返回Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter Three
2 Pet. 3:1. This is now the second epistle I write to you, beloved; in them I stir up your pure mind by way of reminder,
2 Pet. 3:2. That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior delivered through your Apostles.
From this we learn that the epistles of the Apostle Peter are only two. "I stir up by way of reminder in them" means: in these epistles or by these epistles I stir up your pure mind. For it is characteristic of a pure mind to remember what has been heard or commanded for salvation, and to be stirred up to fulfill this in deed with all strength and zeal. And this was commanded through the preaching of the prophets and apostles. Therefore Paul also says: "having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets" (Eph. 2:20). For they all proclaimed the coming of the Lord. And one cannot disbelieve so many witnesses. But why do I speak of prophets and apostles? Because they proclaimed both the first and the second coming of our Lord and Savior Himself. The order of the speech is as follows: "that you may remember the words formerly spoken (ὑπό) by the holy prophets," "the commandment (ὑπό) of your apostles," "according to (ὑπό) the commandment of the Lord and Savior." For the preposition ὑπό (from/by) applies to all. But why does he command to revive the memory of this? Because, he adds, those who live passionately according to their own lusts shamelessly attack believers and mock them, seeing that some fear the coming of the Lord, which together with the prophets the Lord Himself also foretold, and therefore they abhor their impure life, and especially because the event does not immediately follow the prediction, but for the salvation of those inscribed in the book of the saved, an interval has been permitted.
2 Pet. 3:3. First of all, know that in the last days there will come insolent scoffers, walking according to their own lusts.
2 Pet. 3:4. And saying: Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
Because the coming of the Lord does not immediately follow upon His words, for the salvation of many who are written in the book of the living, insolent people attack the faithful with mockery and say: "Where is the promise of His coming?" But because one promise has not yet been fulfilled, for the aforementioned reason, it is unjust to disbelieve the other saving commandments of the Lord as well, as malicious people wish and strive to do. Thus babbled the Gnostics of that time, namely: the Naassenes, the Lampetians, and the Euchites. All of them, he says, are ignorant; for they willingly shut their eyes before the truth. Of what then are they ignorant? Of the fact that the heavens, according to the book of Genesis of Moses, were made from water — for, in his words, God Himself commanded "let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters" (Gen. 1:6) — and likewise the earth by His command appeared from the waters in which it had previously been submerged; that since heaven and earth consist of waters, the flood came unexpectedly; and that just as during the flood destruction followed through water, so now all things are destined to be destroyed through fire, and together with this the ungodly shall also perish. The two principal elements of the universe are water and fire, from which two further elements receive their existence: air from the evaporation of waters, and earth from the condensation of waters; and this evaporation and condensation are produced by fire, which anyone possessing reason will believe, for such power the nature of fire received from the Creator God Himself. Therefore, if there are only two elements, and the first destruction of the ungodly was through water, then it is absolutely necessary, he says, that the second destruction of the ungodly be accomplished through fire.
2 Pet. 3:5. Those who think this way do not know that in the beginning by the word of God the heavens and the earth were composed out of water and by water:
"Out of water," as the material cause, and "by water," as the perfecting cause, for water holds the earth together, binding its dust and giving it solidity, and were it not for this, the earth would turn into dust and air. Some idle talker might perhaps object to us: why did God, who created the visible world, not create it solid from the beginning, so that it would be necessary to bring it to perfection under Noah through the flood, and at the end of the world, as Peter now says, through fire? To such a person we shall say, first of all, that the world cannot be unchangeable. For how can that which received its being through change possess unchangeability (for it was brought into being from non-being, which no sensible person would call non-change)? And since the change toward the worse reached the very worst, the Creator of the world, in order to bring it toward the better, of necessity accomplished its purification under Noah by means of water, and at the end will accomplish it by means of fire. We too are accustomed to subjecting certain things to the action of fire, not in order to destroy them, but in order to give them purity and luster. Of this, probably, no one will doubt. Something similar God also promises to do at the end of the age by means of fire: what is superfluous and useless for the future state of mankind He will destroy—for example, plants, cattle, forests. Thus creatures not needed for incorruptible life will be destroyed. But if this is so, then those who assert that this visible world was incorruptible from the beginning are talking idle nonsense. And if someone were to reason the same way about intellectual beings, since they too were brought into being from non-being, let such a person understand that their very simplicity (non-compositeness) guarantees their indestructibility and their closeness, by their very being, to the blessed and divine nature.
