2 Peter 3:1–13

3:1 When Peter says “this is now the second letter that I am writing to you,” he may be referring to 1 Peter, but we cannot be sure.¹ His recipients are “beloved” because they are objects of God’s special covenantal love. As stated in 1:13, Peter writes as a means of “stirring up your sincere mind.” He is not necessarily implying that his recipients are ignorant of the danger the false teachers present. He affirms they have a “sincere mind”; unlike the false teachers, they do not have hidden motives or agendas. The means of stirring up their sincere mind is “by way of reminder.” By again repeating language from 1:13–20, Peter hints that the contents of the letter, though not new, must be remembered if his audience is to persevere in faith and resist the pressures of the world and its false teachers.

3:2 Peter’s reminder has two parts. First, his readers must remember “the predictions of the holy prophets.” The perfect tense of this phrase highlights the abiding status of these previously spoken words; the prophets continue to speak today. Peter’s use throughout the letter of portions of all three major divisions of the OT (Torah, Prophets, and Writings) suggests he has the entirety of the OT in view and not merely what we commonly refer to as the prophetic books. As Peter has previously written, the OT prophets were serving believers in proclaiming the good news preached to them (1 Pet. 1:10–12, 22–25).

Second, those who read Peter’s letter must remember “the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.” Rather than a specific commandment of ethical instruction, Peter has in view the gospel message that commands people to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ (John 6:29; Acts 2:38). As the sovereign “Lord,” Jesus has the authority to command that people believe in him and obey everything he taught (Matt. 28:18–20). As the loving “Savior” of his people, Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). We obey this commandment to repent and believe by following the “way of righteousness” that he has set before us (2 Pet. 2:21). Peter’s readers received this commandment “through your apostles,” whom Jesus promised to enable to remember and communicate faithfully his actions and their significance (John 14:26). As believers today, we have that message faithfully passed on to us in the NT.

Because the apostolic testimony and the OT are the foundation of the gospel (2 Pet. 1:16–21), Peter calls believers to remember them as the authoritative basis for the doctrine and practice of the church and the key to resisting the advances of the false teachers.

3:3 Peter signals the importance of what he is about to say by introducing it with “first of all.” Remembering the OT and the apostolic message will enable his readers to know that “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing.” A “scoffer” (empaiktēs) is “one who makes fun by mocking.”² Scoffing reveals both arrogance and disdain, a proud dismissal of another person or idea as being beneath oneself. This scoffing will take place “in the last days,” an expression that refers to the time when God will fulfill his promises of a new creation ruled by his Davidic Messiah. The NT writers make clear that the last days have begun with the first advent of Christ and will be consummated when Jesus returns to establish a new heavens and earth (3:13).

Jesus also warned of the presence of false prophets in the last days (Matt. 24:9–14). Along with their scoffing, they are “following their own sinful desires.” Scoffing at God and his promises never stands alone in a moral vacuum; it is accompanied by a self-directed morality that indulges the whims of the individual. Like the man described in Psalm 1:1, these individuals walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, and sit in the seat of scoffers. The presence of these scoffers ironically confirms the very divine revelation they deny.

3:4 The scoffers “will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’” Just as false prophets mockingly asked Jeremiah when God’s word would be fulfilled (Jer. 17:15), so too these false teachers scoff at the promise of Christ’s return. As an eyewitness of the first “coming of our Lord Jesus” (2 Pet. 1:16), Peter also heard Jesus promise to return at the end of the age (Matt. 24:13–31). The false teachers’ scoffing at Christ’s promise is based on this logic: “Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” While the term “fathers” could refer to the original group of Jesus’ followers,³ in the NT this term consistently refers to the OT patriarchs (John 7:22; Acts 13:32; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:1). The next phrase confirms this conclusion: the scoffers claim that things have remained the same “from the beginning of creation.” They argue that the world has continued as it has been since the deaths of the patriarchs, with no dramatic intervention of God, especially in judgment. Such an assertion, of course, blatantly ignores the repeated acts of God throughout the OT in bringing both judgment and salvation (2 Pet. 2:3b–22). Furthermore, claiming that essentially nothing has changed since the death of the patriarchs denies the central claim of Christianity: God took on flesh, lived among us as a man, died a brutal death for our sins, and rose victoriously from the grave.

