Verse 5.— For this they are willingly ignorant of. In thus speaking they exhibit a willing ignorance of God's word, and of his dealing with the world in the past. They claim for the earth stability and permanence, and deride the idea of its destruction, whereas, if they were properly informed, they would know that the heavens, or aerial atmosphere, existed anciently, and that at that time the earth was standing out of and in water.