Can Creation Be Redeemed?
Why is the renewal of Creation important? Does not II Peter 3:10 say, “the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”?[1] Aren't we merely waiting to be liberated from this fallen world?
The Textus Receptus[2] uses the verb, transliterated "katakaesetai" as the Greek word for “burned up” in verse 10, and this is used in all Bible Translation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the King James Version in 1611. The Textus Receptus translation was soon rejected, due to the discovery and publication of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, both uncial manuscripts of the fourth century. In these texts, the verb used in this verse is, transliterated "heuresthesetai", “will be found”. This changes the meaning of this “fire”[3] or “fervent heat”[4] spoke of in verse ten. If the end is that the “earth and everything in it” will be found, then the means, the “fire”, is a purifying fire not a destructive fire. This “fire”, then, has the same purpose as the Flood of Genesis, to destroy evil while preserving good. This text in II Peter “stresses…the permanence of the created earth, despite the coming judgement."[5]
[1] King James Version. Emphasis Mine.
[2] “Received Text”. First published in 1516.
[3] NIV
[4] KJV
[5] Wolters, Albert M. “Worldview and Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 3:10”. Westminster Theological Journal. 49.2. 1987. 405-413. More on the topic of II Peter 3:10 can be found in this article.
The Textus Receptus[2] uses the verb, transliterated "katakaesetai" as the Greek word for “burned up” in verse 10, and this is used in all Bible Translation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the King James Version in 1611. The Textus Receptus translation was soon rejected, due to the discovery and publication of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, both uncial manuscripts of the fourth century. In these texts, the verb used in this verse is, transliterated "heuresthesetai", “will be found”. This changes the meaning of this “fire”[3] or “fervent heat”[4] spoke of in verse ten. If the end is that the “earth and everything in it” will be found, then the means, the “fire”, is a purifying fire not a destructive fire. This “fire”, then, has the same purpose as the Flood of Genesis, to destroy evil while preserving good. This text in II Peter “stresses…the permanence of the created earth, despite the coming judgement."[5]
[1] King James Version. Emphasis Mine.
[2] “Received Text”. First published in 1516.
[3] NIV
[4] KJV
[5] Wolters, Albert M. “Worldview and Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 3:10”. Westminster Theological Journal. 49.2. 1987. 405-413. More on the topic of II Peter 3:10 can be found in this article.
posted by Chris @ Tuesday, September 07, 2004
8 Comments:
At 7:30 AM, September 21, 2004,
Anonymous said…
Wasn't the original idea behind the flood to destroy everything, including the good? (But then God saw that Noah was good, and decided to keep him alive) So while in the end, the flood and the fire will have served the same purpose, isn't it that the original intention of the flood was completely different?
- Andrew
At 9:49 PM, September 21, 2004,
Chris said…
I was afraid that would be questioned. I am also afraid that this will turn into another entire conversation where more questions will be raised than answers, but that's what makes a discussion exciting.
The Lord's intent with the Flood was to destroy everything, I agree, but at that point He thought everything was, in fact, evil. Verse five reads, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thought of his heart was only evil all the time." The Lord was "grieved" that He created and was going to destroy all of Creation.
Noah then "found favor in the eyes of the Lord" because his generations were pure (he was Nephilim-free, yet his wife wasn't, but that's a different topic) and he walked with God.
So the Lord was going to destroy all of Creation with the flood, but then "found grace" in Noah and changed his mind (this was not an ontological change, so Hebrews is still right) and decided to spare the good that was left in creation. Very similarly to how he will spare the good and burn the bad.
I don't know if I answered your question.
At 11:42 PM, September 21, 2004,
Anonymous said…
except that his original intention in the first was to destroy everything (the plan was changed) the fires only intention is to purify, ie, that plan won't change. I think we are in agreement, but I'm trying to simplify how I view it as much as possible to make sure
- Andrew
At 11:55 PM, September 21, 2004,
Unknown said…
Interesting. Chris (the Dish, if I may reveal your alter ego), why do you believe that Noah's wife was not "perfect in her generations"?
At 2:09 PM, September 24, 2004,
Chris said…
I made a mistake. I meant Ham's wife. Nevertheless, I don't know if Noah's wife was "perfect in her generations", it would be an interesting study. I know you have been doing some study on Ham's wife and the continuation of the Nephilic race at least to the Philistines. I was basically alluding to our discussions on that and I simply made a mistake that I did not catch before releasing my post like a sparrow into cyberspace.
At 2:14 PM, September 24, 2004,
Chris said…
To Andrew,
In my use of comparing the purifying fire immediatly preceeding the eschaton and the Flood, I was simply trying to articulate that the fire is going to be, I believe, similar to how the flood actually occured; to destroy the evil and preserve the good. All analogies break down and, as you have show, this one does rather quickly. Nevertheless, I believe it got the point across rather well, because I believe we are on the same page.
At 2:39 PM, September 24, 2004,
Unknown said…
I think that Noah's wife was of necessity perfect in her generations, and here's why.
The Book of Enoch (which was on the bookshelf of the Holy Family) claims that God sent the flood to destroy the Nephilim, and the Genesis account places the story in that same context.
Somehow, Nephilim blood got on the ark. We know this because when the Israelites invade Canaan, they see the Nepilim there. I would argue that that is one of the reasons why they were commanded to wipe them out utterly. They were cleaning up a problem that was supposed to have been wiped out in the flood.
The genealogies in Genesis show that the races is Canaan (as well as the Achaeans and the Babylonians, who also have legends of giants) were descended from Ham, hence my theory that Ham's wife had nephilim blood or was already pregnant with a Nephil when she joined Noah's family on the ark
If the blood of the Nephilim came from Noah's wife, then it would have tainted the descendants of Shem - the Israelites and the Arabs (hence the term "Semitic"). In orer to purge this unholy blood from the earth, both Noah and his wife would have had to be pure, as well as Shem's and Japheth's wives.
At 2:52 PM, November 17, 2004,
Unknown said…
Are they necessarily corresponding events/ Or is Paul making the comparison that just as we are being redeemed, so is the earth? This lends credence to The Dish's post that the earth will not be destroyed (I hope none of us thinks that we will be destroyed), but it will be refined by fire just as we are.
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