Tag Archives: 2 Peter

Surprised by Hope: Mission and the End of Time, Part 1

The translators of 2 Pet 3:10-13 are steeped in the traditional view that the world in which we live will be burned into nothingness, and we’ll then be swept away into disembodied bliss in a spiritual existence in heaven. Therefore, … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — Re-translating Peter

So if the creation is to be redeemed and freed in a way that gives it expectancy and even a groaning in anticipation of the end of time, how can it melt, be destroyed, and disappear? What if we were … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — A Hypothesis

It would be really cool — nice and symmetrical — if the creation were to be redeemed much as God redeems his people. After all, our becoming new creations means that the old passes away, but not that there’s no … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — Spiritual Bodies

As our transformation — our becoming new creations — anticipates God’s re-creating the heavens and the earth at the end of time, we need to take a look at what Paul says about our resurrection. Paul’s most detailed description is … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — A New Creation

We can’t read “new heavens and new earth” and not recall Genesis 1, where God created “the heavens and the earth.” Obviously, this phrase is intended to refer to a re-making of the first creation. Or is it a replacement … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — On Reading Figurative Language

As we work through the passages dealing with the end of time, we need to keep a few things in mind about how to read figurative language in the scriptures. Let’s start by clarifying how we speak of such things. … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — The New Jerusalem

Now, to really get the picture, we have to go way back into the Old Testament. (Isa 65:17-25)  “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to … Continue reading

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Surprised by Hope: 2 Peter 3:10-13 — Introduction

In the summer of 2008, I wrote a series of lessons called “Surprised by Hope,” based on a book by N. T. Wright, and I taught these lessons to a Sunday school class. Now I’m teaching the same material to … Continue reading

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What Is Truth? “Truth” in Hebrews, James, and 1 & 2 Peter

“Truth” in Hebrews (Heb 10:26-27)  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will … Continue reading

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