2 Pet. 3:6. Therefore the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
The world perished through heaven and earth. The earth released water from its depths, and the floodgates of heaven poured water down upon the earth. "Perished" should be understood not of the entire world, but only of the living creatures, which constitute, as it were, the whole world: for the world created without them would not even be a world.
2 Pet. 3:7. But the present heavens and earth, sustained by that same Word, are being reserved for fire on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
That the destruction of the present world will be by means of fire is a thought not of Christians alone, but also of pagan sages. But someone will say: why create the world if it must again turn to corruption? To such a person we will say that the world will not be utterly annihilated, but will be destroyed in order to be renewed, which is why the prophet also says: "and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:30). The sensible creation, when made by God, was "very good" (Gen. 1:31), but because of man's transgression, this very creation "was made subject to vanity" (Rom. 8:20), that is, it lost the firmness of its existence. Then, when at the time of the flood there were few God-fearing people on earth, the world was, as it were, restored a second time and received a new beginning through Noah and the other living creatures preserved in the ark, so that they might serve as the seed of a new state of the world. Meanwhile, the human race did not improve even then, but went on to worse things than before, from which neither the law given through Moses nor the coming of the Lord turned it back. Therefore, since the calling to salvation was manifold, and the perdition from disobedience was of many kinds, a flood of fire will be necessary, that is, a destruction, though not a total one — a destruction not of souls, but also not of bodies. "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 the soul alone be punished without the body, when it bears upon itself what it did through the body? For it is not fitting for a righteous Judge, when two have sinned in one and the same thing, to forgive one and lay the entire weight of guilt upon the other. Let us say, secondly, also this: that we too customarily purify unclean things from admixture by means of fire and restore their brightness. "Are reserved unto the day of judgment and perdition" (2 Pet. 3:7). "Judgment" means the same as condemnation.
2 Pet. 3:8. But this one thing must not be hidden from you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Pet. 3:9. The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness; but is longsuffering toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Having concluded the discourse on the end of the age — that it will certainly come and will come through fire (which we also explained at length) — the apostle turned to the extension of the time of the world's end and says that "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering" (2 Pet. 3:9), awaiting our salvation and the fullness of those who are to be saved, and that before Him, the infinite One, no amount of time is lengthy, but that for Him "a thousand years are as one day" (2 Pet. 3:8); indeed, according to the words of David, there is not even a multitude of days, for he speaks thus: "a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Ps. 90:4). When he likens a thousand years to a watch of the night, he has in mind the very shortest span of time. And the night is divided into four intervals. Thus the Lord, according to the words of the Gospel (Matt. 14:25), came to His apostles "in the fourth watch of the night."
2 Pet. 3:10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements, being set on fire, will be dissolved, and the earth and all the works on it will be burned up.
2 Pet. 3:11. Since all these things are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
2 Pet. 3:12. Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
To explain the obscurity and unexpectedness of the Lord's coming, the apostle compares it to the coming of a thief and of the night. The night indicates obscurity, and the thief indicates unexpectedness; for no one who expects a thief is ever robbed. Therefore the Lord also says that "as in the days of Noah people were devoted to feasting and to marriages, until the flood overtook them, so too the coming of the Lord will overtake the ungodly unexpectedly" (Matt. 24:37–39). "With a great noise" means with a crackling, and such crackling usually occurs when something is burning. Note: The apostle said, "the earth and the works on it will be burned up," and not "people"; consequently, he speaks only of the destruction of the ungodly or of their ungodly works; for "the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Ps. 1:6), and not the ungodly person himself.
