Bible Commentaries
2 Peter 3

Verses 1-18

III:1-10 A Refutation of the False Teachers —The Apostle warns the readers against the sceptics, who deny the second coming of Christ; he exhorts them to constant expectation of that coming.

1. ’This second epistle’; the first is probably our i Pet; ’sincere mind’, i.e. not contaminated by false teachings.

3. ’In the last days’, i.e. the time subsequent to the coming of the Messias.

4. ’Where is his promise or his coming?’ i.e. where is the fulfilment of the promised return of Christ? An entire generation of believers passed away without witnessing it, and all things continue, etc., i.e. the continuity of nature has not been interrupted by such a catastrophe as Christ predicted would happen before his return, Mark 13:19. The inference is: nothing has happened yet; hence nothing is likely to happen in the future.

5. St Peter replies: Heaven and earth were created by God, and after a long period of apparent sameness in the course of nature, his word effected a sudden change in the condition of the world and its inhabitants by the waters of the deluge. God can, and will, effect another change in the heavens and the earth as they now exist, and that will be effected by fire. It will immediately precede the second coming of Christ; that the heavens were of old, and the earth was formed by God’s word out of water and by means of water’, i.e. as is narrated in Genesis 1:9, when God spoke the waters were gathered into one place, and dry land appeared.

6. ’perished’, i.e. through the waters of the deluge, Genesis 7:21-23.7. The parallel between the deluge and the end of the present world is drawn by our Lord himself, Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26 f. That fire will accompany the judgement of God is stated in Pss 49:3; 96:3; Isaiah 66:15; Soph 1:18; 3:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; that the present inhabited world will perish by fire was a late Jewish tradition, SB 3, 775.

8-9. The reason for the delay of Christ’s return. With God there is no time element; everything is present to his mind, and such distinctions of time as we make have no meaning in the divine plans. Whatever delay there may be, is a proof of God’s patience. He wills that no one shall perish, but that all be brought to repentance, cf.1 Timothy 2:4.10. Yet we must guard against presumption, and not put off repentance till it is too late. ’The day of the Lord shall come as a thief’, i.e. suddenly and unexpectedly, cf.Matthew 24:43 f.; 1 Thessalonians 5:2. ’The heavens shall pass away with a crackling sound’, like that of a conflagration, ’and the elements’, probably the sun, moon and stars, as in Matthew 24:29, ’shall be melted with heat’, i.e. dissolved, ’and the earth and the works that are in it’, i.e. all human constructions, ’shall be burnt up’.

11-18 Exhortation to Watchfulness —In view of this great catastrophe, let them live ’in holy conversation and godliness’, i.e. in unworldliness and piety, and look forward to the day of the Lord’s coming. 12. Another interpretation of this verse is: By distinguishing themselves as true followers of Christ, they will fill up the number of the elect, and thus hasten the time of the Lord’s coming. 13. ’New heavens and a new earth according to his promises’, cf.Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22. It is not likely that the Apostle means that the earth, after its destruction, will be restored as the dwelling-place of the just. The new heavens and earth are more probably a figurative representation of the abode of the’ blessed in eternal bliss.

14. Earnestly strive to live without sin, without blame, without contention.

15. The patience of the Lord gives you time to make sure your salvation. About this St Paul wrote in Romans 2:4, and about the preparation to be made for the second coming in both 1 and 2 Thess and 1 Corinthians 3:13; 4:5; 15:51-54; cf. § 919c.16. ’As also in all his epistles’ may simply mean all the epistles with which St Peter was acquainted, and not that a collection of all St Paul’s Epistles was in existence when 2 Pet was written. ’In which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable wrest . . . to their destruction’—may refer to 2 Thessalonians 2:3 f.; 1 Corinthians 15:44; 1 Corinthians 15:3 Cor 5:1-4, etc., or to his teachings about Christian liberty, justification by faith independent of the Mosaic Law, equality of all before Christ, etc.; such doctrines those who were poorly instructed in the faith, or not firmly grounded in Christian morality would distort so as to pervert the Apostle’s meaning, thereby harming themselves and others spiritually. ’The other scriptures’—here St Peter classes St Paul’s Epistles with the other inspired writings of the OT, showing how greatly he esteemed St Paul’s writings. Perhaps it also indicates that at this early date the Pauline Epistles were read at the Christian gatherings together with the OT. It is the earliest reference we have to the canon of the NT. It might also have a bearing on the date of 2 Pet. 17. Being forewarned, let the readers guard against being misled by false and unwise interpretations of apostolic teachings. Rather may they adhere firmly to what they believed in the past, 18, and increase in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, to whom the Apostle pays devout homage in a concluding doxology.