The Flexibility behind 2 Peter 3:12
Accelerating the End
The question of when the “Day of the Lord”, the future moment of divine judgment and cosmic renewal described throughout biblical literature, will arrive has occupied believers since nearly the beginning of the reception of the Hebrew Bible. Most discussions assume that this future day exists as a fixed point on the divine calendar, predetermined and unchangeable. Yet certain texts within Hellenistic Jewish, early Christian, and Rabbinic literature suggest a more dynamic understanding, one where human behavior and choices might actually influence the timing of eschatological events. This perspective appears notably in 2 Peter 3:12, which speaks of believers not merely waiting for but actively hastening, or accelerating, the “Day of God.”
This concept of accelerating the end represents a distinctive strand of thought that is found throughout Second Temple Jewish literature, and then portraying humanity as passive observers awaiting a predetermined moment, these texts present believers as potential participants in bringing about the future age. The idea draws primarily on interpretations of Isaiah 60:22, both in the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint, where divine timing appears more flexible than fixed. This interpretive tradition suggests that righteousness, repentance, and godly living might serve as catalysts for bringing about the end of the present age.
The tension between divine sovereignty and human agency in determining the “Day of the Lord” reveals itself across various texts from this period. Rather than resolving this tension, many texts appear to hold both perspectives simultaneously, creating a complex literary and theological tension and thus a tradition that defies simple categorization or systemization. This introduction sets the stage for examining how different readers, authors, and communities navigated these competing ideas about the divine will, human responsibility, and perhaps even a basic understanding of time in their eschatological expectations.
For your sun shall not go down, and your moon shall not fail; for the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be fulfilled. Your people shall all be righteous, and they shall inherit the land forever, guarding their plant, the works of their hands, for glory. The smallest one shall become thousands, and the least, a great nation; I, the Lord, will gather them in due time. (LXX Isaiah 60:20-22)
Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides. (2 Peter 3:11-13)1
The specific language of “hastening” in 2 Peter 3:12 provides a crucial point of contact to earlier Jewish traditions. The Greek term used here for hastening appears in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 60:22, creating a grammatical connection that would have been recognized by readers familiar with broader Hellenistic Jewish tradition.2 In the Isaiah passage, divine timing appears flexible as God will gather the people “in due time” yet also promises to “hasten” it. The matching vocabulary and contextual usage suggests that the author of 2 Peter was knowingly alluding to this interpretive tradition of Isaiah’s vision of divine flexibility in Greek reception.
This perspective extended beyond individual piety to communal prayer, as early Christians commonly prayed “Maranatha” and collectively petitioned for the kingdom’s coming in the Lord’s Prayer. The call of 2 Peter was incorporated into Christian liturgy and practice created a complex, dynamic relationship between the perception of human agency and divine plan, where believers became active participants rather than passive observers in its unfolding.3 For the communities influenced by 2 Peter, its portrayal of eschatology also shaped their ethics and their belief about the future. This reception emphasized and transformed their waiting from merely one of endurance into purposeful action, suggesting that the conduct of the faithful community could influence the very timing of the coming cosmic transformation.
This present heaven will pass before me like a fleeting cloud, like a day that is already gone. When I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and appoint the times, and they will be shortened. The stars will quicken their course, the sun will hurry to set, and the light of the moon will fade. I will hasten to awaken those who sleep, so that all who are able to live may dwell in the holy place I showed you. But this heaven shall be in my sight as a fleeting cloud, and like yesterday when it is past, and it shall be when I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and charge the times, and they shall be shortened, and the stars shall be hastened, and the light of the sun make speed to set, neither shall the light of the moon endure, because I will hasten to raise up you that sleep, that in the place of sanctification which I showed you, all they that can live may dwell therein. (Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 19:12-13)4
Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities, a first-century Hellenistic Jewish retelling of biblical history from Adam to David, demonstrates that this interpretive tradition around Isaiah 60:22 had already taken root in this subculture before its appearance in either Christian or Rabbinic literature. In it, God speaks of commanding the years and appointing the times so that “they will be shortened,” with cosmic bodies accelerating their courses, the stars quickening, the sun hurrying to set, and the moon’s light fading before its time. The climactic declaration “I will hasten to awaken those who sleep” employs the same vocabulary of divine hastening found in the Septuagint of Isaiah 60:22.5
This text presents God as actively accelerating anticipated eschatological events, compressing time itself to bring about the resurrection and gathering of the faithful. What makes Pseudo-Philo particularly significant in light of this tradition is not merely the “hastening” language, but that it connects this with the faithful’s “sanctification,” or their ethical, godly behavior. While this is not completely synonymous with the language and subtext of 2 Peter, the text still integrates the concept of eschatological acceleration with a broader cosmic vision where time itself becomes malleable. The literary and theological framework began to take a shape that later Rabbinic and Christian authors would adapt and develop.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So pray this way: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:8-12)6
Extended Christian reception of 2 Peter 3:12, which was often read alongside the Lord’s Prayer, further reinforced this understanding of flexible divine timing. The petition “may your kingdom come” employs a distinct grammatical form that may suggest believers are not merely waiting out a predetermined schedule but actively requesting the kingdom’s arrival now.7 The imperative mood of the prayer transforms it from purely passive into a kind of active participation in bringing about the eschatological future. When early Christians prayed these words daily, they engaged in the same dynamic relationship with divine timing that 2 Peter describes, where human action, whether through holy living or fervent prayer, could potentially accelerate the consummation of God’s purposes.8
Well-known interpreters in the first centuries of Christian tradition recognized and developed this connection between prayer and eschatological timing. Writers like Cyprian explicitly linked 2 Peter 3 with the Lord’s Prayer, understanding the petition for the kingdom’s coming as a request that could influence when the Lord would return.9 This reception history demonstrates how early Christian communities understood themselves as participants in determining the timing of cosmic transformation, continuing and adapting the tradition that came before them. Through this lens, both individual holiness and communal prayer became the means by which the faithful could influence the very structure of divine time.
