2 Peter 3:9 is one of the frequent proof-texts quoted (out of context) in the attempt to argue for the idea that God desires for every person to be saved.  In this essay I'd like to examine this verse in context and demonstrate that a proper understanding of it does not support this popular point of view.

2 Peter 3:9

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.

On the face of it this verse seems inarguably clear.  God does not desire to save a specific people but instead desires to save ALL -- every single human individual -- thereby denying sovereign election and predestination.  But as soon as we treat this text as we should (exegeting it in context), we run into a number of problems with this a-contextual interpretation.

It should be pointed out first and foremost that it is absolutely unacceptable for someone to argue doctrine based on a single verse without even attempting to exegete it in context.  By doing this, the Bible student is ignoring some basic principles for building theology and is losing perspective to truly understand the Word of God.  Yet on no occasion have I ever seen this verse exegeted in context in the attempt to argue for the popular Arminian point of view that God desires every man to be saved.  Even the Arminian commentaries I have seen fail to go into sufficient detail on this verse.  I have, however, on more occasions than I can possibly recall, encountered this verse merely quoted as-is, isolated from its context, and interpreted in just the same way.  This is disappointing to say the least, and gives the critic of Calvinism no right to use the quite hostile speech we sometimes unfortunately see in internet dialogue.

Our interpretation of 2 Peter 3:9 will be much enlightened if we begin by grasping an understanding of the passage from which this verse comes:

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.  They will say, “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.”  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  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.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  (2 Pet. 3:1–13)

What should be immediately obvious about this text is that Peter is not speaking about salvation as his topic.  The reference to God desiring that “all should come to repentance” in verse 9 is made in passing, as a parenthetical statement.  The actual topic of this text is the Second Coming of Christ, the Parousia.  The mockers/scoffers (or unbelievers) will question the validity of Christ’s promise to return, seeing as it appears to be quite delayed.  Peter’s purpose in this passage is to explain why the return of Christ is being delayed.  And the need to give that reason is why the passing reference in verse 9 is made.

This initial observation is critical, because it already tells us that 2 Peter 3:9 is not intended to be used to construct one’s doctrine of salvation, but is rather intended to construct one’s understanding about the return of Christ and why He seems to be delaying in His promise to come.  The Arminian interpretation of this passage therefore breaks an elementary rule of sound exegesis: When you want to learn about a particular doctrine or subject, passages that specifically address that topic are always to be given priority over passing comments that are made in contexts that do not specifically deal with that topic.  And 2 Peter 3:1-13 is an eschatological, not soteriological passage.  Yet the Arminian wants to use it to support his soteriology.

The next important observation about this passage is the identification of Peter’s audience, and the distinction he makes between this group and another.  Peter makes reference to two groups of people throughout this passage: “them/they” and “you.”  “Them/they” are the mockers/scoffers (2 Peter 3:3-5), those who will make fun of Christ for appearing not to fulfill His promise to return.  Everywhere else in this passage Peter refers to “you,” whom he himself defines as the “beloved” (2 Peter 3:1, 8), and hence the “elect” (1 Peter 1:1, cf. 2 Peter 3:1 where Peter declares the audience of both letters to be the same).  Peter is therefore writing to the elect of God.  And this is clearly his same audience throughout his discussion in chapter 3, both before and after we encounter verse 9.  In verse 8 when Peter declares that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,” he tells the beloved not to overlook this fact, and in verse 13 he declares that “we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth.”

Note why this is so important.  In verse 9 when it says that the Lord is “patient toward you,” many typically assume that the “you” refers to everyone in the world.  Yet as we have just seen, this is not the case.  2 Peter 3:9 is typically interpreted as if it were being read backwards.  People see the words “any” and “all,” automatically assume that every single human individual is in view, and read that assumption back into the isolated verse to conclude that the “you” is the entire human race.  But Peter specifically defines who he is referring to with the word “you,” and it is the elect, the beloved.  It is not the entire world.  In fact, he specifically distinguishes in this verse between "them" and "you":

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  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. (2 Pet. 3:8-9)

