2 Peter 3:4

And saying. It is clear that the church had been well instructed concerning Christ’s return and that the scoffers were openly ridiculing the teaching of the apostles concerning that event.

Where is the promise? This is not a reference to one particular promise but to the combined declarations of the prophets and the apostles as to the certainty of the second coming. The scoffers’ question indicates their skepticism — they did not expect the promises to be fulfilled.

Coming. Gr. parousia, a common NT word for Christ’s return (see on Matt. 24:3).

The fathers. This may be interpreted in two ways: as a reference (1) to the patriarchs (cf. on Rom. 9:5; 1 Cor. 10:1; Heb.1:1) or (2) to the immediately previous generation of Christians who personally heard Jesus and the apostles proclaiming the promises of the Lord’s return.

Fell asleep. Gr. koimaomai, “to sleep.” Of the 18 occurrences of koimaomai in the NT, 14 refer to the sleep of death (see on John 11:11; 1 Thess. 4:13; etc.).

All things. The clause reads literally, “all things so remain through from the beginning of creation.” The argument has a strangely modern ring. Its secular, skeptical tone seems to echo the thinking of our own day. By appealing to such a wide span of history, from creation to their own day, the mockers seem to have a most plausible argument. They say, in effect: The laws of nature continue to function season after season with amazing uniformity and regularity, and have done so throughout history; why should they not continue to do so? In v. 5 Peter replies to this line of reasoning.