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2Pet.3:1. This is the second message I am writing to you, beloved; in them, as a reminder, I awaken your pure meaning, 2 Peter 3:2. so that you remember the words previously spoken by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior, delivered by your Apostles. From this we learn that there are only two epistles of the Apostle Peter. “I arouse in them with a reminder” means: in these messages or with these messages I arouse your pure meaning. For it is characteristic of pure sense to remember what is heard or commanded that is salutary, and to be aroused to fulfill this in practice with all strength and zeal. And this was commanded through the preaching of the prophets and apostles. Therefore, Paul says: “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). For they all announced the coming of the Lord. And one cannot help but believe so many witnesses. Why am I talking about prophets and apostles? Because they announced both the first and second coming of our Lord and Savior Himself. The order of speech is as follows: “so that you remember the words previously spoken (ὑπό) by the holy prophets,” “the commandment (ὑπό) of the apostles,” “according to (ὑπό) the commandments of both the Lord and Savior.” For the preposition ὑπό (from) applies to everyone. Why does he command to revive the memory of this? Therefore, he adds that those who passionately live according to their lusts shamelessly attack believers and mock them, seeing that some fear the coming of the Lord, which the Lord Himself foretold together with the prophets, and therefore abhor their unclean life, and especially because the prediction is not immediately followed by an event, but for the salvation of those written in the book of those being saved, an interval is allowed. 2 Peter 3:3. First of all, know that in the last days there will appear arrogant scoffers, walking according to their own lusts. 2Pet.3:4. and saying: Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers began to die, from the beginning of creation, everything remains the same. Due to the fact that for the salvation of many written in the book of the living, the very coming of the Lord does not follow the words, insolent people attack the faithful with ridicule and say: “Where is the promise of His coming?” But due to the fact that, for the above-mentioned reason, one promise has not yet been fulfilled, it is unfair not to believe the other saving commandments of the Lord, as malicious people desire and desire. This is how the Gnostics of that time spoke idle talk, namely the Naasenes and Lampetians and Euchites. All of them, he says, do not know; for they voluntarily close their eyes before the truth. What don't they know? The fact that the heavens, according to the book of Genesis of Moses, were made of water - for, according to him, God Himself commanded “to be solid and in the midst of water” (Gen. 1:6), - likewise, at His command, the earth appeared from the waters in which it was previously immersed, that since the sky and earth consist of water, the flood suddenly came, and that just as during the flood destruction followed through water, so now it everything will be destroyed through fire, with which the wicked will perish along with it. The two main elements of the universe: water and fire, from which two more elements receive their existence: air from evaporating waters, and earth from condensing waters, but this evaporation and condensation is produced by fire, which anyone with intelligence will believe, for the nature of fire received such power from the Creator God Himself. So, if there are only two elements, and the first destruction of the wicked was through water, then it is absolutely necessary, he says, that the second destruction of the wicked be accomplished through fire. 2 Peter 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 made of water and by water: “From water” as a material cause, “by water” as a perfect cause, for water contains the earth, binding its dust and giving it hardness, and if this were not the case, then the earth would turn into dust and air. Another idle talker, perhaps, will object to us: why did God, who created the visible world, not create it from the beginning solid, from which it is necessary to raise it to perfection under Noah through the flood, and at the end of the world, as Peter now says, through fire? To this we say, firstly, that the world cannot be unchangeable. For how will that which has received existence through change have immutability (for it is brought into being from non-existence, which no prudent person would call immutable)? Since the change for the worse reached the worst, the Creator of the world, in order to lead it to the better, necessarily purified it under Noah through water, and at his death he will accomplish it through fire. And we are in the habit of exposing certain things to fire, not in order to destroy them, but in order to give them purity and shine. Probably no one will doubt this. God promises to do the same at the end of the age through fire: He will destroy what is unnecessary and useless for the future state of people, for example, plants, livestock, and forests. Thus, beings that are not needed for imperishable life will be destroyed. If so, then those who claim that this visible world was incorruptible from the beginning are talking in vain. If anyone were to think in the same way about mental beings, since they too are brought into existence from non-existence, let him understand that their very simplicity (uncomplexity) vouches for their indestructibility and for their closeness, by being itself, to the blissful and divine nature. 2 Peter 3:6. therefore the world of that time perished, being drowned by water. The world perished across heaven and earth. The earth released water from its depths, and the abyss of heaven brought water down to the earth. “Dead” does not mean the whole world, but only animals, which represent, as it were, the whole world: for the world created without them would not be the world. 2 Peter 3:7. And the present heavens and earth, contained by the same Word, are reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men. That there will be destruction of the present world through fire is the thought of not only Christians, but also pagan sages. But another will say: why create the world if it must again turn into corruption? To this we say that the world will not be completely destroyed, but will be destroyed in order to be renewed, which is why the prophet says: “And You will renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:30). The sensual creature, when created by God, was “very good” (Gen. 1:31), and for the crime of man this creature itself “submitted to vanity” (Rom. 8:20), that is, it lost the firmness of its being. Then, when during the flood there were few pious people on earth, the world seemed to be restored a second time and received a beginning through Noah and other living beings, preserved in the ark in order to serve as the seed of a new state of the world. Meanwhile, the human race did not improve even then, but went to something worse than before, from which neither the law given through Moses nor the coming of the Lord turned it away. So, since the calling to salvation was varied, and the destruction from disobedience was varied, a fiery flood will be necessary, that is, destruction, although not complete, destruction not of souls, but not of bodies. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10), not without bodies, with only souls, but together with incorruptible bodies. For how can one soul without a body be punished, when it bears on itself what it has done through the body? For it is not characteristic of a righteous Judge, when two have sinned in the same thing, to forgive one, and lay the whole burden of guilt on the other. Let us say, secondly, and the fact that through fire we usually cleanse unclean things from impurities and restore their brightness. “They are reserved for the day of judgment and destruction” (2 Peter 3:7). 2 Peter 3:8. One thing should 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 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slack in fulfilling his promise, as some count slackness; but he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Having concluded the word about the end of the age, that it will certainly happen and will be through fire (which we have explained at length), the apostle moved on to the extension of the time of the end of the world and says that “The Lord is not slack in fulfilling his promise, as some count slackness; but he is patient” (2 Peter 3:9), waiting for our salvation and the fullness of those who will be saved, and that before Him, the infinite, no time is long, but that with Him “a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8); even, according to David, there are not many days, for he says: “A thousand years are in Your sight as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” (Ps. 89:5). When he compares a thousand years to a night watch, he means the shortest possible time. And the night is divided into four periods. So the Lord, according to the Gospel (Matthew 14:25), appeared to His apostles “in the fourth watch of the night.” 2 Peter 3:10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, the elements, having flared up, will be destroyed, the earth and all the works on it will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:11. If all this is destroyed, then what kind of holy life and piety should you be? 2 Peter 3:12. waiting and desiring the coming of the day of God, in which the flaming heavens will be destroyed and the burning elements will melt? To explain the unknown and unexpectedness of the coming of the Lord, the apostle compares it with the coming of a thief and the night. Night indicates the unknown, and the thief indicates surprise; for no one who waits for a thief is robbed. Therefore, the Lord says that “just as in the days of Noah there were people addicted to feasts and marriages until the flood overtook them, so the coming of the Lord will overtake the wicked unexpectedly” (Matthew 24:37-39). “With a noise” means with a crash, and such a crack usually happens when something is burning. Take note. The Apostle said: “the earth and... the works on it will be burned,” and not “people”; consequently, he speaks only of the destruction of the wicked or their wicked deeds; for “the way of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 1:6), and not the wicked himself. 2 Peter 3:13. However, according to His promise, we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:14. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to this, strive to appear before Him undefiled and blameless in peace; 2 Peter 3:15. and consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, The Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, “new” not in essence and substance; for if someone builds a new house, this does not mean that he is building it from a substance that did not exist before. No, God once created matter and formed it into all kinds of forms and compositions, and what was necessary for life here only, but for the incorruptible life there is useless and unnecessary, He will abolish, and what is useful, He will give it a new image with imperishable and unfading beauty, and will allow it to fill another and imperishable world. just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, 2 Peter 3:16. as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there is something difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable, like other Scriptures, twist to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:17. Therefore, beloved, being forewarned of this, beware lest you be carried away by the error of the wicked and fall from your own affirmation, 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 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 God’s long-suffering leads to repentance, and repentance is saving for us, then it is obvious that God’s long-suffering serves for our benefit and salvation. He says “hard to understand”, that the wicked preach in a perverted sense, for this means “transform”. Let us present one example of all their false interpretations. The Apostle Paul said: “When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). The perverters gave the following meaning to the words of the Apostle Paul: let us sin more in order to receive more forgiveness. They do this to their own destruction. For both those who killed the prophets and apostles, and those who misinterpret their speeches, are subject to the same condemnation. Just as they were killed by those who did not want the benefit and salvation of their disciples, so their speeches are perverted by those who do not want anyone to receive salvation through them. “His affirmation” refers to faith in the Lord. Finally, just as the first epistle ends with a prayer, so in the second he asks them to grow in the faith of the Lord. You might be interested in: