Lot, the just and righteous (2 Peter 1-3)

Episode 297: Lot, the just and righteous

2 Peter 1-3

Greetings and Salutations! (Don't try to interpret this letter)

1 ¹ From Simon Peter to all believers.

¹⁴ I know that I will die soon.

^17-18 We were on the mountain when we heard the voice of God say to Jesus, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

²⁰ No prophecy in scripture is subject to anyone's private interpretation.

Damnable heresies

2 ¹ There were false prophets before and there will be false prophets again, with their damnable heresies, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

² Many will follow them to their damnation.

Sinning angels, righteous Noah, and just Lot

⁴ God didn't spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell.

⁵ He drowned everyone on earth in the flood except for Noah, a preacher of righteousness.

⁶ He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes.

⁷ But saved the just man Lot, who endured the filthy conversation of the wicked.

⁸ That righteous man, whose righteous soul saw their unlawful deeds.

^9-10 But God knows how to punish unjust people, especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government.

¹² They're like animals that should be killed and destroyed. They'll die in their own corruption.

¹³ They think it's fun to riot in the daytime.

¹⁴ Their eyes are full of adultery, and they sin constantly.

A talking donkey

¹⁵ They follow Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

¹⁶ But he was rebuked by a donkey who spoke with a man's voice.

Dog vomit

²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, and then turn from the holy commandment given to them.

²² The proverb speaks of them saying, “The dog returns to his own vomit.”

This is my second letter to you.

3 ¹ This is the second epistle that I've written to you.

There will be scoffers who'll say, "Where's Jesus?"

³ There will be scoffers in the last days who will say,

Where's Jesus?

⁴ Many have died believing he would return, but everything is the same as it always has been.

God will burn heaven and earth (but it might not be for a few thousand years or so)

⁶ God previously destroyed the world in a flood.

⁷ On the day of judgment, he'll burn the heavens and earth with fire to destroy ungodly people.

⁸ But a day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day.

¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The sky will darken with a great noise, and everything on earth will melt and burn.

¹³ But we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth.

Paul's epistles are hard to understand

^15-16 All of Paul's epistles are hard to understand. And some misinterpret them, as they do the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ So don't be led astray by wicked people.

¹⁸ Amen.

A few more words about this episode

From Simon Peter to all believers. (1:1): Although this epistle claims to have been written by Peter, he was almost certainly not its author. It is thought to have been written around 90-100 CE, long after Peter's death. The late date is suspected because verses 3:3-4 make excuses for the failure of the expected second coming of Christ, the author refers to the letters of Paul in a way that indicates that Paul's epistles were already considered equal to "the other scriptures," and the epistle depends upon the letter of Jude, which is thought to have been written around 80-100 CE.; Scholars are also agree that whoever the author or Second Peter might have been, he was not the same person who wrote First Peter. So neither of the Petrine epistles were written by Peter, and they were forged by different people.
Wikipedia: Authorship of the Petrine epistles, Second Epistle of Peter; There are a number of other forged (pseudepigraphical) documents that claimed to have been written by Peter, including the Gospel of Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Acts of Peter.
We were on the mountain when we heard the voice of God say to Jesus (1:17): The author tries to bolster his claim to be the apostle Peter by claiming to have witnessed the transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36)
False prophets again, with their damnable heresies, (2:1): The basic message of Christianity is "believe or be damned" and from this flows intolerance toward all non-Christians. But, as these verses show, Christian intolerance is often directed toward believers as well. Each group of Christians accuses the others of being "false teachers" of "damnable heresies" who will soon be damned to hell.
God didn't spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell.: The angels that sinned are the "sons of God" in Genesis 6:4 who had sex with the daughters of men to produce a race of giants.
He drowned everyone on earth in the flood except for Noah, a preacher of righteousness. (2:5, 3:6): God drowned everyone on earth except for Noah [the first drunken "preacher of righteousness" (see Gen 9:20) and his family.
DWB: The flood of Noah
He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes. (2:6): DWB: Sodom and Gomorrah
But saved the just man Lot ... that righteous man. (2:7-8): Lot (who in Gen 19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them) was a "just" and "righteous man."
But he was rebuked by a donkey who spoke with a man's voice. (2:16): The author of 2 Peter actually believes the story in Numbers (22:28-30) about the talking donkey.
The dog returns to his own vomit. (2:22): Proverbs 26:11