2 Peter 3:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers[a] will come [to] scoff, living according to their own desires(A) 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?[b] From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.”(B) 5 They deliberately ignore the fact that the heavens existed of old and earth was formed out of water and through water[c] by the word of God;(C)
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- 3:3 Scoffers: cf. Jude 18, where, however, only the passions of the scoffers are mentioned, not a denial on their part of Jesus’ parousia.
- 3:4–7 The false teachers tried to justify their immorality by pointing out that the promised coming (parousia) of the Lord has not yet occurred, even though early Christians expected it in their day. They thus insinuate that God is not guiding the world’s history anymore, since nothing has changed and the first generation of Christians, our ancestors (2 Pt 3:4), has all died by this time. The author replies that, just as God destroyed the earth by water in the flood (2 Pt 3:5–6, cf. 2 Pt 2:5), so he will destroy it along with the false teachers on judgment day (2 Pt 3:7). The word of God, which called the world into being (Gn 1; Ps 33:6) and destroyed it by the waters of a flood, will destroy it again by fire on the day of judgment (2 Pt 3:5–7).
- 3:5 Formed out of water and through water: Gn 1:2, 6–8 is reflected as well as Greek views that water was the basic element from which all is derived.
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