Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:11 The people of God ought to live in holiness and godliness, to avoid the punishment coming to the ungodly and to devote themselves to things that will last beyond the judgment.

3:12 Hastening (Gk. speudō, "hurry [by extra effort]") the coming of the day of God suggests that, by living holy lives, Christians can actually affect the time of the Lord's return. That does not mean, of course, that the Lord has not foreknown and foreordained when Jesus will return (cf. Matt. 24:36; Acts 17:31). But when God set that day, he also ordained that it would happen after all of his purposes for saving believers and building his kingdom in this present age had been accomplished, and those purposes are accomplished when he works through his human agents to bring them about. Therefore, from a human perspective, when Christians share the gospel with others, and pray (cf. Matt. 6:10), and advance the kingdom of God in other ways, they do "hasten" the fulfillment of God's purposes, including Christ's return.

3:13 The hope of Christians ultimately depends, though, not on their works (cf. note on v. 12) but on God's promise. Their hope is not in the destruction of the wicked and their works, even though that is a necessary part of God's final judgment. Their hope is in the promise that God will bring about a new heavens and a new earth (see Isa. 65:17; 66:22; Rev. 21:1-22:5), which will be the eternal abode of the righteous. "New" could mean "newly created" but probably means "renewed, made new" (see notes on Rom. 8:20-21; 2 Pet. 3:10).