Texts in Conversation
The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 and 2 Peter suggest that the timing of the end of the age may not be predetermined but instead responsive to human action. Jesus' prayer uses imperative verbs to request the kingdom’s arrival, while 2 Peter urges believers to live in ways that can accelerate this future.
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Matthew 6:10
New Testament
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray this way: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, 10 may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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2 Peter 3:12
New Testament
11 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, 12 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! 13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.
Date: 120-130 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Jesus himself gives indications that the timing of his coming is not only hidden, but even somewhat flexible. In the Lord’s Prayer, for example, the disciples are enjoined to pray, “May your kingdom come (ἐλθέτω) and may your will (γενηθήτω) be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). But Jesus had already made quite clear that he was bringing about the kingdom . . . so how should we understand the intention of these imperative verbs? Insofar as God had long since purposed to bring about the kingdom and to instantiate the perfect observance of his will on earth just as in heaven, it seems that these imperatives reflect the variability of the timing in which God’s kingdom and will would be consummated on earth ... Some of the Church fathers seemed to interpret the Lord’s Prayer in precisely this way ... By alluding to 2 Peter 3 in parallel to the Lord’s Prayer, Cyprian explains that the petition for the coming of the kingdom is a request that the Lord may return sooner than he otherwise would have done ..."
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
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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