II Peter – Chapter 3

1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

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.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest (*), as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

(*) Paul was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin council, an expert theologian, thus after accepting Jesus and was appointed as the apostle to the gentiles, he was granted by the Lord to advance even further academically. That is so he could handle other Jewish Pharisees that also came to believe in Jesus, yet still cling unto the ceremonial ordinances of Moses, such as circumcision, feasts, annual sabbaths. Thus, his language in the letters he sent to deal with these professors would oftentimes be quite academic and hard to be understood. Those who know basically nothing about the law, too lazy to read or study [03] Leviticus, unable to differentiate between the ceremonial law of Moses, which was in fact only a compilation of prophecies pointing to Jesus and fulfilled by Him, with unchangeable principles of righteousness (like the Ten Commandments) and science (quarantine of contagious diseases, not eating scavengers), upon reading the writings of Paul would often misunderstood: “one need only to profess faith in the Lord, then can go ahead and break God’s commandments, fornicate, lie, steal, worshiping idols, breaking the Sabbath, eat, drink, smoke, inject harmful substances, deliberately destroy the body temple and commit slow suicide, and still be saved!” And thus they ran after their own lust and transgress the very commandments that Jesus declared not one jot would pass away, and be lost. The translator would like to share my own knowledge of the law so that readers do not confuse between these 2 groups of laws – both are called “the law” – yet one group is the temporal religious ordinances pointing to Jesus, fulfilled by Him, exist to convince people to realize Jesus is the Christ, the other group is the unchangeable principles of moral and health, that once Jesus entered into one’s soul, that person will receive also His spirit of obedience towards them.

17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.