"a day is like a thousand years"
One of the most misquoted and misunderstood verses in the Bible is II Peter 3:8, which contains the phrase "a day is like a thousand years." The Watchtower (Jehovah's Witnesses) cult teaches that this verse shows that each day of creation was one thousand years long; thus the six days of creation lasted six thousand years.
Many more orthodox Christians who wouldn't be caught dead agreeing with the Watchtower on other issues claim the same thing or something similar. It is almost always offered by compromising Christians as an excuse to show that when God uses the term "days" He does not always mean a regular day of twenty-four hours. Both groups believe the '"day" in this verse relates back in some way to the period of creation and lends them justification in their "interpretation." But what is this verse really teaching?
Here is the full context (you can also read the complete II Peter, chapter 3): (II Peter 3:8-10, NIV)
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
A number of points need to be made.
First, it is perfectly true that the first section of this chapter refers back to Creation and the Cataclysm of Noah's day. This is discussed in my page on compromise. It those verses God condemns certain unbelievers, "scoffers walking after their own lusts" who deny Creation and the Cataclysm. But simply read the passage above. Verses 8-10 refer, not back to the creation period, but to the unbelievers and God's desire to redeem them. The focus of the chapter is on unbelief, redemption and judgment, not the object of the unbeliever's scorn!
Second, those who misinterpret verse 8 invariably quote the center section of the verse, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years" without including the end of the verse. This is because the spin they put on this phrase would immediately contradict itself and cancel out the first half if they applied the same hermeneutic to the latter part of the verse: "and a thousand years are like a day"! What sort of absurd hermeneutic interprets one phrase in one manner, and then immediately ignores or interprets the next phrase of the same sentence in a completely different manner??
If a day of the creation week was really a thousand years, what thousand years of time was compressed into one twenty-four hour day? And where do we obtain biblical warrant for such an odd event?
This leads us to the third point. The sentence does not say (in either English or the original) "with the Lord a day is a thousand years" it says "is like a thousand years". The passage is a simile, that is, "a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as" (Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary). If the day in question really was a thousand years or some other long time period, it would in effect say "with the Lord a thousand years is like a thousand years," or "with the Lord a long time period is like a thousand years," either of which is basically meaningless. The sentence can only have meaning if in fact the word "day" does not mean a long time period in this sentence.
So what does it really mean? Hopefully most of you can just read the passage above and see for yourself with perfect clarity what it is in fact saying. Remember, the focus is on the unbeliever and the justice of God.
The phrase "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" is referring to God's patience in giving unbelievers ample opportunity to repent and turn to him. But when the time for action and judgment is come, he will not delay and will act swiftly.
"He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish". Where we would impatiently wait a day before giving up and passing judgment on the lost, God will wait a thousand years with the desire of reconciliation.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness." This patience, beyond what a mortal would grant, is due to His love and mercy, not because He will not judge sin or desires to allow it to continue, or because of laziness or indifference.
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief." But when the time for judgment comes, He will move swiftly and without warning, where a mortal would act indecisively and take forever to accomplish the mighty tasks of the judgment. What would take nature (?) a thousand years to accomplish God will complete in a day. "The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."
Don't get caught by surprise.
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