Now, the common understanding of this passage in our day is that the “any” and “all” have no reference to the context at all.  They simply automatically refer to every single human individual, and you don't need to understand what Peter is talking about to know this.  But this is a very presumptuous error in interpretation.  It is a misuse of the Word of God.  In any other passage of Scripture the sound interpreter would always recognize that the words “any” and “all” are reference words which are always defined and limited in their meaning by the specific subject being made reference to in the context.  See, for example, Matt. 10:22; Mark 5:20; Acts 2:45, 21:28, 22:15; Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28; 2 Tim. 4:16; Rev. 19:18, to mention but a select few, where “all” clearly does not refer to every single human individual in the world.  But when we come to a verse that, even in passing, seems to deal even somewhat with the doctrine of salvation, tradition immediately takes over in the minds of many people and the interpretation is suddenly driven by what people simply want to believe or expect to be true.

But the proper way to understand 2 Peter 3:9 is that the “any” and “all” refer to the “you,” the elect, and not all of humanity.  The fact that Peter specifically states that the Lord is patient toward the beloved/elect tells us this.  The “you” defines the following general references.  The passing comment that 'none should perish but all should reach repentance' is an elaborating element of this specific statement.  In other words, the latter part of verse 9 is a modification and explanation of how God’s patience is expressed toward the elect.  It is not a statement that stands on its own.  It is meant to exemplify the fact that God is being patient toward “you.”  To whom the “any” and “all” refer is therefore limited by the “you” that precedes it.  Christ is not being patient toward the world.  He is being patient toward His elect, waiting on those (i.e. "you") to reach repentance.  That is what Peter states the Lord's patience is for.  That is why the Parousia is being delayed – for the sake of the elect specifically.

2 Peter 3:8-9 should therefore be understood in this way:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved (i.e. the elect, cf. 1 Pet. 1:1, 2 Pet. 1:1; 3:1), that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some (i.e. the scoffers) count slowness, but is patient toward you (i.e. the beloved/elect), not wishing that any of you should perish, but that all of you should reach repentance.

There can be no serious argument against this understanding of the verse once it has been properly acknowledged that the "you" in the middle of the verse refers to the elect.  Any other understanding would render the "patient toward you" to be completely meaningless in this context.  It makes no sense to say that the reason for the delay is because God is patient toward a specific group of people, and then also go off and say that God desires that every single person (including that group, and others) would come to repentance.  If this is truly what Peter was intending to say, why would he say that the Lord is patient toward you, rather than that the Lord is patient toward all/every person?  The patience which explains the delaying of the Parousia is for a specific group of people, and not everyone.  So it would be nonsense to try to argue that the "any" and "all" refers to more than just that group when it is obvious that this is a passing comment intended to exemplify that specific statement.

Look at it this way: Ask yourself the question, "Why is the Lord being patient?"  Peter answers by saying that the Lord is being patient in His return because He wishes for people to come to repentance.  But that isn't all he says.  We also have to ask the question, "Who is the Lord being patient toward?"  Peter answers this as well: the elect.  So if the reason for the Lord's patience is for there to be time for people to repent, yet the Lord's patience is only for those who are elect, then the reason for the Lord's patience is for those who are elect to come to repentance, and that specifically.

It becomes apparent therefore that any interpretation of this passage which asserts that “any” and “all” refers to every single human individual is a gross misuse of Scripture, for it simply ignores what Peter is really talking about.  The patience of the Lord in delaying the Parousia is toward His elect people, the “you” in verse 9.  If God truly wished that every single human individual would come to repentance, His patience would be for the entire world, and not just the elect.  But that is not what this verse says.  God is waiting on all of those elect people to be gathered in before He brings about the end.

Consider additionally just how silly the Arminian understanding of this verse can be, and in what ways an emotional tie to tradition can cause us to err.  If the “any” and “all” in verse 9 referred to every single human individual, and not specifically God’s elect, then why does Christ continue to delay in His coming any longer, given the fact that God has always known that not everyone will be saved?  Surely the coming has not been delayed because Christ believes that every single human individual might actually turn to Him!  Universal salvation is not taught in the Bible, and we know that God’s judgment will fall upon a great number of sinners.

