Commonly Misused Bible Verses: 2 Peter 3:8

Posted on by October 6, 2011
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Both Christians and unbelievers are guilty of misusing Bible verses by ripping them from their original context.

It’s been a while since I’ve added to the commonly misused Bible verses series, so it’s time to get back to it. There are many reasons why people misuse verses. Oftentimes, they are well-intentioned and simply repeat what they’ve heard many times before, and they have never taken the time to make sure the Bible really teaches what they are claiming. Others are not so well-intentioned, and simply try to rip a verse from its context to justify their beliefs or behavior.

The goal of this series is to help you avoid making these types of mistakes when using God’s Word. It’s a serious matter to argue that God supports your position, so you need to make sure that Scripture really does line up with what you think it says.

Commonly Misused Bible Verse #5: 2 Peter 3:8

It would be difficult to count how often I have heard this verse misused. I have been involved in creation research and teaching for more than a decade, and those who seek to deny the plain meaning of the first chapter of Genesis often cite 2 Peter 3:8.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8, NKJV)

Obviously, the person misusing this verse is attempting to make the days of the Creation Week to be something other than normal-length days. Why do they do this? Because they have a desire to add millions and billions of years to the Bible. Not only is this unnecessary from a scientific perspective, it fails on biblical grounds.

The days of the Creation Week were clearly normal-length days. They are marked by the phrase “evening and morning.” They are listed in a series with ordinal and cardinal numbers (literally the text for days 1–6 would be “one day,” “a second day,” “a third day,” “a fourth day,” “a fifth day,” and “the sixth day”). Since “the sixth day” uses the definite article (“the”), it forces the other days in the series to be literal days as well—otherwise it would not have been “the” sixth day. Also, in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) God revealed that the Israelites were commanded to work for six days and rest for one because that’s what He did. There are many other biblical and theological reasons why the days of Genesis 1 were normal-length days that I won’t go into here.

So why is it wrong to quote 2 Peter 3:8 when discussing this issue? If you haven’t learned anything else in this series, you should have learned that we need to take a look at the context. As you’ll see in the verses below, this passage is not about the time it took God to create the world.

…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:3–9)

Peter did mention Creation in this passage, but the point of this passage is the return of Christ. He stated that scoffers will come in the last days and they will mock three specific events: the Creation, the Flood, and the Second Coming. Then he told his readers that they shouldn’t lose heart over the fact that Christ had not yet returned. Even though it seems like a long time to us, God is not bound by time so the period between the first and second comings of Christ isn’t a long time to Him.

But doesn’t this passage say that God’s day is a thousand years long? Not at all! Remember, it also says that a thousand years are as one day. So if this is supposed to be a mathematical formula, you’re right back where you started from (1=1000 and 1000=1). The fact is, this passage is using these terms in a simile (a figure of speech that makes an analogy, thus showing that we aren’t supposed to interpret these words literally).

Furthermore, even if this passage could be used to say each day of the Creation Week was a thousand years, it doesn’t really help much if you’re trying to squeeze millions or billions of years into the Bible. At most, it would just add another six (or seven if you include God’s day of rest) thousand years. So that leaves you with an earth and universe that is 12,000–13,000 years old. That’s nowhere near the 4.5 billion years that is commonly (and mistakenly) cited as the age of the earth.

The Bible is very clear on this issue. God made everything in six normal-length days about 6,000 years ago and then rested from His work on the seventh day. There is no other way to interpret the clear words of Scripture without forcing numerous contradictions into the text. I’ve written about these problems in much greater detail in my book Old-Earth Creationism on Trial: The Verdict Is In (co-authored by Dr. Jason Lisle).

Coexist? Don’t We Already Do That?

Posted on by March 23, 2016
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This popular bumper sticker is used by those who promote “tolerance” and world peace, but can those be achieved through man’s efforts?

You’ve probably seen the popular bumper sticker that urges people to “coexist.” Each letter is made of a popular symbol to indicate that Muslims, Christians, Jews, men, women, and more just need to get along. Of course, I want to live in a world where we can all get along, but I have some problems with the message behind this particular sticker.

First of all, we already do coexist. If we didn’t, then who are these stickers being directed at? Wouldn’t we all be dead? In the United States, we do have Christians, Jews, and Muslims living among each other peacefully. This doesn’t mean there aren’t ever any problems, but the vast majority of people in these groups get along quite well in our society.

Second, the message on the sticker is directed at several groups as though they cannot get along and need to cease any type of hostilities they may have. It’s true that religious wars have taken place and the ongoing Middle East crisis has mostly been fueled by religious ideas. But who is largely to blame for this? Secularists would like us to believe that Christianity and Judaism are worse than Islam in this regard. The Jews are repeatedly blamed for the violence in Israel, and Christians are often labeled as “fundamentalists” and compared to Islamic terrorists (who, according to the media, really aren’t Muslims, but part of a radical faction that has hijacked the religion for their own purposes). Think about it. How many Christian or Jewish suicide bombers have you read about? None. Because they don’t do it. How many airplanes have been hijacked by Christians or Jews for their religious causes? None.

