2 Peter 3:3 warns that in the final period before Christ returns, people will arise who scoff at the idea of his coming and live only to satisfy their own desires. Peter wrote this to believers who were being tempted to doubt the promise of Jesus’ return because it seemed to be taking so long.
Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts…
2 Peter 3:3 (WEB)
What 2 Peter 3:3 Means
Peter begins with the phrase “knowing this first,” which signals that what follows is the most important warning in the passage. He wants his readers to be prepared before the trouble arrives, not surprised by it. The “last days” refer to the period between Christ’s first coming and his return, a time the early church understood as already underway.
The “mockers” are people who ridicule the Christian hope. The word describes those who treat the promise of Jesus’ coming as a joke or an empty story. Peter is not describing people who simply have honest questions. He is describing scoffers whose attitude is shaped by the desire to live without accountability.
The final clause, “walking after their own lusts,” explains why they mock. Their lives are guided by their own appetites rather than by God’s commands, and a future judgment is inconvenient to that way of living. The verse does not promise that every skeptic is a moral failure, but it does link disbelief in God’s promises with a life centered on self-indulgence.
The Context of 2 Peter 3:3
Second Peter is traditionally attributed to the apostle Peter and was written to Christians facing false teaching within the church. Peter says in the opening verse of this chapter that he is writing again to stir up their sincere minds by reminding them of truths they already received. His readers were not new converts, but people who needed to hold steady against pressure.
The verses just before this one call readers to remember what the holy prophets said and what the apostles taught about the Lord and Savior. Verse 4 then quotes the scoffers directly: “Where is the promise of his coming?” The mockers point to the unbroken pattern of nature and history as proof that nothing will change. Verses 5 and 6 answer them by recalling the flood, showing that God has acted in judgment before and his word is not idle. Read this way, verse 3 is the introduction to a rebuttal, and it helps explain why the scoffers’ argument sounds plausible and why Peter responds to it.
Key Phrases in 2 Peter 3:3
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(WEB)
This verse explains that the delay in Christ’s return is an expression of God’s patience, not his forgetfulness. It answers the scoffers’ question about the promise and shows that the wait is meant to give people time to turn to God.
Jude 1:18
They said to you that “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”
(WEB)
Jude records a similar warning about mockers who would follow their own ungodly desires in the last time. Reading it alongside 2 Peter 3:3 confirms that this was a recognized concern in the early church and reinforces the call to remain faithful.
A Short Prayer From 2 Peter 3:3
Lord, you know how easily I grow weary when people speak against your promises, and how quickly my own desires can pull me away from you. Keep my heart steady when I hear mockery, and give me grace to answer with gentleness and truth. Help me walk in the direction of your will each day, choosing what honors you over what only satisfies me for a moment. Let my hope in your return shape how I live now, until the day you come. Amen.