Ploy of the Scoffers

False teachers actively mislead others with deceptive teachings, while scoffers are those who mock and ridicule truth, a behavior sometimes used by false teachers themselves. A false teacher is best defined as one who distorts and misrepresents doctrine for personal gain or influence, evident in 2 Peter 2:1, which warns of their destructive heresies that lead many astray. In contrast, a scoffer is someone who expresses disbelief or derision towards spiritual truths, as highlighted in Psalm 1:1, where scoffing is equated with the behavior of the wicked. The two terms often overlap, as many false teachers are also described as scoffers who intentionally mislead people by twisting scripture and denying spiritual truth with arrogance and mockery. A false teacher launched a frontal assault on faith, while the scoffer is more subtle. He doesn’t directly attack faith. Instead, he reduces Christianity to a joke that people laugh at. They may be sitting in the pews, in schools, or in workplaces, hurling ridicule at Christian beliefs. With the rise of the internet, scoffing has been elevated to a new level in the digital sphere. Articles, blog posts, and social media are filled with humorous ridicule targeting the Christian faith.

Scoffers have been present since the Garden of Eden. Satan’s first ploy on man was in the form of scoffing at God’s word: “Did God really say?” False teachers and scoffers have always been a part of this fallen world and will remain as a problem till the end of this age. In the first century, Peter confronted scoffers firsthand in the Greco-Roman world, where early Christians were ridiculed for their beliefs. These scoffers mocked their faith in a crucified Savior and questioned the promise of His return, reflecting the wider societal contempt for Christianity. Scripture clearly warns believers that, as the Day of the Lord draws nearer, the scoffing will increase. Arrogantly, they deny the Day of Judgment; they deny the return of Christ, even though they know the scripture. The scripture warns that despite their scoffing, the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, and all will face judgment.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always lived in anticipation of His glorious return to gather His redeemed, to destroy the wicked, and to establish His kingdom. That is our only hope in life and death, and the main spiritual motivator for our joy, our service, and our holy living. When He returns, He will reward those who are faithful. We look forward to the day when Christ comes and puts an end to Satan’s domain and sets up His eternal righteous dominion. So the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the great event and the culmination of Christian faith. And we are not surprised that Satan is working hard through false teachers to discourage and derail people from the reality of Christ’s return and the future judgment so that he can sabotage believers’ blessed hope and spiritual motivation.

Scoffers’ Ploy:

Peter, in this text, unfolds the scoffers’ ploy and reminds the believers of God’s timing and the coming judgment. The Scoffers’ ploy to attack believers takes three forms: mockery, ideology, and uniformity.

1. Mockery (v3, v4)
   Peter says that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing. This is their common ploy – sarcasm, ridicule. The early church believed that Jesus was coming back soon. Their hearts were filled with anticipation. Paul had repeatedly assured of Christ’s coming in his letters to Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:51), Thessalonians (1 Thes 4:13-18). They were living in great anticipation, assuming it would happen in their lifetime. They had been waiting, and Jesus hadn’t come, and some of their loved ones died. They became very stressed and disappointed and began to grieve. That’s the case in Thessalonica, where scoffers capitalized on those believers’ emotional disappointment. This ridicule, mockery, and sarcasm work on people who are emotionally unstable. When they say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” it is pretty intimidating, and that can feed the week’s flesh with doubts and steel their hope and joy.
2. Ideology (v3)
   They promoted a lifestyle of sensuality. They were walking after their own sexual desires. Their mockery was built on their self-motivated ideology. They want an eschatology that fits their conduct – an eschatology with no second coming, no judgment. They wanted a doctrine that permits and justifies their conduct. That’s the perversion. If you believe in the second coming and the final judgment, and the eternal reward, then you want to live a life that is set apart for holiness. These scoffers don’t want any accountability in their lives; they don’t want a righteous judge who demands holiness and who chastens sin. They want liberation of sexual freedom and an accommodating philosophy.
3. Uniformity (v4)
   When they say, ‘Nothing has changed, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation,’ they are arguing against Christ’s second coming and the judgment -‘Jesus will never come; there will never be judgment; there will never be intervention from God; these never happened so far and will not happen in the future.’ They deliberately misconstruct the history to attack unsuspecting minds. It is self-delusion. From a few unchanging years, they conclude that there has never been a change. They find their hope for sensual pleasures without fear in this false confidence.

