Misunderstood Passages in the Bible: 2 Peter 3 and the Destruction of the World

For the past two thousand years, many passages in the New Testament have been vigorously debated amongst Christians. And no other sections of Scripture find themselves in the middle of these debates than those associated with the End Times. One of these passages appears in the second letter written by the Apostle Peter. This passage is 2 Peter 3 and it concerns the destruction of the world.

2 Peter 3:7, 10-13 says:

“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

This passage comes up as a major focal point in the debate concerning the nature of Heaven. Will God destroy this world at Judgment Day, or will he restore it to an Eden-like paradise? These verses constitute one of the most popular arguments used in favor of a world that will be destroyed.[1] Referring to 2 Peter 3, popular prophecy teacher Mark Hitchcock says, “By the spoken word, God will simultaneously break up every atom in the cosmos, and the entire universe will disintegrate (2 Peter 3:7, 10-13).”[2]

In this essay, I want to present to the reader the view that the Apostle Peter does not teach that the world will be destroyed. Instead, I will argue that he is teaching that God will purify the world by fire and restore it. This may come as shock to many as this goes against a vast majority of popular prophecy teachers (particularly in the United States).

Three Stages of History

In 2 Peter 3, Peter tells his audience of three different stages of world history: 1) the world before the Great Flood; 2) the present world (that will be destroyed by fire), and 3) the new heaven and new earth. The three stages of history are separated by two cosmic judgments: The Great Flood and the judgment by fire.

In speaking about the judgment by fire, Peter is drawing a parallel between it and the Great Flood. The world before the Flood was destroyed by water just as the present world will be destroyed by fire. The flood of Noah’s day was devastating, but it did not completely obliterate the world. We are still living on it right now. It is reasonable to conclude then that the present earth (between the two judgments) will also continue to exist after the judgment by fire.[3]

The Judgment by Fire

The King James Version of the Bible translates 2 Peter 3:10 as “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 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.”

The Greek word that is translated as “burned up” (katakaesetai) in the King James Version does not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts of 2 Peter. Instead, these older manuscripts contain another Greek word (heurethesetai) that is best translated as “found.”[4]

What is interesting about this word is that the usual meaning (“found”) does not fit the context of 2 Peter 3:10.[5] Instead, scholar Albert Wolters has concluded that this word indicates not a destruction of the world, but “a smelting process from which the world will emerge purified.”[6] The meaning of the passage would then indicate not a fire that destroys, but a fire that will purify the world as fire purifies metal.

One of the Greek verbs that Peter uses for “burn” (pyroomai) in these verses is regularly used for metals heated in a smelting furnace. Interestingly, the Greek verb (kaiomai) which means “to burn” in the sense of something going up in flames is absent in this passage.[7] Wolters notes:

“The apostle is describing the Day of the Lord in the terms of cosmic elements which, as the result of intense heat, become incandescent and melt. They do not ‘burn up,’ as is frequently imagined. To use the language of contemporary scientists in describing nuclear accidents, the future cataclysm is not a ‘burnup’ but a ‘meltdown.’”[8]

This view is consistent with the prophet Malachi who also looked at judgment day as a refiner’s fire. Malachi 3:2-3 says:

“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”

Let me go back to the Greek word that I mentioned earlier (heurethesetai). The passive form of this word (heurisko) appears only a few verses later in 2 Peter 3:14. Here Peter says, “Be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish.” This heavily implies that Christians should “be found” just like the new heavens and new earth will “be found,” that is, “without spot or blemish.”[9]

Just as Christians will be purified after the judgment, so will the heavens and earth. “In Peter, it seems, heurethenai can have the connotation ‘to have survived,’ ‘to have stood the test,’ ‘to have proved genuine.’” Even more support for this is found in 1 Peter 1:7 where the passive form (heurisko) is used to describe surviving a purifying fire (in an eschatological context as well).[10]

All of this strongly implies that this passage does not refer to a literal fiery destruction of the world, but instead of its purification. The world we live on now will be restored and will continue to exist after the judgment by fire.