2 Pet. 3:13. However we, according to His promise, await new heavens and a new earth, on which righteousness dwells.
2 Pet. 3:14. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these things, be diligent to be found by Him without spot and blameless in peace;
2 Pet. 3:15. and count the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation,
The Lord will establish a new heaven and a new earth, "new" not in essence and substance; for if someone builds a new house, this does not already mean that he builds it from material that did not exist before. No, God once created matter and formed it into every possible kind and composition, and what was necessary only for this present life, but useless and superfluous for the incorruptible life to come, He will abolish, while to what is useful He will give a new form with incorruptible and unfading beauty, and will allow it to fill another and incorruptible world.
2 Pet. 3:15. as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you,
2 Pet. 3:16. as he speaks about this also in all his epistles, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
2 Pet. 3:17. Therefore you, beloved, having been forewarned of this, be on guard, lest you be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own steadfastness,
2 Pet. 3:18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Paul wrote about this when he said: "the goodness of God leads you to repentance" (Rom. 2:4). If the longsuffering of God leads to repentance, and repentance is salvific for us, then it is evident that the longsuffering of God serves for our own benefit and salvation. He says "hard to understand," which the ungodly preach in a distorted sense, for this means "they twist." Let us present one example from all their false interpretations. The Apostle Paul said: "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20). The distorters gave the words of the Apostle Paul this meaning: let us sin more so that we may receive greater forgiveness. They do this to their own destruction. For just as those who killed the prophets and apostles, so also those who perversely interpret their words are subject to one and the same condemnation. As those who did not desire the benefit and salvation of their disciples killed them, so also those who do not desire that anyone should receive salvation through them twist their words. By "your own steadfastness" he means faith in the Lord. Finally, just as he ends the first epistle with a prayer, so also in the second he asks for their growth in the faith of the Lord.
2 Pet. 3:1. This is now the second epistle I write to you, beloved; in them I stir up your pure mind by way of reminder,
2 Pet. 3:2. That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior delivered through your Apostles.
From this we learn that the epistles of the Apostle Peter are only two. "I stir up by way of reminder in them" means: in these epistles or by these epistles I stir up your pure mind. For it is characteristic of a pure mind to remember what has been heard or commanded for salvation, and to be stirred up to fulfill this in deed with all strength and zeal. And this was commanded through the preaching of the prophets and apostles. Therefore Paul also says: "having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets" (Eph. 2:20). For they all proclaimed the coming of the Lord. And one cannot disbelieve so many witnesses. But why do I speak of prophets and apostles? Because they proclaimed both the first and the second coming of our Lord and Savior Himself. The order of the speech is as follows: "that you may remember the words formerly spoken (ὑπό) by the holy prophets," "the commandment (ὑπό) of your apostles," "according to (ὑπό) the commandment of the Lord and Savior." For the preposition ὑπό (from/by) applies to all. But why does he command to revive the memory of this? Because, he adds, those who live passionately according to their own lusts shamelessly attack believers and mock them, seeing that some fear the coming of the Lord, which together with the prophets the Lord Himself also foretold, and therefore they abhor their impure life, and especially because the event does not immediately follow the prediction, but for the salvation of those inscribed in the book of the saved, an interval has been permitted.
2 Pet. 3:3. First of all, know that in the last days there will come insolent scoffers, walking according to their own lusts.
