Scripture quotations on this page are from the World English Bible (public domain), shown in quotation marks; all commentary is written by Scripture Trove. Source: 2 Peter 3 · Commentary
Chapter 2 exposed the true nature and inevitable fate of false teachers. Chapter 3 shifts its gaze from the false teachers themselves to the very core of their error: denying the promise of Christ's return. Peter responds to the arguments of end-time mockers, rebuilds a proper hope in "the day of the Lord," and appeals to the authority of Paul's letters as corroboration. The book closes with a final exhortation to "grow in the grace and knowledge" of Christ.
This chapter belongs to the "Holding Fast to the Hope of the Last Days" unit in 2 Peter (3:1-18), which forms the finale of the book's three-part progression: "True Knowledge, False Teachers, and the Hope of the Last Days." Here, Peter sets the problem of false teachers within the cosmic framework of salvation history, offering the promise of new heavens and a new earth as the book's ultimate horizon of hope.
The core message of this chapter: the promise of Christ's return has not failed. God's "delay" is not forgetfulness but an extension of grace. He is not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Yet that day will certainly come — and what we are waiting for is not destruction, but "new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells." While we wait, the task of believers is not to calculate dates but to live lives worthy of that coming world.
3:9 "The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9（World English Bible）
3:13 "But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells."
2 Peter 3:13（World English Bible）
"Not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance" — have you ever considered that God has waited this long perhaps for you? Or perhaps for that person you have been praying for all this time?
We often view the "delay" from our own perspective: Why hasn't Christ come back yet? The world is in such chaos — when will he finally come to judge? But Peter invites us to see the "delay" from God's perspective: he is being patient. He is giving every soul one more day. He is in no hurry, because he does not wish that anyone should perish. This is not weakness — this is the vastness of his heart.
And when you realize that the day will indeed come — that the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat — you discover that so many things you cling to so tightly cannot actually be carried through. Houses, savings, titles, reputations — all of these belong to the category of "elements," all of them are on the list of things to be "dissolved." But there is one thing that is not on that list: new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. That is why Peter says the things you should be diligent about are qualities that can pass through the fire — holiness and godliness. Not because you are earning points, but because you are preparing yourself for that coming world.
The final sentence of the entire book is not "try harder," but "grow in the grace and knowledge." Notice the order: first grace (what God gives you), then knowledge (your response to him). You do not need to start from scratch. God has already "granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (1:3). You simply need to unwrap that gift and walk, step by step, along the road of knowing him.
"The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness": Is there a promise from God in your life that you feel he has "delayed" too long? How does Peter's answer change the way you understand that season of waiting?
"New heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells": If righteousness will take up permanent residence in the new world, then what does the cost you pay now for the sake of justice — being misunderstood, rejected, or ridiculed — look like in the light of that coming world?
The book ends with "grow in the grace and knowledge." At this point in your life, do you need more to deepen your reception of grace (learning to receive rather than strive), or do you need more to grow in knowledge (knowing Christ more deeply)?
3:1-2 "This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you, that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior."
2 Peter 3:1-2（World English Bible）
"The second letter": Peter explicitly links this letter to "the first" (i.e., 1 Peter). "Reminding" (ὑπόμνησις, hypomnēsis) appears once again — it is the central action of the entire book. Peter wants his readers to remember two authoritative sources: (1) the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets, and (2) the Lord's commandment delivered through the apostles. Together, these two form the twin foundation of the faith — and they are the very two targets the false teachers are attacking.
"Sincere mind" (εἰλικρινῆ διάνοιαν, eilikrinē dianoian): the word εἰλικρινής (eilikrinēs) originally meant "tested as pure under sunlight" (as beeswax held up to sunlight reveals whether it has been adulterated). Peter desires his readers to have minds that can withstand examination — minds unclouded by the clever rhetoric of false teachers.
3:3-4 "Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'"
2 Peter 3:3-4（World English Bible）
The mockers' argument operates on two levels: (1) The empirical argument: The apostles said Christ would return, yet generation after generation has passed and nothing has happened — "all things continue as they were." (2) The philosophical argument: The world has undergone no fundamental change since creation; the universe is stable and will never experience an end-time intervention. This is essentially a form of uniformitarianism — the assumption that everything will continue operating according to existing natural laws indefinitely.
"From the day that the fathers fell asleep": "the fathers" likely refers to the first generation of Christians (such as Paul, James, and other apostles and believers who had already died). The mockers' logic runs as follows: even those who saw Christ with their own eyes have died, and Christ still hasn't returned — the promise has failed.
