Read 2 Peter 3 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Greek Testament does not contain paragraph markers.
The Chiastic structure:
Peter mentions two judgments from God coming on the earth for ungodliness. The first is the judgment past, the judgment by water, which was fulfilled in Noah’s Flood (Gen 6-9).
The second is the judgment future, the judgment by fire, which has not yet been fulfilled. Rabbinic tradition assigns Enoch as the first to prophesy two judgments, the first by water and the second by fire. His prophetic book has been lost. But other Hebrew prophets also prophesied the same:
For by fire will YHVH judge, and by His sword, all flesh; and those slain by YHVH will be many. Isa 66:16 (See also Mal 4:1, Zep 1:18, Psa 97:3-5).
This present heavens and earth will cease to be as it currently is. The universe has been corrupted by sin and death (Rom 8:19-22). It is ruled by laws of physics which govern its decay (e.g., The Second Law of Thermodynamics).
But according to His promise, we await a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Pet 3:13
The Greek word is Strong’s G2537, καινός kainós, ‘new as respect to form or quality, renewed.’ It is not new as respect to age, there is a different Greek word for that. In fact this is the same word used throughout the Greek Testament to describe the New or Renewed Covenant.
We can infer that the fire judgment will not cause this physical universe to cease to exist, but that it will be renewed in a way that its physics will not govern its decay but its continuation in righteousness.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
Mark 14, The New Covenant – Christine Miller
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