2 Pet. 3:4. And saying: Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
Because the coming of the Lord does not immediately follow upon His words, for the salvation of many who are written in the book of the living, insolent people attack the faithful with mockery and say: "Where is the promise of His coming?" But because one promise has not yet been fulfilled, for the aforementioned reason, it is unjust to disbelieve the other saving commandments of the Lord as well, as malicious people wish and strive to do. Thus babbled the Gnostics of that time, namely: the Naassenes, the Lampetians, and the Euchites. All of them, he says, are ignorant; for they willingly shut their eyes before the truth. Of what then are they ignorant? Of the fact that the heavens, according to the book of Genesis of Moses, were made from water — for, in his words, God Himself commanded "let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters" (Gen. 1:6) — and likewise the earth by His command appeared from the waters in which it had previously been submerged; that since heaven and earth consist of waters, the flood came unexpectedly; and that just as during the flood destruction followed through water, so now all things are destined to be destroyed through fire, and together with this the ungodly shall also perish. The two principal elements of the universe are water and fire, from which two further elements receive their existence: air from the evaporation of waters, and earth from the condensation of waters; and this evaporation and condensation are produced by fire, which anyone possessing reason will believe, for such power the nature of fire received from the Creator God Himself. Therefore, if there are only two elements, and the first destruction of the ungodly was through water, then it is absolutely necessary, he says, that the second destruction of the ungodly be accomplished through fire.
2 Pet. 3:5. Those who think this way do not know that in the beginning by the word of God the heavens and the earth were composed out of water and by water:
"Out of water," as the material cause, and "by water," as the perfecting cause, for water holds the earth together, binding its dust and giving it solidity, and were it not for this, the earth would turn into dust and air. Some idle talker might perhaps object to us: why did God, who created the visible world, not create it solid from the beginning, so that it would be necessary to bring it to perfection under Noah through the flood, and at the end of the world, as Peter now says, through fire? To such a person we shall say, first of all, that the world cannot be unchangeable. For how can that which received its being through change possess unchangeability (for it was brought into being from non-being, which no sensible person would call non-change)? And since the change toward the worse reached the very worst, the Creator of the world, in order to bring it toward the better, of necessity accomplished its purification under Noah by means of water, and at the end will accomplish it by means of fire. We too are accustomed to subjecting certain things to the action of fire, not in order to destroy them, but in order to give them purity and luster. Of this, probably, no one will doubt. Something similar God also promises to do at the end of the age by means of fire: what is superfluous and useless for the future state of mankind He will destroy—for example, plants, cattle, forests. Thus creatures not needed for incorruptible life will be destroyed. But if this is so, then those who assert that this visible world was incorruptible from the beginning are talking idle nonsense. And if someone were to reason the same way about intellectual beings, since they too were brought into being from non-being, let such a person understand that their very simplicity (non-compositeness) guarantees their indestructibility and their closeness, by their very being, to the blessed and divine nature.
2 Pet. 3:6. Therefore the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
The world perished through heaven and earth. The earth released water from its depths, and the floodgates of heaven poured water down upon the earth. "Perished" should be understood not of the entire world, but only of the living creatures, which constitute, as it were, the whole world: for the world created without them would not even be a world.
2 Pet. 3:7. But the present heavens and earth, sustained by that same Word, are being reserved for fire on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
That the destruction of the present world will be by means of fire is a thought not of Christians alone, but also of pagan sages. But someone will say: why create the world if it must again turn to corruption? To such a person we will say that the world will not be utterly annihilated, but will be destroyed in order to be renewed, which is why the prophet also says: "and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:30). The sensible creation, when made by God, was "very good" (Gen. 1:31), but because of man's transgression, this very creation "was made subject to vanity" (Rom. 8:20), that is, it lost the firmness of its existence. Then, when at the time of the flood there were few God-fearing people on earth, the world was, as it were, restored a second time and received a new beginning through Noah and the other living creatures preserved in the ark, so that they might serve as the seed of a new state of the world. Meanwhile, the human race did not improve even then, but went on to worse things than before, from which neither the law given through Moses nor the coming of the Lord turned it back. Therefore, since the calling to salvation was manifold, and the perdition from disobedience was of many kinds, a flood of fire will be necessary, that is, a destruction, though not a total one — a destruction not of souls, but also not of bodies. "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 the soul alone be punished without the body, when it bears upon itself what it did through the body? For it is not fitting for a righteous Judge, when two have sinned in one and the same thing, to forgive one and lay the entire weight of guilt upon the other. Let us say, secondly, also this: that we too customarily purify unclean things from admixture by means of fire and restore their brightness. "Are reserved unto the day of judgment and perdition" (2 Pet. 3:7). "Judgment" means the same as condemnation.
