The following brief commentary from the Second Letter of Peter, Chapter 3 is lightly edited with permission of the author, Dr. Daniel Keating, from his book, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude, published by Baker Academic, 2011. While it was written from a Roman Catholic perspective, the material can be beneficial for Christians from other traditions as well. – ed.

vs. 8: Peter now answers the first objection posed by the scoffers, “Where is the promise of his coming?” To begin with, Peter argues, the Lord does not count time the way we do. A long delay for us is a short time in God’s eyes: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. Peter is paraphrasing Ps 90:4 (“A thousand years in your eyes are merely a yesterday”) to show that a vast period of time by human calculation is but as one day—one moment—for the Lord. Time is simply not an issue for God. There is no real distinction between one day and a thousand years in his sight. The point, though, as the next verse indicates, is not the insignificance of time, but rather its true and essential significance. Time is filled with meaning and possibility because it is the context in which we are given the opportunity to turn to God.

vs. 9: Moving one step further, Peter offers the positive reason for this seeming “delay” in Christ’s coming: The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The purpose of this “delay” is salvation: the Lord is showing great patience, postponing the day of judgment, because he desires that all should repent and that none should perish. We can hear an echo of John 3:17 here: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

What is the Lord’s disposition toward the human race? He is being “patient.” The verb is in the present active tense, indicating ongoing, active patience by the Lord. He is giving space for all to come to repentance. Along with 1 Tim 2:4, this is one of the strongest biblical assertions of God’s universal desire that all come to salvation. The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires repentance (Ezek 18:23); his kindness is meant to lead to repentance (Rom 2:4), and he waits to have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).

What will be the result of this coming for the world? Then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. The biblical background is probably Isa 34:4 (LXX): “And all the powers of the heavens shall melt, and the sky shall be rolled up like a scroll: and all the stars shall fall like leaves from a vine.” “Elements” may refer to the basic materials or building blocks of the world (see Wis 7:17), but more likely Peter is referring to “celestial bodies” like the stars.6 (See the sidebar below, “New Heavens and a New Earth.”)

What does Peter mean by “the earth and everything done on it will be found out”? The precise wording of this phrase varies in the ancient manuscripts of 2 Peter.7 The version “will be found out” (NAB) is most likely the original one. In the final judgment all human works will be “disclosed” (NRSV) and “laid bare” (NIV). 

LIVING TRADITION Second Clement on Christ’s Return The Second Letter of Clement (usually ascribed to a Christian author writing in the middle of the second century) takes up and develops Peter’s statement on the coming of the Lord: “But you know that the day of judgment is already coming as a blazing furnace, and some of the heavens will dissolve, and the whole earth will be like lead melting in a fire, and then everyone’s works, the secret and the public, will be revealed” (16.3).

The conclusion is clear: the false teachers have it wrong. They are not reading the Scripture correctly. The Lord is not slow or delaying the fulfillment of his promise; he is simply giving space for all to repent and turn to him, which is his aim in the first place. But in the end, the Lord will come again, suddenly and decisively. With this coming the present heavens and earth will pass away, and all the works that human beings have done will be disclosed for what they really are.

Reflection and application  (3:8–10)

We have much to gain from the full truth of what Peter says here about God’s disposition toward us. On the one hand, some Christians today have so adopted the spirit of judgment that they have no room for the patience of God that seeks repentance. They are like Jonah who relished the imminent judgment about to fall on Nineveh and was actually disappointed when the people repented! On the other hand, there are many Christians who gladly welcome God as a patient Father who waits for the return of his children, but they have abandoned the idea of his just judgment. They presume on God’s patience and consider that everyone has a basic right to salvation, no matter how they have lived or how they have responded to the †grace of God. Peter shows us how both truths must go together. The Lord God desires no one to perish, and he has gone to great exertion and cost to redeem us from our own sin. The time we are living in displays the lavish patience of God as he waits for his children to return. For this we ought to hope, to labor, and to pray. But Christ will come again and judge each one, and then our works will be shown for what they are. How urgently the Church needs to recover the fullness of Peter’s words for the sake of the New Evangelization.

Call to Be Prepared (3:11–16)

vs. 11-13:  Peter now brings all this home to his readers: Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought [you] to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion (literally, “in holy and godly conduct”). In other words, since the present world will be dissolved and all our works will be fully subject to God’s scrutiny, it only makes sense to lead lives that follow the way marked out by Christ Jesus. “Conduct”8 is the same word that appears so prominently in 1 Peter (1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16). It refers to the practice of daily life according to the ways of the Lord.

