Patience and Peace
2 Peter 3:1-15a (RCL 3:8-15)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Text: 2 Peter 5:13 –
“But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.”
“Promises, promises.” Have you ever felt like that was the story of your life?
The past year of electioneering has brought many promises, some of them clearly far-fetched. Other promises have been couched with more caution.
Some hopes are particularly appealing. We long, for example, for a promised vaccine against COVID-19 that will be safe and effective and help us return to a new normal in our lives on earth.
Promises are also made on a more personal scale. Employers may make promises to workers. Family members make promises to each other. Sometimes the promises are kept, sometimes not so much.
It’s easy to grow skeptical about promises, whether big or small, and that skepticism can bleed into our reading of promises we find in the Bible, too.
The presence of such doubts is at the heart of today’s text. For example, will there really be a day when Christ will return and set all things right? [DD]
Be assured (vv. 1-7)
The unknown author of 2 Peter believed it was a trustworthy promise.
His short letter was probably written early in the second century, long after the apostle Peter had died. It was common in that period for people to write in the name of a more famous predecessor, and the church leader who wrote 2 Peter almost certainly followed that convention. [DD]
We refer to the letter as a “General Epistle,” meaning that it was addressed to believers in general, rather than to a specific church. Whether its initial recipients lived in Rome, Asia Minor, or Palestine, they faced an ongoing crisis of identity. Generations had passed since the church was birthed with the expectation that Christ would soon return, but it hadn’t happened.
Secondly, despite its Jewish roots, the church was operating within a pervasive Hellenistic society. Contemporary philosophies were influential, and various attempts to combine the gospel with popular thought led to a confusion of beliefs.
The author had two primary concerns. First, a group of people he called “scoffers” were disputing whether Christ would return or that humankind would face a day of divine judgment. Without the ethical motivation of a coming judgment, they saw little need to worry about present behavior: eschatological skepticism led to moral libertinism. [DD].
The gospel writers credited Jesus with predicting a day when cosmic catastrophes would herald the return of the “Son of Man” and introduce a time of judgment (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). From the time of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, his followers had anticipated his return with either hope or dread. Had not Jesus said “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place”? (Matt. 24:34).
The word genea typically referred to a family generation, suggesting a period of 20 to 40 years between the age of parents and children. It is obvious that the promise had not been fulfilled in that sense, so modern readers must either assume the prediction attributed to Jesus was wrong, or else interpret “generation” metaphorically.
Most scholars prefer the latter. A common proposal is that Jesus spoke of the “age of Israel” as a former generation and the “age of the church” as a new generation of indeterminate length that would culminate with Christ’s return (the “parousía”). [DD]
Jesus’ contemporaries, however, expected Christ to return sooner rather than later, and possibly in their own lifetimes. Paul echoed the belief, urging readers to be hopeful and faithful as they watched for the parousía (1 Thess. 4:13-5:11). The visionary Apocalypse of John has Jesus saying: “I am coming soon!” (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20, cf. 2:16, 3:11).
As decades passed without any evidence of cosmic conflagration, some believers began to doubt that there would be a “Second Coming” or a judgment at all. Possibly influenced by Epicurean philosophy, some argued that if there were no eternal consequences to fear, there was little need for moral restraint or ethical behavior.
The author of 2 Peter saw their skepticism as evidence of the end times, writing that “in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging in their own lusts and saying ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!’” (vv. 3-4).
The apostolic ancestors had predicted a quick return of Christ, but they were all dead, and Christ had not returned. Thus, the “scoffers” argued that a coming judgement seemed unlikely, so why not live it up?
The author presented four arguments against their position. First, he insisted that God’s words are reliable, citing the flood in Noah’s time as evidence. God had not only fashioned the heavens and the earth “by the word of God,” but had spoken a word of judgment that was fulfilled by the deluge (vv. 5-6, cf. Genesis 6-8). Now, he insisted, “by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire” that would bring judgment to all and destroy the godless (v. 7).
Be alert (vv. 8-10)
The writer’s second argument called for perspective. He quoted Ps. 90:4: “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” In other words, God and humans don’t understand time in the same way (v. 8). One cannot claim that God is slow about keeping promises when time is relative and we know only the human side of it.
The author’s third defense appealed to God’s mercy: he insisted that the delay in Christ’s return was evidence that “God is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (v. 9). Thus, what some saw as an inept prediction of a judgment that had not occurred, the author saw as evidence of God’s mercy and an opportunity to repent while there was still time.
The writer’s final argument was that the timing of judgment was unpredictable by design. Both Jesus (Matt. 24:43-44) and Paul (1 Thes. 5:2) had taught that Christ’s return would be like a thief in the night, when least expected. That didn’t make it less sure: the author still expected a day when everything between heaven and earth would dissolve in fire, leaving all human works laid bare (v. 10). [DD]
Be at work (vv. 11-15a)
Having argued for the reality of a coming judgment, the author asked the same question that we should be asking: “If judgment is coming, but we don’t know when, what sort of lives should we be living? What kind of godliness and holiness should we be demonstrating?” (the writer’s version has considerably more heat, vv. 11-12). [DD]
If a worker knows when a supervisor typically makes rounds, he or she is likely to be more industrious at that time than at others – but if the timing of the boss’ appearance is uncertain, one could be more motivated to remain engaged at all times.
The author believed that the certainty of judgment, combined with the uncertainty of its timing, should provide adequate motivation for believers to live in holy and godly ways at all times, and not just for their own benefit – they would also be “hastening the coming of the day of God” (v. 12).
Perhaps the writer hoped the positive influence of Christ-like believers would lead to the conversion of so many persons that God would no longer need to wait “for all to come to repentance” (v. 9).
In any case, he was confident that believers’ patience would be rewarded in the promise of “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home” (v. 13).
In contrast to the predictions of fire and melting elements that preceded it, this is one of the most beautiful images in the Bible. Our present world often seems dominated by people who are motivated by power and greed, or by the desire to impose their religious or cultural standards on everyone else.
How lovely to imagine living in a place “where righteousness is at home” – but that’s not just a future hope. We are called to live rightly where we are (vv. 14-15a).
Our understanding of future things need not be limited to a literal interpretation of biblical imagery that is rife with metaphor. While we live, while we are waiting for the culmination of all things – whatever or whenever that might be – we should “strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish,” the writer says, unlike the scoffers he had described as “blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation” (2:13). God’s patience is an opportunity for salvation, and people should cherish that chance.
If the author of this letter were to jump ahead nearly two millennia in which the parousía still has not occurred, what do you think he might say to our churches, or to us as individuals? Would he find us living godly lives, striving to respond to the world as Jesus would, doing our best to build a land where peace pervades, and righteousness is at home? [DD]
Time remains relative, and God’s time is not our time. Whether we expect to meet Christ through an end-times scenario or at the end of our time on earth, we have no way of knowing when that time will be. How should we then live?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: 2 Peter 3:1-15
Youth Teaching Resources
Social Media Challenge
Throughout the season of Advent, the social media challenge will be centered around the weekly themes of Advent.
On Sunday, post a picture of two purples candle that are lit. On Monday, post the word “Faith”. On Tuesday through Saturday, post images or phrases that reveal your faith.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: 2 Peter 3:1-15
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Campaign Promises” from Citizen Kane
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