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NASB | 2 Peter 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Peter 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation." |
Subject: Where do I go from here? |
Bible Note: Treadway: You wrote, regarding 2 Peter 3: "The notion is sinners whose numbers are finite, that is, reflective of the people in that same generation who are not saved yet." No, the whole point of the passage is that God's timetable is NOT out own timetable. What we see in this chapter is Peter's answer to mockers that have said, "If Christ hasn't come yet, then He obviously isn't going to." (v. 3-4). Peter then cites the example of Noah building his ark and God waiting with patience until the ark was completed until His chosen people had been rescued. Obviously Peter did not close the Second Coming into a span of a few decades with this verse: "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day." --2 Peter 3:8 He then follows that by saying that, just as He did in Noah's day, he is waiting for all of His chosen people to come to repentance before the destruction comes. What this chapter clearly IS showing is that the destruction of the present earth and the new earth will soon follow the Second Coming. How does the preterist answer this charge? Most preterists will say that the earth is going to continue down nature's path for billions of more years before this happens. Not terribly biblical at all, if you ask me. You are correct that the number of sinners are finite, but that is a view that I hold as well. Nowhere does Peter say that the sumber of sinners who are going to come to repentance are already born. In fact, between the time of the ascension of Jesus Christ and the writing of 2 Peter, countless thousands of new sinners had been born as well. With all due respect, you need to evaluate a great number of the sound biblical arguments that are out there pointing out Ingersoll's errors. When evaluating any new teaching (especially one that has not been held by the majority of the church in its 2000-year history), it is important to look at both sides of the issue before making the sweeping conclusion that non-preterists simply have not read their Bibles. --Joe! |