Matthew 24:48
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
48 [a]But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
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2 Peter 3:4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?[a] From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.”(A)
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- 3:4–7 The false teachers tried to justify their immorality by pointing out that the promised coming (parousia) of the Lord has not yet occurred, even though early Christians expected it in their day. They thus insinuate that God is not guiding the world’s history anymore, since nothing has changed and the first generation of Christians, our ancestors (2 Pt 3:4), has all died by this time. The author replies that, just as God destroyed the earth by water in the flood (2 Pt 3:5–6, cf. 2 Pt 2:5), so he will destroy it along with the false teachers on judgment day (2 Pt 3:7). The word of God, which called the world into being (Gn 1; Ps 33:6) and destroyed it by the waters of a flood, will destroy it again by fire on the day of judgment (2 Pt 3:5–7).
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