knowing this first, that there shall come at [the] close of the days mockers with mocking, walking according to their own lusts,
Peter has just sent his readers back to the words of the prophets and the apostles. Now he tells them the first thing they must know about the days ahead. The danger is ridicule, and it aims at one promise in particular: that Christ will come again.
Peter uses this phrase a second time here. One writer points out what the repetition is doing.
So here the repetition of "knowing this first" marks the importance of the truth. The gospel was preached to all creation. It might have seemed that this must have disarmed the hostile spirit, even in those who never believed to the saving of their souls, because of pride, pleasure, and lusts of all kinds. But the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.
These men do not come in from outside. One commentator names when they appear, where they rise, and what feeds them:
The apostle goes on to warn us against the special evils of the last days of the Christian world. He tells us that among those who profess to be Christians a class of unbelieving scoffers will arise. As always, unbelief is joined to a low moral condition. Unbelief has its spring in lust, and these men are described as "walking after their own lusts". The man who cannot believe what God says is doing what God forbids.
The same commentator finds the same pattern earlier, in Israel's own history:
In Bethel, the place distinguished in the history of Israel as the house of God, we find a band of mockers. It is no different in this day of grace. There is still ignorance and unbelief in the religious circle, and indifference among the men of the world. But the most terrible mark of the last days will be the appearance of scoffers among those who profess to be Christians — the very circle that claims to be the house of God. For such there is nothing but judgment — a judgment that begins at the house of God.
Of all the truths they could attack, they choose the Lord's return. One writer links that choice to the way they live.
First of all he issues a warning. He warns especially about the opposition to expect in the last days from scoffers, walking after their own lusts. Wishing to give free rein to their bodily desires, they deride the very thing that would put a check upon them.
So the failure is not one of evidence. Another writer ties the way these men walk to their refusal to know:
This brings out a most important truth. Whether a man can and will receive the truth of God is very largely a moral matter. Often a man wants to go on with his sin, or the flesh has a natural dislike of God. Perhaps they resent how the light searches them, and how the Bible holds them back. It is not the head that is so much at fault as the heart. "Walking after their own lusts … willingly ignorant" describes these latter-day scoffers well.
Peter warns us in advance so that the scoffing will not shake us. The mockery itself confirms his word.
Scripture gives us knowledge beforehand of the last days, so that we may be prepared. So it is no surprise that mockers have come. They walk in the lusts of self-pleasing, and shamelessly mock the promise that Christ will come. Their character, their conduct, and their sayings are all irresponsible and blameworthy. Such characters prove to us that the last days have come; so they really prove what they strongly deny. But this is always the case with unbelief: it proves itself to be folly.
- Know it first. Peter puts this warning at the head of the list on purpose. The repeated "knowing this first" marks how much weight the truth carries. Do not expect the last days to improve.
- Know where it starts. The scoffers rise among people who profess Christ, not outside them. For such there is nothing but judgment, and it begins at the house of God.
- Know the root. Unbelief here springs from lust, not from evidence. The man who cannot believe what God says is doing what God forbids; the fault lies in the heart rather than the head.
- Know the target. They mock the Lord's coming because it is the truth that would restrain them. They want free rein for their desires, so they laugh His return away.
- Know the outcome. By scoffing they date themselves. They prove the very thing they deny, and unbelief once again shows itself to be folly.
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for from the time the fathers fell asleep all things remain thus from [the] beginning of [the] creation.
Peter says that in the last days scoffers will mock the promise of Christ's return. Their sneer will rest on how steady and unbroken the world looks. The verse gives us their exact words, their reasoning, and a hint of why they want it to be true.
Commentators consistently trace this scoffing back to appetite rather than evidence. The order in the verses is deliberate: what these men are, then what they do, then what they say.
Peter tells us that a class of unbelieving scoffers will arise among those who profess to be Christians. As always, unbelief goes hand in hand with a low moral condition. Unbelief has its spring in lust, and these men are described as "walking after their own lusts". The man who cannot believe what God says is doing what God forbids. Then we learn what they say: "Where is the promise of His coming?" They raise questions about an event they know will get in the way of satisfying their lusts.
The craving behind it need not be a scandalous one. It can be the plain wish to be left alone.
It is always when people want to follow their own desires that they begin to scoff. It may not be open and gross desires. But man wants to be independent and to please himself. So he thinks he must get rid of God and of His authority. He would be glad to get rid of God out of the scene altogether if he could.
The word Peter uses here is the ordinary word for someone's arrival and presence, used of people as well as of Christ.
The first is parousia, which simply means "coming". So it applies to the personal coming of anyone, as well as to Christ's coming… It appears some sixteen times in relation to the coming of Christ.
So the promise is of a Person arriving, not an idea or an influence.
They build their case on what they see. Nothing has ever broken in on the world's steady run, so nothing ever will.
There have always been scoffers of this sort. But verse 4 predicts that in the last days they will base their scoffing on the steady, unbroken run of all things from the earliest times. That, they will claim, makes any sudden catastrophe in days to come — such as the coming of the Lord — unthinkable.
Commentators give this reasoning a name, and point out what it must leave out.
It is the argument of "uniformity", only carried through to the end. Men ignore God's judgment by the flood, as they have been seeking to ignore it in our own day. Science has lately spoken in agreement with Scripture, but that is not welcome to those who want no supernatural interference of God with the machinery of this world.
Peter answers the claim in the next verses by pointing to a catastrophe already on record. The flood cuts the ground from under the whole premise.
Meanwhile the fact of the flood remains a testimony: (1) That the world has not continued from its creation as it now is. (2) That God has already visited the human race with appalling judgment for wickedness. (3) That man left to himself does not develop towards goodness and happiness. He sinks lower and lower into filthy corruption and frightful violence.
They appeal to creation to prove God will not act.
But if they scoff at the Lord's coming, they must let creation in; and if creation comes in, there must be a Creator — and who is the Creator? There they are silenced.
The long stretch of time since the promise was given is the mockers' strongest card, and it rests on measuring God by human clocks.
But the scoffers do not know two things. (1) God did once take public account of the ways of the world, when it was filled with violence… (2) A thousand years are as one day in God's reckoning. The first shows that God is not indifferent to the state of the world. The second shows that we must not judge His ways by the ways of men.
Commentators point out that the taunt is aimed at the wrong event.
So if you say with a sneer, "Where is the promise of His coming?" I answer you, not that He is coming for you, but that the day of the Lord is coming on the world… We can answer with assurance that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night — sudden, unexpected and unwelcome… The result will be the new heavens and new earth, "in which righteousness dwells", without one scoffer more.
- Lust — the scoffing starts in the will, not the mind. Men who want no return of Christ ask the question.
- Logic — the will then hires an argument: everything has always run on, so nothing will ever break in.
- Flood — one fact on the record kills that argument. The world has not run on unchanged, and God has judged it once already.
- Clock — what looks like delay is God's own reckoning, where a thousand years are as one day.
- Day — the coming they deny arrives as a thief. It ends in new heavens and a new earth, with no scoffer left.