How do you reconcile the following two sentences: God does not wish that any should perish. Many will perish because they reject God. Does 2 Peter 3:9 then teach that God’s will is in subjection to man’s will? The context reveals that actually God’s will is being accomplished! First, chapter 2 is supporting context for chapter 3. Ch. 2 can be summed up in 2:9, which says the wicked will be judged and the righteous will be saved!
Ch. 3 declares the Day of the Lord will surely come. The heavens and earth will be destroyed, the ungodly judged, and believers will be kept for the new heavens and earth. The immediate context of 3:9 is v8, the point being that waiting on the day of the Lord seems long, but it isn’t in light of eternity.
Now v9. “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.” From the opening phrase, the Lord is fulfilling a promise while believers await His return, and the remainder of the verse explains which promise He is fulfilling. Who is the “you” that the Lord is patient towards? It is believers, cf v8 - “beloved.” Peter is not making a statement here about all of humanity but rather about believers. Now the concluding two phrases can be interpreted in light of its contextual surrounding.
The delay in the Lord’s coming is that He is patiently waiting for everyone who will trust Christ to come to repentance. For example, He did not return in 1986 because Wil Owens, one of His children, would not repent until 1987! He will not come a moment sooner because He is not willing for any of His children to perish! This is the promise His delay is fulfilling!
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