3:5-7 "For they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."
2 Peter 3:5-7（World English Bible）
Peter's rebuttal strikes at the core assumption of the mockers: "all things continue as they were." He points to two facts that they have willfully forgotten (λανθάνει αὐτοὺς τοῦτο θέλοντας, lanthanei aytous touto thelontas):
First, creation itself was an act of cosmic intervention. The heavens and the earth did not exist eternally on their own — they were made "by the word of God" (τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ, tō tou theou logō). If God's word had the power to create the world, it certainly has the power to change it.
Second, the flood was a cosmic judgment that has already occurred: "the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished." The mockers say "all things continue as they were," but recorded history says otherwise. God has already judged the world with water once, demonstrating both his willingness and his ability to intervene in the cosmic order.
"The heavens that exist now and the earth... stored up for fire": Moving from water to fire, Peter draws an analogy — the past judgment came through water (the flood), and the future judgment will come through fire. The present world is not eternally stable; its continued existence is itself sustained by God's word ("by the same word have been stored up"), and that same word has appointed an endpoint.
3:8 "But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
2 Peter 3:8（World English Bible）
This draws on Psalm 90:4. Peter's point is not a mathematical conversion (recalculating when Christ will return by treating a thousand years as one day). Rather, he is revealing a fundamental difference in perspective: God's time is not the same as human time. When you feel you have "waited too long," from God's perspective it may have been only "a day ago." The problem is not that God is too slow — it is that we are too impatient.
This statement also implies the reverse: what God accomplishes in a single day might take humanity a thousand years to comprehend in its depth and breadth. The length of time is not, in God's reckoning, the measure of faithfulness.
3:9 "The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9（World English Bible）
This is the warmest verse in the entire book, and one of the clearest expressions in all of Scripture of God's universal desire to save. Peter redefines God's "slowness" (βραδύνει, bradynei) as "patience" (μακροθυμεῖ, makrothymei). It is not that he has forgotten to come. It is not that he lacks the power to come. He is still waiting for people to repent.
"Not wishing that anyone should perish" (μή τινας ἀπολέσθαι, mē tinas apolesthai): the emphasis on "anyone" is striking. The postponement of cosmic judgment exists for the sake of every soul that has not yet turned back. This is not God's weakness — it is God's heart. In Peter's theology, the "delay" of the last days is grace at its most magnificent: time itself has become the vessel of grace.
"But that all should come to repentance" (πάντας εἰς μετάνοιαν χωρῆσαι, pantas eis metanoian chōrēsai) echoes 1 Timothy 2:4, "who desires all people to be saved." God's desire is universal, yet repentance is something each person must respond with. And patience is not limitless: verse 10 immediately pivots to the certainty of judgment.
3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat; and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."
2 Peter 3:10（World English Bible）
"Like a thief in the night": consistent with 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and Jesus' own teaching (Matthew 24:43-44). The defining characteristic of a thief is not violence but surprise — you do not know when the thief is coming, so you must be ready at all times.
"The heavens will pass away with a great noise" (ῥοιζηδόν, rhoizēdon): ῥοιζηδόν (rhoizēdon) is an onomatopoeia, evoking the shrieking whistle of something hurtling at great speed or the roar of a raging fire. "The elements" (στοιχεῖα, stoicheia) could refer in antiquity either to the basic elements (earth, water, fire, air) or to celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars). Under either reading, Peter is describing a cosmic-scale dissolution — the existing material order will be utterly reforged by fire.
A critical question arises: Is this describing destruction or renewal? The answer comes in 3:13: new heavens and a new earth. Just as the flood "destroyed" the old world but did not reduce all matter to nothing (the earth was still there after the waters receded), the fire of the last days is not total annihilation but a purifying renewal — the old order is burned away, and a new order is born from it.
3:11-12 "Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?"
2 Peter 3:11-12（World English Bible）
"Since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be": Peter pivots from cosmology to ethics. Knowledge about the last days is not meant for calculating dates — it is meant for calibrating the way we live. Since every material order is temporary, why would you exhaust yourself striving for things that will ultimately be dissolved? Holiness and godliness are the eternal qualities that can pass through the fire.