Some Arminians will claim that the coming is delayed because Christ wants as many people as possible to be saved.  As one commentary states, “The second reason the Lord’s return seems to be so long in coming is that God wants as many people to be saved as possible (2 Peter 3:9)” (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.  The Bible knowledge commentary (2 Pe 3:8–9)).  But if one acknowledges that Christ will in fact return then this claim really is nonsense.  If Christ wants to save as many people as possible, there is no point in ever returning.  The Parousia would defeat this purpose!  It would end and cut off the option for more people to turn to Christ.  So if Christ really wants “as many people as possible” to be saved, why promise to return at all?  Why not continue to delay the coming potentially for an eternity, always allowing more and more people to turn to Him?

Perhaps it will be asserted that because God does not desire the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:32) He would not be able to stand the sight of more and more people continuously pouring into hell, as would be a necessary consequence of continuing to delay the coming for a potential eternity.  But there are two very apparent problems with this argument.

First, we would also be misusing Ezekiel 18:32 if we were to understand this text to indicate a universal salvific love of God.  The context of the passage is one where God is rebuking the people of Israel for their false understanding of a proverb.  They wrongly believed that God was unfairly threatening to judge them for the unrighteousness of former generations.  Consequently, they believed that God was simply out to get them, and that their repentance would have therefore been meaningless.  But God responds by saying that this is not so, that He does not merely take pleasure in death as a thing in itself, but that He judges men according to their own wickedness.  All throughout the rest of the Old Testament we see that God is indeed pleased to destroy the wicked.  This is in fact what makes Him just!  So if we isolate Ezekiel 18:32 from its context and understand it to mean that God never takes any pleasure whatsoever in the death of any wicked person, we would set up a glaring contradiction with the rest of Scripture.  I've explored this text in more detail here.

Second, proportionately speaking this argument does not hold water.  If God cannot stand to see countless men pour into hell, why would Christ have waited nearly two thousands years already?  Let’s say, using a completely invented statistic for the sake of argument, that 5% of the world’s cumulative population will be saved.  If the salvation of just 5% of the people who have lived in the past two thousand years was pleasing enough to God that it outweighed the pain of casting the 95% into hell, then why would not the 5% of the world’s population in the next two thousand years, one hundred thousand years, or even next several million years also outweigh the pain of casting the 95% into hell?  Sure, more people would be in hell, but so would more people be saved!  Proportionately, there is no difference.  If the salvation of just one soul was worth the price of damning nineteen more, it doesn’t matter if Christ would have waited one hundred years or one hundred million years for His return, He would have experienced no more pain for those lost souls than what would have been worth it by saving so many others.

It seems awfully self-defeating to suggest on the one hand that Christ’s patience in returning is due to His desire for “as many people as possible” to be saved, and yet suggest on the other hand that He will indeed return and bring a great wrathful judgment upon the lost when He does.  Consider also that if men can turn to Christ apart from first being sovereignly elected by God, as the Arminian would have us believe, then isn’t it always possible to say that whenever Christ does return, all He would have had to do was wait one more day, one more week, or maybe even just one more hour, and even more would have been saved?  There is just no way of escaping this dilemma if you are an Arminian.  If Christ is simply waiting for “as many people as possible” to be saved, then whenever He does return He will do so at the expense of the fact that had He delayed even longer, He could have saved even more (which necessarily means that He wasn’t simply waiting for as many as possible to be saved).

If we properly understand that God’s elect is specifically who is in view in verse 9 (in not only the “you,” but also necessarily the “any” and “all”), we gain a much more sensible understanding of the text.  The reason Christ is delaying in His return is because He is waiting for the full number of elect (i.e. those appointed by God for salvation; cf. Acts 13:48) to be brought into the world and to turn to Christ.  God has already determined who these individuals are.  But He has scattered their time on this earth out among a number of years and generations.  Once the last member of this elect group comes into the world and turns to Christ in faith, however, God will bring about the end.  He is not waiting for “as many people as possible” to be saved.  He is waiting for every single one of those whom He has predestined to be saved (“all” of them), and will not lose a single one of them.  That is why the Parousia has been delayed.  For the sake of the elect.  And as soon as that final elect person comes into the world and turns to Christ, it will bring about the end.  But until then God remains patient.

So not only does a proper understanding of 2 Peter 3:9 easily escape the Arminian’s criticism, but it also provides just one more piece of evidence for the truth of God’s unconditional election and particular redemption of sinners.

See also: A Look at Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11

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