2 Pet. 3:8. But this one thing must not be hidden from you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Pet. 3:9. The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness; but is longsuffering toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Having concluded the discourse on the end of the age — that it will certainly come and will come through fire (which we also explained at length) — the apostle turned to the extension of the time of the world's end and says that "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering" (2 Pet. 3:9), awaiting our salvation and the fullness of those who are to be saved, and that before Him, the infinite One, no amount of time is lengthy, but that for Him "a thousand years are as one day" (2 Pet. 3:8); indeed, according to the words of David, there is not even a multitude of days, for he speaks thus: "a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Ps. 90:4). When he likens a thousand years to a watch of the night, he has in mind the very shortest span of time. And the night is divided into four intervals. Thus the Lord, according to the words of the Gospel (Matt. 14:25), came to His apostles "in the fourth watch of the night."
2 Pet. 3:10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements, being set on fire, will be dissolved, and the earth and all the works on it will be burned up.
2 Pet. 3:11. Since all these things are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
2 Pet. 3:12. Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
To explain the obscurity and unexpectedness of the Lord's coming, the apostle compares it to the coming of a thief and of the night. The night indicates obscurity, and the thief indicates unexpectedness; for no one who expects a thief is ever robbed. Therefore the Lord also says that "as in the days of Noah people were devoted to feasting and to marriages, until the flood overtook them, so too the coming of the Lord will overtake the ungodly unexpectedly" (Matt. 24:37–39). "With a great noise" means with a crackling, and such crackling usually occurs when something is burning. Note: The apostle said, "the earth and the works on it will be burned up," and not "people"; consequently, he speaks only of the destruction of the ungodly or of their ungodly works; for "the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Ps. 1:6), and not the ungodly person himself.
2 Pet. 3:13. However we, according to His promise, await new heavens and a new earth, on which righteousness dwells.
2 Pet. 3:14. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these things, be diligent to be found by Him without spot and blameless in peace;
2 Pet. 3:15. and count the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation,
The Lord will establish a new heaven and a new earth, "new" not in essence and substance; for if someone builds a new house, this does not already mean that he builds it from material that did not exist before. No, God once created matter and formed it into every possible kind and composition, and what was necessary only for this present life, but useless and superfluous for the incorruptible life to come, He will abolish, while to what is useful He will give a new form with incorruptible and unfading beauty, and will allow it to fill another and incorruptible world.
2 Pet. 3:15. as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you,
2 Pet. 3:16. as he speaks about this also in all his epistles, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
2 Pet. 3:17. Therefore you, beloved, having been forewarned of this, be on guard, lest you be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own steadfastness,
2 Pet. 3:18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Paul wrote about this when he said: "the goodness of God leads you to repentance" (Rom. 2:4). If the longsuffering of God leads to repentance, and repentance is salvific for us, then it is evident that the longsuffering of God serves for our own benefit and salvation. He says "hard to understand," which the ungodly preach in a distorted sense, for this means "they twist." Let us present one example from all their false interpretations. The Apostle Paul said: "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20). The distorters gave the words of the Apostle Paul this meaning: let us sin more so that we may receive greater forgiveness. They do this to their own destruction. For just as those who killed the prophets and apostles, so also those who perversely interpret their words are subject to one and the same condemnation. As those who did not desire the benefit and salvation of their disciples killed them, so also those who do not desire that anyone should receive salvation through them twist their words. By "your own steadfastness" he means faith in the Lord. Finally, just as he ends the first epistle with a prayer, so also in the second he asks for their growth in the faith of the Lord.