The Day of the Lord
3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of the water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. [ Some manuscripts be burned up]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come ] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
NOTES:
3:1–4 The false teachers not only flout Christian morality
(cf. Jude 8–19); they also deny the second coming of Christ and the judgment (2
Pt 3:4; cf. 2 Pt 3:7). They seek to justify their licentiousness by arguing
that the promised return of Christ has not been realized and the world is the
same, no better than it was before (2 Pt 3:3–4). The author wishes to
strengthen the faithful against such errors by reminding them in this second
letter of the instruction in 1 Peter and of the teaching of the prophets and of
Christ, conveyed through the apostles (2 Pt 3:1–2; cf. Jude 17); cf. 1 Pt
1:10–12, 16–21, especially 16–21; Eph 2:20.
3:3 Scoffers: cf. Jude 18, where, however, only the passions
of the scoffers are mentioned, not a denial on their part of Jesus’ parousia.
3:4–7 The false teachers tried to justify their immorality
by pointing out that the promised coming (parousia) of the Lord has not yet
occurred, even though early Christians expected it in their day. They thus
insinuate that God is not guiding the world’s history anymore, since nothing
has changed and the first generation of Christians, our ancestors (2 Pt 3:4),
has all died by this time. The author replies that, just as God destroyed the
earth by water in the flood (2 Pt 3:5–6, cf. 2 Pt 2:5), so he will destroy it
along with the false teachers on judgment day (2 Pt 3:7). The word of God,
which called the world into being (Gn 1; Ps 33:6) and destroyed it by the
waters of a flood, will destroy it again by fire on the day of judgment (2 Pt
3:5–7).
3:5 Formed out of water and through water: Gn 1:2, 6–8 is
reflected as well as Greek views that water was the basic element from which
all is derived.
3:6 Destroyed, deluged with water: cf. 2 Pt 2:5; Gn
7:11–8:2.
3:8–10 The scoffers’ objection (2 Pt 3:4) is refuted also by
showing that delay of the Lord’s second coming is not a failure to fulfill his
word but rather a sign of his patience: God is giving time for repentance
before the final judgment (cf. Wis 11:23–26; Ez 18:23; 33:11).
3:8 Cf. Ps 90:4.
3:10 Like a thief: Mt 24:43; 1 Thes 5:2; Rev 3:3. Will be
found out: cf. 1 Cor 3:13–15. Some few versions read, as the sense may demand,
“will not be found out”; many manuscripts read “will be burned up”; there are
further variants in other manuscripts, versions, and Fathers. Total destruction
is assumed (2 Pt 3:11).
3:11–16 The second coming of Christ and the judgment of the
world are the doctrinal bases for the moral exhortation to readiness through
vigilance and a virtuous life; cf. Mt 24:42, 50–51; Lk 12:40; 1 Thes 5:1–11;
Jude 20–21.
3:12 Flames…fire: although this is the only New Testament
passage about a final conflagration, the idea was common in apocalyptic and
Greco-Roman thought. Hastening: eschatology is here used to motivate ethics (2
Pt 3:11), as elsewhere in the New Testament. Jewish sources and Acts 3:19–20
assume that proper ethical conduct can help bring the promised day of the Lord;
cf. 2 Pt 3:9. Some render the phrase, however, “desiring it earnestly.”
3:13 New heavens and a new earth: cf. Is 65:17; 66:22. The
divine promises will be fulfilled after the day of judgment will have passed.
The universe will be transformed by the reign of God’s righteousness or
justice; cf. Is 65:17–18; Acts 3:21; Rom 8:18–25; Rev 21:1.
3:16 These things: the teachings of this letter find
parallels in Paul, e.g., God’s will to save (Rom 2:4; 9:22–23; 1 Cor 1:7–8),
the coming of Christ (1 Thes 4:16–17; 1 Cor 15:23–52), and preparedness for the
judgment (Col 1:22–23; Eph 1:4–14; 4:30; 5:5–14). Other scriptures: used to
guide the faith and life of the Christian community. The letters of Paul are
thus here placed on the same level as books of the Old Testament. Possibly
other New Testament writings could also be included.
3:17–18 To avoid the dangers of error and loss of stability,
Christians are forewarned to be on guard and to grow in grace and knowledge (2
Pt 1:2) of Christ. The doxology (2 Pt 3:18) recalls 1 Pt 4:11. Some manuscripts
add Amen.
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