2 Peter 3:5

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Refutation of their scoffing from Scripture history. WILLINGLY - willfully: they do not wish to know. Their ignorance is voluntary. ARE IGNORANT OF - in contrast to 2 Peter 3:8, "be not ignorant of this." [ Lanthanei (G2990) ... lanthaneto (G2990), 'This escapes THEIR notice (sagacious philosophers though they think themselves): let this not escape YOURS.'] They shut their eyes to the Scripture record of creation and the deluge: the latter is parallel to the coming judgment by fire; as Peter remembered Jesus' words ...

5._For this they willingly are ignorant of. _By one argument only he confutes the scoff of the ungodly, even by this, that the world once perished by a deluge of waters, when yet it consisted of waters. (Genesis 1:2.) And as the history of this was well known, he says that they _willingly, _or of their own accord, erred. For they who infer the perpetuity of the world from its present state, designedly close their eyes, so as not to see so clear a judgment of God. The world no doubt had its origin from waters, for Moses calls the chaos from which the earth emerged, waters; and further, it was sustained by waters; it yet pleased the Lord to use waters for the purpose of destroying it. It hence appears that the power of nature is not sufficient to sustain and preserve the world, but that on the contrary it contains the very element of its own ruin, whenever it may please God to destr

5-10 Had these scoffers considered the dreadful vengeance with which God swept away a whole world of ungodly men at once, surely they would not have scoffed at his threatening an equally terrible judgment. The heavens and the earth which now are, by the same word, it is declared, will be destroyed by fire. This is as sure to come, as the truth and the power of God can make it. Christians are here taught and established in the truth of the coming of the Lord. Though, in the account of men, there is a vast difference between one day and a thousand years, yet, in the account of God, there is no difference. All things past, present, and future, are ever before him: the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him, as putting off any thing for a day or for an hour is to us. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such as themselves. How...

Verse 5. _FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF_] They shut their eyes against the light, and refuse all evidence; what does not answer their purpose _they will not know_. And the apostle refers to a _fact_ that militates against their hypothesis, with which they refused to acquaint themselves; and their ignorance he attributes to their unwillingness to learn the true state of the case. _BY THE WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS WERE OF OLD_] I shall set down the Greek text of this extremely difficult clause: ουπανοιησαν Ουρανοι ησαν εκπαλαι, και γη εξ ὑδατος και δι' ὑδατος συνεστωσα, τῳ του Θεου λογῳ· translated thus by Mr. _Wakefield_: "A heaven and an earth formed out of water, and by means of water, by the appointment of God, had continued from old time." By Dr. _Macknight_ thus; "The heavens were anciently, and the earth of water: and through water the earth consists by the word of God...

FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF - Λαιθάνει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοῦτο θέλοντας Laithanei gar autous touto thelontas. There is some considerable variety in the translation of this passage. In our common version the Greek word (θέλοντας thelontas) is rendered as if it were an adverb, or as if it referred to their “ignorance” in regard to the event; meaning, that while they might have known this fact, they took no pains to do it, or that they preferred to have its recollection far from their minds. So Beza and Luther render it. Others, however, take it as referring to what follows, meaning, “being so minded; being of that opinion; or affirming.” So Bloomfield, Robinson (Lexicon), Mede, Rosenmuller, etc. According to this interpretation the sense is, “They who thus will or think; that is, they who hold the opinion that all things will co

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 3:1 THIS SECOND EPISTLE, BELOVED, I NOW WRITE UNTO YOU; literally, _this Epistle already a second one I write unto you. _The ἤδη ("already") implies that the interval between the two Epistles was not long. The expression "beloved," four times repeated in this chapter, shows the apostle's affectionate interest in his readers; and the word "second" forces us to make our choice between the Petrine authorship of the Epistle or the hypothesis of a direct forgery. IN BOTH WHICH I STIR UP YOUR PURE MINDS BY WAY OF REMEMBRANCE; literally, _in which, i.e.,_ "Epistles;" the word "second" implied an allusion to a First Epistle. St. Peter repeats the words which he had used in 2 Peter 1:13, "I think it meet … to stir

FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF,.... Namely, what follows; for as these men were such as had professed Christianity, and had the advantage of revelation, and had the opportunity of reading the Scriptures, they might have known that the heavens and the earth were from the beginning; and that they were made by the word of God; and that the earth was originally in such a position and situation as to be overflowed with a flood, and that it did perish by a general inundation; and that the present heavens and earth are kept and reserved for a general burning; and it might be discerned in nature, that there are preparations making for an universal conflagration; but all this they chose not to know, and affected ignorance of: particularly THAT BY THE WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS WERE OF OLD: not only in the times of Noah, but "from the beginning"; as the Ethiopic version reads, and which agr...

2 Peter 3:1. _This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up pour pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which. were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,_ This prophecy is most certainly being fulfilled in these days. 2 Peter 3:4. _And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the father fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation._ «Inviolable laws still govern the material creation. Men are still swift to sin. Oppressors are not overthrown; and, oftentimes, the good are left to languish in poverty an

III. THE FUTURE OF THE EARTH AND THE CONCLUSION CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Mocking at the Lord's coming (2 Peter 3:1)_ 2. The future of the earth (2 Peter 3:8) 3. EXHORTATION AND CONCLUSION (2 PETER 3:11) 2 Peter 3:1 The opening statement shows conclusively that Peter is the author and that this second Epistle was sent to the same believers to whom the first Epistle was addressed. The critics claim that this chapter marks a separate Epistle in itself and that it was combined by mistake with the preceding two Chapter s. Like so much else the critics put forth this is a foolish speculation wholly unwarranted

A further characteristic of the false teachers was the denial of the Second Advent (their coming is again spoken of as in the future; _cf._ 2 Peter 2:1 and 2 Peter 3:17). Their scepticism is based, partly, on the non-fulfilment of the primitive hope of the immediacy of the Parousia, and partly on a belief in the rigid immutability of the world process. The first generation of Christians (the fathers which can hardly be taken to mean the OT saints; there is here an indication of the late date of the epistle) has already passed away and all things remain as they had been from the beginning. But their reasoning is false. They wilfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were made and the earth from water and by means of water, and that by the same means they were afterwards destroyed. So by the word of God the