3:1 This is now, beloved,
the second letter that I have written to you;
and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;
3:2 that you should remember the words
which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
and the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
 

3:3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come,
walking after their own lusts,
3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?
For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

3:5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old,
and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;
3:6 by which means the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished.
3:7 But the heavens that now are, and the earth,
by the same word have been stored up for fire,
being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

3:8 But don't forget this one thing, beloved,
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.
3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise,
as some count slowness; but is patient with us,
not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat,
and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

3:11 Therefore since all these things are thus to be destroyed,
what manner of persons ought you to be

in holy living and godliness,
3:12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God,

by reason of which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
3:13 But, according to his promise,
we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.
3:14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things,
be diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in his sight.

3:15 Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation;
even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;
3:16 as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things.
In those are some things hard to be understood,
which the ignorant and unsettled twist,
as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

vs 3-4 The "last days" refer to the time period from Penetcost to the return of Christ. Acts 2:17 "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." Peter applied this prophecy part to explain some of the phenomena of Penetecost. And similarly James says, "You have hoarded wealth in the last days." James 5:3, applying "last days" to their present time. The last days may also incorporate the Millenial Kingdom in which, "In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it." Isa 2:2  Which also occurs after the redemption of Israel in which "Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days." Ho 3:5

Throughout the history of Christendom skeptics have mocked the return of Christ. Even within the church there have been those who invent eschatologies which eliminate a real return of Christ, opting for  a pseudo-mystical interpretation. But as you can see from passages such as these, it seems clear that the apostles thought of Christ's return in a quite literal and dramatic sense. His return is not something which can be overlooked, or pass by without notice.

However, though many skeptics try to pass themselves off as if objective scientific analysts, many in fact are motivated by evil desires. They walk in their own lusts. But Christ's return means judgement will com upon them, so they reject such a concept in order to feel comfortable in their chosen lifestyle of sin.

vs 5-6 They are "willingly ignorant". They are ignorant not by their mind, but by their will, like a man who puts his hands over his eyes and claims to be blind.

 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." Rom 1:20,21

vs 4-9 Just a minor literary point. There was a style of writing common in Biblical times known as an "INVERSION". We normally outline things by introducing a main topic and indenting inwards when speaking of subtopics. In "inversions", the outline starts like that, but then indents systematically back to the main topic. In this case we have

Promise
    Ignorant
        Word
            Water
            Water
        Word
    Ignorant
Promise

vs 7 However it is not water but fire that God shall bring in the day of judgement. This is true both concerning before the Millenial Kingdom and after. Revelation chapter 8,9 speaks of the 7 trumpets of which a number dealt with fire coming down to earth. And also Revelationm 20 after the thousand years shall be another judgement by fire and finally the lake of fire in the final judgement and the creation of the new heavens and earth which Peter alludes to in verse 10.

vs 8 But it's been 2000 years! That seems like a long time, but by the Lord's reckoning it's only been a couple of days. However it can also be said that at times it appears the apostles were under the impression that Jesus would return perhaps their lifetime, or very soon. "He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon." Rev 22:20  Also, in Rev 22:10 he says, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near." Daniel 8:26 concerns the same events, yet says "The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future." Yet there is only a 500 year difference between these two prophecies compared to the 2000 years which have passed. So if they refer to the same events, you would think that they would both say that such events concern the distant future. And Jesus often spoke of the Millenial Kingdom being near.  As believers we can only conclude that some of the expressions concerning being "near" or "at hand" or "soon" is to be taken in a different sense, which Peter alludes to.

Under the New Testament, there has been a paradigm shift from microcosmic to global, from short times to long times, from symbolism to substance. The apostles themselves no doubt struggled with this transition. God's people were now to incorporate not just Jews, but Gentile believers as well. The gospel became global in extent. Yet Peter needed a special vision to preach to Cornelius and even though Jesus told him to go the end of the earth, he reckoned himself to be the apostle to the Jews alone. (Even though in reality he was apostle to all Christians and not to Jewish Christians alone. But like many of the apostles, Peter was racist at first and only over time gained the global vision). So also with respect to time frames. At first the apostles thought small. They thought of short periods of time. But Jesus was thinking much bigger when he spoken of returning quickly and that the time is short and so forth. For he was thinking in terms of eternal things. The apostles had been caught up in the Old Testament way of thinking and it took time before they caught the larger vision that was now in effect. But here in 2nd Peter we see that Peter had adapted to the new terminology, realizing that "soon" to Christ may very well mean a few thousand years.

vs 9 But what is the reason behind the delay? Is God just been a lazy procrastinator? Certainly not, and why should He be. For the delay causes Him suffering, as he has to put up with sinfulness of man and the imperfection of his saints and our suffering persecution from without and within. He's been suffering for a long time as the final day approaches.