Rabbi Alexandri says: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi raises a contradiction in a verse addressing God’s commitment to redeem the Jewish people. In the verse: “I the Lord in its time I will hasten it” (Isaiah 60:22), it is written: “In its time,” indicating that there is a designated time for the redemption, and it is written: “I will hasten it,” indicating that there is no set time for the redemption. Rabbi Alexandri explains: If they merit redemption through repentance and good deeds I will hasten the coming of the Messiah. If they do not merit redemption, the coming of the Messiah will be in its designated time. (Tractate Sanhedrin 98a, Babylonian Talmud)10
The same interpretive tradition continued to develop within Rabbinic Judaism, as the Babylonian Talmud preserves discussions where Isaiah 60:22 again becomes a focal point for exploring the relationship between human action and divine timing. In Tractate Sanhedrin presents what appears to be a contradiction within the verse itself: God promises both to bring redemption “in its time,” suggesting a fixed schedule, and to “hasten it,” implying flexibility. This textual tension became productive for Rabbinic thought, generating detailed discussions about how divine sovereignty and human agency might coexist in determining the time of redemption.
The Rabbinic debates crystallized around two contrasting positions associated with Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua. Rabbi Eliezer argued that redemption was conditional in if Israel repents, redemption will come; without repentance, redemption remains indefinitely delayed. Rabbi Joshua maintained the more traditional position that God had appointed a fixed time for redemption that would arrive regardless of human behavior. While it’s difficult to pin down when exactly this debate occurred, and if it truly reflects the views of the associated rabbis, it still highlights the theological reflection on the relationship between human behavior and the final redemption. The very existence of this debate demonstrates that questions about flexible versus fixed eschatological timing were live issues in formative Rabbinic Judaism.11
Rabbi Alexandri’s resolution in tractate Sanhedrin provides a possible synthesis in that if Israel merits redemption through repentance and good deeds, God will accelerate the messianic arrival; if not, it will still come at its designated time which places it consonance with Hellenistic and Christian interpretive histories. The persistence of this specific tradition across all of these literary and cultural boundaries suggests that the Second Temple period was one where such questions were out in the open and not considered theologically out of bounds. It continued to shape eschatological and theological thinking in these communities long after its derivative traditions and their paths diverged.
Bauckham, Richard The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays (pp. 71-72) Mohr Siebeck, 2008
Kaiser, Walter C. Hard Sayings of the Bible (p. 691) InterVarsity Press, 1996
Bauckham, Richard The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays (pp. 72-73) Mohr Siebeck, 2008
Hays, Christopher M. When the Son of Man Didn’t Come: A Constructive Proposal on the Delay of the Parousia (p. 83) Fortress Press, 2016
Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament Commentary (pp. 764-765) Jewish New Testament Publications, 1994
Hays, Christopher M. When the Son of Man Didn’t Come: A Constructive Proposal on the Delay of the Parousia (p. 84) Fortress Press, 2016
Neusner, Jacob Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (pp. 477–479) Brill, 1973
Perhaps this is why “no one knows the day or the hour,” because it is not a fixed date. Which makes all the attempts at calculating, say, the year, a waste of time.
The question of Free Will vs. Predestination.
Thank you for this Scripture study.
Where can I learn more about Pseudo-Philo?