Peter’s Response:

Having alerted the believers to the ploy of the scoffers, Peter responds to the scoffers using four arguments: Scripture, history, the timing of God, and the character of God.

1. Scripture (v2)
   Peter alerts believers saying, ‘you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles’. There, he is referring to the Old Testament prophesies and the New Testament writings. He says to the believers not to fall into scoffers’ intimidation and to refer back to the scriptures, and rehearse what has been written about the second coming of Christ and the final judgment. According to scholars, there are numerous references to the Second Coming of Christ and the judgment in the Old Testament, with estimates suggesting over 1,500 passages, though exact counts vary. These passages are found in 17 Old Testament books and often describe events surrounding the Second Coming, such as the regathering of Israel, the judgment of the nations, and the establishment of a righteous kingdom, with the “Day of the Lord” being a key theme. Not only that, one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament mentions Christ’s return. There are 27 books in the New Testament, and 23 of them refer to the Lord’s return explicitly. The New Testament is replete with warnings about judgment, information about the Lord coming to gather His own, teaching about the fact that He will judge the wicked, establish His kingdom, and bring in eternal righteousness. So Peter says, it’s coming, it’s inevitable, it’s in the Old Testament, it’s in the New Testament!
2. History (v5, v6)
   These scoffers deliberately shut their eyes to the historical facts when they say, ‘everything has been going the same way from the beginning, and there are no invasions by God and no judgment’. They love their sin so much, and they don’t like the truth. So they developed a doctrine that fits their lifestyle with no second coming and no final judgment. Peter points out two catastrophic invasions by God in history to prove that everything is not the same from the beginning.
   1. Creation out of Water (v5)
      At the beginning, God intervened and created the heavens and the earth. It was a catastrophic event, a direct act of creation by God. They did not exist by evolution; they existed by the word of God. God spoke them into existence. Out of a formless and empty watery mess, God formed the earth. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Gen 1:31). God has created a beautiful earth for man to live – an absolutely perfect environment where man’s average lifespan was 900+ years.
   2. Destruction by Water (v6)
      The world wasn’t the same 1656 years after the creation. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (Gen 6:5). And He decided to destroy it by the water. He submerged the whole earth and killed every living creature except 8 people. It was a catastrophic event, a direct act of destruction by God. We are now living in a completely different ecosystem where man’s average lifespan is 70 years.
   False teachers deliberately refused to acknowledge the true historical facts. Peter says, by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly (v7). The present world system is reserved for future judgment, and it will come by the word of God just as the creation came and the past judgment came. That judgment will destroy the heaven and earth, and out of it God will create a new universe in which righteousness dwells (v10, v12, v13).
3. Timing of God (v8)
   Peter reminds believers that God is not bound by the constraints of time; He is not subject to the succession of moments, but experiences all of history and future at once in a perpetual present. He does not experience ‘delay’ and the time that passes on earth is of no consequence from God’s timeless perspective. A second is no different from an eon; a billion years pass like seconds to the eternal God. From a human point of view, it seems a long wait, but in God’s viewpoint, it is not.
4. Character of God (v9)
   God is perfectly faithful, undeterred by human misconceptions of “slowness. Any perceived delay in God’s plan is not because He is slow, but because He is patient and merciful, giving people time to repent before the final judgment. Peter reassures believers, saying the coming of the Lord has been delayed so that all the elect of God can be gathered together. Christ won’t lose even one. God is true to his word: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39, 37). When the fullness of the Gentiles comes in and the last person is saved, Christ will gather His church. Then His patience will end, and the judgment comes.

CONCLUSION:

Peter says the ‘day of the Lord’ will come like a thief. God will destroy heaven and earth and all the ungodly in it by fire. It’s going to be a sudden, unexpected arrival. It’s coming and it’s inevitable. It’s not going to be some man-made holocaust; it’s going to be the intervention of God Himself.