Is this consistent with other parts of the Bible?

For many Christians, this interpretation is at odds with everything they have been taught. However, it is consistent with other passages in Scripture that deal with the new heavens and new earth. Let me take a little time to go over some examples.

Interestingly, Peter teaches about restoration in Acts 3:21. He tells the crowd listening to him that “[Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” The Greek in this verse that is translated “restore everything” (apokatastaseos panton)[11] indicates that the passage is referring to all of creation, and not just people.[12] 2 Peter 3 is thus in line with what Peter was teaching earlier in his ministry.

The view that 2 Peter 3 does not teach a fiery destruction of the world is also consistent with the teachings of Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. Jesus teaches in Matthew 19:28-29 that his followers will receive eternal life when he returns and renews the world.[13] Theologian Randy Alcorn notes that the Greek translated “renewal” “comes from two words which together mean ‘new genesis’ or ‘coming back from death to life.”[14] This implies a continuation of something in the past with something in the future and not destruction followed by a replacement.

Paul teaches a restoration of the world in three different places in his letters. The most important can be found in Romans 8:19-25. I have dealt with this verse in-depth in another essay so I will only summarize the findings here. If you are interested in knowing more about this passage, please go read that paper.

In Romans 8:19-25, Paul teaches that creation is waiting with “eager expectation” for the resurrection of Christians at the second coming of Christ. It does this because it “was subjected to frustration [or futility]” with the hope that it will one day be “liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Paul teaches here that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” similarly as believers groan for the redemption of their bodies (resurrection).

The Greek word for “creation” in this passage (ktisis) carries the broader meaning of “everything that God created.” Essentially it is the subhuman world (including animals) that is crying out to be released from its “bondage to decay” (consistent with the curse laid on it in Genesis 3). The liberation from this bondage occurs when Christians receive their resurrection bodies at the second coming of Christ.

This passage is teaching that creation itself was once a world without sin, fell into a state of decay, and will one day be liberated (restored). It tells us some interesting details about what heaven is going to be like. The fact that creation cannot wait for the return of Christ shows us that it will not be destroyed, but instead, restored. Why would it wait eagerly for its own destruction? Paul “envisions a future salvation that will engulf the entire cosmos and reverse and transcend the consequences of the fall. The redemption anticipated by the elect will also affect the created order.”[15]

As scholar Cornelis Venema has said, “2 Peter 3:5-13 confirms, then, the basic idea also expressed, though in different language, in Romans 8.”[16]

Paul also teaches a continuation between this world and the next in Colossians 1:15-20 and Ephesians 1:9-10.  In Colossians, Paul teaches his readers that through Christ, God will “reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven” and that Christ “will also redeem all things by the blood of His cross.”[17] Notice that Paul says that Jesus will reconcile all things on earth and in heaven.[18] How can they be reconciled if he is going to ultimately destroy them?[19]

The same general idea is found in Ephesians 1:9-10 where Paul teaches that God’s purpose is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” Paul is teaching that everything that has been fragmented or alienated because of sin (all things in heaven and earth) will be unified under Christ. Once again, we have to ask how God can bring everything in heaven and earth under the headship of Christ if the world is to be destroyed?[20]

The idea of a restored world is also supported by the basic vocabulary used in Scripture for the concept of salvation. These words are “redemption,” “renewal,” “reconciliation,” and the word “salvation” itself. These words indicate a return to something good that has been lost.

1) To redeem something is to “buy free,” which means literally to “buy back.” It calls forth an image of a free person being kidnapped and someone paying a ransom to free that person from bondage.

2) Renewal means “making new again.” Something that was once new but is now worn out is renovated and brought back to what it was before.

3) Reconciliation gives us the image “of friends who have fallen out, or former allies who have declared war on one another. They have become reconciled and return to their original friendship and alliance.”

