3:5–7

In verse 4, Peter said that the scoffers would claim that the usual pattern of events in the world had not changed in any way since the time when God created the world. In these verses, Peter said that this was not true. For example, God had interrupted that pattern when he caused a flood to punish people for sinning against him. And he would interrupt the pattern again in the future, but this time he would destroy the world by fire. The general sense of this passage is clear, but there are many differences of opinion about the meaning of some of the details in verses 5 and 6. The Display follows an opinion that many people accept.

3:5a

Here, Peter began to say why what the scoffers would say would be wrong. The Greek text shows the link with the previous verse by using the word gar, “for.” Most English translations leave this relationship implicit. In the Display line for 3:5a, there is an example of how to translate this part of the verse in a way that clearly shows this relationship.

deliberately overlook: The literal meaning of the Greek is “it escapes notice.” It may not make sense in your language to say “deliberately overlook.” Peter was saying that these people were choosing to ignore things they knew.

3:5b

by God’s word: Beginning in the book of Genesis, the Bible says that when God created the world, he did so by speaking, giving an order (see Genesis 1:3, 1:6, 1:9, 1:11, 1:14, 1:20, 1:24, 1:26.) This phrase probably goes with both 5c and 5d—God created both the sky and the earth by his word, and you need to make sure your translation makes that clear.

Good News Translation makes this clear by treating “heaven and earth” as a single unit:

God gave a command and the heavens and the earth were created. (Good News Translation)

In The Jerusalem Bible, the phrase “by the Word of God” applies only to the earth:

There were heavens at the beginning and the earth was formed by the Word of God. (The Jerusalem Bible)

This is a possible meaning of the Greek but less likely.

3:5c

the heavens existed: Notice that here, the word heavens refers to the sky, to what is above the earth. Peter was not talking here about the place where God is. Peter used the plural noun heavens, even though its meaning is singular. Many NT writers use this form of the word, but it does not mean that Peter was referring to more than one “heaven.” This is also acceptable in English, but you should only use a plural in your translation if it is natural to do so.

3:5d

earth was formed out of water: There are two ways that we can understand this:

(1) Peter was referring to Genesis chapter 1 which tells how God gathered the waters together into seas and made the earth (or land) appear out of the water.

(2) Some commentators believe, however, that these words mean that God used water as the material from which he formed the earth.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).

earth was formed…by water: The Greek word dia can mean “by” or “through.” There are again different opinions about what this means. The two main views are:

(1) Many think this means that God used water as the instrument or tool by which he made the earth. Most English versions follow this interpretation.

(2) Other scholars think the meaning is similar to that of the previous phrase “formed out of water.” In Genesis it says that God put a “dome,” that is, the sky, in the midst of the water and then caused the water that was underneath the sky to come together into one place so that dry land appeared. So these scholars think that, when Peter said “the earth was formed by means of water,” he meant that God formed the earth by doing something to the water, that is, by dividing it and gathering it into one place, so that the land could appear.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1) as most English versions have done.

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