2 Peter 3:6

The flood in Noah’s day was Peter’s third example. God spoke again and the earth flooded. "Through which" (a plural relative pronoun in Greek) probably refers to "the Word of God" and "water" (2 Peter 3:5).

". . . the author apparently takes the account of the Flood to imply a complete destruction of the created world by water [as opposed to a local flood or to the destruction of human beings only]." [Note: Sidebottom, p. 120.]

". . . in 2 Peter 3:6 his [Peter’s] emphasis is on the Flood as a universal judgment on sinful men and women. But he evidently conceives this judgment as having been executed by means of a cosmic catastrophe which affected the heavens as well as the earth." [Note: Bauckham, p. 299.]

This catastrophe involved the opening up of the heavens to deluge the earth with rain (Genesis 7:11-12). Peter spoke of world history in three periods divided by two cataclysms: the world before the Flood (2 Peter 3:6), the present world (2 Peter 3:7), and the future world (2 Peter 3:13).