2nd Peter Chapter 3 verse 12 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. The preposition "unto" is inserted without authority. The second participle σπεύδοντας is followed directly by the accusative, and is evidently transitive. In the Septuagint Version of Isaiah 16:5, σπεύδων δικαιοσύνην represents the "hasting righteousness" of our translation (comp. Pindar, 'Isthm.,' 5:22, where σπεύδειν ἀρετάν means "to pursue virtue"). Here the translation "hastening" is most appropriate. The Father hath put the times and seasons in his own power; but as the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, so now he is "long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish;" and in his gracious mercy waits for the repentance of his chosen. St. Peter seems to represent Christians as "hastening the coming [literally, 'presence'] of the day of God" by working out their own salvation, and helping to spread the knowledge of the gospel (Matthew 24:14), and so rendering the long-suffering patience of God no longer necessary. The words imply also the duty of praying for that coming, as we do in the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, and in the Funeral Service, "Beseeching thee, that it may please thee, of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom." Compare St. Peter's speech in Acts 3, where he says, "Repent ye therefore... that so (ὅπως ἄν) there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ" (verses 19, 20, Revised Version). This remarkable coincidence of thought furnishes an argument of considerable weight in favour of the genuineness of this Epistle. Another possible rendering of the word is "earnestly desiring," which is adopted in the text of the Revised Version, and is preferred by some commentators. Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved. The Greek for "wherein" is δἰ,' ἥν, on account of which, i.e., on account of the day of God, or, what comes to much the same meaning, on account of the coming, the presence, of that day. Old things must pass away because of the coming of the day of God; the old order must give place to new. And the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The apostle repeats the striking words which he had already used in verse 10, with a different verb. The Greek word for "shall melt" here is not λυθήσεται, as in verse 10, but a stronger word τήκεται, are being melted, or wasted away. The tense is the prophetic present, implying a certain fulfillment. There is probably a reference to Isaiah 34:4, where the Septuagint rendering is Καὶ τακήσονται πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Hasting unto.--There is no "unto" in the Greek. The margin is probably right, hasting the coming--i.e., hastening Christ's coming by holy lives, by helping to make the Gospel known to all nations (Matthew 24:14), so as to "accomplish the number of the elect," and by praying "Thy kingdom come." (Comp. 2Timothy 4:8; Revelation 22:20.) The thought is singularly parallel to St. Peter's speech in Solomon's Porch (Acts 3:19-21, where see Notes); and as the thought is striking and unusual--perhaps nowhere else in the New Testament distinctly--this coincidence may fairly be admitted as a note of genuineness.The coming of the day of God.--A phrase which occurs here only. It is doubly remarkable: (1) "coming," in the special sense indicated by the particular word used in the Greek, is elsewhere used of Christ Himself, not of the day; (2) "the day of God" is a very unusual expression.Wherein.--Rather, by reason of which, either "the day" or "the coming" being meant.Shall melt.--"Melt" is here correct, being quite a different word from that rendered "melt" in 2Peter 3:10, which is the same as that here translated "be dissolved." In the so-called Second Epistle of Clement (chap. 16) we have a somewhat similar passage--"The day of judgment cometh even now as a burning oven (Malachi 4:1), and [the powers] of the heavens shall melt, and all the earth as lead melting on the fire." . . .