Thanks Tony.

A small point: I puzzle and puzzle over this phrase from 2 Peter 3:

waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God

which you mentioned under your point 3. The idea that we might actually hasten the day of final judgement is extraordinary. And to think that we are doing it by, among other things, our social action.

I suppose that one way of reading this idea of ‘hastening’

Greek ‘speudontas’, which is a truly wonderful word as well, thoroughly onomatopoeic to my ears—maybe that’s why Aussie swimmers wear ‘Speudos’ in the pool ; -)

is that it merely describes the activity, not the result, a bit like a child jumping up and down with excitement and anticipation, waiting for a treat which will come in the parent’s good time.

But I notice that in the other places where the same word is used, the hastening really is meant to have an effect on the final outcome, eg.

Luke 2:16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

or again

Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

[bold mine, and indicates where the Greek word ‘speudo’ is used].

For what it’s worth, Louw and Nida’s Greek lexicon makes this comment on the word speudo:

to cause something to happen soon — ‘to cause to happen soon, to hurry up.’ ... ‘making the day of God come soon’ or ‘hurrying up the day of God’ 2 Peter 3:12. It is also possible to render this meaning of ‘speudo’ in 2 Peter 3:12 as ‘doing your best to cause …’

Yes, Gordo, I’ve always found ‘hastening the day’ an intriguing phrase. Does it relate perhaps to the Lord’s patience (mentioned in vv. 9 and 15)? If God is delaying the Day so that “all should reach repentance”, do we hasten the day by repenting? Or by preaching the gospel of repentance? I’m not sure…

Ed, thanks for the comments. I did want to sound a note of pessmism in point 6, because I’m suggesting that we decouple our enthusiasm for doing good to others from our expectation that we will actually make a large scale difference in the world.

So yes, I’m optimistic about God’s kingdom and his glory! And we have the most positive reasons in the world to be doing good to others (see points 1-5). But as we do so we need to take on board the Bible’s description of how rotten things are (and will continue to be) in “this present evil age”. A godly pessimism may preserve us from being swept up in the latest well-meaning bandwagon. I’ll try to say more on this in part 3.

Thanks, Tony, for these thoughts.  I’d be interested to see a development of point 5 in a reflection upon the ‘relative’ contributions to God’s glory by ‘social action’ vs ‘proclamation action’ (if I can use these terms - after all, proclaiming the gospel is intensely social and social actions speak powerfully, if not always transparently). 

I take it that the possession or lack of merit of a given activity is not predicated upon the supposed eternality or transience inherent to that activity.  It’s a common mistake to think that preaching the gospel is eternally efficacious whereas changing the nappy isn’t.  ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God.’ (1Co 10.31) We are by nature temporally restricted creatures, and it is only by God’s dispensation that our actions may have consequences beyond the present creation.

At the same time, God is free to be glorified, as he chooses, in and through anything we pursue in his name.  Was it Luther who said: ‘What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it in heaven for our lord God.  We should accustom ourselves to thinking of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on the account of the work and position, but the faith from which they flow.’

I’m always conscious of the weightiness of my responsibility as a teacher, yet I strive not to confuse this with a mistaken view of the temporality of my agency.  There is nothing inherently eternal in the act of preaching - after all, I have to do it week after week!