“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Often this verse is used in the context of the Lord wanting and desiring all men to be saved. If the Lord is not willing that any should perish – that is it’s not the will of God for mankind to be relegated to eternal torments – and that it’s the hope of God that every man born would come to the savior. Coming to the open offer of the gospel to all mankind seems to be the emphasis of this text, that God is desirous that men should be saved. Is the truly what this verse is saying?
Context matters in this case, and taking a single verse to build a case for universal opportunity to hear and decide for Christ is not where the text leads us. First we need to know who Peter is addressing and why. In verse one he is addressing the beloved, or the church. The church is called “beloved in other places. In Romans 1:7 we see: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The beloved here mentioned are those beloved of God, so they cannot be unconverted sinners. Further, they are “called to be saints”, which is not a term used for the unbeliever; there is not a single case in holy scripture where the unbeliever is ever referred to as being called to be a saint or beloved, so in this case and in these verses, the group addressed is a group of believers that Peter writes to. In 2 Peter 3:2, Peter addressed the listener to be mindful of words spoken by holy prophets and commandments of the Lord and Savior. The words of Christ and the prophets of old were precious gems and pearls, which is forbidden to be cast before swine. Matthew 7:6a commands “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine”, and in this case that which is holy are the words of God, and the pearls spoken of here are the pearls of great price which Christ encourages us to sell all and acquire Him for eternal gain. Christ encourages us to be diligent to give all for and to Christ.
In 2 Peter 3:3-7, we understand the world being ripe for judgment as men walk after lusts and scoff at the delay of Christ to return. In these verses, Peter makes his point that the forgetfulness of men is making them ready to be judged as the world was judged the first time by water, and the next time by fire.
Now in verse 9, Peter is bringing the hearer to a point and stands as a bridge between verses 8 and 10 where Peter returns to the theme of end times, judgment, and destruction – encouraging men to be holy in all godliness and conversation or lifestyle. The same treatment is given to verse 9 which is our concern here, and the first part of the verse continued the theme of the preceding and latter verses, that God has made promises, and is not slack or negligent in those promises as some count slackness. The verse is also telling us that God is longsuffering. By reading the verses that bracket verse 9, we can now that God is going to judge the world, and this judgment is promised, but does exercise longsuffering. This brings to mind Romans 9:22, “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”. We see in both cases, God is exhibiting patience or longsuffering with sin that will eventually be judged. God is ready at any moment to open the chasm of hell to cast the wicked in, but He still is showing patience at this time.
In 2 Peter 3, we see that God is longsuffering. This is directed “toward” as a preposition pointed at the personal pronoun of “you”, meaning that the preceding verses building up to verse 9 were written to Christians in a church which were believers being mindful of the words of Christ and the prophets to be prepared while God is exercising patience and longsuffering with the wicked. Our word “willing” in Greek is boulomenos or “resolutely resolved” to a decision made at some point in the past. We see that God decided in some time past that He was going to judge the wicked as He did in the flood and how He will with future fire, but is now being “makrothymei eis hymas”or “patient toward you”, who are the ones address in 2 Peter 3. Those being addressed are believers, the elect of God chosen before the foundation of the world – in the past, because God is going to bring fully into His storehouses all whom He is planning to save so that none are lost. God will save all His elect without fail. The use of “choresai” or “to come” is aorist tense, which in Greek is an action that has a starting point that continues forever into the future with no stopping point. This means those that are repenting and coming to Christ are also sealed forever when they come to Him. They are forever secure in Him.
This scripture of 2 Peter 3:9 cannot be addressing people in general hoping that there will be an offer generally of the gospel to all mankind where men will make decisions for Jesus Christ; because the subject of the chapter is addressing the elect children of God in the church of God that are chosen by God. Before the world is to be judged, all His elect will be saved. All the elect will come to repentance. All the elect will exercise the grace of faith. All the elect will close with Christ fully and finally.
To use this verse in any other way is to remove it from context, and add meaning that isn’t in the original text – remember the warning of this in Revelation 22:18-19. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
May God be honored and pleased with His children as He (God) exercises longsuffering toward us as the elect are repenting and coming fully to Christ.