Holy Living
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming 2 Peter 3:11,12
Conviction always determines conduct. If we honestly believe God will burn up this present world until there is nothing left of it and leave us as disembodied souls in some ethereal, timeless eternity, then how we live now makes no difference. But if God intends to renew the heavens and the earth as Peter certainly seems to be saying, and the Old Testament prophets believed (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22), then how we live now makes a critical difference.
Peter has carefully chosen a word to describe what will happen to our earth –‘destroyed’ in the NIV. The word means ‘to loosen or undo anything that is tied or bound and so set it free from what bound it.’ Consistent with Paul (Romans 8:20-22), Peter sees our planet being released from its bondage caused by human sin (Genesis 3:17,18), not by obliteration but by renewal. The phrase ‘will be destroyed’ is a present participle in Peter’s writing meaning the process has already begun.
So if our world is going to experience cataclysmic change because of God’s judgement, ‘what kind of people ought you to be?‘ Peter’s cry is that Christians ‘live holy and godly lives.’ Because both ‘holy’ and ‘godly’ are plurals, the meaning becomes ‘holy forms of behaviour’ and ‘godly deeds.’ Peter is thinking of a lifestyle and not just individual deeds and actions. This is the only way we can be prepared to meet a holy God and actually ‘look forward’ to it. The world fears what we love.
The ‘day of God’ is another term for the day of Christ’s return.
Peter says we can ‘speed its coming,’ meaning the time of Christ’s return is in some way conditional on the state of the church. How can we ‘speed its coming’? In the temple precincts, Peter had preached of Jesus ‘He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets’ (Acts 3:21). So what can we do to co-operate with God to see Him ‘restore everything’?
Peter has already directly linked living ‘holy and godly lives’ with hastening the second coming. Another area is evangelism. Jesus Himself said ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come’ (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10). Because He won’t return until this is fulfilled we must take the gospel into the nations.
Another obvious area is prayer. ‘Your kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:13) is a petition both for the life of Christ to overflow into our life and for Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20).
We don’t choose to live godly lives just to hasten Christ’s return. We live godly lives because we’re preparing to meet a holy God who we love immensely and want to please. But what a joy to know that by living this way we bring that precious day nearer. Come Lord Jesus!
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