☰ 2 Peter 3
So take the Truth seriously!!
3
1 Dear ones, this is now a second letter I am writing to you* (in both of which I stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder), 2 so that you remember the words that were spoken before by the holy prophets and the command of the Lord and Savior, through your apostles.†
Mockers will come
3 Knowing this first: in the last days mockers will come, living according to their own lusts 4 and saying: “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 This because they deliberately ignore‡ that heavens§ and land (out of water and through water)* had been existing from of old by the word of God, 6 by which word the world† that then was perished, being flooded by water.‡
This world will be destroyed
7 But the current heavens, and the earth, are being reserved by His word for fire,§ being preserved until the day of judgment and perdition of godless men.*
The Lord is longsuffering
8 But dear ones, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.† 9 The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider delay, but rather is patient toward us, not wishing anyone to perish but all to come into repentance.‡
Hasten the Day of God
10 However, the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night, in which heavens§ will pass away with a whoosh, while the elements will be dissolved by burning—both the earth and the works in it will be completely consumed. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12 expecting and hastening* the coming of the day of God, because of which heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
A better world is coming
13 Nevertheless, we look for new heavens and a new earth† in which dwells righteousness, according to His promise.
So be serious!
14 Therefore, dear ones, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,‡ faultless and blameless; 15 and consider the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation§—just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, 16 as also in all his epistles* (speaking in them of these things, about which there are some things hard to understand), which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures,† to their own destruction.‡ 17 You therefore, dear ones, being forewarned, be on guard lest, being carried away by the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.§ 18 Rather, may you grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and into the eternal day.* Amen.
* 3:1 See 1 Peter 1:1 for the identification of the addressees. † 3:2 Peter places the “command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (which I take to be a reference to NT writings) on a par with the “words spoken before by the holy prophets”, which evidently refers to OT writings. Since “apostles” is plural, I take it that Peter was aware that there were several authors. ‡ 3:5 It appears to me that the term “deliberately” has a direct bearing on the intended meaning. How can one ‘forget’ deliberately? To ‘ignore’ is deliberate; to ‘pretend’ is deliberate. When a professor or a scholar or a scientist ignores the scientific evidence for a worldwide flood he is deliberately deceiving his students or readers. To do so is to be perverse. § 3:5 There is no definite article with ‘heavens’, I suppose because the third heaven, God's abode, is not included—the reference here would be to the first heaven (the atmosphere) and the second (stellar space). * 3:5 To be visible and useable (for normal purposes) land must rise above the water level, ‘out of water’, but to sustain life there must be water available on the land as well, ‘through/by water’. † 3:6 “World” is different from “land” (v. 5) and refers to the organized world—Noah's flood did not destroy the planet earth, just the organized surface. It was the divine decree that unleashed the destructive forces. ‡ 3:6 All around the world there are layers of sedimentary material hundreds of meters deep, and the layerings are similar. The whole globe was scoured and the surface rearranged about 4350 years ago. To ignore the evidence is a deliberate choice, and has serious consequences. § 3:7 God promised Noah that He would never destroy the world by water again, designating the rainbow as a symbol of that promise (there were no rainbows before the Flood)—the next time it will be by fire. The destruction in Noah's day involved the earth and the first heaven, the atmosphere; the next destruction will include the second heaven, stellar space, as well. * 3:7 “Preserved”—our planet was created for the use of the human race and placed under human administration, so it cannot be destroyed until human history has run its course. † 3:8 Although I myself have been partial to the idea that this information constitutes a precise formula, it is doubtless more prudent to take this as a general statement, showing that an eternal Being does not regard time the way we do. ‡ 3:9 If everything were ‘cut and dried’, there would be no point in waiting. § 3:10 The same comment applies as in verse 5 above. * 3:12 “Hastening” is a transitive verb. If we can hasten the coming, we can also delay it, or words do not mean anything. The point is, what we do or do not do makes a difference, which is why there will be an accounting. I imagine that there are outside limits or parameters that God's sovereignty will guarantee, but within those parameters it is up to us (like players on a football field—the score is up to them). So how can we hasten the coming of God's day? By living our lives to the hilt on behalf of His Kingdom, standing up for biblical values in the society at large, working to get the Gospel to the last ethnic nation. † 3:13 God is not through creating, but since the Son will have His bride, the next time around righteousness will be guaranteed. ‡ 3:14 When we face the Creator are we going to see a smile, or a frown—it is up to us. § 3:15 Peter repeats the truth stated in verse 9 above—just because God is not striking us down like He did with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) does not mean that we are getting a free ride. If you have sense, you look ahead. * 3:16 Peter was obviously aware of a ‘Pauline corpus’—the use of ‘all’ suggests that Peter was aware of a fair number of Paul's letters. † 3:16 Peter affirms that Paul's letters are Scripture! ‡ 3:16 The verb form of this noun is usually rendered ‘to perish’—the implication is that such people are lost. To distort what is in a newspaper or magazine does not have the same consequence—it is distorting God's Word that is serious. § 3:17 Peter emphasizes human responsibility, again. * 3:18 Peter does not use the usual ‘forever’, but the effect is the same.
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