2 Peter 3:4 ³ knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own desires, ⁴and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, thus all things are continuing from the beginning of creation.”

One of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity is the return of Jesus Christ to establish his eternal kingdom. How and when this takes place has been much debated, particularly due to the sometimes nebulous and symbolic descriptions of this event in the Bible. Peter warned his readers in chapter 1 about the false doctrines certain people were teaching, especially those concerning Jesus. If a person has the wrong idea about Jesus, every other doctrine crumbles into human interpretation and faulty thinking. If we do not correctly understand Jesus, who is the truth of God (John 14:6), then our ethics and other aspects of theology will be wrong.

In these verses, Peter focuses on another wrong teaching the opponents had. The scoffers behind this verse may not have necessarily been the false teachers within the church. Unbelievers may hear of the Christian belief of Jesus’ return and make a statement like verse 4. When Peter wrote this, it had only been a few decades, less than one generation, since Jesus lived. Yet, the few Christians in the world were anticipating Jesus’ return. Peter’s words are even more relevant to our time. As the years have passed, and Jesus has not returned, the scoffers might make a claim like this verse. Time keeps moving forward, with sunrise and sunset. Where is the evidence of Jesus’ return? Christians have been claiming “end-time scenarios” for hundreds of years, and yet Jesus has not come back. Every false prediction only adds more to the scoffers’ arguments.

Christians might make two claims on a spectrum. On the one hand, some think we are living in the end times, and so they come up with elaborate charts to show where we are in the timeline. At the other extreme are those who deny this and speak of Revelation and other passages as timeless, and that Jesus is not coming soon. In between these two ideas are those who live with the expectation but do not try to be overly precise. We should not let the naysayers diminish our hope in one of the central tenets of the Christian faith.