The earth and the works shall be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10
28th May 2010, mgh
Peter refers to the flood in 2Peter 3:6 and compares it to the world as perishing or being destroyed.
'Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished.'
We know that the earth did not perish, it remained. It was civilization that was destroyed, not the physical earth. The literal earth remained. Peter also states the following.
'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.' (2Peter 3:10).
The phrase 'burned up' is from the Greek 'to burn down to the ground.' The N.I.V. Translates this verse as follows.
'The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.'
This translation does not suggest that the earth itself will be burnt up. In 2Peter 2:5, Peter states that 'he spared not the old world.' Peter is here referring to the time of the flood. It was human civilization that was destroyed, not the earth. The 'elements' that Peter speaks of refer to 'rudiments and principles' as in Colossians 2:20.
'Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?'
This is referring to the removal of present day laws, governments and civilization and does not prove that Peter believes that the earth will be destroyed. The same idea and same word occur in Galatians 4:3, and may have influenced Peter.
'Even so we , when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.'
The word is again used in verse 9,
'how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you again desire to be in bondage?'
These particular 'elements' are not physical things or tangible things, but they are social, political and ideological aspects, and the laws of the civilised world.
Peter 3:7 states that
'the heavens and the earth are now ... reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men.'
The logical explanation for this verse is that the heavens and the earth represent the rulers (heavens) and the people (earth). They are the ones to be judged, not the physical heavens and earth. Peter was familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures and the use of symbols as in Isaiah 1:2 and Deuteronomy 32:1. 2. Peter 3:7 follows directly on from where he said that the 'world...perished' at the time of the flood. It would be a logical transition to the next verse and the latter day judgement that will come on mankind. Again the 'kosmos' or the society as we know it is referred to, and, it is the world's social institutions that will be destroyed and changed, but the earth will remain, as occurred in the time of Noah.
For more see The covenant of the rainbow
In greater detail the book An Enduring Earth
