The final destruction of world by fire is an idea also found elsewhere in Scripture (Isaiah 66:16; Micah 1:4; Nahum 1:6; Zephaniah 1:18; Malachi 3:2; Acts 2:19; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8).1 It is not so clear if Peter has in mind the purification of the world by fire or the complete destruction and creation of a new one.2 Certainly 2 Peter 3:10 (and 2 Peter 3:12) suggests complete destruction; however, other passages in the New Testament make the future of creation look more like a renewal or purification (Matthew 19:28; Romans 8:18–23; Revelation 21:5). Since Peter draws a close connection between the past judgment by the flood and the future judgment by fire (2 Peter 3:5–7), this suggests that Peter has a dramatic and drastic change in view—not complete destruction but radical renewal. The emphasis is thus on a significant discontinuity between the new heavens and the old—the renewal of creation and not its abolition.3
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.