A passage somewhat like to this is met with in a book of the Jews F6, esteemed by them very ancient. The Alexandrian copy reads, "for you", or your sakes and so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions. And upon account of these the Lord stays his coming till their number is complete in the effectual calling and for their sakes he is longsuffering to others, and bears with a wicked world, with the idolatry, superstition, heresy, profaneness, and impiety, with which it abounds but when the last man that belongs to that number is called, he will quickly descend in flames of fire, and burn the world, and the wicked in it, and take his chosen ones to himself. Not to all the individuals of human nature, for the persons intended by us are manifestly distinguished from "some men" in the text, and from scoffers, mocking at the promise of Christ's coming, in the context, ( 2 Peter 3:3 2 Peter 3:4 ) and are expressly called beloved, ( 2 Peter 3:1 2 Peter 3:8 2 Peter 3:14 2 Peter 3:17 ) and God's longsuffering towards them is their salvation, ( 2 Peter 3:15 ), nor is it true of all men, that God is not willing that any of them should perish, and that everyone of them should come to repentance, since many of them do perish in their sins, and do not come to repentance, which would not be the case, if his determining will was otherwise besides, a society or company of men are designed, to which the apostle himself belonged, and of which he was a part and who are described, in his epistles, as the elect of God, called out of darkness, into marvellous light, and having obtained like precious faith with the apostles and must be understood either of God's elect among the Jews, for Peter was a Jew, and they were Jews he wrote to and then the sense is, that the delay of Christ's coming is not owing to any slackness in him, but to his longsuffering to his elect among the Jews, being unwilling that any of that number among them should perish, but that all of them repent of their sins, and believe in him and therefore he waits till their conversion is over, when a nation shall be born at once, and they that have pierced him look on him and mourn, and so all Israel shall be saved or rather of the elect in general, whether among Jews or Gentiles, upon whom the Lord waits to be gracious, and whose longsuffering issues in their conversion and salvation. Now this being deferred longer than was expected, the scoffers or mockers take upon them to charge the Lord with slackness in the fulfilment of his promise:Īs if he had either changed his purpose, or had prolonged it beyond the appointed time, or was unmindful of his promise, and would never fulfil it whereas he is in one mind, and none can turn him, nor will he delay the fulfilment of his promise beyond the set time he has fixed a day for his coming, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, and he will keep it: he is not dilatory, The Syriac version reads in the plural, "his promises", any of his promises though the words seem rather to regard the particular promise of Christ's coming, either to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, of which coming there was a promise made, and is often referred to by Christ, and his apostles see ( Mark 9:1 ) ( John 21:22 ) ( Hebrews 10:37 ) and it now being upwards of thirty years since it was given out, some men began to charge God with slackness and dilatoriness whereas the true reason of the delay of it was, that there might be time for the gathering in of his elect among them by his angels, or apostles and ministers, sent into the several parts of Judea, that so none of them might perish, but be brought to faith and repentance and thus as the time of Christ's coming was prolonged more than was thought it would, so when the days of afflictions were come, they were shortened also for these elect's sake: or this promise regards the second coming of Christ, to judge the quick and dead at the last day, of which the former was a prelude, presage, and pledge that Christ would come again, and appear a second time in person, was promised by himself, and often spoken of by his apostles and many of the primitive Christians thought it would be very soon, and which might be occasioned by the hints that were given of his coming in the other sense. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise
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