2 Peter / The Day of the Lord and Call to Godly Living

The Day of the Lord and Call to Godly Living

2 Peter 3:1-18

Chapter 3

¹ Beloved, this is already the second epistle I write to you, in which I stir up your sincere mind by reminder. ² to remember the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior, ³ This first knowing, that there will come in the last of the days scoffers with scoffing according to their own desires going ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of his Parousia? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue in this way from the beginning of the cosmos.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this: heavens existed long ago, and earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. ⁶ through which the world of that time, having been deluged by water, was destroyed ⁷ But the present heavens and earth are stored up by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people. ⁸ But do not let this escape you, beloved ones, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord does not delay the promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing any to perish but all to reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will be dissolved as they burn, and the earth and the works in it will be exposed. ¹¹ Since all these things will be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² expecting and hastening the coming of the day of God, by which the heavens, being set on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements, being burned, will melt; ¹³ But according to his promise, we expect new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. ¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, as you expect these things, make every effort to be found by him spotless and blameless in peace. ¹⁵ and consider the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶ He also speaks about these things in all his letters, in which are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. ¹⁷ Therefore you, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, guard yourselves. Otherwise, being carried away by the error of the lawless, you may fall from your own stability. ¹⁸ But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to a day of eternity. Amen.