“Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.”
- KJV And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
- NKJV and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
- NASB and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.”
- NLT They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The mockers ask where the promise of Christ's coming is, since everything continues unchanged since creation. It matters because it voices the skeptical denial of Christ's return that believers must answer.
Overview
The scoffers argue from apparent uniformity: nothing has changed since the fathers died, so why expect Christ's return? Their reasoning assumes the world simply carries on by natural processes without divine intervention. Peter will refute this by pointing to creation and the flood as evidence of God's decisive acts in history.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Jer 17:15Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
- Mal 2:17You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
- Jer 5:12–13They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.
- Luke 12:45But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
- Isa 5:18–19Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
- Eccl 8:11When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
- Matt 24:48But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’
- Gen 19:14So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
- Ezek 12:22–27“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by, and every vision fails’?
- 1 Th 2:19After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
- Mark 13:19For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
- Eccl 1:9What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
- Rev 3:14To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.
- Ezek 11:3They are saying, ‘Is not the time near to build houses? The city is the cooking pot, and we are the meat.’
- Mark 10:6However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
- Matt 24:28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The sure word of the prophets and the promise of the coming day of the Lord anchor the believer in the knowledge of 'our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'
How 2 Peter 3:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.