"Earnestly desiring" (σπεύδοντας, speudontas): this word carries both the sense of "eagerly awaiting" and "hastening, accelerating." Can believers actually "hasten" the return of Christ? Peter may be suggesting that when believers live lives of holiness and godliness, and the gospel is preached throughout the world, the purpose for which God is waiting is fulfilled more quickly (cf. Matthew 24:14, "This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world... and then the end will come"). Believers are not passive spectators in the waiting — they are active participants in the unfolding of the last days.
3:13 "But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells."
2 Peter 3:13（World English Bible）
"New heavens and a new earth" (καινοὺς οὐρανοὺς): drawn from Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22. The word καινός (kainos) does not mean "brand new, a completely different one" (νέος, neos) but "renewed, made fresh" — God is not discarding the old world to build an entirely new one from scratch; the old world is being remade after being purified through fire. This is consistent with the hope expressed in Romans 8:21, "that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."
"In which righteousness dwells" (ἐν οἷς δικαιοσύνη κατοικεῖ, en hois dikaiosynē katoikei): righteousness will no longer be a sojourner or a stranger — it will be a permanent resident (κατοικεῖ, katoikei — to settle, to dwell permanently). In the present world, righteousness is often marginalized and persecuted (the central theme of 1 Peter); in the new heavens and new earth, righteousness finally comes home. This single sentence provides the ultimate answer to the entire book's theology of suffering: the cost you pay now for the sake of righteousness is not in vain. In God's new world, righteousness will be the only atmosphere.
3:14 "Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight."
2 Peter 3:14（World English Bible）
"To be found in peace" (ἐν εἰρήνῃ εὑρεθῆναι αὐτῷ, en eirēnē heurethēnai autō): "in peace" does not mean brimming with self-confidence, but rather "to be found by him in a state of peace." When Christ returns, in what state will he find you? Not frantically trying to cover over your failings, but standing before him in peace — because you have been diligently pursuing holiness and godliness all along.
3:15-16 "Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."
2 Peter 3:15-16（World English Bible）
This is one of the most important pieces of "internal testimony" in the process of New Testament canonization. Peter calls Paul "our beloved brother" (ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφός, agapētos hēmōn adelphos). Coming after the Antioch confrontation described in Galatians 2:11-14, this address carries special weight. The two apostles had publicly disagreed, yet here Peter acknowledges Paul's apostolic authority in the most intimate terms.
"According to the wisdom given to him" (κατὰ τὴν): this acknowledges the source of inspiration behind Paul's letters — not Paul's own cleverness, but wisdom granted to him by God.
The most critical phrase is "as they also do to the other Scriptures" (ὡς καὶ... γραφαί, graphai). In the New Testament, γραφαί (graphai — Scriptures, sacred writings) typically refers to the Old Testament. By placing Paul's letters alongside the Old Testament Scriptures, Peter provides the earliest recorded instance of Paul's letters being regarded as carrying the authority of Scripture.
"Twist" (στρεβλοῦσιν, streblousin): the original meaning is "to wrench on a rack" — a torture instrument. The false teachers do not ignore Paul's letters; they distort them, turning Paul's teaching on grace into a license for indulgence, and twisting Paul's theology of freedom into moral nihilism. The problem does not lie in what Paul wrote, but in how certain readers choose to read it.
3:17 "You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness."
2 Peter 3:17（World English Bible）
"Knowing these things beforehand" (προγινώσκοντες, proginōskontes): you have already been warned. Ignorance can no longer serve as an excuse. Knowing that the danger exists is the first step toward being on guard — but knowledge alone does not guarantee safety. You can still "fall from your own steadfastness" (ἐκπέσητε τοῦ ἰδίου στηριγμοῦ, ekpesēte tou idiou stērigmou). Steadfastness is not a once-and-for-all state; it is a position that requires continual maintenance.
3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen!"
2 Peter 3:18（World English Bible）
The book closes with "grace and knowledge," two words that echo 1:2, "Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." The opening and closing of the entire book are anchored in the same pair of concepts: grace (what God gives you) and knowledge (your growing acquaintance with God).
"Grow" (αὐξάνετε, auxanete): this is an imperative — not a suggestion but a command. There is no "finish line" in the life of faith. As long as you are still breathing, you should be growing in grace and knowledge. To stop growing is to begin sliding backward — the people in chapter 2 who "knew the way of righteousness" and then turned back are a cautionary example.