3:5 Scoffers scoff because “they deliberately overlook this fact.” The verb rendered “overlook” (lanthanō) has the sense of something hidden or out of sight (Mark 7:24; Luke 8:47; Acts 26:26). The omission in view here is not accidental but is undertaken “deliberately.” The scoffers are aware of what Peter is about to note, but they simply choose to disregard it. The “fact” in view has two parts. First is that “the heavens existed long ago.” Just as the condemnation of the false teachers was determined long ago (2 Pet. 2:3), so too the existence of the heavens is nothing new. Perhaps Peter has Psalm 102:25 in mind: “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

The second part of “this fact” is that “the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.” Genesis 1:9–10 describes how God gathered the waters together so that the dry ground would appear. Psalm 24:2 asserts that God “founded it [the earth] upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” The instrument God used to do this was his “word.” In Genesis 1 God speaks creation into existence, a truth Scripture affirms elsewhere (Pss. 33:6–9; 148:5–6; Rom. 4:17; Heb. 11:3). The NT helps us to see that the word in view here is not merely the speech of God but also the second person of the Trinity (John 1:1–3; Col. 1:16); the word rendered “formed” (synestēmi) describes in Colossians 1:17 how Christ holds creation together. Like OT prophets before him, Peter calls heaven and earth as witnesses to testify against the rebellious ways of humanity (Deut. 4:26; 32:1; Isa. 1:2; Jer. 2:12).

3:6 It is “by means of” water and the word of God that the Lord brought judgment on “the world that then existed” (i.e., the pre-flood world).⁴ The world “was deluged with water and perished.” “Perished” (apollymi) can refer to either physical (Matt. 8:25) or eternal death (John 3:16). Hebrews 1:11 (quoting Ps. 102:26) describes how one day both heaven and earth will perish, though God remains forever. Of course, only the context can determine the extent of the destruction in view; after all, the heavens and earth did not cease to exist when God destroyed them with the flood. God destroyed the world as it was “deluged with water.” This verb (kataklyzō) occurs nowhere else in the NT but does appear several times in the LXX in the context of judgment, such as to describe a “deluge of rain” on false prophets who promised peace when God’s wrath was in fact at hand (Ezek. 13:8–16). Peter has already pictured the flood as a type of eschatological judgment (2 Pet. 2:5). Here it serves that same purpose as a counterargument against the false teachers’ claim that “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (3:4). The scoffers deliberately overlook the reality of the flood, to their own destruction.

3:7 Peter now applies the lesson to be learned from the flood. It was because of the unbreakable word of God that the pre-flood world was destroyed, and, “by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire.” Paul strikes a similar note in Romans 2:5 when he writes that the unrepentant “are storing up wrath for [themselves] on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” God is storing up the present creation “for fire,” a common means of judgment. As mentioned in 2 Peter 2:6–7, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven (Gen. 19:24). Both Scripture (Isa. 66:15; Ezek. 38:22; Rev. 20:9–15) and Jewish literature (1 En. 1:6; 97:2; Testament of Levi 4:1) portray eschatological judgment in fiery terms.

Peter further explains that the present heavens and earth are “being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” For the fourth time Peter uses a form of the verb translated “being kept” (tēreō), each time in connection with judgment (cf. 2 Pet. 2:4, 9, 17). This verb stresses God’s active sovereignty over the judgment. The expression “day of judgment” is another way of referring to the day of the Lord, at which time God will bring final salvation to his people and eternal destruction on his enemies (3:10).

3:8 Whereas the scoffers “overlook” certain key facts (3:5), Peter admonishes believers to “not overlook this one fact.” By calling them “beloved,” Peter reminds his readers of God’s special love for them shown in Jesus Christ. The one fact they are not to overlook is “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” God’s relationship to time transcends our finite minds, for he has always existed (Job 36:26). The expression here should be understood not as a strict mathematical formula but as a general maxim revealing God’s perception and experience of time. Peter likely alludes to Psalm 90:4—“A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.”

3:9 Peter asserts that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness.” Drawing language from Habakkuk 2:3, Peter reminds his audience that God is not slow to bring judgment on his enemies (Deut. 7:10) or to bring saving righteousness to his people (Isa. 46:13). The “promise” is Christ’s second coming, which the scoffers reject (2 Pet. 3:4). The apparent delay is in fact the divine timetable’s moving forward toward the climactic day of the Lord (3:10). Instead of thinking God is slow to keep his promises, one should recognize that he “is patient toward you.” God’s patience is central to his identity; he revealed himself to Moses as “slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6–7). The reason for this patience is that God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God’s moral will is that no one “should perish” (Ezek. 33:11); with open arms he invites sinners to receive his mercy (Isa. 65:1–5).⁵ Rather than visiting immediate judgment, God desires that “all should reach repentance.” Drawing on Jewish tradition, Peter ties the timing of the last day with the repentance of God’s people.⁶ This language portrays repentance as a destination, which God’s kindness and patience allows sinners to “reach” (Rom. 2:4).

