2 Peter 3:3

Contextual Overview

³First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.³ Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ³ Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,³First off, there will come a day when people make fun of God in broad daylight and do nothing except worship their own lustful wants and needs. They'll laugh in your face for riding for Jesus ³ Having first of all the knowledge that in the last days there will be men who, ruled by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things, ³ knowing this first, that there shall come at [the] close of the days mockers with mocking, walking according to their own lusts, ³ knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts, ³ that there will come scoffers in the last days, ³ But, above all, remember that, in the last days, men will come who make a mock at everything--men governed only by their own passions, ³ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last dayes scoffers, walking after their owne lusts,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that there: 1 Timothy 4:1, 1 Timothy 4:2, 2 Timothy 3:1, 1 John 2:18, Jude 1:18

scoffers: Proverbs 1:22, Proverbs 3:34, Proverbs 14:6, Isaiah 5:19, Isaiah 28:14, Isaiah 29:20, Hosea 7:5

walking: 2 Peter 2:10, 2 Corinthians 4:2, Jude 1:16, Jude 1:18

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 31:29 - the latter days Psalms 94:13 - until the pit Proverbs 9:12 - General Proverbs 14:25 - General Proverbs 19:29 - Judgments Ecclesiastes 7:25 - the reason Ecclesiastes 8:11 - sentence Isaiah 2:2 - in the last Isaiah 30:8 - the time to come Jeremiah 17:15 - General Ezekiel 12:22 - The days Daniel 2:28 - in the Micah 4:1 - in the last Malachi 2:17 - Where Matthew 24:48 - My Luke 20:7 - that John 3:19 - because Acts 2:17 - in Romans 2:4 - despisest 2 Corinthians 11:3 - so 2 Timothy 3:3 - incontinent 2 Timothy 3:13 - evil Hebrews 1:2 - these James 3:6 - a world James 4:1 - come they James 5:3 - the last 2 Peter 1:16 - we have 2 Peter 1:20 - Knowing

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
And Adam said: The woman whom thou gauest [to be] with me, she gaue me of the tree, and I dyd eate.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
And Adam seide, The womman which thou yauest felowe to me, yaf me of the tre, and Y eet.

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, The woman whom thou gauest to be with mee, shee gaue me of the tree, and I did eate.

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Knowing this first,.... In the first place, principally, and chiefly, and which might easily be known and observed from the writings of the apostles and prophets; see 1 Timothy 4:1;

that there shall come in the last days scoffers, or "mockers"; such as would make a mock at sin, make light of it, plead for it, openly commit it, and glory in it; and scoff at all religion, as the prejudice of education, as an engine of state, a piece of civil policy to keep subjects in awe, as cant, enthusiasm, and madness, as a gloomy melancholy thing, depriving men of true pleasure; and throw out their flouts and jeers at those that are the most religious, for the just, upright man, is commonly by such laughed to scorn, and those that depart from evil make themselves a prey; and particularly at the ministers of the word, for a man that has scarcely so much common sense as to preserve him from the character of an idiot, thinks himself a wit of the age, if he can at any rate break a jest upon a Gospel minister: nor do the Scriptures of truth escape the banter and burlesque of these scoffers; the doctrines of it being foolishness to them, and the commands and ordinances in it being grievous and intolerable to them; yea, to such lengths do those proceed, as to scoff at God himself; at his persons, purposes, providences, and promises; at Jehovah the Father, as the God of nature and providence, and especially as the God and Father of Christ, and of all grace in him; at Jehovah the Son, at his person, as being the Son of God, and truly God, at his office, as Mediator, and at his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, which they trample under foot; and at Jehovah the Spirit, whom they do despite unto, as the spirit of grace, deriding his operations in regeneration and sanctification, as dream and delusion; and, most of all, things to come are the object of their scorn and derision; as the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, a future judgment, the torments of hell, and the joys of heaven; all which they represent as the trifles and juggles of designing men: such as these, according to the prophets and apostles, were to come in "the last days"; either in the days of the Messiah, in the Gospel dispensation, the times between the first and second coming of Christ; for it is a rule with the Jews s, that wherever the last days are mentioned, the days of the Messiah are intended; see Hebrews 1:1; when the prophets foretold such scoffers should come; or in the last days of the Jewish state, both civil and religious, called "the ends of the world", 1 Corinthians 10:11; a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, when iniquity greatly abounded, Matthew 24:11; or "in the last of the days"; as the words may be rendered; and so answer to