4) Finally, the Greek word for salvation, soteria, has the general meaning of “health” or “security” after being sick or in danger.

One scholar sums it up well when he says, “All of these terms suggest a restoration of some good thing that was spoiled or lost.”[21] Middleton adds that “salvation is conceived not as God doing something completely new, but rather as redoing something, fixing or repairing what went wrong; this point is expressed in the language of restoration, reconciliation, renewal, and redemption found in these texts.”[22]

Concluding Remarks

It is a common belief among many Christians that God will destroy the world at judgment day, and one of the major reasons why is that Peter teaches this in his second letter. As we have seen, however, Peter’s statements in 2 Peter 3 do not require such an interpretation. He uses words that best fit with the ideas of metal being purified during a smelting process rather than being burned up. Peter is simply describing the process of purification, that is, the process of God burning away the sins of the world.

It also does not make sense that Peter would be teaching a destroyed world when he compares the judgement by fire with the Great Flood. The Flood did not obliterate the world so it is reasonable to conclude that the fiery judgement would not annihilate it as well. This makes sense given the context of a smelting fire throughout the passage.

We also see that this interpretation of a restored world does fit well with other passages in Scripture including that of Jesus, Paul, and even Peter himself. The basic vocabulary of salvation that is used in the Bible meshes very well with the view of a redeemed creation.

This is a great topic to study as it shows us that we can easily misinterpret the original intent of the biblical author, and this can have drastic consequences. The idea that Peter meant a literal fiery destruction has led many Christians to believe that the new heavens and new earth will be a complete replacement of the current world. A slightly different view of the passage, however, completely changes how we look at the future. God’s eternal kingdom (the new heaven and new earth) will be on this earth after he removes the curse he laid on it in the Garden of Eden.

Before I end this essay, I want to mention that there is much more to the debate between the two views of restoration and destruction. I have already covered many other passages in this debate in two essays. This includes other verses in Scripture that are commonly interpreted to teach a destroyed world. I disagree with those views and I explain why in those essays.

Heaven According to the Bible – http://christianworldviewpress.com/heaven-according-to-the-bible/

Will God Destroy the World? – http://christianworldviewpress.com/will-god-destroy-world/

[1] See for example Tim Lahaye, Revelation Revealed (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 355-356. John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 305-306, 311. Grant R. Osbourne, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 729. John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson: 2005), 1942.

[2] Mark Hitchcock, The End (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2012), 450.

[3] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2004), 154. Albert Wolters, “Worldview and Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 3:10.” Westminster Theological Journal 49/2 (Fall 1987), 408. Richard Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter (Waco: Word Books, 1983), 299. J. Richard Middleton, A New Heaven and a New Earth (Grand Rapids: Baker House, 2014), 195. Cornelis Venema, The Promise of the Future (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000). 467. Douglas J. Moo, “Nature in the New Creation: New Testament Eschatology and the Environment.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49/3 (September 2006): 467, 469.

[4] Wolters, 405. Andrew Kulikovsky, Creation, Fall, Restoration (Geanies House: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2009.), 273. Also see Alcorn, 154-155.The NIV translates it “laid bare,” and the English Standard Version translates it as “exposed.” Bauckham, 316, 319, 321. Middleton, 161-162, 193-194. Douglas Moo, 2 Peter, Jude (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 190-191. Moo, “Nature in the New Creation,” 468. Venema, 468.

[5] Kulikovsky, 272-273.

[6] Wolters, 408. Also see Middleton, 162, 191, 194-195. Venema, 467-468. Moo, “2 Peter, Jude,” 202. Moo, “Nature in the New Creation,” 468.

[7] Wolters 408-409.

[8] Ibid. 409.

[9] Ibid. 410.

[10] Ibid.

