Annotation CCCXLI

”But the elements shall be dissolved with heat.” — 2 Peter 3:10

Whether air and water at the end of the world shall be wholly dissolved.

Bede, in the commentary of the second epistle of Peter, explaining this, affirms that two elements — namely, air and water — are to be wholly consumed by the fires of the final conflagration, saying: “FOUR are the elements of which this world consists — fire,

—fire, air, water, and earth. All of which that greatest fire shall consume; nor yet will it consume all so far, that they be utterly not [i.e. annihilated]; but two it will consume wholly, and two it will restore to a better face [form].” The divine Thomas [Aquinas], in the fourth [book] of the Sentences, distinction 47, question 2, elucidates this passage with these words: “THAT [which is said], that the fire will consume two wholly, is not to be understood [to mean] that two elements will be destroyed according to substance, but that two will be more removed from the property which they now have. Which two are said by some to be fire and water, which exceed most in active qualities — namely, in heat and cold, which are chiefly the principles of corruption in other bodies. And because there will then be no action of fire and water, which are most active, they will seem to be most changed from the power [virtue] which they now have.” Read the preceding Annotation.