In addition to this, Peter says that we are to live waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. This “day” is a clear reference to Christ’s second coming (see Rev 16:14 for “the day of God”). The call to wait for this day is the standard New Testament exhortation.9 But the notion of “hastening” this day’s coming is unusual. What does Peter mean? He may mean that by our prayers and manner of life we can participate in God’s purpose to shorten the time and hasten the day of his return. The day of God will come when God so wills, and not according to our efforts or calculation, but our prayers and way of life may help prepare the way for the Lord’s return.
 

BIBLICAL BACKGROUND Hastening the Time of God’s Action The notion of the Lord “hastening” the time of his own action is found in Isa 60:22, “In its time I will hasten it” (RSV). The related idea of God “shortening the days” appears in Jesus’ announcement of the last days: “If the Lord had not shortened those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he did shorten the days” (Mark 13:20). In Sir 36:7 the author prays that God might “hasten the day, [and] bring on the time.” The same idea of human response accelerating the return of the Lord is implicit in Peter’s speech in Jerusalem: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the †Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus” (Acts 3:19–20 NRSV).

In sharp contrast to the heavens that will be dissolved in flames and the elements that will be melted by fire, Peter opens the shutters to the new world that we are eagerly waiting for: But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We await the day when all sin and wickedness—when all that is contrary to God—will be judged and burned up, and only “righteousness” will remain.

Peter calls the Christian way of life “the way of righteousness” in 2:21; here we see the complete fulfillment of this, when God who is the source of all righteousness (1:1) will bring about a world in which only righteousness and godliness are found. Notably, God’s righteousness is what Jesus urges his followers to “hunger and thirst for” (Matt 5:6) and to seek above all else (Matt 6:33).

Where does the Lord promise new heavens and a new earth? The promise comes at the conclusion of Isaiah: “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17 NRSV). “As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall endure before me, says the †LORD, so shall your race and your name endure” (66:22). The book of Revelation (21:1) uses the same language to describe our final destiny in Christ: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now” (NJB).
 

LIVING TRADITION New Heavens and a New Earth Early Church witnesses favor the view that Peter is speaking here about the transformation, rather than the complete destruction, of the present world order. Eusebius of Emesa (fourth century) writes: “The heavens will not be destroyed, but rather they will be changed into something better. In the same way our bodies are not destroyed in order to disappear altogether but in order to be renewed in an indestructible state.”a According to Bede the Venerable, “[Peter] did not say other heavens and another earth, but the old and ancient one to be changed for the better.… As for the things, therefore, that will perish, grow old and be changed, it is definitely clear that once they have been consumed by the fire they resume a more pleasing appearance as soon as the fire goes out.”

Does Peter envisage the complete and utter destruction of this world and the creation of an entirely new world? Or should we interpret Peter as describing the intense purification of the present world, such that it becomes the dwelling place of God’s righteousness? Peter does not say, but there is precedent that may make the second interpretation more likely. Just as Christ’s own body was transformed but not destroyed in his resurrection to begin the new creation, so might the Lord transform the present world through a fire of purification, to bring about “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (see Rom 8:19–23).

vs. 14-16: Peter now renews the call to holiness: Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. Since we are looking forward to the “new heavens and a new earth,” we should eagerly seek to be “without spot” and “without blemish,” in direct contrast to the false teachers who are called “spots” and “blemishes” in 2:13. Our destiny is to imitate Christ himself, the “spotless, unblemished lamb” (1 Pet 1:19; see also Eph 1:4; 5:27). Further, we should be eager to be found “at peace” with God, in right relationship with him. There is an echo here of Peter’s opening prayer (1:2) where he asks that “peace” may be multiplied to his audience. By repeating the verb “be eager” Peter circles back to his exhortation in 1:10: “Be all the more eager to make your call and election firm.” The call to eagerly seek an enduring holiness is at the heart and center of Peter’s message in this letter.

Next we are called to consider the patience of our Lord as salvation. This is a shorthand expression for God showing patience by delaying the day of judgment (3:9). For those who take advantage of the time by repenting and living in a way pleasing to God, God’s patience is the source of their salvation. Paul expresses a similar idea in Rom 2:4: “Or do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God would lead you to repentance?”

