2 Petrus 3:12

3:12 while waiting for and hastening ¹  the coming of the day of God? ²  Because of this day, ³  the heavens will be burned up and ⁴  dissolve, and the celestial bodies ⁵  will melt away in a blaze! ⁶ 

[3:12]  ¹ 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.

[3:12]  ² 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).

[3:12]  ³ tn Grk “on account of which” (a subordinate relative clause in Greek).

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “being burned up, will dissolve.”

[3:12]  ⁵ tn See note in v. 10 on “celestial bodies.”

[3:12]  ⁶ tn Grk “being burned up” (see v. 10).