Chapter Three

Refutation of the false teaching about the second coming and the positive exposition of the true teaching on the subject (1–13). Concluding exhortations and instructions (14–18).

2 Peter 3:1. This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 Peter 3:2. that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior delivered through your apostles. Fired by pastoral zeal for the salvation of Christians, the Apostle, mindful of his approaching end (2 Pet 1:14), writes a new, second letter to his spiritual children, in which, as in the first, he “stirs up their clear-minded understanding” of the readers (v. 1), in harmony with the entire teaching of the prophets and apostles and with the commandment of the Lord Himself, and in opposition to the darkened thinking of the false teachers (2 Pet 3:3). “A clear mind is inclined to remember what has been heard or commanded for salvation and to be roused to carry it out with all strength and zeal. And this has been commanded through the preaching of prophets and apostles” (blessed Theophilus), who proclaimed both the first and the second coming of the Lord Savior. The Apostle wishes to strengthen and establish the Gospel teaching in the hearts of Christians in view of the false teachers and scoffers who are about to appear and have already appeared.

2 Peter 3:3. First of all, know this: in the last days scoffers will come, proceeding according to their own desires 2 Peter 3:4. and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. The essence of the false teaching of the “scoffers” (empaiktai, mockers), who are to appear “in the last days,” consists in the denial of the second coming of Christ. Although we learn of such false teaching only from the passage we are considering, the possibility and reality of its appearance already in apostolic times is beyond doubt. The false teachers here rebuked were naturalists who appealed to the unchangeability of the basic laws of world life and the whole preceding world order, and from this drew the conclusion that in the future the life of the world would remain unchanged, and no cosmic catastrophe would be foreseen. Such false teaching, relying on the unchangeability of the world order (cf. Eccl 1:4), was known long before Christianity (cf. Wis 2). In apostolic times the emergence of this false teaching could have had a particular basis. It is known that in the Thessalonian church they expected the speedy coming (parousia) of the Lord and mourned for those who would not survive until the revelation of the Lord’s day (1 Thess 4:13 and fol.), wherefore the Apostle Paul had to specifically comfort the troubled believers (2 Thess 2:1 and fol.). And generally, many Christians of the apostolic age possessed the expectation of the nearness of the parousia (Jas 5:8; 1 Pet 4:7). Then against this living hope, sometimes exceeding reasonable measure, came forth the moral dissolution of certain false teachers, not reconciled with the day of God’s judgment, in every way desiring to remove the thought of it, while the motive was presented (v. 4) as a naturalistic consideration about the immovability of the world order and, besides, the supposedly unfulfilled promise of the parousia (perhaps referring to the Lord’s eschatological discourse, Matt 24). “Passionately living according to their own desires, seeing that some fear the coming of the Lord, which both the Lord Himself and some God-bearing apostles forewarned about, and therefore they are frightened by their unclean life, and especially because the predicted event does not follow immediately upon the prediction, but an interval has been permitted for the salvation of those inscribed in the book of the saved, they boldly attack the believers and mock them” (blessed Theophilus).

2 Peter 3:5. For those who think this way are ignorant of the fact that by God’s word the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water: 2 Peter 3:6. Because of this the then-existing world perished, having been flooded by water. 2 Peter 3:7. But the present heavens and earth, being maintained by that same Word, are being preserved for fire for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly people. Refuting the false teaching of those who denied that it was possible for the Creator, by free will, to change the face of the earth and the whole world, the Apostle proves that this is entirely possible for the creative will of God. Heaven and earth have existed from of old—“from water” (ex hydatos) “and by water” (di hydatos): “from water, as the material cause, and by water, as the efficient cause; for water contains the earth, binding its dust and giving it firmness, and if this were not so, the earth would necessarily be reduced to dust and air” (blessed Theophilus). And the creative power was the almighty word of God (v. 5, cf. Gen 1:2 and fol.). And although nothing, apparently, foreshadowed the world’s destruction, nevertheless by the command of that same word of God, the world was destroyed by the water of the flood (v. 6, cf. Gen 7:17)—“perished not in the sense of the whole world, but only of the animals, which represent the world, so to speak, for the world created without them would not be a world” (blessed Theophilus). And as in the cosmic catastrophe of the flood, judgment over the world was executed by the operative word of God, so in the future a cosmic catastrophe is to come—the destruction of the world by fire—by the command and action of that same word of God, v. 7. “Thus, as in the time of the flood there followed destruction through water, so now everything is destined to be destroyed through fire. The two chief elements of the universe, water and fire, from which the two other elements come into being—air from evaporating waters and earth from condensing waters—and their evaporation and condensation are produced by fire... Therefore, if only two elements and the first destruction of the ungodly was through water, it is absolutely necessary, he says, that the second destruction of the ungodly should be accomplished through fire” (blessed Theophilus). The teaching about the destruction of the world by fire, v. 7, developed more fully below, v. 10, not encountered in other New Testament writings, is the original teaching of the Apostle Peter. Nevertheless, it would be completely wrong to seek the original source of the teaching in Heraclitean or Stoic philosophy, when it directly follows from the circle of Old Testament conceptions about the final judgment over the world and New Testament conceptions about the purifying power of fire. Jewish tradition attributed to Adam even a prediction of the twofold destruction of the world, once by water, the other time by fire (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities I.2.3). The prophets Isaiah (Isa 66:16), Amos (Amos 7:4), and Daniel (Dan 7:9) presented God’s judgment over the world as being accomplished by means of fire. And in the New Testament we repeatedly encounter the conception of fire as a purifying force (Matt 3:12; 1 Pet 1:7; 1 Cor 3:13-15). “And we are accustomed to subject certain things to the action of fire, not in order to destroy them, but in order to give them purity and brightness. God promises to do something similar at the end of the age through fire... A fiery flood will be necessary, that is, a destruction, though not complete—a destruction not of souls but also not of bodies alone. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10), not without bodies—with souls alone, but together with incorruptible bodies. For how can a soul alone be punished without a body, when it bears upon itself what it has done through the body? For it is not the nature of the Righteous Judge, when two have sinned in the same thing, to pardon the one and place the burden of guilt upon the other” (blessed Theophilus).

