Heaven, Earth, and Elements: Bringing Clarity to 2 Peter 3
The popular end-time viewpoint takes a totally literal approach in its interpretation of 2 Peter 3. It sees a literal burning up and melting away of heaven and earth, and the creating of a literal new heaven and new earth. The problem with this interpretation is that it negates historical context, audience relevance, the usage of Jewish idiomatic-apocalyptic language, and how certain words and terms are used by other authors in the NT, namely, the apostle Paul.
First, let’s take a look at the context. Exactly when are the events in this chapter supposed to take place? Peter gives the reader a clue early in the chapter:
2 Peter 3:1-4
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 us the 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.
Peter sets the time frame in which all of the things mentioned in this chapter were to begin happening – ‘in the last days’. But when are the last days? Interestingly, In Acts 2, Peter uses this same phrase when reciting the prophetic decree found in Joel 2, which was in response to the men mocking those that were speaking in tongues:
Acts 2:15-17
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Peter undoubtedly understood that the times that they lived in were the last days. The question then is, ‘The last days of what?’ They were the last days of the Old Covenant, theocratic system.
Heaven and Earth
The terms ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ throughout scripture are frequently seen as referring to the temple, holy of holies, inner and outer courts, and the people of the land. Below are a few examples:
Isaiah 1:2
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Was Isaiah pleading with the literal heavens and earth to listen to him? I think not. Isaiah’s intended audience was the theocratic leadership of Israel (heaven) and the people in the land (earth).
Isaiah 24:1, 4
1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
This was a foreshadowing of the coming conflict with the Assyrians and Israel’s eventual toppling. If the word ‘earth’ were to represent the entire globe, as some people believe is the case in 2 Peter 3, then why didn’t it literally fade away when the Assyrians conquered Israel? Why didn’t the ‘world fade away’, literally?
Isaiah 34:1, 4, 8
1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion
This was a prophetic decree referencing the then coming judgment and utter destruction of Idumea. ‘The earth’ is in reference to the people of the land. ‘The heavens’ is in reference to the rulership/authority/
2 Peter 3:10-12
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?
ELEMENTS
This brings me to the next point of examination – the word ‘elements’. What are the elements that are suppose to ‘melt with fervent heat’, according to Peter? Well, the first thing that must be done is to examine how the term ‘elements’ is used in scripture. Fortunately for us, Peter gives us a clue as to where to start our research! Peter makes it a point to remind the intended reader that Paul had written to them (the intended readers) in regards to the very same things that Peter was telling them in his epistle!
2 Peter 3:15-16
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.
So Paul actually spoke about ‘elements’ in his epistles? Absolutely! To verify that Paul wrote to the same people that Peter is writing to, all we have to do is take a look at the salutation. Who was Peter writing to? We can identify the intended audience in 1 Peter:
1 Peter 1:1
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
What area listed in Peter’s salutation do we know that Paul sent a letter, or letters to? It’s none other than Galatia. In Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, we find that he sheds some valuable light on the term ‘elements’:
Galatians 4:3, 9
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Let’s take a look at the Amplified Bible interpretation of these two verses:
3 So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations.
9 Now, however, that you have come to be acquainted with and understand and know [the true] God, or rather to be understood and known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly and worthless elementary things [of all religions before Christ came], whose slaves you once more want to become?
According to Paul, ‘the elements’ refer to the ritualistic observation of the temple practices. All of the religious, ceremonial acts that were being done before Christ are considered ‘weak and beggarly’. Merriam-Webster defines ‘beggarly’ as contemptibly mean, scant, petty, or paltry; befitting or resembling a beggar; especially : marked by extreme poverty. In essence, Paul was telling the people that falling away, back into that old covenant religious system was meaningless and worthless.
So, the question is, how has the popular end-time viewpoint missed the mark in regards to this passage so badly? Why do they believe that ‘elements’ literally refers to things corresponding to the physical earth? Why do they believe in a literal burning up and dissolving of the heavens and earth when there is precedent within scripture using the very same language that did not result in the literal, physical destruction of the heavens and earth? Perhaps it is time to take off the 21st century goggles and put on 1st century “Hebrew eyes” and read the scripture from a 1st century perspective, with the under-girding understanding of Jewish idiomatic language, metaphors, allegory, and apocalyptic language. Only then will we be able to fully understand this passage, and the plethora of passages like it within scripture.