3:10 However, God’s patience will not last indefinitely: “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” The “day of the Lord” refers to an appointed day when God will bring judgment on his enemies and salvation for his people (Joel 2:28–32). Sometimes it refers to an impending judgment on a specific people or nation (Obad. 15–18), while at other times it points to the end of human history (Isa. 24:1–23). In some contexts it seems to refer to both (Zeph. 1:2–18). In other words, throughout redemptive history there has been a series of “days of the Lord” in anticipation of the final climactic “day of the Lord” at the end of history. These past days included events such as the destruction of various nations/kingdoms (Jer. 46:10), the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC (Isa. 22:2–25), the crucifixion (Matt. 27:45–54), and the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–41). Cosmic phenomena often accompany these descriptions of the day of the Lord (Joel 2:28–32). In the NT the day of the Lord is often referred to as the day of Christ (1 Cor. 1:8; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16; 2 Thess. 1:5–12). Jesus had compared his coming to a “thief” in the night (Matt. 24:43), stressing the sudden and unexpected nature of his return.

Peter describes three things that will happen when the day of the Lord comes. First, “the heavens will pass away with a roar.” “Pass away” (parerchomai) has the sense of “to come to an end and so no longer be there.”⁷ It occurs in connection with the future of heaven and/or earth twice in Matthew as well (Matt. 5:18; 24:35). The onomatopoeic adverb rendered “with a roar” (rhoizēdon) occurs nowhere else in the LXX, NT, or Jewish or early Christian literature. It refers to “a rushing sound, whether the whizzing of an arrow, the rush of wings, or the hissing of snakes. In this context we should think of the crackling sound of fire, destroying the heavens.”⁸

Second, “the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.” The word translated “heavenly bodies” (stoicheion) is often rendered “elements” (ESV mg.), referring to the basic elements of the universe as understood in antiquity: earth, air, fire, and water.⁹ Thus the entire cosmos will be “dissolved” (lyō), a word that in this context means “to reduce something by violence into its components.”¹⁰ The elements “will be burned up” (kausoō), which here may have the specific sense of “burn with intense heat.”¹¹ Whether Peter envisions the complete destruction of the world or its purification by fire is unclear, although the language here perhaps favors destruction.¹²

Third, “the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”¹³ All of humanity must stand before God to give an account of the deeds done in this life. Everything that has ever happened in human history “will be exposed.” This verb (heuriskō) usually means “to find” but in some contexts can have the sense of “discover intellectually through reflection, observation, examination, or investigation,” sometimes as the result of a judicial investigation (John 18:38; 19:4–6; Acts 13:28; 23:9).¹⁴ As such, Peter means that all that has happened will be laid bare on the day of the Lord, an idea echoed by Paul (Rom. 2:15–16) and Jesus (Matt. 10:26).

3:11 Peter applies 3:8–10 (“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved”) by asking, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?” The reality of the day of the Lord demands we live in a certain way,¹⁵ summarized by two words. First, we must be characterized by “holiness” (hagios). Believers are called to be holy because God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15–16) and has made us a holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5) and holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). Our lives should demonstrate that we are set apart for God’s purposes in this world, not our own selfish agendas. Second, it must be characterized by “godliness” (eusebeia), on which see comment on 2 Peter 1:3–4.

3:12 Pursuing a life of holiness and godliness is necessary because believers are “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” The “waiting” in view is not passive; it is an eager anticipation of the day when creation will be set free from its curse and believers will be physically raised from the dead (Rom. 8:19–23). But what does it mean for believers to be “hastening” the coming of the day of God? Based on Isaiah 60:22, some Jewish texts speak of God’s hastening the end, sometimes in connection with Israel’s repentance (Sir. 36:8; 2 Baruch 20:1–2; 54:1; 83:1).¹⁶ The mention of repentance in 2 Peter 3:9 makes this possible here, although Peter may also have in view our godly lives, prayers (Matt. 6:10), and evangelistic efforts (Matt. 24:14). Of course, God is fully sovereign and in control of human history, but he accomplishes his purposes through the actions of his people, ordained before the foundation of the world (Eph. 2:10). The “day of God” is simply another way of referring to the day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10).