"To him be the glory both now and forever" (εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος, eis hēmeran aiōnos): literally, "until the day of eternity." In the closing of a letter that discusses the last days, Peter does not end with "until he comes again" but with "until eternity" — because Christ's glory will not end on the day of judgment. From that day forward, it will truly unfold forever.
| Original | Transliteration | WEB Translation | Semantic Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐμπαῖκται | empaiktai | mockers | Scoffers/ridiculers: not sincere doubters, but people who deliberately mock the faith |
| λανθάνει θέλοντας | lanthanei thelontas | willfully forget | "They are willingly ignorant": their ignorance is a choice, not an unavoidable fate |
| τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ | tō tou theou logō | by the word of God | The instrument by which God creates, sustains, and judges the world is one and the same word |
| μακροθυμεῖ | makrothumei | patient | "Long-suffering": the true meaning behind God's apparent "delay" |
| στοιχεῖα | stoicheia | elements | May refer to the basic elements (earth, water, fire, air) or to celestial bodies: the fundamental building blocks of the universe will be reforged by fire |
| ῥοιζηδόν | rhoizēdon | with a great noise | Onomatopoeia: the shrieking whistle of something hurtling at speed, or the roar of a raging fire |
| καινός | kainos | new | Not "brand new, a different one" (νέος), but "renewed, made fresh": the remaking of the old world |
| κατοικεῖ | katoikei | dwells | "To settle permanently": righteousness will no longer be a sojourner but a permanent resident of the new world |
| γραφαί | graphai | Scriptures | Normally refers to the Old Testament: Peter places Paul's letters alongside the Old Testament as "Scriptures" |
| στρεβλοῦσιν | streblousin | twist | "To wrench on a rack": the false teachers' violent distortion of Paul's letters |
| αὐξάνετε | auxanete | grow | An imperative: "You must grow" — the perpetual verb of the life of faith |
A The mission of reminding: remember the words of the prophets and apostles (3:1-2)
B The mockers' argument: "all things continue as they were" (3:3-4)
C Rebuttal: the power of God's word — creation and the flood (3:5-7)
D Core: God's perspective on time and his patient heart (3:8-9)
C' The certainty of judgment: the day of the Lord comes like a thief (3:10)
B' The ethical implications of eschatology: how then should we live? (3:11-14)
A' The authority of Paul's letters and growing in grace and knowledge (3:15-18)
Section D (3:8-9) is the theological core of the entire chapter — God's perspective on time and the depth of his patient heart. It is framed by two "judgment" sections (C/C') and further enclosed by two "authoritative source" sections (A/A': the prophets and apostles, Paul's letters).
The statement in 3:10 — "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat" — raises a significant theological question: Is the fire of the last days total annihilation or a purifying renewal (purification)?
Evidence supporting "renewal":
Conclusion: The fire of the last days is most likely a cosmic-scale purification and recasting, much like a goldsmith refining gold in fire. What the fire burns away is the dross — the effects of sin and corruption. What remains is a renewed material world. The "new heavens and new earth" is not an entirely new universe built from scratch, but this universe made gloriously fresh after undergoing its ultimate purification.
2 Peter 3:15-16 is an extraordinarily important piece of documentary evidence in the history of how the New Testament canon was formed, because it displays the earliest stage of canonical awareness:
| Stage of Canonization | Evidence in 2 Peter 3:15-16 |
|---|---|
| The circulation of Paul's letters | "As also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things": implies that Paul's letters had already been collected to some degree |
| The authoritative status of Paul's letters | "According to the wisdom given to him": acknowledges divine inspiration as their source |
| Paul's letters placed alongside the Old Testament | "As they also do to the other Scriptures": γραφαί (graphai) equates Paul's letters with Scripture |
| The need for hermeneutical norms | "The ignorant and unsettled twist": proper understanding requires learning and a firm foundation of faith |
| The danger of misuse | False teachers distort Paul's teachings on freedom and grace — likely referring to the arguments found in Galatians and Romans |
This passage demonstrates that, at least by the time 2 Peter was written (whether around AD 65 or AD 100), Paul's letters were already being regarded as documents possessing the same authority as the Old Testament Scriptures. This is a living fossil from the process of New Testament canonization.
| 2 Peter Passage | New Testament Echo | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| 3:3 Mockers in the last days | Jude 18: "In the last time there will be mockers" | A near-verbatim parallel with Jude: end-time mockers were a phenomenon collectively foreseen by the apostles |
| 3:5 By the word of God the heavens existed | Hebrews 11:3: "the universe has been framed by the word of God" | The creative power of God's word: the instrument for creation, sustaining, and judgment is always "the word" |
| 3:8 One day as a thousand years | Psalm 90:4: "a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday" | Moses' psalm on time becomes Peter's eschatological framework for understanding time |
| 3:9 Not wishing that anyone should perish | 1 Timothy 2:4: "who desires all people to be saved" | A double witness to God's universal desire to save: Paul and Peter speak with one voice |
| 3:9 That all should come to repentance | Ezekiel 33:11: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" | From Ezekiel to Peter: God's heart has always been oriented toward repentance, not destruction |
| 3:10 The day of the Lord like a thief | 1 Thessalonians 5:2: "the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night" | Jesus' own teaching (Matthew 24:43) echoed jointly by Paul and Peter |
| 3:10 Heavens pass away, elements dissolved | Revelation 21:1: "the first heaven and the first earth have passed away" | From Peter to John: cosmic renewal is at the heart of the hope of the last days |
| 3:13 New heavens and new earth | Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1 | From Isaiah to Peter to John: the promise of new creation runs through the entire canon |
| 3:15 Paul's letters | All of Paul's letters | The earliest "canonical awareness" in the New Testament: apostolic letters regarded as equal to Old Testament Scripture |
| 3:18 Grow in grace and knowledge | Ephesians 4:15: "may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ" | Both Paul and Peter use "growth" as the defining verb of the life of faith |
The entire book uses ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis) (true knowledge) as its central thread. This chapter brings that thread to its climax and completion:
| Passage | Dimension of Knowledge | Function |
|---|---|---|
| 1:2 | Knowing God and Jesus → grace and peace multiplied | Knowledge is the channel of grace |
| 1:3 | Knowing the One who called us → life and godliness | Knowledge is the wellspring of life |
| 1:5-6 | γνῶσις (gnōsis) within the ladder of virtues | Knowledge is one link in the chain of virtue's growth |
| 1:8 | Having these qualities in abundance → not idle or unfruitful in knowing Christ | Knowledge bears fruit |
| 2:20 | Knowing the Lord and then turning back → worse than before | The grave consequences of knowledge betrayed |
| 3:3 | The mockers willfully forget | Knowledge rejected: deliberate ignorance |
| 3:8 | Don't forget this one thing | Knowledge must be actively remembered — a battle against forgetting |
| 3:17 | You, knowing these things beforehand | Knowledge becomes the precondition for being on guard |
| 3:18 | Grow in grace and knowledge | Knowledge is lifelong growth: the book's ultimate command |
From "the knowledge of God and of Jesus" (1:2) to "grow in the knowledge" (3:18), the entire argument of 2 Peter can be summarized in a single sentence: knowing Christ is the starting point, the driving force, and the destination of everything — it brings grace, produces virtue, guards against false teaching, sustains the hope of the last days, and points toward eternal growth. The problem with the false teachers was not that they knew too little, but that they knew and then turned away (2:20-21). The problem with the mockers was not that they could not know, but that they chose not to know (3:5). Second Peter is a letter about "knowledge," but the "knowledge" in view here is not mere information stored in the mind — it is a living, relational acquaintance with Christ.
| Character | Identity and Role | Key Points in This Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| The end-time mockers | Those who deny Christ's return | Their argument: "all things continue as they were" — they willfully forget creation and the flood |
| God | Creator, Judge, and Patient One | Created the heavens and earth by his word, judged the world with water, waits with patience for repentance |
| Paul | "Our beloved brother," an apostle granted wisdom | His letters are regarded as "Scriptures"; distorted by false teachers |
| Believers | Those who await the new heavens and new earth | Called to live in holiness and godliness while waiting, and to grow in grace and knowledge |
| Theme | Core Teaching |
|---|---|
| The creative and judicial power of God's word | God created the heavens and earth by his word, and by that same word sustains and will judge the world: the authority of his word spans all of history |
| God's perspective on time | One day as a thousand years: not a mathematical formula but a shift in perspective — God's timetable transcends human understanding |
| "Delay" as patience | The delay of Christ's return is not a broken promise but an extension of grace: God is waiting for every soul to repent |
| New heavens and new earth | The last days bring not destruction but renewal: righteousness will take up permanent residence in the new world |
| The ethical implications of eschatology | The purpose of knowing about the last days is not to calculate dates but to calibrate present living: holiness and godliness are the qualities that pass through the fire |
| Internal witness to biblical canonization | Peter equates Paul's letters with "Scriptures": the earliest trace of New Testament canonical awareness |
| Lifelong growth in grace and knowledge | There is no "finish line" in the life of faith: to stop growing is to begin sliding backward |