Thursday, October 13, 2022

Simon S. Lee on 2 Peter 1:19-21 and 2:1 Referencing not the Bible, but only the Old Testament

  

In order to expand the Parousial implication of the Transfiguration as a promise of the Parousia with an aspect of judgment, the author adopts a chiastic structure in 1:16-2:3a as follows:

 

(A) the apostles with their genuine message (1:16-18)

(B) the genuine prophets in the Hebrew Bible (1:19-21)

(B’) the false prophets in the Hebrew Bible (2:1a)

(A’) the false teachers with destructive opinion (2:1b-3)

 

In this structure, there is a strong contrast between the apostles/the genuine prophets and false prophets/the false teachers. While the former group is guided by the Holy Spirit, the latter is guided by “human will” (1:21). Adopting this chiastic structure, 2 Peter warns the readers that just as the false prophets in the Hebrew Bible were condemned by God’s judgment, so also will the false teachers and their followers surely experience eschatological judgment of the Parousia (2:3a, 9; 3:5-10). (Simon S. Lee, Jesus’ Transfiguration and the Believers’ Transformation [Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe 265; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009], 141)

 

Further Reading:


Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura