Interpreting the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: It's Really Good News!
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2 Peter 2
Easy-to-Read Version
False Teachers
2 In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. 2 Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow. 3 These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
4 When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.
5 And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.
6 God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God. 7 But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. 8 This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.
9 So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment. 10 That punishment is for those who are always doing the evil that their sinful selves want to do. It is for those who hate the Lord’s authority.
These false teachers do whatever they want, and they are so proud of themselves. They are not afraid even to say bad things against the glorious ones.[a] 11 The angels are much stronger and more powerful than these beings. But even the angels don’t accuse them and say bad things about them to the Lord.
12 But these false teachers speak evil against what they don’t understand. They are like animals that do things without really thinking—like wild animals that are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, they will be destroyed. 13 They have made many people suffer. So they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done.
They think it is fun to do evil where everyone can see them. They enjoy the evil things that please them. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you—they bring shame to you in the meals you eat together. 14 Every time they look at a woman, they want her. They are always sinning this way. And they lead weaker people into the trap of sin. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse.
15 These false teachers left the right way and went the wrong way. They followed the same way that the prophet Balaam went. He was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. 16 But a donkey told him that he was doing wrong. A donkey cannot talk, of course, but that donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet from acting so crazy.
17 These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. 18 They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. 19 These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
20 People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by them, then it is worse for them than it was before. 21 Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. 22 What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.”[c] And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”
Easy-to-Read Version
False Teachers
2 In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. 2 Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow. 3 These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
4 When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.
5 And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.
6 God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God. 7 But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. 8 This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.
9 So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment. 10 That punishment is for those who are always doing the evil that their sinful selves want to do. It is for those who hate the Lord’s authority.
These false teachers do whatever they want, and they are so proud of themselves. They are not afraid even to say bad things against the glorious ones.[a] 11 The angels are much stronger and more powerful than these beings. But even the angels don’t accuse them and say bad things about them to the Lord.
12 But these false teachers speak evil against what they don’t understand. They are like animals that do things without really thinking—like wild animals that are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, they will be destroyed. 13 They have made many people suffer. So they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done.
They think it is fun to do evil where everyone can see them. They enjoy the evil things that please them. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you—they bring shame to you in the meals you eat together. 14 Every time they look at a woman, they want her. They are always sinning this way. And they lead weaker people into the trap of sin. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse.
15 These false teachers left the right way and went the wrong way. They followed the same way that the prophet Balaam went. He was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. 16 But a donkey told him that he was doing wrong. A donkey cannot talk, of course, but that donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet from acting so crazy.
17 These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. 18 They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. 19 These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
20 People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by them, then it is worse for them than it was before. 21 Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. 22 What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.”[c] And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”
Bro...the saints will have entered the gates to the city and been eating of the Tree of Life ONE THOUSAND YEARS before New Jerusalem descends to Earth and wakes up the wicked in the Resurrection of the Damned, OK?
Revelation is clear the two resurrections are separated by the Millennium because after John sees the saints rise, "the rest of the dead (THE WICKED) lived not again until the thousand years were finished".
Revelation is clear the two resurrections are separated by the Millennium because after John sees the saints rise, "the rest of the dead (THE WICKED) lived not again until the thousand years were finished".
The comma is not necessary to understand the plain meaning of the words.
No one hearing, and no one who read this when it was recorded later was thinking that Jesus was announcing to anyone what day he was speaking. That was not a normal way to talk.
If you can find something similar in literature it would not support that THIS speaker is doing that.
To determine if THIS speaker is announcing the day in which he is speaking you would want to find an example where he was known to do such a thing as a manner or personal style of speaking. Did he have a habit of starting out sentences with "Truly I tell you Today.. .etc etc..?"
Or does this speaker have a habit of saying "Today such and such will happen?"
The example that you do have of this particular speaker the day before shows that he is known for telling someone what will occur on this day and not that he was doing the talking on this day.
Luke 22
34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
Luke 23
42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. d ”
43Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise.”
As you can easily see this speaker has a recent habit of using the three words TODAY YOU WILL to mean what will happen that day.
Therefore you have strong evidence that is the way he spoke and meant it on the cross.
Not only this, but you must also consider, that he was in excruciating pain from crucifixion which is known for the victims to have a very difficult time getting a breath because of the way their weight pulls down on the cross, and many die from suffocation on the cross because of how difficult it is to get a breath which usually is happening at this final stage that he is suffering right before he gives up the ghost.
And so knowing that he would be having a difficult time breathing and being in agony when he speaks these words, common sense tells us that it would be extremely doubtful that he would waste unnecessary superfluous words telling the thief what day he was speaking.
Is there a danger that the thief might think Jesus was telling him this yesterday? Why would he need to make sure that his hearer would know what day he was speaking? It doesn't fit the context.
The thief would be confused. He would think that Jesus saying "I am talking to you today" would be unnatural and unnecessary information since of course he already knows that Jesus is speaking to him today, so he would discount that as a possible meaning and would understand Jesus as saying "Truly I tell you today you will be with me in Paradise" means he would be in paradise today.
No comma needed but if there was one it would not change how the thief would have understood him.
The only way the thief would have understood Jesus to mean it the way you are trying to tell us it should be understood would be if Jesus said "Truly I tell you today, ('someday', or 'one day,' or 'in the resurrection') you will be with me in paradise" But without adding any other words and saying only what he did as recorded in the text it is impossible that the thief understood him to mean anything other than that he would be in paradise today.
And I believe that he was even if you don't understand how. We are not given the details. We have to wait and find out later.
No one hearing, and no one who read this when it was recorded later was thinking that Jesus was announcing to anyone what day he was speaking. That was not a normal way to talk.
If you can find something similar in literature it would not support that THIS speaker is doing that.
To determine if THIS speaker is announcing the day in which he is speaking you would want to find an example where he was known to do such a thing as a manner or personal style of speaking. Did he have a habit of starting out sentences with "Truly I tell you Today.. .etc etc..?"
Or does this speaker have a habit of saying "Today such and such will happen?"
The example that you do have of this particular speaker the day before shows that he is known for telling someone what will occur on this day and not that he was doing the talking on this day.
Luke 22
34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
Luke 23
42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. d ”
43Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise.”
As you can easily see this speaker has a recent habit of using the three words TODAY YOU WILL to mean what will happen that day.
Therefore you have strong evidence that is the way he spoke and meant it on the cross.
Not only this, but you must also consider, that he was in excruciating pain from crucifixion which is known for the victims to have a very difficult time getting a breath because of the way their weight pulls down on the cross, and many die from suffocation on the cross because of how difficult it is to get a breath which usually is happening at this final stage that he is suffering right before he gives up the ghost.
And so knowing that he would be having a difficult time breathing and being in agony when he speaks these words, common sense tells us that it would be extremely doubtful that he would waste unnecessary superfluous words telling the thief what day he was speaking.
Is there a danger that the thief might think Jesus was telling him this yesterday? Why would he need to make sure that his hearer would know what day he was speaking? It doesn't fit the context.
The thief would be confused. He would think that Jesus saying "I am talking to you today" would be unnatural and unnecessary information since of course he already knows that Jesus is speaking to him today, so he would discount that as a possible meaning and would understand Jesus as saying "Truly I tell you today you will be with me in Paradise" means he would be in paradise today.
No comma needed but if there was one it would not change how the thief would have understood him.
The only way the thief would have understood Jesus to mean it the way you are trying to tell us it should be understood would be if Jesus said "Truly I tell you today, ('someday', or 'one day,' or 'in the resurrection') you will be with me in paradise" But without adding any other words and saying only what he did as recorded in the text it is impossible that the thief understood him to mean anything other than that he would be in paradise today.
And I believe that he was even if you don't understand how. We are not given the details. We have to wait and find out later.
Different levels and types of punishment. Being in torment while not having thrist quenched, waiting for the final judgment is one of the hints we are given. Later there is a resurrection, and a final judgment and cast into the Lake of Fire which is the final sentencing. Like being in the county Jail and then sentenced and cast into prison. Not exactly but my point is that there is no contradiction in being reserved in everlasting chains of darkness for the fallen angels reserved for judgment and the fact that the wicked dead go immediately into a place of some kind of torment like in the parable Jesus gave. The rich man was an example of being reserved for future Lake of Fire but was still in torment. Resurrection had not occurred yet because his 5 brothers/ whole body of Pharisees in your allegory, needed to be warned and had not yet died.
Scripture does not contradict you simply don't understand Eccl and Job. And ignore any new revelation in the New Testament about the state of the wicked and righteous dead. That is not a contradiction it is limited revelation in the OT and more revelation in the NT.
Resisting the more revelation in the NT and cleaving to the imperfect, and limited revelation of the OT is what the Pharisees did to Jesus.
Don't be like that.
Resisting the more revelation in the NT and cleaving to the imperfect, and limited revelation of the OT is what the Pharisees did to Jesus.
Don't be like that.
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