2 Peter 3 - Was Peter a Young Earth Creationist?
 3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
To my Young Earth Creationist friends, verse 5 is clear evidence that the earth is young. Why? Because Evolutionists do not believe that the earth was formed out of water and by water. On the other hand, Genesis 1:2 says this about Day 1…
 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis goes on to describe how God then formed the earth from these water. As Peter says, “the earth was formed out of water.” Then, on Day 2, the earth was formed “by water,”:
 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Furthermore, as Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:5, all this was done “by God’s word.” Now, Old Earth Creationists are generally stuck saying that Genesis 1 is either symbolic, poetic, or a simple perturbation on the Egyptian Creation myth that Moses would have grown up with. Such conclusions are often seen by YECs as a deliberate discarding of God’s clear meaning, that He literally created the world by His word, from water, by water, and did so in 7 literal 24 hour days. And accordingly, Peter’s says as much:
5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
Given such a clear confirmation of the YEC interpretation of Creation in 2 Peter 3:5, how can an OEC possibly continue in his beliefs regarding the creation, and still claim to take the scriptures seriously? This is an excellent question, to which I had no answer when this verse was first presented to me several years ago. I said at the time that I did not know, and would investigate… and this blog was born shortly thereafter. Today, I will give my answer.
I suggest reading my post on Genesis 1:2a, where I describe the conditions of the earth 3.9 billion years ago. These conditions describe a world covered in water, and continuously deluged by even more water. It nicely mirror Genesis 1:2’s description of the world. It is as Peter wrote when he said the earth was formed “out of water”.
Next, read Genesis 1:6 to 8 - Creation of the firmament, where I describe the events that science documents happening, yet from the scriptural perspective of Jesus. Scientifically, one can confirm the creative actions of God on Day 2, if you allow for that day to occur 3.9 to 3.85 billion years ago. Allow for that, and it confirms again what Peter wrote, when he said the earth was formed “by water”.
In other words, the claims of mainstream science are described very well by Genesis’s account of Days 1 and 2. Furthermore, Peter was merely summarizing those verses, without expounding on them. So, if a Christian is going to use Peter 3:5 to confirm anything, it is that Genesis means what it means. As an OEC, I completely agree. Where my YEC friend appeared to have me, it was because at the time I did not understand the science well enough explain why Genesis says what it says; any scientific interpretation I had heard until then perturbed the wording of Genesis 1:2, 6-10. However, because I have can now document the scientific record of exactly what the scripture says, I can now confirm that Peter is right. I can also say that Peter was not confirming a YEC or OEC perspective, but merely that the scripture, whatever it means, is true.
Armed with this perspective, that Peter is merely confirming scripture, let us look at the 2 Peter 3:6:
6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
Again, this would appear to be a clear statement that the Flood was global, and OECs generally believe in a local flood. However, the word “world” in Greek is kosmos, and according to Strong’s concordance means, “the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively).” This means that whether Genesis is documenting a local or global flood, Peter simply means whatever the scripture means. As with verse 5, Peter offers no interpretation of the scripture, merely confirmation of its truth… whatever that truth may be.
Peter than applies this toward the future, writing:
7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
As with verses 5 and 6, I would caution any Christian interpreting to not read additional meaning into verse 7 beyond that meaning already contained in the supporting scriptures, where other prophets have written more extensively. However, verse 7 is a clear reference back to the “swift” destruction Peter mentioned earlier in 2 Peter 2:1, and so after citing several scriptural facts without interpretation, at this point Peter provides an interesting commentary on interpreting the word “swift”:
 8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
So then, “swift destruction” is not a description of how quickly God reacts, but how quickly He moves when He acts, because With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. Written as a warning not to be too rigid in ones interpretation of God’s future actions, Peter says this after describing both the beginning and ending of the world. Verse 8 would therefore appear to be a general statement, therefore referring to the Days of Creation as well as the Day of His Return, lest his thought process be broken between verses 5 and 6. Interesting. It means that Peter knows God did what He did, and did what Moses wrote, but that the Days documented in Genesis 1, being marked by sundowns, were not necessarily 24 hour days… they could well of have been 1000-years days. Well, add a billion of years here and there, and I think Peter’s point is to be cautious about reading what one wants to read into the scriptures.
Scriptures say what they, and mean what they mean. It is easy enough to see what they say, but our earthly perspective results in an ignorance that often hides what they mean. That is on purpose. God does not want us to know certain things until it is time. So, as long as your conclusions about God and His love are true, then His actions need not always be understood… just be faithful, and ready for Him. Peter believed God, even when He did not understand Him. And he obeyed, through the righteousness of Christ.