Does Second Peter Require a Global Flood?

Several recent scholarly treatments of the flood of Genesis navigate dissonance between mainstream science and a global understanding of the ancient deluge by positing a local flood behind the biblical account. However, these analyses specifically address literary and genre aspects of Genesis, and do not resolve the fact that a global perspective on the ancient deluge appears to be important to the rhetoric of 2 Peter 3:3-13, since the flood foreshadows and provides evidence for a future eschatological catastrophe of global/cosmic proportions. This article proposes an exegetical solution to this problem based on the recent treatment of this text by Ryan P. Juza. Juza argues that the passage focuses on the reliability of God's word to effect judgment for wicked humans, and that it portrays the flood as smaller in scope than the anticipated cosmic conflagration. Numerous Jewish interpretations of the flood from the second temple period lend additional historical-cultural plausibility to the sort of interpretation proposed by Juza. It follows that 2 Peter need not present a canonical challenge to a local understanding of the flood.