Bible Commentaries
2 Peter 3

Verses 1-14

1 It is the special function of the Circumcision epistles to reaffirm and enforce the ancient prophetc Scriptures and the words of our Lord before His death and ascension. This is notably lacking in Paul's epistles. Seldom is the life of our Lord referred to, or His teaching recalled. There is little of prophetic reference. When the prophets are quoted it is usually to show their harmony or agreement, rather than direct fulfillment. The quotations are introduced by such connectives as ''as'' or "according to". This is because Paul is detailing an administration outside of the range of the prophets and beyond the scope of our Lord's ministry. Not so Peter and the Circumcision. They are concerned with the fulfillment of the prophetic predictions and are engaged in the same ministry as our Lord when on earth, for He proclaimed the kingdom as well as they.

3 Not only scoffers, but many who believe the Bible, have fallen into the error of supposing that all things have continued without change from the beginning. The great disruption chronicled in the second verse of the first of Genesis-"the earth becomes waste and sterile"

(for it was not created so, Isa_45:18 )-has been well nigh forgotten. What system of biblical cosmogony accounts for an earth "cohering out of water and through water"? This is more in accord with some of the theories of science than theology. It seems evident from this passage, as well as the accounts in Genesis and Job, that the earth has gone through much the same processes which we observe in the present condition of other planets. It probably was swathed in vapors like Venus or Jupiter, and once had rings like Saturn. The Hebrew "heavens" is dual, meaning a pair of heavens. We know that, in the new earth, there will be no seas, as on the moon or Mars. It has been and is subject to vast geologic changes, effected, in the past by water. It is stored with fire, which will be one of the means of its next great cataclysmic renovation. Fire in the heavens (perhaps a nebula) and in the earth will form the crucible for the new creation.

8 Time, with God, has none of the limitations which it has with us. The events of a day are vivid in our minds for a brief period, then they vanish and are forgotten. We know nothing of the future. But past and future are alike to God. As the psalmist says, " A thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday when it is past" ( Psa_90:4 ). We can readily recall the record of the previous day. It seems but a brief space of time. So a thousand years seems to Him. Since Peter penned these words nearly two thousand years have passed and His promise to Israel is not yet fulfilled, but there are indications that the time is near .

10 The day of the Lord, though it lasts for more than a thousand years, is treated as though its arrival is to be immediately followed by its end, in harmony with the preceding paragraph. It will come as a thief ( 1Th_5:2 ). It will close with the great cataclysm ( Rev_20:11 ; Rev_21:1 ) which ushers in the day of God, in the new creation. Two great convulsions divide the history of the heavens and the earth into three grand divisions. One is found at the forefront of revelation, this one is near its finish. The heavens and earth were destroyed by water ( Gen_1:2 ). In the future this will be effected by fire. The past was a physical regeneration. The future will be a chemical re-creation. Water, in the form of seas, is found only on the present earth. It was not on, but about, the previous one. It will be absent in the third earth ( Rev_21:1 ). The changing character of the earth on which we live is due largely to the presence of water. It disintegrates the solid rocks. As glaciers, it grinds down the mountains. In streams, it washes the soil into the sea. This is undoubtedly a parable of the impermanent moral processes through which mankind is passing. The new earth will be unchanging, permanent. Having passed through the great crucible of the divine Alchemist, its stones will be precious gems, hard as flint, and indestructible. And this will also be a parable of the moral purity which has been purged by fire and abides. This chapter reveals the fact that the new creation will be the third earth and third heaven ( 2Co_12:2 ).

Verses 15-18

15 It is evident that Peter, great apostle though he was, could not apprehend fully the ministry of Paul. He did see, however, that the seeming delay in the setting up of the kingdom was being used by God, through Paul, and that salvation was by no means dependent upon Israel's attitude. This subject, which is merely alluded to by Peter, is fully set forth by Paul in the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans.