For coming see comments on 1.16. The second coming of Jesus Christ as judge is a very important part of apostolic teaching and is echoed in some words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels (for instance, Matt 24.3; Mark 9.1). The delay of this event created tremendous problems for the early church, as can be seen in some of Paul’s letters, such as his letters to the Thessalonians. This same problem is a major concern of the readers of 2 Peter. Apparently some people (most probably the false teachers mentioned in chapter 2) have been raising questions about this doctrine, or even denying its truth, and making fun of those who still hold on to it. So these people ask Where is the promise of his coming? In the Old Testament, doubts or denials are frequently expressed in the form of a rhetorical question with the same structure as above, as in Mal 2.17, “Where is the God who is supposed to be just?” (Good News Translation) or Jer 17.15, “Where are those threats the Lord made against us? Let him carry them out now!” (Good News Translation; see also Psa 42.3; Jer 17.15; Luke 8.25). So this rhetorical question form is very appropriate to express the cynical attitude of those who reject the Parousia because of its delay. Promise here refers to statements regarding the Parousia; these may be Old Testament prophecies, or teachings of the apostles, or even the very words of Jesus himself in which he spoke of his imminent return. Where is the promise seems to ask for the location of the promise, but in fact this is an idiomatic expression that means “Where is the fulfillment of the promise?” The aim of the question is not to find out where these promises are, but to express doubt and skepticism regarding them. Good News Translation offers a model for restructuring:
• “He promised to come, didn’t he? Where is he?”
Another way is to put this in the passive:
• “Hasn’t it been promised that he would come? What happened to that promise?”
(See also Knox: “What has become of the promise that he would appear?”) Another possibility is to change the rhetorical question into statements such as
• “His promise to come is not true! He is not coming at all!”
Or even:
• “He lied when he said, ‘I am coming again.’ Actually he is not coming at all.”
In restructuring rhetorical questions, translators must make sure that the impact of the text is retained in the translation, namely, that this is an emphatic statement.
Some commentators take fathers to refer to important people in the Old Testament, since the word was used with this meaning in the literature of that time. In the present context, however, it makes more sense to take it as referring to the first generation of Christians, that is, the first Christian disciples who were given the promise of the early return of Christ, and in whose lifetime this event was expected to happen. “Died” is literally fell asleep, a euphemism or indirect way of referring to dying. Ever since marks the beginning of the period that concerns the doubters: the period from the death of the first-generation Christians to the time of the writing of the letter. The sense of the Greek is captured in Good News Translation: “Our fathers have already died, but….” (See also New English Bible “Our fathers have been laid to their rest, but still….”)
All things have continued as they were: the Lord’s return has been proclaimed as coming with upheavals of various kinds in the world. The mockers contend that all things are exactly the same, and in fact things have been this way ever since the beginning of creation. The regularity of the world and the stability of existence are used as arguments against the Parousia. Creation refers to “the creation of the world” (Good News Translation, also New English Bible “since the world began”), with God as the agent, hence we can also say “from the time God created the world.” The statement all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation is of course an exaggeration, but this should be clearly marked in the translation. One way of doing it is shown in Good News Translation, where an exclamation point is used at the end of the statement. Similar rhetorical devices may be employed as far as they are appropriate in the receptor language.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .