2 Peter 3:7

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (Compare , end.) WHICH ARE NOW - `the postdiluvian world.' In contrast to "that then was," . THE SAME. So A B, Vulgate; but 'Aleph (') C read 'His' (God's). KEPT IN STORE - `treasured up.' RESERVED - "kept." It is only God's keeping which holds together the present state of things until His time for ending it....

7._But the heavens and the earth which are now. _He does not infer this as the consequence; for his purpose was no other than to dissipate the craftiness of scoffers respecting the perpetual state of nature, and we see many such at this day who being slightly embued with the rudiments of philosophy, only hunt after profane speculations, in order that they may pass themselves off as great philosophers. But it now appears quite evident from what has been said, that there is nothing unreasonable in the declaration made by the Lord, that the heaven and the earth shall hereafter be consumed by fire, because the reason for the fire is the same as that for the water. For it was a common saying even among the ancients, that from these two chief elements all things have proceeded. But as he had to do with the ungodly, he speaks expressly of their destruction....

5-10 Had these scoffers considered the dreadful vengeance with which God swept away a whole world of ungodly men at once, surely they would not have scoffed at his threatening an equally terrible judgment. The heavens and the earth which now are, by the same word, it is declared, will be destroyed by fire. This is as sure to come, as the truth and the power of God can make it. Christians are here taught and established in the truth of the coming of the Lord. Though, in the account of men, there is a vast difference between one day and a thousand years, yet, in the account of God, there is no difference. All things past, present, and future, are ever before him: the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him, as putting off any thing for a day or for an hour is to us. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such as themselves. How...

Verse 7. _BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, WHICH ARE NOW_] The present earth and its atmosphere, which are liable to the same destruction, because the same _means_ still exist, (for there is still _water_ enough to drown the earth, and there is _iniquity_ enough to induce God to destroy it and its inhabitants,) are nevertheless _kept in store_, τεθησαυρισμενοι, _treasured up_, kept in God's storehouse, to be destroyed, not by _water_, but by _fire_ at the day of judgment. From all this it appears that those _mockers_ affected to be ignorant of the _Mosaic account_ of the formation of the earth, and of its destruction by the waters of the deluge; and indeed this is implied in their stating that _all things continued as they were_ _from the creation_. But St. Peter calls them back to the Mosaic account, to prove that this was false; for the earth, c., which were then formed, had perished b...

BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHICH ARE NOW - As they now exist. There is no difficulty here respecting what is meant by the word “earth,” but it is not so easy to determine precisely how much is included in the word “heavens.” It cannot be supposed to mean “heaven” as the place where God dwells; nor is it necessary to suppose that Peter understood by the word all that would now be implied in it, as used by a modern astronomer. The word is doubtless employed in a popular signification, referring to the “heavens as they appear to the eye;” and the idea is, that the conflagration would not only destroy the earth, but would change the heavens as they now appear to us. If, in fact, the earth with its atmosphere should be subjected to an universal conflagration, all that is properly implied in what is here said by Peter would occur. BY THE SAME WORD - Dependent solely on the will of God. He h...

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 3:1 THIS SECOND EPISTLE, BELOVED, I NOW WRITE UNTO YOU; literally, _this Epistle already a second one I write unto you. _The ἤδη ("already") implies that the interval between the two Epistles was not long. The expression "beloved," four times repeated in this chapter, shows the apostle's affectionate interest in his readers; and the word "second" forces us to make our choice between the Petrine authorship of the Epistle or the hypothesis of a direct forgery. IN BOTH WHICH I STIR UP YOUR PURE MINDS BY WAY OF REMEMBRANCE; literally, _in which, i.e.,_ "Epistles;" the word "second" implied an allusion to a First Epistle. St. Peter repeats the words which he had used in 2 Peter 1:13, "I think it meet … to stir

BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHICH ARE NOW,.... In being, in distinction from, and opposition to the heavens that were of old, and the earth standing in and out of the water, and the world that then was when the waters of the flood overflowed it: BY THE SAME WORD ARE KEPT IN STORE; that is, by the word of God, as in 2 Peter 3:5; and the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "by his word"; by the same word that the heavens and the earth were made of old, or in the beginning, are they kept, preserved, and upheld in their being; or "are treasured up"; the heavens and the earth are a rich treasure, they are full of the riches God, as the God of nature and providence; and they are kept with care, as a treasure is, not to be touched or meddled with at present, but must continue in the same position and use; or they are laid up in the stores, and scaled up among the treasures

2 Peter 3:1. _This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up pour pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which. were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,_ This prophecy is most certainly being fulfilled in these days. 2 Peter 3:4. _And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the father fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation._ «Inviolable laws still govern the material creation. Men are still swift to sin. Oppressors are not overthrown; and, oftentimes, the good are left to languish in poverty an

III. THE FUTURE OF THE EARTH AND THE CONCLUSION CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Mocking at the Lord's coming (2 Peter 3:1)_ 2. The future of the earth (2 Peter 3:8) 3. EXHORTATION AND CONCLUSION (2 PETER 3:11) 2 Peter 3:1 The opening statement shows conclusively that Peter is the author and that this second Epistle was sent to the same believers to whom the first Epistle was addressed. The critics claim that this chapter marks a separate Epistle in itself and that it was combined by mistake with the preceding two Chapter s. Like so much else the critics put forth this is a foolish speculation wholly unwarranted

A further characteristic of the false teachers was the denial of the Second Advent (their coming is again spoken of as in the future; _cf._ 2 Peter 2:1 and 2 Peter 3:17). Their scepticism is based, partly, on the non-fulfilment of the primitive hope of the immediacy of the Parousia, and partly on a belief in the rigid immutability of the world process. The first generation of Christians (the fathers which can hardly be taken to mean the OT saints; there is here an indication of the late date of the epistle) has already passed away and all things remain as they had been from the beginning. But their reasoning is false. They wilfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were made and the earth from water and by means of water, and that by the same means they were afterwards destroyed. So by the word of God the