2 Peter 3:9

“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.”

Wilhelmus a Brakel (1635-1711)

God is long-suffering towards the elect prior to their conversion. “The Lord...is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9); “To declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Rom. 3:25).

(From: “The Christian’s Reasonable Service”)

John Calvin (1509-1564)

They seem to raise a stronger objection on the basis of a passage in Peter: “God does not will that any should perish but that he should receive all to repentance” [II Peter 3:9 p.]. But the solution of the difficulty occurs immediately in the second phrase, because the will to receive to repentance can only be understood in the sense generally taught. Conversion is obviously in God’s hand: when he promises that he will give a certain few a heart of flesh but leave the rest with a heart of stone [Ezek. 36:26], let him be asked whether he wills to convert all. It is indeed true that unless he were ready to receive those who call upon his mercy, this statement would be out of place: “Be converted to me...and I shall be converted to you” [Zech. 1:3]. But I assert that no mortal man approaches God unless God anticipates him. And, if repentance had been man’s to choose, Paul would not have said: “In case God may grant them repentance” [II Tim. 2:25]. Indeed, unless the same God who urges all to repentance with his own voice also drew the elect to himself by the secret moving of his spirit, Jeremiah would not have said: “Convert me, O Lord, and I will be converted....For when thou didst convert me, I repented” [Jer. 31:18-19, cf. Vg.].

(From: “Institutes of the Christian Religion”)

John Gill (1697-1771)

It is not true that God is not willing any one individual of the human race should perish, since he has made and appointed the wicked for the day of evil, even ungodly men, who are fore-ordained to this condemnation, such as are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; yea, there are some to whom God sends strong delusions, that they may believe a lie, that they all might be damned; and others whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. Nor is it his will that all men, in this large sense, should come to repentance, since he withholds from many both the means and grace of repentance; and though it is his will of precept, that all to whom the preaching of the Gospel is vouchsafed should repent, yet it is not his purposing, determining will, to bring them all to repentance, for who hath resisted his will?

(From: “The Cause of God and Truth”)

Alexander Nisbet (c1623-1669)

[2.] The true and satisfying reason of the delay of the second coming of Christ is the Lord’s long suffering toward His own elect, who must be dealt with in order to their conversion in a way suitable to their temper which requires time and pains to work upon each elect soul come into the world, and to the years of discretion, by commands, threatenings, promises, and alluring motives, every one of these being multiplied after another, and by these same means every elect person brought to that measure of grace which God has determined to work in the converted, that they may be fitted for glory: for this is here given as the satisfying reason of the delay of Christ’s second coming, that the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward. [3.] The Lord does not soon nor easily gain His point even with His own elect, but after many refusals of His renewed offers and slighting of His pains, His patient and powerful love does at last overcome all opposition in them, and so brings them to repentance: for before they are brought to it He is long-suffering to us-ward. [4.] The Lord cannot fall short of His intention toward any upon whom He takes pains, nor does His good-will to save reach to any sinners but those whom He does really make partakers of salvation: for the Apostle says here, He is long-suffering to us-ward, that is, to us believers and others, elected as we are, not as yet born or not as yet converted, not willing that any such should perish, but that all of that kind should come to repentance; so that the Scripture all is not always to be understood of all and every individual person in the world, but oftentimes it is put (here comprehended is us) for all the elect only, as is clear by comparing Jer. 31:34 with John 6:45 and this present Scripture. [5.] Although the Lord only intends the salvation of His elect by His long-suffering and pains, yet He is pleased to express His desire of their salvation in the largest terms that can be, that so He may the more effectually prevail with His own and render the rest the more inexcusable, who, except they will exclude themselves, are not excluded by such large expressions of the grace of God as are here, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [6.] All those whom the Lord minds to save in an ordinary way are first brought by Him to a sensible sight of sin and deserved wrath, and to such apprehensions of mercy in God for them through Jesus Christ as makes them turn to Him, grieving for and forsaking their sins and giving up themselves to His service: for those whom He willeth not to perish, He willeth and maketh to come to repentance.

(From: “An Exposition of 1 & 2 Peter”)

John Owen (1616-1683)

2 Pet. iii.9, “The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “The will of God,” say some, “for the salvation of all, is here set down both negatively, that he would not have any perish, and positively, that he would have all come to repentance; now, seeing there is no coming to repentance nor escaping destruction, but only by the blood of Christ, it is manifest that that blood was shed for all.”

Ans. Many words need not be spent in answer to this objection, wrested from the misunderstanding and palpable corrupting of the sense of these words of the apostle. That indefinite and general expressions are to be interpreted in an answerable proportion to the things whereof they are affirmed, is a rule in the opening of the Scripture. See, then, of whom the apostle is here speaking. “The Lord,” saith he, “is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish.” Will not common sense teach us that us is to be repeated in both the following clauses, to make them up complete and full,–namely, “Not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance?” Now, who are these of whom the apostle speaks, to whom he writes? Such as had received “great and precious promises,” chap. i.4, whom he calls “beloved,” chap. iii. 1; whom he opposeth to the “scoffers” of the “last days,” verse 3; to whom the Lord hath respect in the disposal of these days; who are said to be “elect,” Matt. xxiv.22. Now, truly, to argue that because God would have none of those to perish, but all of them to come to repentance, therefore he hath the same will and mind towards all and every one in the world (even those to whom he never makes known his will, nor ever calls to repentance, if they never once hear of his way of salvation), comes not much short of extreme madness and folly. Neither is it of any weight to the contrary, that they were not all elect to whom Peter wrote: for in the judgment of charity he esteemed them so, desiring them “to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure,” chap. i.10; even as he expressly calleth those to whom he wrote his former epistle, “elect,” chap. i.2, and a “chosen generation,” as well as a “purchased people,” chap. ii.9. I shall not need add any thing concerning the contradictions and inextricable difficulties wherewith the opposite interpretation is accompanied (as, that God should will such to come to repentance as he cuts off in their infancy out of the covenant, such as he hateth from eternity, from whom he hideth the means of grace, to whom he will not give repentance, and yet knoweth that it is utterly impossible they should have it without his bestowing). The text is clear, that it is all and only the elect whom he would not have to perish. A place supposed parallel to this we have in Ezek. xvii.23,32, which shall be afterward considered.

(From: “Works”)

Thomas E. Peck (1616-1683)

The time is fixed; but so long as there breathes upon earth one solitary human being for whom Jesus has laid down his life, who has been ordained to faith, repentance, and life eternal, and destined to be an assessor with Jesus upon his throne, so long shall the heavens contain him whom our soul loveth but after the number of the elect shall have been accomplished, not one moment longer. Then shall he be revealed, and the earth with all its works and wickedness be given to the flames.

(From: “Writings of Thomas E. Peck”)

Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)

Perhaps the one passage which has presented the greatest difficulty to those who have seen that passage after passage in Holy Writ plainly teaches the election of a limited number unto salvation is 2 Peter 3:9: “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

The first thing to be said upon the above passage is that, like all other scripture, it must be understood and interpreted in the light of its context. What we have quoted in the preceding paragraph is only part of the verse, and the last part of it at that! Surely it must be allowed by all that the first half of the verse needs to be taken into consideration. In order to establish what there words are supposed by many to mean, viz., that the words “any” and “all” are to be received without any qualification, it must be shown that the context is referring to the whole human race! If this cannot be shown, if there is no premise to justify this, then the conclusion also must be unwarranted. Let us then ponder the first part of the verse.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise”. Note “promise” in the singular number, not “promises.” What promise is in view? The promise of salvation? Where, in all Scripture, has God ever promised to save the whole human race!! Where indeed? No, the “promise” here referred to is not about salvation. What then is it? The context tells us.

“Knowing this, first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? (vv. 3, 4). The context then refers to God’s promise to send back His beloved Son. But many long centuries have passed, and this promise has not yet been fulfilled. True, but long as the delay may seem to us, the interval is short in the reckoning of God. As the proof of this we are reminded, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (v. 8). In God’s reckoning of time, less than two days have yet passed since He promised to send back Christ.

But more, the delay in the Father sending back His beloved Son is not only due to no “slackness” on His part, but it is also occasioned by His “longsuffering”. His longsuffering to whom? The verse we are now considering tells us: “but is longsuffering to usward”. And whom are the “usward”?–the human race, or God’s own people? In the light of the context this is not an open question upon which each of us is free to form an opinion. The Holy Spirit has defined it. The opening verse of the chapter says, “This second Epistle, beloved, I now write unto you”. And, again, the verse immediately preceding declares, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, etc.,” (v. 8). The “usward” then are the “beloved” of God. They to whom this Epistle is addressed are “them that have obtained (not “exercised”, but “obtained” as God’s sovereign gift) like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:11). Therefore we say there is no room for a doubt, a quibble or an argument–the “usward” are the elect of God.

