SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:4
y diciendo: ¿Dnde est la Promesa de su advenimiento? Porque desde el día en que los padres durmieron, todas las cosas permanecen así como desde el principio de la creacin.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:4
Verse 4. Where is the promise of his coming?] Perhaps the false teachers here referred to were such as believed in the eternity of the world: the prophets and the apostles had foretold its destruction, and they took it for granted, if this were true, that the terrestrial machine would have begun long ago to have shown some symptoms of decay; but they found that since the patriarchs died all things remained as they were from the foundation of the world; that is, men were propagated by natural generation, one was born and another died, and the course of nature continued regular in the seasons, succession of day and night, generation and corruption of animals and vegetables, &c.; for they did not consider the power of the Almighty, by which the whole can be annihilated in a moment, as well as created. As, therefore, they saw none of these changes, they presumed that there would be none, and they intimated that there never had been any. The apostle combats this notion in the following verse.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And saying, Where is the promise of his coming ? etc.] That is, of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, ( 2 Peter 3:2); the object of their scorn and derision, and whom they name not, through contempt; and the meaning is, what is become of the promise of his coming? where the accomplishment of it? The prophets foretold he would come; he himself said he would come again, ( John 14:3,28); the angels, at his ascension, declared he would come from heaven in like manner as he went up, ( Acts 1:11); and all his apostles gave out that he would appear a second time to judge both quick and dead, ( Acts 10:42 2 Timothy 4:1) ( 1 Peter 4:5), and that his coming was at hand, ( Philippians 4:5 Thessalonians 2:2); but where is the fulfilment of all this? he is not come, nor is there any sign or likelihood of it: for since the fathers fell asleep ; or died: which is the language of the Scriptures, and here sneered at by these men, who believe them so fast asleep as never to be awaked or raised more; and by the fathers they mean the first inhabitants of the world, as Adam, Abel, Seth, etc. and all the patriarchs and prophets in all ages; the Ethiopic version renders it, our first fathers: all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation ; reasoning from the settled order of things, the constant revolution of the sun, moon, and stars, the permanency of the earth, and the succession of the inhabitants of it, to the future continuance of things, without any alteration; and consequently, that Christ would not come, as was promised, to raise the dead, judge mankind destroy the world, and set up a new state of things: the fallacy of which reasoning is exposed by the apostle in the following words.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - The purified minds of Christians are to be stirred up, that they may be active and lively in the work of holiness. There will be scoffers in the last days, under the gospel, men who make light of sin, and mock a salvation by Jesus Christ. One very principal article of our fait refers to what only has a promise to rest upon, and scoffers wil attack it till our Lord is come. They will not believe that he wil come. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, P 55:19. What he never has done, they fancy he never can do, or neve will do.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 λεγοντες 3004 5723 που 4226 εστιν 2076 5748 η 3588 επαγγελια 1860 της 3588 παρουσιας 3952 αυτου 846 αφ 575 ης 3739 γαρ 1063 οι 3588 πατερες 3962 εκοιμηθησαν 2837 5681 παντα 3956 ουτως 3779 διαμενει 1265 5719 απ 575 αρχης 746 κτισεως 2937
Vincent's NT Word Studies
4. From the beginning of the creation (ap archv ktisewv). Not a common phrase. It occurs only Mark x. 6; xiii. 19; Apoc. iii. 14. Fell asleep (ekoimhqhsan). A literal and correct translation of the word, which occurs frequently in the New Testament, but only here in Peter. Some have supposed that the peculiarly Christian sense of the word is emphasized ironically by these mockers. It is used, however, in classical Greek to denote death. The difference between the pagan and the Christian usage lies in the fact that, in the latter, it was defined by the hope of the resurrection, and therefore was used literally of a sleep, which, though long, was to have an awaking. See on Acts vii. 60.