Speaking of Paul, this is just what Peter now does! He refers to him as our beloved brother Paul, who according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. Peter ascribes wisdom to Paul, indicating that he regards Paul’s teaching as both authoritative and inspired. What letters of Paul might our author be referring to? If we are in the geographical region of Asia Minor then the best candidates are Ephesians, Colossians, and Galatians. But Peter makes reference to “all his letters,” indicating a larger collection. If Peter the apostle himself is the author then he must be writing at the end of his life when the majority of Paul’s letters were written and circulating among the churches. While it is conceivable that this was already happening in the early 60s, the circulation of Paul’s letters fits even better a period later in the first century following the death of both Peter and Paul.

Peter says that Paul wrote about “these things.” Which “things” is he referring to? At the very least Paul wrote about the promise of Christ’s coming, about the sure judgment to follow, about the new heavens and earth, and about the need to remain holy and blameless as we wait for the day of the Lord. Paul’s letters are replete with all these topics.

Then Peter admits that in Paul’s letters there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. Anyone who has read Romans, Galatians, and the Corinthian correspondence (in fact any of Paul’s letters) would agree. They are dense writings, closely argued and easily misunderstood. Peter’s caution against the “ignorant,” or “uninstructed,” and “unstable” people who distort Paul’s letters points back to his sharp concern with the false teachers. It is likely that these teachers claimed to find in Paul’s letters the basis for their own moral laxity. This was a problem that Paul himself had to correct in his lifetime (see, for example, Paul’s rejection of moral laxity in Rom 3:8; 6:1; Gal 5:13).

Why is Peter dragging Paul into the discussion here? Presumably because Peter knows that Paul’s teaching has reached this same audience (he says that Paul wrote to them), and he is concerned that Paul’s letters not be distorted among them. The false teachers may well be claiming Paul as the authority for their teaching and lifestyle. Of course Paul does not support what they are teaching, but it is quite possible to believe that they were using selections from Paul to justify the freedom they were claiming, which is really just license to sin. Thus, Peter is not rejecting Paul’s teaching, but rather rejecting the distortions of Paul’s teaching that were circulating in the Christian community.

Finally, what are we to make of Peter’s reference to “the other scriptures” (literally, “writings”)? This is probably a general reference to the biblical writings from the Old Testament, but could include a reference to the Gospels as well. Many interpreters believe that Peter is identifying Paul’s letters as equal to “the other Scriptures.” If this is so, then 2 Peter was probably written later in the first century when Paul’s letters had been collected and had begun to be recognized as part of the inspired apostolic testimony to Christ. But it is also possible that Peter does not mean to put the two on equal footing and is simply saying that these false teachers not only distort Paul’s letters, but they distort the biblical writings as well.

Reflection and Application (3:11–16)

It is no accident that a number of churches read this text in the Sunday liturgy during the season of Advent. For many Christians, Advent is simply the season to scurry around and prepare for the Christmas holidays. Even those who attempt to observe Advent prayerfully view it simply as a preparation for Christmas, for the first coming of Christ in the flesh. But Advent is also the season for the Church to recall with intensity the second coming of Christ. If one looks at the structure of the readings and prayers of the liturgy, especially for the first and second Sundays of Advent, it becomes clear that the second coming, not the first, is in the foreground. This is why 2 Peter is such an apt letter for the Advent season. Peter calls us to embrace the promise of Christ’s second coming with vibrant faith. He tells us that we should use the time at hand as a season for repentance, since this is why God is being patient. He calls us to get walking on the right “way,” to pursue with eagerness a life of holiness and godliness. Have we taken on the qualities of the false teachers—arrogance, sexual immorality, worldly greed? Do we need to get back on the “way of righteousness” and so be found “at peace” with God? Are we “hastening the day of God” by the way that we live and pray? There is an urgency in 2 Peter that fits and energizes the season of Advent, a season when we are called to be on the watch for Christ’s second coming even as we joyfully prepare for the celebration of his first.

⁶ The ESV, for instance, translates “elements” as “heavenly bodies.”

⁷ For a full account of the textual variations, see Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 316–21.

⁸ Greek anastrophe.

⁹ See Acts 1:4; Rom 8:25; 1 Cor 1:7; 1 Thess 1:10; Jude 1:21.

^a Catena, ACCS, 159.

^b Commentary 151.

NRSV New Revised Standard Version