The Problem with Peter

One of the popular, heartwarming passages that we like is found in 2 Peter 3. If you don't have it memorized, you can still probably quote it when I start it:

[God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Mmm, yes, like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter's evening, that just warms you right up to know that it is God's will that everyone be saved ... unless, of course, you actually examine the passage and the concept itself.

Is it God's will that everyone be saved? If so, it looks like He will fail. "No, no," you answer, "He just desires it." Well, according to the psalmist, "Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases" (Psa 115:3). All, except, it seems, saving everyone. You see, if it would please Him to save everyone, then there is only one possible outcome; everyone is saved. And we know that doesn't happen. Problem. The problem gets worse when you examine the context.

You will note, first, that the passage I quoted above starts with a bracketed phrase -- "God is". That's because the verse doesn't actually say that. I quoted it, as almost everyone does, completely out of context. Here's the actual verse from the ESV:

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.

Of course, that doesn't change much of anything, does it? Well, yes, it does. It gives us context. It actually forces a further question of context. Peter said that the Lord wasn't slow to fulfill His promise. What promise? Well, the context of the verse is by way of comfort because scoffers will come in the last days saying "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" (2 Peter 3:4). Peter's readers, then, were concerned because their enemies were telling them that Jesus was not going to carry through on His promise to return. Peter is addressing this concern. Jesus keeps His promises. Don't worry.

How does Peter calm his readers? He tells them what it is that is delaying Jesus's return. It is His patience toward us. You see, He is "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." That's what's delaying Him. When that is settled, He will return just as He promised.

Do you see the problem? If you understand 2 Peter 3:9 as a desire on God's part for all human beings to be saved, and if you see that this desire on God's part is what's delaying the return of Christ ... Christ will never return. Why? Because this is a desire on God's part that will never be met. There is no doubt whatsover that people will perish, that not all will repent. It is a given. If God is waiting for that to change, then indeed the scoffers are right because it won't and Christ won't return.

Is there an alternative? Well, of course. You'll see, if you pay attention, that we made a leap. The verse says that the Lord doesn't wish "that any should perish", but we made a leap to define that "any" as "any human being". It's not there. We fabricated it. And we did so badly. The most logical way to understand "any" is by reading the context. Any what? The context of the verse is "you". The Lord is patient toward you. Thus, the only rational term to fill in behind "any" is you. He doesn't wish that any of you should perish, not any human being at all. And who is the "you" Peter is addressing? Is it all humans? Not at all. It is "those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:1). It is, then, anyone who will come to faith.

What is holding Christ back from returning? He still has some He intends to save. When they are all saved, then He is free to return. What this verse promises is not a God who wills to save all but fails. It is not a warning that Jesus can never return because of God's wishful thinking. It is a promise that all whom He plans to save will be saved without fail. Now that is comfort.