2 Peter 3:8. But let this one thing not be hidden from you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day (Ps 89:5). 2 Peter 3:9. The Lord does not delay in the fulfillment of the promise, as some consider that delay; but He is patient with us, not wishing that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance. Having proved the inevitability of the world’s end, namely through fire, the Apostle now turns to the question of the timing of the world’s end, intending to refute the false teaching of the “scoffers” about the delay of the parousia and about the supposedly unfulfilled promise of the Lord. Against this false teaching, the Apostle first of all, in accordance with the teaching of the Lord Himself (Mark 13:32), recognizes the timing of the world’s end as a mystery of God’s omniscience and providence, and then for the faith and edification of true Christians establishes two points: the first—in accordance with the saying of the psalmist (the prophet Moses), Ps 89:4, that all human measurements of time have no significance in the eyes of the Eternal One, before whom time periods of the most varied length are equalized, for example, one day and a thousand years—v. 8; the second—precisely therefore one cannot think of any delay on the part of the Lord, who moreover has a special benevolent purpose—to give every person (not excluding even the “scoffers” and those like them) the opportunity to escape destruction and be saved through repentance and reform, v. 9. The Apostle humbly includes even himself in the number of sinful people requiring God’s patience. From the words of the Apostle v. 8, where he in a somewhat expanded form cites the saying of the psalm (Ps 89), the chiliasts concluded that there should be a correspondence between the days of creation and the millennia of the world’s existence, wherefore the 7000th year from the creation of the world or 1492 A.D. was considered the year of the world’s end. But as this expectation was not fulfilled, so every other calculation on this subject is impossible, since the saying of the psalmist and the Apostle has no literal, mathematical sense, and since the complete unknowability of the day and hour of the Lord’s coming and the world’s end is definitely attested by the Lord Himself (Matt 24:36; Mark 13:32).

2 Peter 3:10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements, having become hot, will be destroyed, and the earth and all works on it will be burned up. Having mentioned (2 Pet 3:9) God’s patience, calling all people to repentance and salvation, the Apostle now warns that no one should, on this basis, give themselves over to negligence: this is prevented by the unexpectedness of the coming of the Lord and the end of the world. “To explain the unknowability and unexpectedness of the Lord’s coming, the Apostle compares it to the coming of a thief and the night. Night indicates unknowability, and the thief indicates unexpectedness; for no one expecting a thief will be robbed” (blessed Theophilus). In the second half of v. 10, he more fully expounds the thought (2 Pet 3:7) about the future destruction of the world by fire, distinguishing in general understanding of this three moments: 1) “the heavens will pass away with a roaring sound (roizédon),” whereby the expression “with a roaring sound” denotes a representation of a terrible, destructive elemental force; 2) “the elements—the basic elements of nature (fire, water, air, earth, cf. Wis 7:17)—being set on fire, will be destroyed”; 3) “the earth and all that is done on it will be burned up.” The Apostle said: the earth and the deeds on it will be burned up, not people; consequently, he speaks only of the destruction of the ungodly or their ungodly deeds: for the way of the ungodly will perish (Ps 1:6), but not the ungodly person himself at the same time” (blessed Theophilus).

2 Peter 3:11. Since all these things are thus being destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 2 Peter 3:12. waiting for and desiring the coming of the day of God, in which the inflamed heavens will be destroyed and the heated elements will melt? Vividly transferring his thought to the day of the world’s end, the Apostle directs there the thought, will, and heart of all Christians and persuades them to be zealous for holiness of life and godliness in expectation and even desire of the coming day of the Lord. In v. 12 the Apostle again returns to the thought (2 Pet 3:7-10) about the future destruction of the world by fire, and mentions the complete melting (tékétai) of the elements at that time (v. 12). “And modern science is inclined to the same conception. The gradual diminution of moisture and water on earth inevitably leads to the thought that our world will end its existence through burning or fire” (Bishop George).

