November 15 – 2 Peter 3:1–13

Main Focus: God’s apparent delay isn’t neglect; it’s mercy.

In this section, Peter turns his attention to explaining the Lord’s promised return, and specifically to an apparent debate concerning the timing of the return. Verses 1-7 Peter says scoffers challenge the truth of Scripture concerning the coming of the Lord. Peter offers a biblical perspective on the skeptics who attempt to create doubt. In verse 1, Peter mentions that this is the second letter he has written to this particular audience. It is all but certain that 1 Peter was the earlier letter in view here. Peter calls his readers beloved, demonstrating his deep concern for them as he reminds them of the Lord’s return. Peter wants the church to remember what the holy prophets predicted, and what the apostles handed down as the commandment of the Lord. The prediction Peter especially has in mind is the second coming.

The last days will feature scoffers who mock according to their own sinful desires. Their desire to live in sin with impunity drives them to deride biblical truth and those who believe it. Peter understands, as do the rest of the NT authors, that the “last days” have already arrived. Scoffers will call into question the biblical promise of the Lord’s coming. They scoff at the promise of the Lord’s return, arguing that because everything has remained the same since creation, God will not intervene in the world. These scoffers deliberately overlook (consciously, willfully ignore) the fact that God did intervene when he created the heavens and the earth with the word of his mouth (Gen. 1:3–31; Ps. 33:6; Heb. 11:3), and also when he judged the earth with water and it perished (Genesis 6–9). God in fact intervenes in his creation whenever he desires, as is evidenced numerous times in both the OT and NT. Peter cites two obvious occasions of God’s intervention, namely, when God acted at creation to form the earth (out of water and through water) and also when he acted decisively in history, destroying the earth by means of the flood in the days of Noah. By the same word, the powerful word of God that creates and sends judgment, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, when the ungodly will also be judged. The day of reckoning is coming for scoffers, and their place is reserved for them. History will not go on forever; the end is coming.

vv.8-10 tells us the Lord’s perspective on time is different from that of humans. It is not that God is slow in fulfilling his promise, but rather that he is patient. Peter explains that the delay of the second coming is not a long time from God’s perspective. He then explains further that the delay is also because God is patient, and he has not quickly brought the present period of history to an end because he does not wish that any should perish. Though Christians long for Christ’s return and the defeat of all evil, as long as the present period of history lasts, an opportunity remains for people to turn to God in faith.

God’s judgment will not be delayed forever.. When Christ returns it will be sudden, without warning, like the strike of a thief. The heavens (the sky) will pass away (cf. Ps. 102:25–26; Heb. 1:10–12; Rev. 6:14) and the heavenly bodies (stars, etc.) will be burned up and dissolved. There will be no place to hide (cf. Rev. 6:15–16), for the earth and every person’s works on the earth will be exposed to God’s judgment. Some translations read “will be burned up.” But the earliest and most reliable manuscripts have “will be found”, indicating with this reading that the annihilation of the earth is not taught in this passage. Scholars have debated whether the NT speaks of an annihilation of the present cosmos and the creation of a new universe, or whether it indicates the transformation of the present cosmos, including the earth. The latter seems more likely in light of: (1) the preferred reading of this passage (see above); (2) Rom. 8:18–25; (3) many OT prophecies about the renewal of the earth; (4) Christ’s resurrection body being in continuity with his earthly body; and (5) the fact that Christ’s resurrection body is a pattern for the resurrection bodies of Christians (1 Cor. 15:12–58). God seems always to renew, not destroy and recreate, parts of his creation that are marred by sin.

Peter concludes his treatment of the Lord’s return by turning the discussion once again to Christian lifestyle. The second coming should be a motivation to live a holy life. The people of God ought to live in holiness and godliness, to avoid the punishment coming to the ungodly and to devote themselves to things that will last beyond the judgment. In Verse 12 the coming of the day of God suggests that, by living holy lives, Christians can actually affect the time of the Lord’s return. That does not mean, of course, that the Lord has not foreknown and foreordained when Jesus will return. But when God set that day, he also ordained that it would happen after all of his purposes for saving believers and building his kingdom in this present age had been accomplished, and those purposes are accomplished when he works through his human agents to bring them about. Therefore, from a human perspective, when Christians share the gospel with others, and pray, and advance the kingdom of God in other ways, they do “hasten” the fulfillment of God’s purposes, including Christ’s return.

Our hope ultimately depends, though, not on our works but on God’s promise. Our hope is not in the destruction of the wicked and our works, even though that is a necessary part of God’s final judgment. Our hope is in the promise that God will bring about a new heavens and a new earth, which will be the eternal abode of the righteous.