Slowness and Its Benefits
You've probably come across this verse before: "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 wishing that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9, ESV) In this verse, the writer of 2 Peter is inviting the audience to re-imagine what seems to be God's inaction. The writer in this verse is using the word "but" to make a pretty strong distinction. In the ancient Greek language (what the NT was written in) there are two different forms of the word "but", δέ and ἀλλά . The first common word for "but" in ancient Greek is the word δέ (de). δέ is not often translated into our English translations because it's typically insignificant in the meaning of the sentence. The other form of the word "but" is ἀλλά (alla). ἀλλά is almost always translated into our English versions of the Bible because it's used when the writer i...