When that day comes, “the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved.” Peter reiterates what he has said in 3:10 concerning the destruction of the present heavens, adding that it will be done by fire (3:7). On “dissolved,” see comment on 3:10. Because of the coming of the day of God, “the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.” On “heavenly bodies” (stoicheia), see comment on 3:10. Although the verb rendered “melt” (tēkō) occurs nowhere else in the NT, it is used metaphorically in the LXX to describe the defeat and judgment of God’s enemies (Ex. 15:15; Isa. 24:23; 34:4; 64:1; Mic. 1:4; Nah. 1:6; Hab. 3:6; Zech. 14:12).

3:13 Having described what will happen to the wicked on the day of God, Peter now turns to what awaits God’s people: “According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth.” Peter has in mind Isaiah 65:17–25, where the prophet envisions the day when God consummates his promises and causes his people to dwell in a world free from the stain of sin and the curse. Although this is not the only place in the OT Prophets where God promises to transform creation (cf. Amos 9:13–15), this theme is especially prominent in Isaiah (cf. Isa. 43:16–21; 51:3). The NT authors pick up this language at several points also (Rom. 8:19–23; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). The theme culminates in Revelation 21–22, where John describes the new heavens and new earth in breathtaking imagery.

Perhaps drawing language from Isaiah 32:16 and 60:21, Peter describes the new heavens and new earth as a place “in which righteousness dwells.” The new creation will be characterized by righteousness, in contrast to the wickedness and effects of sin and the curse pervading this current world (2 Pet. 2:9, 15). Ultimately, righteousness dwells there because the Righteous One himself will dwell there with his people (Rev. 21:3).

1 See discussion in Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 368–370.

2 Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. ἐμπαίκτης (§33.407).

3 Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 290–295.

4 Instead of “by means of water” (di’ hōn) some manuscripts read “because of water” (di’ hon); cf. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 376–377.

5 Cf. further ibid., 381–382.

6 Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 312–314.

7 BDAG, s.v. παρέρχομαι (3).

8 Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 383–384.

9 NIDNTTE, 4:379. Isaiah 34:4 contains similar language using different vocabulary.

10 BDAG, s.v. λύω (3).

11 LSJ, s.v. καυσόω.

12 See the helpful discussion in Moo, 2 Peter, Jude, 200–202.

13 Some manuscripts read “will not be found” while others read “will be burned up.” This is one of the most difficult variants in the NT; cf. the discussion in Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 316–321.

14 BDAG, s.v. εὑρίσκω (2). See further Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 385–387.

15 Peter uses the same word (anastrophē), translated “conduct,” in 2:7 (cf. comment there).

16 Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 325; D. A. Carson, “2 Peter,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 1059–1060.

From this rich passage, there are at least three areas for reflection.

First, people have a tendency to forget things, not merely in the sense of not being able to recollect a date or a face but also in the sense of failing to put into action things they know intellectually. God warned the Israelites as they were approaching the Promised Land of the dangers of forgetting what he had done for them (Deut. 8:11–20), and as believers we are just as prone to forget all that God has done for us in Christ. Therefore it is essential for God’s people to be reminded of the gospel regularly and to be taught how to apply it to various aspects of life. We must be “whole-Bible” Christians in order to follow Jesus faithfully, understanding how the individual stories and books relate to the larger narrative that runs from Genesis to Revelation, climaxes in the person and work of Christ, and culminates in a new heavens and earth. Therefore, all who teach the Word must make this a central task of their ministry.

Second, God’s timetable is often very different from ours. When we lose sight of God’s eternal nature and sovereign rule of this world, it is easy for us to conclude that God should be doing things faster. But God’s timing is perfect, and as believers we can rest in the comfort of knowing that God is never late. What seems like a delay is in fact God’s patience in allowing time for repentance (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). But rest assured—that patience will one day end, and the day of the Lord will come suddenly.

Finally, eschatology matters. Peter is concerned not with detailed timelines of the end times but with the kind of lives we should live now because we know the end is coming. If we truly believe that God will one day bring judgment on the wicked and usher in a new heavens and earth, then our lives should be characterized by a wholehearted devotion that orients the entirety of our lives toward God and his purposes in this world. This hope is our anchor amid a world twisted by the fall. What the first Adam broke, the last Adam has begun to fix. One day, that task will be complete, and “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). When this reality captures our hearts, it not only motivates us to live in holiness but also prompts us to cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).