2 Peter 3:8-9

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.

⁹ 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.

do not forget (v.8) = do not let it be hidden from you, do not let it escape your notice, do not shut your eyes to it. The burden is on the hearer — to forget these truths is willful (v.5).

There are two things withholding the Second Coming of Christ to judge His enemies—the Church which is His Body, and the longsuffering of God. After the Church is caught up, God will continue to be longsuffering at the beginning of the Tribulation. This is substantiated by the number of souls that will be saved during this period (Revelation 7:9-17). …

Teachers of prophecy have sought to use Peter’s words [in v.8] as a means to predict when the Lord will return, they always live to regret it. We are living in the parenthetical age of Grace; consequently, any attempt to create a timeline based upon prophetic events is sure to fail. There is simply no possible way anyone can predict the duration of the longsuffering of God in the present administration of Grace. …

The essence of the apostle’s words is this: God is eternal — time has absolutely no bearing upon Him, as it does upon man, who often finds himself enslaved to it. God does everything according to the good pleasure of His will, and none can stay His hand. He is sovereign, eternal, almighty! In fact, this is the very context of the Psalm from which Peter quotes: Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God … For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night (Psalm 90:2, 4)….

Peter reminds his readers that God’s longsuffering should never be confused with inattentiveness. God always honors His promises, according to His plans and purposes. — Sadler, pages 227-228.

slack (v.9) = tarrying, loitering

slackness (v.9) = slowness, tardiness

longsuffering (v.9) = patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others, to be slow in avenging, slow to anger, slow to punish

willing (v.9) = intending, planning with full resolve, determining. A strong term that underlines the predetermined (and determined) intention driving the planning (as opposed to another word translated “will” that means “wishfulness”)

The particular definition of “willing” in this verse is important. The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to use blulomai (see definition above) and not thelo, which means wishing. This completely undermines the doctrine of election as normally stated. If, as the Calvinists say, God chooses particular individuals to be saved, then He also is choosing particular individuals to not be saved. But Peter states unequivocally in this verse that God is not choosing anyone to perish but rather wants all men to be saved. Those who perish do so because they choose to themselves by rejecting Christ.

repentance (v.9) = lit. “a change of mind,” specifically here the change of mind that results in saving faith.