The leftist media around the world attempts to squelch information that connects various terrorist attacks to Islam. Yet, the vast majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by Muslims. The Fort Hood shootings were done by a Muslim, as were the 9/11 attacks, and countless other suicide bombings. Do you remember the videos that played on 9/11 showing Muslims in other nations rejoicing when the towers fell? Those were quickly pulled in America, allegedly to protect American Muslims, and thankfully there were no outbreaks of violence against them (the videos can still be found on youtube). However, the media jumps at any opportunity to connect an attack to Christians. Within hours of the recent tragic attacks in Norway, members of the media rushed to label Anders Behring Breivik as a Christian but he clearly is not (a facebook page opened a few days prior to the murders where he calls himself a Christian does not make one a Christian). Nowhere in his manifesto or Internet writings did he give evidence that Christian beliefs fueled his animosity against Marxists and Muslims. It may be accurate to call him a far right winger, but not a Christian. And even if he claims to be a Christian, his actions were directly opposed to Jesus’ commands to love your neighbor and your enemy. Paul also wrote, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). Compare this to the many verses in the Koran which instruct followers to kill the Jews and other “infidels” (thankfully, many Muslims focus on other passages and do live peacefully with non-Muslims).

I’ve heard some people claim that the United States’ wars in the Middle East are examples of Christian hostilities. What a joke! It’s been quite a while since the U.S. government has been motivated by Christian beliefs. People can argue whether the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were a result of the 9/11 attacks, oil, revenge, etc., but they are not an example of Christian aggression in the world.

Others will bring up the Crusades as an example of Christian violence. While I will not defend the actions of everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian (we are sinners too), there are several problems with this claim. The Crusades were part of the so-called Holy Roman Empire’s attempt to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims who had conquered it. Also, whether they were “just wars” or not, it must be noted that this was part of Roman Catholicism and not biblical Christianity. Also, many atrocities were committed by the Crusaders against Jewish people who were not involved in the fighting. How in the world can a true Christian justify the slaughter of Jewish people? Keep in mind that Jesus and His disciples were Jewish, and nearly every passage of the Bible was written by Jews. [Note: the following sentence and video were added 3/22/16, the day of the tragic terrorist attacks at the Brussels airport.] Finally, before you try to equate the Crusades with some of the violence from Islamic terrorism, you need to have a proper perspective on these events.

There’s a third reason I don’t like these stickers. Many of the people who display these stickers are absolute hypocrites. I recently saw this sticker on a vehicle that had several other bumper stickers. One read, “Draft SUV drivers first,” while another stated, “Support your local revolution.” It sure sounds like that guy wanted us to coexist, doesn’t it? There are definitely some peace-loving people who use this sticker, but I’ve encountered far too many people who cry for peace but repeatedly spew hatred toward Christians.

It reminds me of recent claims of the “tolerant” liberals like Vice-President Joe Biden and Maxine Waters. Biden has called TEA Party members “terrorists” and Waters said that they can “Go to hell.” Other liberals, like Jason Levin, have called on their fellow party members to “crash” TEA Party rallies by attending dressed as Hitler and acting as racists or bigots just so the liberal media can denounce the movement. It’s pretty sad when someone has to create “evidence” for their position. And who can forget the “tolerant” death threats made by liberals to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former President George Bush. But I digress. This wasn’t meant to be a political post.

When considering the world’s religions, this message is far more appropriate than the “coexist” sticker.

Finally, my biggest problem with the coexist bumper sticker is theological in nature. It places each of the religions on the same plane giving the impression they are all equal. Yet Christianity is different in so many ways. It isn’t about what we can do for God, but what God has already done for us. We don’t do good works to get saved, but we perform good works because we are forgiven. Also, Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and said that no one could get to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). In light of this fact, I believe the design for the second image (Repent) is far more appropriate. Salvation cannot be earned by your own efforts because you are a sinner, so you will never be “good enough” to be saved. The Bible says that salvation is a gift that can only be received through faith. As the image states, “Repent” (turn from your sins) and place your faith in Christ.

There will continue to be many people who labor to bring peace in this world. While this is a noble goal, it will never be accomplished without the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus will return someday to rule over this world for 1,000 years (Revelation 20). Only then will this world have peace (see Isaiah 65:19–25 for a description of this time period). Even that peace will come to an end when man will once again rebel against their Creator, but their rebellion will be short-lived (Revelation 20:7–10). The battle described here will be followed by the final judgment. Those who have repented of sin and trusted in Christ will dwell with Him for eternity. All who have rejected Him will be sentenced to the lake of fire for eternity. You may think this is unfair or intolerant, but it is fair because it will be a just punishment for sinning against the infinitely holy God who is definitely intolerant of sin. Instead of being upset about it, be thankful that He is also merciful and gracious and is giving you time to trust in Him. Those who have can enjoy peace of mind since they will finally be at peace with God.