But it says that the reason He is delaying is because he doesn't want any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But how does delaying accomplish that? Obviously since many generations have passed away since that time, by "any should perish" he was not speaking simply of those of a particular generation. Rather God has the whole human race in mind. Right now for example did you know that there are more people alive today than all the people who have died put together? In Jesus time also the gospel was not global in extent. Although potentially it could have been perhaps if the church did its job rather than being caught up in institutionalism. In fact perhaps the delay should be blamed on the lazy procrastination of Christians to carry out Jesus' commands. (Matt 28:19,20) In fact another way to interpret the expression "longsuffering towards us" is that He's waiting patiently for us to cooperate with Him in getting the job done. But today there is great potential for the mission to be complete - To provide the opportunity for all nations and peoples to repent and be saved through faith in Christ.

vs 10 Coming as a thief in the night does not mean that it will go unnoticed as if a thief who sneeks in and sneeks out hoping not to get caught. Rather this expression means that it will come as a surprise. For it is difficult to imagine that the heavens will pass away and the elements melt without anyone's notice. Rather it is like the flood of Noah - it caught many be surprise and they perished. Of course many "skeptics" have already died. But they will be raised to face God's judgment much to their surprise and horror. (Rev 22:11-15)

vs 11-14 There are many debates these days about eschatology. But what really is the application of these ideas?  They should motivate us towards living a holy lifestyle in the fear of God. (See also 1John 3:2,3)  Peter proposes that by doing so we hasten the coming of the Lord. What does this imply? Just what I said, that His delay is the fault of Christians who aren't living appropriately in obedience and holiness. However if your view of the coming of Christ doesn't motivate your to holiness, then there's something wrong with your theology.

We should not set our hearts on the things of this life, nor on the things of this earth. For we believers are aliens and strangers here. There is even value in viewing ourselves literally as alien creatures born from above. And Jesus said of his disciples, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." John 17:16 Christians are a different kind of human (2Cor 5:17), having been born God and being transformed, whose life is eternal and destiny glorious. But who don't belong to this world. Indeed the earth itself will have to be transformed to be compatible with what we will become. (Rev 22:1)

However, there is a false leavenous theology which dominates some Christian circles. That is the idea that there is not necessarily any correlation between one's behavior and one's salvation status. Such teach holiness as only being optional. They make people feel comfortable living a lifestyle of sin. "Oh, you're living a lifestyle of sin. That's OK. As long as you prayed some prayer in the past to accept Jesus as your Savior!" It's the false gospel of easy believism. In fact to those who obey Peter's command here to "be diligent to be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless", they slanderously accuse of being legalists. They are in fact the same kind of false teachers that Peter spoke of in chapter 2 - Licentious Christians. And if your beliefs prevent you from diligently changing your behavior towards that which is holy and blameless, then as I said there's something wrong with your theology. Then there are those among the free grace types obsessed about "position" in Christ who propose that Peter is simply referring to one's status as "saved" and not to one's behavior. I would propose that such people take great lengths to ignore the context to support their non-application oriented theology. For Peter indeed is speaking of behavior as the context indicates.

The way I would phrase Peter's command here is to exhort Christians to imagine themselves at any moment standing in the judgement before God who calls them to account for themselves. Let us prepare for the judgment by following our conscience and the Bible. Let us carry out our responsibilities as these are dictated to us and as we infer what we will be held responsible for. Let us use our gifts and abilities responsibly as if we own nothing, but will be held responsible for much as servants and stewards. And if other Christians don't follow suit, leave them in the dust (Luke 9:5) while we run the race with endurance.

vs 15-16 The apostles teachings all correlate with one another. Here Peter affirms Paul's writings, even affirming them as "scripture". Paul himself was an example of a man converted after God's longsuffering. In fact he became the chief example:

1Ti 1:16  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

Now there is also a minor theological sect in the Christian community today who propose that Peter's writings (along with the rest of the apostles except for Paul), are not relevant to Gentile Christians, but only to certain Jewish Christians. However notice here Peter says, "Paul also wrote you." Peter and Paul wrote to the same kind of people, whether they were Jewish Christians or Gentile Christians is not relevant. "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." Col 3:11

Those who pervent the sense of the writings of the apostles, like those of Paul's, do so to their own destruction. They are ignorant, unspiritually minded and unstable, not having  a theology firmly planted on Christ as He speaks in the Bible by and through the apostles. But this is not to say that all the apostle's teachings are necessarily easy to understand even among the spiritual. But that it is on those more difficult points that these heretics most commonly will focus upon to corrupt in accordance with their own heretical ideas.

vs 17 Therefore BEWARE lest you be led away with the error of the wicked. Let us steadfastly continue on in a right undertanding of the Word and in its proper application, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus both as Lord and Savior. "knowledge" here is not "epignosis", which is "knowing about". Yes we should grow in that, as Peter said ealier on. But rather "knowlege" here is "gnosis" - a relational knowledge. Let's not simply get to know about Christ, but let's get to know Him personally. Growing in grace is to grow with respect to receiving the effects of God's gracious working in transforming us into the image of Christ, which is accomplished with our cooperation.