The certainty and possible nearness of Christ’s coming is the basis of the preceding warning and of the exhortations which follow.
As a thief in the night. — Suddenly and without warning. The words are an echo of Matthew 24:43, a saying which St. Peter certainly heard (Mark 13:3), or possibly of 1 Thessalonians 5:2, which may easily be included in the Epistles referred to below in 2 Peter 3:16. The words “in the night” are here wanting in authority.
The heavens shall pass away. — Again an apparent reminiscence of the discourse in Matthew 24 (where comp. Matthew 24:35) — the third such reminiscence in this chapter (see preceding Note, and on 2 Peter 3:7). This repeated reproduction of words and ideas from one of the most impressive of Christ’s discourses, which only St. Peter and three others seem to have heard, may fairly be added to the evidence in favour of the authenticity of the Epistle.
With a great noise. — Better, with a rushing noise. The expression occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but some such idea as that in Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:14, is probably indicated — not the roar of flames or the crash of ruins, but the parting and rolling up of the heavens. (Comp. Revelation 20:11.)
The elements shall melt with fervent heat. — The meaning of “elements” here is much disputed. (See Notes on the word in Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9.) The difficulty of supposing fire to be destroyed by fire seems to exclude the four elements being intended; moreover, the earth is mentioned separately. Hence, some take “the elements” to mean water and air, the two remaining elements; but this is not very satisfactory. More probably, the various forms of matter in the universe are intended, without any thought of indicating what they are precisely. But seeing that Justin Martyr calls the sun, moon, and stars “heavenly elements” (Apol. II. v., Trypho, xxiii.), and that in predictions of the last day frequent mention is made of “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25; Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 24:23; Joel 2:31, &c), it is possible that the heavenly bodies are meant here, all the more so, as the mention of these “elements” immediately follows that of the heavens. Bengel (perhaps with more poetry than correctness) ingeniously connects this explanation with the radical signification of the word, viz., “letters of the alphabet,” “for stars in the heaven are as letters on a scroll.” (Comp. Revelation 6:14.) “Shall melt” should rather be, as in the next two verses, shall be dissolved. Wiclif has “dissolved,” Rheims “resolved.” This dissolution is the opposite of the consistency spoken of in 2 Peter 3:5. In 2 Peter 3:12 “melt” is correct, and suits the heavenly bodies better than the four elements. (Comp. The Second Epistle of Clement, xvi. 3.)
The earth also and the works that are therein. — Equivalent to “the earth and the fulness thereof,” “works” being used in a comprehensive sense for products both of nature and art. The moral work of each individual is not meant; consequently, a reference to 1 Corinthians 3:13 is misleading. The two passages have little in common, and nothing is gained by bringing in the difficulties of the other passage here. In this passage the Apostle is stating plainly and in detail what some of the Prophets of the Old Testament had set forth in general and sometimes obscure language — that a judgment by fire is in store for the world (Isaiah 66:15-16; Isaiah 66:24; Malachi 3:1-3; Malachi 4:1).
Shall be burned up. — The question of readings here is one of known difficulty. One important MS. has “shall vanish away” (James 4:14); two first-rate MSS. and other authorities have “shall be found.” The later Syriac has “shall not be found,” which is pretty nearly equivalent to “shall vanish away,” and is sometimes given as exactly equivalent to it. “Shall be found,” the reading most strongly attested, is summarily rejected by some editors as yielding no sense. The theory that it has grown out of the Latin for “shall be burned up” — eurethesetai out of exurentur — does not seem very probable. Nor is it true that it yields no sense By placing a colon at “also,” and making what follows a question, we obtain — The elements shall be dissolved, the earth also: and shall the works that are therein be found? Happily, nothing of importance turns on the reading; all the variations amount practically to the same thing — that the elements, the earth, and all that is in it, shall be destroyed.