2 Peter 3:13. But according to His promise we await new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. But the destruction of the world by fire will not be its complete annihilation, a transformation into nothingness. Christians, according to God’s promises (Isa 65:17; Rev 21:1), await “new heavens and a new earth.” And these will not be a newly created world, but a world renewed, restored, improved, but in its foundation the same world that exists now. “The Lord will establish new heavens and a new earth, ‘new’ not in essence and substance; for when someone builds a new house, this does not yet mean that he is building it from matter that did not exist before. No, God once created matter and formed it into every possible kind and combination, and what was necessary only for this present life but useless and superfluous for that incorruptible one, He will do away with, but what is useful, He will give a new form with incorruptible and imperishable beauty, and will permit it to fill another and incorruptible world” (blessed Theophilus). The distinctive feature of the new world the Apostle indicates as the dwelling of righteousness in it. Righteousness, brought into the world by Christ—in the sense of the correspondence of holy and blessed human life with the holy and blessed life of God—in the new, future world will attain full manifestation in everything: both in knowledge, in feeling, and in the whole life of its inhabitants, where God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28; cf. Rev 21:3).

2 Peter 3:14. Therefore, beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent to appear before Him undefiled and blameless in peace; 2 Peter 3:15. and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, 2 Peter 3:16. as he speaks of this also in all his letters, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable, to their own destruction, twist, as they do also the other Scriptures. Summing up all that has been said about the end of the world and how Christians ought to relate to this matter, the Apostle once more exhorts the believers in awaiting their appearance before the Judge the Lord to be “without spot or blemish in peace” (v. 14) and to remember what was previously (see 2 Pet 3:9) said by the Apostle, that solely by his patience and by his desire for the salvation of all people does the Lord delay his judgment over the world, and that all Christians, considering this as salvation for themselves, should make proper use of the time for their spiritual perfection (v. 15a). Now (v. 15b), after a series of his own arguments and exhortations, the Apostle Peter, for the confirmation of the readers and all Christians in the holiness of life while awaiting the second coming of the Lord, appeals to the authority of the “beloved brother,” that is, fellow-apostle, Paul, who “according to the wisdom given to him” wrote to them, that is, to the Christians of Asia Minor, about similar doctrinal subjects, which can refer, for example, to the letters: to the Ephesians, to the Galatians, to the Colossians, to Timothy—all in Asia Minor. And since further (v. 16a) the Apostle draws in all the letters of the Apostle generally, then, by the context of the discourse, it is natural to understand also both letters to the Thessalonians with their teaching about the second coming of the Lord and its signs, about the resurrection of the dead, about the mystery of lawlessness, about the antichrist. Having appealed to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter at the same time asserts the great ecclesiastical-canonical significance of the letters of the great Apostle to the Gentiles (“according to the wisdom given to him”) and while warning against the incorrect understanding of these letters and the elevated doctrinal and moral subjects (for example, about the law, grace, and Christian freedom and so on), he observes: in them “there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” It is known that the Apostle Paul himself complained that certain false teachers were distorting the meaning of his letters to justify their false teaching (2 Thess 2:2). Thus, the holy desire of the Apostle Peter to serve the common cause of Christian salvation prompted him to mention the Apostle Paul and his writings. It was completely wrong that some (representatives of the Tübingen school) saw in this mention of the Apostle Paul by the Apostle Peter an intention to support his own dignity, supposedly diminished by a remark of the Apostle Paul about the Apostle Peter in Gal 2:11 and fol. The very designation “beloved brother” bestowed by the Apostle Peter on the great Apostle to the Gentiles testifies to the complete absence of any struggle between the two first-church apostles, to the perfect brotherhood of both apostles in Christ, and to the complete harmony and mutual assistance in the work of preaching the Gospel. That the Apostle Peter knew all of Paul’s letters (except perhaps the second letter to Timothy, written by the Apostle Paul at the very end of his life), this is not surprising given the intercourse between both apostles, and the factual similarity of the first letter of the Apostle Peter to Paul’s letters to the Romans and Ephesians can “be explained only by assuming Peter’s acquaintance with the writings of the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Prof. Protopresbyter D. I. Bogdashevsky). And the knowledge of Paul’s letters by the readers of the Apostle Peter’s letters is quite understandable given the wide exchange of apostolic works among the various local churches, testimony of which is found in the letter to the Colossians (Col 4:16).

2 Peter 3:17. Therefore you, beloved, being forewarned of this, be on guard lest you be led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own steadfastness, 2 Peter 3:18. but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. The conclusion of the letter is an exhortation from the Apostle to the readers to beware of being deceived by the false teachings of the unprincipled, to be steadfast in the truth (cf. 2 Pet 1:12), and to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Knowledge constituted an essential subject of the Apostle’s discourse from the very beginning of the letter, since the heretics deluded Christians with their supposed learning and passed themselves off as people specially versed in all mysteries; he speaks of it several times in the letter. Thus he concludes the letter with it. Therefore, it can be said that instruction in the knowledge of God was the main content of the letter, so that to this main subject all other subjects of the letter’s discourse are directed.”