, to be saved.
But the key phrases in the previous sentence are “cursory
reading” and “outside of its context.”
When we look carefully at the
verse in its context, the difficulty
disappears altogether. It will
take a while to develop this – more than one post – but if you’ll hang in
there, you’ll most likely be able to understand how this works and you’ll also
be able to help others who have questions about it.
Let’s consider first the immediate context of the
verse. In a later post, we’ll look
at the greater context of 2 Peter, including the first couple of chapters. Peter writes 3:9 as part of a response
to skeptics who claim that the Lord is not going to return. He warns in vv1-3 that scoffers will
come in the last days, and in v4 he gives the content of their scoffing:
They will say,
"Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell
asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of
creation."
The argument of these scoffers is that Jesus must not be
coming back since nothing has changed since the beginning of time. Peter’s first point in response is that
these scoffers overlook the fact that God has already brought judgment once
before in the form of the flood (3:5-7).
His second point is that God does not mark time as we do – a thousand
years is as a day and vice versa (3:8).
In other words, it may seem to us like the Lord is slow to fulfill His
promise to return, but that is only because of our relative experience of the
passage of time.
His third point is crucial and is found in 3:9: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise
as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should
perish, but that all should reach repentance. It’s essential that we keep in mind that this verse is
answering an objection regarding the return of the Lord. The promise mentioned is the Lord’s
promise to return for His bride. Peter
is explaining why the Lord has not returned yet. He has not returned yet, “because
he is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all
should reach repentance.” The
Lord is patient – He is waiting to return – until “all” repent.
Those who contend that this verse refutes the idea that God
chooses to harden some and to draw others hold that “all” means all people
without exception. They would say
that this verse indicates that God wants every single person to be saved.
But will the context allow us to understand “all” in this
way, especially if we keep in mind that this is being given as a reason for the
Lord’s waiting to return? Who is
“all”? If “all” is all people without exception and if God
is waiting to return until “all” repent, then we are forced to conclude that
the Lord will never return because other Scriptures are clear that not all
people come to repentance. In fact,
2 Peter alone contains numerous references to the certain judgment of the
wicked (2:1, 3, 4-9, 12-13, 17, 21; 3:7, 10, 11-12, 16). It is not merely a possibility that
some will not repent and therefore be judged. It is a certainty predicted in this very epistle. It is a certainty that some will not
repent. Therefore, if Jesus is
waiting to return until all people
without exception repent, He will never return.
But that is clearly not Peter’s point. This section is intended to reassure
the recipients that the Lord IS going to return. After all, Peter is refuting those who say that the Lord is
not going to return. He’s going to
return when “all” repent. It must
be that “all” does not mean all people
without exception.
And we can know that “all” doesn’t mean all people without exception based upon 3:9 itself. Consider the grammatical structure of
the last half of the verse:
because he is patient toward you,
not wishing that
any should perish,
but that all
should reach repentance
The parallel phrases “not wishing
that any should perish” and “but that all
should reach repentance” both modify the clause, “He is patient toward you.” In other words, both of those phrases clarify or explain the
preceding clause. “You” is the key
word here for helping us to understand to whom Peter is referring. The Lord’s patience is not toward all
people without exception, but toward a specific group, “you.” The “any” that He does not want to
perish and the “all” that He wants to come to repentance are both contained in
the “you” of the main clause.
That’s the grammatical structure.
The grammar of the text itself will not allow us to understand “all” to
be all people without exception. Rather, it is “all” of the “you.”
So who is the “you”?
The context tells us. We’ll
look at that next time.
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