The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Peter is answering mockers who look at an unchanged world and ask where the promised coming has gone. His answer is that the delay is not a broken schedule but patience — God counts time His own way, and He wants people saved, not destroyed.
No doubt about the promise
The waiting has an explanation. One writer ties three parts of Peter's answer together: God's timescale, the certainty of His word, and the reason for the pause:
Hamilton SmithFirst, remember that what looks like a long delay to us is only a brief moment with the Lord: "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Second, never forget that the promise of His coming is "His promise", and that His word cannot fail. Third, there is a reason for the delay. It is not that the Lord is slow to fulfill His promise, but that He is patient... In His grace God gives room to repent before judgment falls. In his unbelief man uses the delay to say judgment will never come.
Two ways of counting time
The phrase "as some count slackness" points to a human measuring stick. Faith learns to use another one:
The Bible TreasuryIf days and years are taken out of their ordinary reckoning by time, and put in connection with the Lord and His coming, or with the day of God and the final dissolution of the heavens and the earth, faith's reckonings become like His, and we readily believe that "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." It is this new method of calculation which lets us say, about this apparently long interval that measures His absence, "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us."
Why He waits: to save people
The delay has a purpose. One writer describes what God is busy doing instead:
William KellyHis purposes of grace alone hold things back for the moment. He is bent on saving souls. He holds back from trading the present work of salvation for the strange work of judgment. He wants to fill heaven with guests that grace has made fit for it. But He is not slow to fulfill His promise.
It also answers a question believers ask: why does God let such a world go on?
J. N. DarbyIf God stepped in to change it, He would have to come in judgment and end the time of mercy. He does not do that while anyone still has ears to hear... We may have to suffer in the world for a while. Even so, we can be glad the world goes on, because it is still a time of mercy for others.
"Not wishing that any should perish" — God's heart
Writers link this to what God swore in the Old Testament about the wicked:
W. TrotterFirst, it is not because judgment is His delight... "Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"... No, God takes no pleasure in destroying anyone. The sad truth is that men despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and patience.
Commentators are careful to call this God's desire, not a promise about how men will answer. It is "what is in His heart, His desire for men, however little they may respond to it" (F. W. Grant).
Patience, not indifference
Misread, the pause becomes an argument that nothing will ever happen. The verse itself blocks that:
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord is not slow, and not careless or undependable, whatever some men accuse Him of. His patience is astonishing. It is folly to mistake His patience for indifference.
Peter's own words leave two roads open: "The alternative is clearly stated. It is repent or perish" (F. B. Hole).
What to do with the delay
Since the waiting is mercy, it shapes how believers pray and how hearers should act. One writer draws the conclusion for prayer:
J T MawsonMen are the work of His hand, and He looks on them with pity. He "is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." This is the day of grace, not of judgment. So it is the day for intercession.
That same patience takes away every excuse. Those who hear the message and still refuse "shall perish without a shadow of an excuse" (C. H. Mackintosh).
Summary
- Not broken — the delay never touches the reliability of the promise. It is His promise, and His word cannot fail.
- Not slow — a thousand years are like a day to Him. Faith learns to read God's clock instead of man's.
- But patient — the pause is grace. He is saving souls, and He will not close the time of mercy while anyone still has ears to hear.
- Not wishing any perish — this is God's heart, the same heart that swore He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
- So: repent — patience is not indifference. Peter's choice is plain: repent or perish. Meanwhile it is the day for intercession, not judgment.