2 Peter 3:5

3:5 For they deliberately suppress this fact, ¹  that by the word of God ²  heavens existed long ago and an earth ³  was formed out of water and by means of water.

2 Peter 3:12

3:12 while waiting for and hastening ⁴  the coming of the day of God? ⁵  Because of this day, ⁶  the heavens will be burned up and ⁷  dissolve, and the celestial bodies ⁸  will melt away in a blaze! ⁹ 

¹ tn The Greek is difficult at this point. An alternative is “Even though they maintain this, it escapes them that…” Literally the idea seems to be: “For this escapes these [men] who wish [it to be so].”

² tn The word order in Greek places “the word of God” at the end of the sentence. See discussion in the note on “these things” in v. 6.

³ tn Or “land,” “the earth.”

⁴ tn Or possibly, “striving for,” but the meaning “hasten” for σπουδάζω (spoudazw) is normative in Jewish apocalyptic literature (in which the coming of the Messiah/the end is anticipated). Such a hastening is not an arm-twisting of the divine volition, but a response by believers that has been decreed by God.

⁵ sn The coming of the day of God. Peter elsewhere describes the coming or parousia as the coming of Christ (cf. 2 Pet 1:16; 3:4). The almost casual exchange between “God” and “Christ” in this little book, and elsewhere in the NT, argues strongly for the deity of Christ (see esp. 1:1).

⁶ tn Grk “on account of which” (a subordinate relative clause in Greek).

⁷ tn Grk “being burned up, will dissolve.”

⁸ tn See note in v. 10 on “celestial bodies.”

⁹ tn Grk “being burned up” (see v. 10).