[11] The Greek word appears in the genitive neuter construction (panton) “of all things.” See Ron Minton, “Apostolic Witness to Genesis Creation and the Flood.” In Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth. Ed. Terry Mortenson and Thane H. Ury (Green Forest: Master Books, 2008). 349.

[12] Minton, 349. Middleton, 157. Alcorn, 90. Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 282. However, I admit that words can have different meanings depending on the context. Since Scripture teaches that unbelievers and demons are not saved, it is clear that “everything” in this verse cannot mean literally every single thing in creation. What “everything” includes will be apparent as you continue to read this article.

[13] “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (emphasis mine).

Craig Blomberg, (Matthew [Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992], 301) believes this verse is about the new heavens and new earth. He also notes that the Greek for “renewal of all things” (palingenesia) refers to the “regeneration” or “new birth” of something although he also notes that it was the technical term used by Greco-Roman philosophy “for the dissolution and recreation of the cosmos.” R.T. France (Matthew. In the “New Bible Commentary.” Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1994. 930) says that the renewal “suggests the ‘new heavens and new earth’ of the Messianic age.” John MacArthur (The MacArthur Bible Commentary. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2005. 1161) thinks that this is referring to the Millennium and not the new heavens and new earth. He interprets the verse this way because he believes that the creation will be annihilated and that the new earth is brand new (however, see the rest of this article for a refutation of that idea).

D.A. Carson notes that the only other occurrence of palingenesia is in Titus 3:5 and deals with “rebirth…by the Holy Spirit” (“Matthew” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 8. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984], 425). He also believes that this “renewal” takes place at the consummation of the kingdom (p. 425). Craig S. Keener says that the “regeneration” in Matthew 19:28-29 “must refer to the time of the new creation (Acts 3:19-21), applicable especially to the time of Israel’s restoration” (The Gospel of Matthew: A Social-Rhetorical Commentary [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009], 480).

[14] Alcorn, 92.

[15] Thomas Schreiner. Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998), 437. For more on Romans 8 see my paper “Romans 8:18-25 – A Passage of Hope” at http://christianworldviewpress.com/romans-818-25-a-passage-of-hope/. Also see Henry B. Smith Jr. “Cosmic and universal death from Adam’s fall: and exegesis of Romans 8:19-23a.” Journal of Creation 21 (1):75-85. http://creation.com/cosmic-and-universal-death-from-adams-fall-an-exegesis-of-romans-819-23a; Leon Morris. The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988); Douglas Moo. The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996).

[16] Venema, 469.

[17] Minton, 358.

[18] Middleton, 158-159. Alcorn, 125-126. Moo, “Nature in the New Creation,” 471-473. Moo notes that every occurrence of “all things” in these verses refer to the created universe and not only humans. The mention in verse 20 to “things on earth or things in heaven” would also include “the spiritual beings that play so prominent a role in the background of the Colossian controversy…The context therefore requires that [panta] be unlimited in its scope” (p. 471-472).

[19] Scholar Douglas Moo summarizes this passage well when he says, “Through the work of Christ on the cross, God has brought his entire rebellious creation back under the rule of his sovereign power…What Col. 1:20 teaches, then, is not ‘cosmic salvation’ or even ‘cosmic redemption,’ [universalism] but ’cosmic restoration’ or ‘renewal’” (Moo, “Nature in the New Creation,” 472). He also notes that “If the natural world is included in the scope of the ‘all things’ that Christ rules as mediator of creation, it must also be included in the scope of the ‘all things’ that he rules as mediator of reconciliation” (p. 473).

[20] “And this unifying action is applied comprehensively to ‘all things’ in heaven and on earth (v. 10). Since ‘the heavens and the earth’ is how the first verse of Genesis describes the cosmos that God created in the beginning, Ephesians 1 effectively proclaims that eschatological salvation will be as wide as creation” (Middleton, 158). Also see Alcorn, 46, 102-103.

[21] Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained. 2nd Ed (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005). 69-70. Italics in original. See also Alcorn, 88-90.

[22] Middleton, 163.