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2 Peter 1:21 explains that the
text of the Bible "never came by the will of
man, but holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit."
The Nature of the Bible
In this passage, Peter makes two points. His
first point, in verses 16 through 19, concerns
the witness and testimony of the apostles. They
saw Jesus Christ with their own eyes. They saw
all the Old Testament prophecies about His first
coming fulfilled. And Peter himself, along with
James and John, was on the mountain and saw
Jesus Christ transfigured before them, and they
heard the voice of God the Father from Heaven
saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." In other words, Peter is saying,
the facts verify prophecy.
But then he goes on to say, in verses 20 and 21,
that there is something even more important —
something we must understand first. And
that is the nature of prophecy itself.
And not only the nature of prophecy, but also
the nature of Scripture as a whole. Notice how
Peter says it: "Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of Scripture…"
Prophecy is a part of Scripture,
so what is true of prophecy is true of Scripture
as a whole. "Knowing this first," he says, "that
no prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation, for prophecy never came by the
will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit."
Getting the Whole Picture
Some people quote verse 20 by itself — "No
prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation..." But that’s not the complete thought. Verses 20 and 21 form a
single thought, and verse 20 is not complete
without verse 21.
The word "for" at the beginning
of verse 21 links the two verses together.
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of
Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for prophecy never came by the will of man,
but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit." Verse 21 explains verse 20.
We also need to take a closer
look at some of the words that are used here in
our English Bibles. In some cases, it’s
difficult for translators to find a concise way
of saying in English all that is said in the
original Hebrew or Greek. 2 Peter 1:20-21 is one of those
cases.
The Meaning of "Is"
Both the Authorized Version and
the New King James use the word "is" in verse
20. "No prophecy of Scripture is
of any private interpretation." Some other
versions render it "comes" or "came about."
Those words are closer to the original, but
still not quite the full force of the original. In the original
language, the word (a form of the Greek
ginomai)
actually speaks of how Scripture
"originated" or "came into existence."
Unlike the infamous incident involving an
American president, we cannot waffle on the meaning of "is"
to obscure truth! The words of Scripture
originated not in the mind of sinful man, but in
the mind and counsels of the holy God.
The Meaning of "Interpretation"
Another word we need to
understand more carefully in verse 20 is the
word "interpretation." This is the only place in
the entire Bible where this particular Greek
word, epilysis, is used. The word
in the original language has to do with
"determination" — the way in which something is
determined to be true or not true. So the idea
of verse 20 is this: "Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the Scripture originated
as the result of any private determination
of what is true or not true."
In fact, it would be closer to
the original language to say it like this:
"Knowing this first, no prophecy of Scripture
originated in the human writer’s
own personal determination of what is true or
not true." And if we say it like that, we see
better how it connects to verse 21: "Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of Scripture
originated in the human writer’s own personal
determination of what is true or not true — for this reason:
Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy
men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit."
In other words, Scripture is not
a mere collection of the words and ideas of men.
It did not originate in man’s understanding of
things. The Bible is not the record of man’s
views, man’s perspectives, man's opinions, or man’s
interpretation of events. Sinful man did not decide
what is true and what is not true. "Prophecy
never came by the will of man, but holy men
of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit."
Written by "Driven" Men
There is one other word we need
to examine in order to understand these verses
completely, and that is the word "moved" in
verse 21: "Holy men of God spoke as they were
moved
by (a form of the Greek verb phero)
the Holy Spirit." Some Bibles render it
"carried along," and that is closer to the
original. But it is still not the full force of
what is being said. The word translated "moved"
or "carried along" is better yet translated, "driven
along" — driven along
by an outside force.
The same word is used in the book
of Acts, chapter 27, where we read the account
of the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul and those
who were with him. They were on their way
through the Adriatic Sea when a huge storm came
up. It went on for over two weeks. The ship was
so badly beaten by the wind and the waves, that
it was ready to break up and sink. The captain
and the crew made desperate efforts to save the
ship. They took down the sails. They ran cables
under the ship to try to keep it from breaking
apart. And finally, they threw the cargo
overboard to try to lighten the ship and keep it
from sinking. They did everything they knew how
to do in order to save the ship. But still the
storm raged on.
Because the wind
was so fierce, Luke tells us in a very graphic
way, they stopped trying to steer the ship. So,
he says, "we
let her drive" (Acts 27:15), and "we were
driven" (verse 17). The word is once
again a form of phero in both cases.
There was nothing else they could do. They just
gave up and let the ship be driven
along by the mighty wind. And that is the
very same word used 2 Peter 1:21 — "holy men of
God spoke as they were driven
along by the Holy Spirit."
Revelation and
Inspiration
2 Peter 1:20-21
states
the two great doctrines
concerning the nature of Scripture. The first
great doctrine is that the text of the Bible,
the content, the very words, are
revelation
— words from the
mind of God, not merely the mind of man. And the second
great doctrine is that the way in which the
Spirit of God used men to record the words is
inspiration — men driven
by the Holy Spirit.
The Only Supernatural Book
So, here is what Peter is telling
us: We must never think of Scripture as a
collection of the thoughts and ideas of men. But
more than that, when we read the Bible we must
always keep in mind the fact that the men who
wrote the words of the Bible were driven by the
Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit came upon them.
And without obscuring their personalities in the
writing, He gave them the very words to write.
He drove them along as they wrote.
The writers themselves constantly
acknowledge this. It’s always "thus says the
Lord" — "the burden of the Lord" — "the word of
the Lord came to me" and so on. And often, we
find that they actually wrote the message
against their own will. And sometimes, Peter
tells us in his first epistle (1 Peter 1:10-12),
they didn’t entirely understand what they were
writing, because they were writing something for
a later time. But they were driven to
write the Word of God.
The Bible is absolutely unique
among all books. The Bible is God's Word, even
though human beings wrote it.
The Bible is almighty God speaking directly to man.
Every other book in this world contains the conflicting
— and constantly changing — opinions of men. But the
words of the Bible are the very words of God.
The Bible is a supernatural book from beginning
to end — the only supernatural Book.
The Christian's Sole Authority
And because the Bible is God's
revelation given by inspiration, certain other
facts follow in an unbreakable chain of logic.
1.) The Bible is inerrant, because God,
the Author, is inerrant. 2.) The Bible is
infallible, because God, the Author, is
infallible. 3.) The Bible is therefore
absolutely reliable
—
not only
in matters of doctrine, but also
when it speaks of matters of history,
science, and geography. And this is because God,
the Author, and God alone, is absolutely
reliable. He cannot lie. He cannot, and
would not, give us a record that is in any way
untrustworthy. 4.) The Bible contains no
contradictions, because God, the Author,
is not double-minded. 5.) Because the Bible is
the only book from God, the Bible is uniquely
authoritative for the individual
Christian, and for the church as a body of
believers.
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