How Then Shall We Live: The Verse and Its Meaning

2 Peter 3:11 asks the question, and Ezekiel 33 asked it long before him. A reflection on how the knowledge of eternity changes ordinary Tuesdays. Day 322 of the Bible in One Year plan.

By Cruzsilla Gutiérrez · April 24, 2026

The verse

"Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness." 2 Peter 3:11 (ESV)

The question the King James made famous — "what manner of persons ought ye to be" — is the ancestor of every modern restatement of "how then shall we live." Peter lets the future do the moral work. If that is coming, then this is how to live.

Context

2 Peter 3 is about scoffers who mock the return of Christ. "Where is the promise of his coming?" they ask. Peter reminds them that God's patience is not His delay; it is His mercy, "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (v. 9). Then comes the certainty: "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" (v. 10). And on the heels of the certainty, the ethical question: so, what kind of people should you be?

Ezekiel 33 asks a related question from a different angle. The exiles are saying, "Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?" (v. 10). God's answer: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (v. 11). Peter's question is facing forward; Ezekiel's is facing backward; both land in the same place.

What it means

"How then shall we live?" is not meant to generate anxiety. It is meant to generate clarity. The Bible gives three big angles.

In holiness and godliness. 2 Peter 3:11 puts holiness first. Not perfectionism — holiness is a direction, a separation for God. Godliness (eusebeia) is the lived-out reverence, a life that takes God seriously. These are not abstract; they come out in your tongue, your time, your money, your relationships.

In readiness for Christ. Verse 14 adds, "Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace." The Christian life is lived leaning forward. You do not know when He will return, and Peter says that is the point. Readiness is more honest than a countdown.

In turning and living. Ezekiel 33:11's answer is pastoral. God does not answer the exiles with a lecture. He answers with an invitation: turn, and live. That is the shape of the gospel centuries later. If your question is "how can we live?" the first answer is always "repent and come home."

Paul's "how then shall we live" sits in Romans 12:1-2, right after eleven chapters of gospel: present your bodies as a living sacrifice, do not be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Peter's answer echoes it. The three — Peter, Paul, Ezekiel — form a chord: turn, surrender, live ready.

How to apply it

1. Examine today in light of that day. What would you want to be found doing? Not a morbid exercise — a clarifying one. Sift your calendar by the test of eternity.
2. Turn from one specific thing this week. Ezekiel 33 does not generalize. Name one pattern God is asking you to leave. Leaving it is the first step of "how to live."
3. Pursue holiness in the ordinary. Not monastic feats. Truth when it's easier to shade. Patience in a conversation you'd rather end. Generosity no one will see.
4. Cultivate hope. 2 Peter 3:13 — "we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Hope keeps the ethics alive.
5. Stay in community. Holiness is easier with witnesses. Find a small group of believers who will ask how your "how then shall we live" is actually going.

Related verses

• Ezekiel 33:11 — "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live."
• Romans 12:1-2 — "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice… be transformed by the renewal of your mind."
• Titus 2:11-13 — Grace "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives."
• 1 John 3:2-3 — "Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."
• Micah 6:8 — "To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."

Reflection

The question "how then shall we live?" has a surprisingly simple answer in the Bible. Turn. Trust. Walk in the light today. Then wait for the day that is coming — which is nearer than it was yesterday — with hope that shapes the commute, the kitchen, the conversation, the calendar. That is what holy living looks like in the meantime.

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