2 Peter 3:9
I'm quoting aomin.org here, because I love the quote at the top of our page and was reading about it today. It's pretty sweet, if you're a calvinist, which we all are, I believe, and if you're not, you should be.
That said, here you go. It's in a comment.
That said, here you go. It's in a comment.
posted by Brian at 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
But the next thing that stands out upon the reading of the passage is the identification of the audience to which Peter is speaking. When speaking of the mockers he refers to them in the third person, as 'them." But everywhere else he speaks directly to his audience as the "beloved" and "you." He speaks of how his audience should behave "in holy conduct and godliness," and says that they look for the day of the Lord. He includes himself in this group in verse 13, where "we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth." This is vitally important, for the assumption made by many is that when verse 9 says the Lord is "patient toward you" that this "you" refers to everyone, every person then living, or who has ever lived or ever will live. Likewise, then, when it says "not wishing for any to perish" but "all to come to repentance," it is assumed that the "any" and "all" either has no referent in the context at all, or, that these terms refer to anyone at all of the human race. Yet, the context indicates that the audience is quite specific. In any other passage of Scripture the interpreter would realize that we must decide who the "you" refers to and use this to limit the "any" and "all" of verse 9. But in this case there is a lot of tradition that comes flying through the door, deeply impacting the resultant interpretation. 2 Peter 1:1-3 tells us the specific identity of the audience to which Peter is writing:
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Peter writes to a specific group, not to all of mankind. "To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours." This not only refers to faith as a gift, but it surely limits the context to the saved, for they have received this faith "by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” There is nothing in chapter three that indicates a change in audience, and much to tell us the audience remains exactly the same. Since this is so, it becomes quite clear that the Arminian is badly misusing this passage by ignoring what Peter is really saying. The patience of the Lord is displayed toward His elect people (the "you" of verse 9). Therefore, the "not wishing any to perish" is logically and contextually limited to the same group already in view: the elect. In the same way, the "all to come to repentance" must be the very same group. In essence Peter is saying the coming of the Lord has been delayed so that all the elect of God can be gathered in. Any modern Christian lives and knows Christ solely because God’s purpose has been to gather in His elect down through the ages to this present day. There is no reason to expand the context of the passage into a universal proclamation of a desire on God’s part that every single person come to repentance. Instead, it is clearly His plan and His will that all the elect come to repentance, and they most assuredly will do so.
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