באחרית הימים, in Isaiah 2:2, and may regard the latter part of the last times; the times of the apostles were the last days, 1 John 2:18; they began then, and will continue to Christ's second coming; when some time before that, it will be a remarkable age for scoffers and scorners; and we have lived to see an innumerable company of them, and these predictions fulfilled; from whence it may be concluded, that the coming of Christ is at hand: these scoffers are further described as

walking after their own lusts; either after the carnal reasonings of their minds, admitting of nothing but what they can comprehend by reason, making that the rule, test, and standard of all their principles, and so cast away the law of the Lord, and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel; or rather, after their sinful and fleshly lusts, making them their guides and governors, and giving up themselves entirely to them, to obey and fulfil them; the phrase denotes a continued series of sinning, a progress in it, a desire after it, and pleasure in it, and an obstinate persisting in it; scoffers at religion and revelation are generally libertines; and such as sit in the seat of the scornful, are in the counsel of the ungodly, and way of sinners, Psalms 1:1.

s Kimchi in Isa. ii. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Knowing this first - As among the first and most important things to be attended to - as one of the predictions which demand your special regard. Jude Jude 1:18 says that the fact that there would be “mockers in the last time,” had been particularly foretold by thom. It is probable that Peter refers to the same thing, and we may suppose that this was so well understood by all the apostles that they made it a common subject of preaching.

That there shall come in the last days - In the last dispensation; in the period during which the affairs of the world shall be wound up. The apostle does not say that that was the last time in the sense that the world was about to come to an end; nor is it implied that the period called “the last day” might not be a very long period, longer in fact than either of the previous periods of the world. He says that during that period it had been predicted there would arise those whom he here calls “scoffers.” On the meaning of the phrase “in the last days,” as used in the Scriptures, see the Acts 2:17 note; Hebrews 1:2 note; Isaiah 2:2 note.

Scoffers - In Jude Jude 1:18 the same Greek word is rendered “mockers.” The word means those who deride, reproach, ridicule. There is usually in the word the idea of contempt or malignity toward an object. Here the sense seems to be that they would treat with derision or contempt the predictions respecting the advent of the Saviour, and the end of the world. It would appear probable that there was a particular or definite class of men referred to; a class who would hold special opinions, and who would urge plausible objections against the fulfillment of the predictions respecting the end of the world, and the second coming of the Saviour - for those are the points to which Peter particularly refers. It scarcely required inspiration to foresee that there would be “scoffers” in the general sense of the term - for they have so abounded in every age, that no one would hazard much in saying that they would be found at any particular time; but the eye of the apostle is evidently on a particular class of people, the special form of whose reproaches would be the ridicule of the doctrines that the Lord Jesus would return; that there would be a day of judgment; that the world would be consumed by fire, etc. Tillotson explains this of the Carpocratians, a large sect of the Gnostics, who denied the resurrection of the dead, and the future judgment.

Walking after their own lusts - Living in the free indulgence of their sensual appetites. See the notes at 2Pe 2:10, 2 Peter 2:12, 2 Peter 2:14, 2 Peter 2:18-19.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Peter 3:3. Knowing this first — Considering this in an especial manner, that those prophets predicted the coming of false teachers: and their being now in the Church proved how clearly they were known to God, and showed the Christians at Pontus the necessity of having no intercourse or connection with them.

There shall come-scoffers — Persons who shall endeavour to turn all religion into ridicule, as this is the most likely way to depreciate truth in the sight of the giddy multitude. The scoffers, having no solid argument to produce against revelation, endeavour to make a scaramouch of some parts; and then affect to laugh at it, and get superficial thinkers to laugh with them.

Walking after their own lusts — Here is the true source of all infidelity. The Gospel of Jesus is pure and holy, and requires a holy heart and holy life. They wish to follow their own lusts, and consequently cannot brook the restraints of the Gospel: therefore they labour to prove that it is not true, that they may get rid of its injunctions, and at last succeed in persuading themselves that it is a forgery; and then throw the reins on the neck of their evil propensities. Thus their opposition to revealed truth began and ended in their own lusts.

There is a remarkable addition here in almost every MS. and version of note: There shall come in the last days, IN MOCKERY, εν εμπαιγμονη, scoffers walking after their own lusts. This is the reading of ABC, eleven others, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and several of the fathers. They come in mockery; this is their spirit and temper; they have no desire to find out truth; they take up the Bible merely with the design of turning it into ridicule. This reading Griesbach has received into the text.

The last days — Probably refer to the conclusion of the Jewish polity, which was then at hand.