2 Peter 3: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Peter writes a second letter to remind his readers of what the prophets said and what the apostles commanded. He warns that scoffers will come in the last days, asking why Christ has not returned, and answers that God measures time differently and is being patient so people can turn to him. He says the day of the Lord will come suddenly, the present heavens and earth are being kept for fire on the day of judgment, and believers look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness lives. He closes by pointing to Paul's letters, warning against being led away by error, and telling them to grow in grace and knowledge.

Claim by Claim

1. 3:1
   • The writer addresses his readers as beloved.
   • The writer says this is the second letter he is writing to them.
   • The writer says that in both letters he stirs up their pure minds by way of reminder.
2. 3:2
   • The writer's purpose is that they remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets.
   • The writer's purpose is that they remember the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Savior.
3. 3:3
   • The readers are to know this first.
   • Scoffers will come in the last days.
   • Those scoffers will walk according to their own lusts.
4. 3:4
   • The scoffers will ask where the promise of his coming is.
   • The scoffers will say that the fathers have fallen asleep.
   • The scoffers will say that all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
5. 3:5
   • The scoffers are willingly ignorant of this.
   • The heavens existed long ago by the word of God.
   • The earth was formed out of water and by means of water by the word of God.
6. 3:6
   • The world that existed then was flooded with water.
   • The world that existed then perished.
7. 3:7
   • The present heavens and earth are kept in store by the same word.
   • The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire.
   • They are reserved until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8. 3:8
   • The readers are told not to be ignorant of this one thing.
   • With the Lord one day is like a thousand years.
   • With the Lord a thousand years are like one day.
9. 3:9
   • The Lord is not slow concerning his promise.
   • Some men count the Lord's delay as slowness.
   • The Lord is longsuffering toward the readers.
   • The Lord is not willing that any should perish.
   • The Lord wills that all should come to repentance.
10. 3:10
    • The day of the Lord will come.
    • The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
    • On that day the heavens will pass away with a great noise.
    • On that day the elements will melt with intense heat.
    • On that day the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
11. 3:11
    • All these things will be dissolved.
    • The writer asks what manner of persons they ought to be.
    • They ought to live in holy conduct and godliness.
12. 3:12
    • They are to look for the coming of the day of God.
    • They are to hasten the coming of the day of God.
    • On that day the heavens will be dissolved by burning.
    • On that day the elements will melt with intense heat.
13. 3:13
    • The writers look for new heavens and a new earth.
    • This expectation is according to his promise.
    • Righteousness dwells in the new heavens and new earth.
14. 3:14
    • The writer addresses his readers as beloved.
    • The readers look for these things.
    • The readers are told to be diligent to be found by him in peace.
    • The readers are told to be found without spot and blameless.
15. 3:15
    • The readers are to consider the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation.
    • Paul is called our beloved brother.
    • Paul wrote to them.
    • Paul wrote according to the wisdom given to him.
16. 3:16
    • Paul speaks of these things in all his letters.
    • Some things in Paul's letters are hard to understand.
    • Unlearned and unstable people distort those hard things.
    • Those same people also distort the other scriptures.
    • Those people distort them to their own destruction.
17. 3:17
    • The writer addresses his readers as beloved.
    • The readers know these things beforehand.
    • The readers are told to beware.
    • They are warned against being led away with the error of the wicked.
    • They are warned against falling from their own steadfastness.
18. 3:18
    • The readers are told to grow in grace.
    • The readers are told to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
    • Glory is ascribed to him now and forever.
    • Amen.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

3:1

"Stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance" means to wake up your thinking by reminding you. The Greek word behind "pure" means sincere or unmixed, clear thinking that has not been clouded, rather than moral cleanness.

3:2

An apostle is literally one sent out, a person commissioned to carry a message on someone else's authority. The Greek of this verse is read two ways: either the command of the Lord given by us, his apostles, or the command of the Lord and Savior passed on to you through your apostles. Most manuscripts favor the second.

3:3

"The last days" is a phrase taken from the Hebrew prophets for the closing stretch of the present age. In 1611 "lusts" meant strong cravings of any kind, not specifically sexual ones.

3:4

"The fathers fell asleep" uses a standard ancient way of saying someone died. "The fathers" may mean the ancestors of Israel generally, or the first generation of Christians, who by this time had died without seeing Christ return; the wording does not settle which.

3:5

"Willingly are ignorant" does not mean they simply do not know. It means they keep themselves from knowing, letting the fact slip out of view on purpose. The description of earth formed out of water and by water looks back to Genesis 1, where dry land emerges from the waters at God's spoken word.

3:6

This is the flood of Noah's time, Genesis 6 to 8. The Greek verb translated "overflowed" is the one behind the English word cataclysm.

3:7

"Perdition" is an old word for utter ruin or being lost beyond recovery. "Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment" uses "against" in its older sense of in readiness for, the way a store of grain is kept against a hard winter.

3:8

This echoes Psalm 90:4, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past." The point is about how time looks from God's side, not a formula for converting days into years.

3:9

"Slack" here means slow or late, missing a deadline through negligence. "Longsuffering" is the older English for patient endurance, holding back anger over a long stretch. "To us-ward" is a 1611 construction meaning toward us; many manuscripts read toward you. "Repentance" translates a Greek word meaning a change of mind deep enough to change the direction of a life.

3:10

"The day of the Lord" is a phrase from the prophets, Amos and Joel and others, for the day God steps in to judge and set things right. The thief image is about arriving with no warning, not about theft. "The elements" translates a Greek word that can mean the basic substances the physical world is built from, or the heavenly bodies, sun and moon and stars, or the spiritual powers thought to stand behind them; the word is genuinely open here. "Burned up" reflects the manuscripts the King James translators used; the oldest surviving manuscripts instead read "will be found," that is, laid bare or exposed to view, which is why modern translations differ at this point.

3:11

"Conversation" in 1611 meant a person's entire way of living and behaving in public, not talk. The King James phrase "holy conversation and godliness" is about conduct, not speech.

3:12

"Hasting unto" translates a verb that can mean either hurrying toward the day or hurrying the day itself along, making it come sooner. Both readings are defensible and translators still divide over them.

3:13

New heavens and a new earth is language taken from Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22.

3:14

"Without spot, and blameless" borrows the vocabulary used of an animal inspected before sacrifice and found free of any defect. The same words are the mirror of chapter 2 verse 13, where the false teachers are called "spots" and "blemishes."

3:15

"Account that" means reckon it, count it as being so. Paul's letters were already circulating among the same churches, read aloud when the congregation gathered, which is why the readers could be expected to know them.

3:16

"Wrest" means to twist or wrench something out of its proper shape, as one might force a joint or a lock. "Unlearned" means untaught, lacking instruction, rather than unintelligent. "The other scriptures" uses the standard Greek word for the sacred writings, so the sentence sets Paul's letters in the same category as them.

3:17

The King James word is "stedfastness," an old spelling of steadfastness. It means standing firm and not being knocked over.

3:18

"Grace" means kindness that is given freely, not earned or paid for. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning "yes, this is true." People said it at the end of a prayer.