Let us now quote the verse as a whole: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Could anything be clearer? The “any” that God is not willing should perish, are the “usward” to whom God is “longsuffering”, the “beloved” of the previous verses. 2 Peter 3:9 means, then, that God will not send back His Son until “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). God will not send back Christ till that “people” whom He is now “taking out of the Gentiles” (Acts 15:14) are gathered in. God will not send back His Son till the Body of Christ is complete, and that will not be till the ones whom He has elected to be saved in this dispensation shall have been brought to Him. Thank God for His “longsuffering to us-ward”. Had Christ come back twenty years ago the writer had been left behind to perish in his sins. But that could not be, so God graciously delayed the Second Coming. For the same reason He is still delaying His Advent. His decreed purpose is that all His elect will come to repentance, and repent they shall. The present interval of grace will not end until the last of the “other sheep” of John 10:16 are safely folded,–then will Christ return.

(From: “The Sovereignty of God”)

James H. Thornwell (1812-1862)

I think it exceedingly doubtful whether the words any and all have an indiscriminate application in this passage. The context would seem to confine them within the limits of the “us” spoken of just above. This will appear by taking the whole verse in its connection: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise”–that is, the promise of His second coming–”as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward.” To whom? We cannot refer the “us” to any but those who in the eighth verse are addressed as “beloved.” It would seem, then, to designate only God’s elect. Now, why is God long-suffering to His elect? Because He is “not willing that any”–that is, any of them–“should perish,” but that all–that is, all of them–“should come to repentance.” In other words, Christ delays His second coming, and will continue to delay it, until all His elect are savingly gathered into His kingdom and His mystical body completed. This, I confess, appears to me to be the most natural and obvious interpretation of the passage. It certainly is grammatical, and harmonizes well with the context. I am aware that Calvin and other respectable writers have given a different interpretation. They make the latter clause epexegetical of the first, and resolve the willingness of God into His precept. The force of the passage in this view would be, “God has commanded men everywhere to repent.” This interpretation does no violence to the words of the passage, for they will certainly bear this meaning, but it seems to me to violate the grammatical connection.

(From: “Collected Writings”)

Francis Turretin (1623-1687)

When Peter testifies that “God is longsuffering to usward, and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9), he does not favor in the least the cause of universalism. Either this relates to the will of precept and complacency (euarestias) by which men are invited to repentance by the preaching of the gospel and by repentance to life (which you would wrongly draw to the decree and intention of God); or (if you refer it to the decree—which pleases others and seems broader), it should not be extended further than to the elect and believers (for whose sake God puts off the consummation of ages until their number shall be completed and by whom, collected from the four corners of the world, the gospel ought to be preached in the whole world). Now to this it is evident the apostle looked: (1) from the pronoun “us” (which precedes with suffficient clearness destinating the elect and believers, as elsewhere more than once) and to explain which he adds “not willing that any” (i.e., of us) “should perish”; so that the pronoun should be repeated apo koinou as is often the case; and (2) from the fact that Peter wishes to give the reason of that longsuffering through which God puts off the consummation of the ages (which cannot be drawn from his command, but from his wise counsel for the sake of the elect, by which, as on account of the elect alone, he preserves the world, so he puts off the promise of his coming, even until each and every one of them is brought unto salvation, Rev. 6:11). Nor is it astonishing that, on account of the elect (no one of whom God wills to perish), the end of the world should be put off. For in like manner Christ observes “except those days would be shortened” (which were about to come to the whole of Judea) “there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Mt. 24:22). As therefore here the days of evil should be shortened on account of the elect Jews (that they might not be overwhelmed with the burden of calamities), so the last day is put off on account of the elect (who are to be brought to Christ, until their whole number be made up). Finally, he speaks of them whom God wills to come to repentance, not only by inviting to it by the precepts and promises of his word, but by working it by the effficacy of the Spirit (since he speaks of those in whom the promise of God should be fulfilled [Mt. 24:9, 13], who are no other than the elect). Nor if God can be called “longsuffering” (makrothymos) towards the wicked by a delay of their punishment, does it immediately follow that it is the same longsuffering (makrothymian) of which Peter speaks (i.e., that by which he delays his judgments upon the world on account of the elect and waits for the time in which their number shall be completed). Nor was it useless to admonish Christians of this (although a mystery of undoubted verity) because it would have the best effect in the consolation of believers and in strengthening their minds against the temptations which would arise from the delay in the fulfillment of God’s promises.

(From: “Institutes of Elenctic Theology”)