2 Peter 1:21

1:16-21 The gospel is no weak thing, but comes in power, Ro 1:16. The law sets before us our wretched state by sin, but there it leaves us. It discovers our disease, but does not make known the cure. It is the sight of Jesus crucified, in the gospel, that heals the soul. Try to dissuade the covetous worlding from his greediness, one ounce of gold weighs down all reasons. Offer to stay a furious man from anger by arguments, he has not patience to hear them. Try to detain the licentious, one smile is stronger with him than all reason. But come with the gospel, and urge them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed to save their souls from hell, and to satisfy for their sins, and this is that powerful pleading which makes good men confess that their hearts burn within them, and bad men, even an Agrippa, to say they are almost persuaded to be Christians, Ac 26:28. God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him. This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who believe in him shall be accepted and saved. The truth and reality of the gospel also are foretold by the prophets and penmenof the Old Testament, who spake and wrote under influence, and according to the direction of the Spirit of God. How firm and sure should our faith be, who have such a firm and sure word to rest upon!

When the light of the Scripture is darted into the blind mind and dark understanding, by the Holy Spirit of God, it is like the day-break that advances, and diffuses itself through the whole soul, till it makes perfect day. As the Scripture is the revelation of the mind and will of God, every man ought to search it, to understand the sense and meaning. The Christian knows that book to be the word of God, in which he tastes a sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a glory, truly divine. And the prophecies already fulfilled in the person and salvation of Christ, and in the great concerns of the church and the world, form an unanswerable proof of the truth of Christianity. The Holy Ghost inspired holy men to speak and write. He so assisted and directed them in delivering what they had received from him, that they clearly expressed what they made known. So that the Scriptures are to be accounted the words of the Holy Ghost, and all the plainness and simplicity, all the power and all the propriety of the words and expressions, come from God. Mix faith with what you find in the Scriptures, and esteem and reverence the Bible as a book written by holy men, taught by the Holy Ghost.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but {p} holy men of God spake as they were {q} moved by the Holy Ghost. (p) The godly interpreters and messengers. (q) Inspired by God: their actions were in very good order, and not as the actions of the profane soothsayers, and foretellers of things to come.

Came (ἠνέχθη) Lit., was borne or brought. See on 2 Peter 1:17, 2 Peter 1:18. Holy men of God (ἅγιοι θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι) The best texts omit holy, and read ἀπὸ θεοῦ, from God. Render, as Rev., men spake from God. Moved (φερόμενοι) The same verb as came. Lit., being borne along. It seems to be a favorite word with Peter, occurring six times in the two epistles.

2 Peter 1:21 . οὐ γὰρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη προφητεία ποτέ . With ἠνέχθη cf. 2 Peter 1:17-18 . ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ πνεύμ … φερόμενοι , cf. Acts 2:2 . ὥσπερ φερομένης πνοῆς βιαίας . Here we have the only reference to the Holy Spirit in the Epistle, and only in this connexion, viz. as the source of prophetic inspiration. The spirit is an agency rather than an agent. The men speak. The spirit impels. It is of much significance for the interpretation of the whole passage that ἄνθρωποι occupies a position of emphasis at the end of the sentence, thus bringing into prominence the human agent. The prophets were not ignorant of the meaning of their prophecies, but they saw clearly only the contemporary political or moral situation, and the principles involved and illustrated therein.

2 Peter 1:21 . Θελήματι , by the will ) the desire: Jeremiah 23:26 , Septuagint. Man often feigns by fables, or conceals by error, that which he wishes . Comp. willingly , ch. 2 Peter 3:5 .— ἀνθρώπου ) of man , alone. There is an antithesis between this and holy men of God , the definition of the prophets.— ἠνέχθη , was borne ) Thus 2 Peter 1:17-18 . Heb. משׂא from נשׂא , to bear.— ποτὲ ) ever, at a remote or nearer time: hence prophecy, without the article, is used indefinitely.— ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ , but by) Comp. John 11:51 .— φερόμενοι , carried) This has reference to ἠνέχθη , was borne. A most beautiful antithesis: they did not bear, but were borne: they were passive, not active instruments. That which is borne, is borne by no force of its own; it does not move and advance anything forward by its own labour. Comp. respecting the prophets, Psalm 45:2 ; Jeremiah 36:18 . Shortly afterwards, the word spake denotes also the readiness with which they uttered prophecies.— ἐλάλησαν , spake) This has also reference to the pen of the written word. They spake: the past tense shows that Peter is speaking particularly of the prophets of the Old Testament. Comp. ch. 2 Peter 2:1 , note, and ch. 2 Peter 3:2 .— ἅγιοι , holy) Because they had the Holy Spirit.

The prophecy; the prophetical writings, or word of prophecy, 2 Peter 1:19 . Came not in old time by the will of man; the prophets spake not of themselves what and when they pleased. But holy men of God; prophets, called men of God, 1 Samuel 2:27 9:6 1 Kings 17:18 , and elsewhere. They are here called holy, not only because of their lives, wherein they were examples to others, but because they were the special instruments of the Holy Ghost, who sanctified them to the work of preaching, and penning what he dictated to them. Spake as they were moved; or, carried out, or acted, i.e. elevated above their own natural abilities. This may imply the illumination of their minds with the knowledge of Divine mysteries, the gift of infallibility, that they might not err, of prophecy, to foretell things to come, and a peculiar instinct of the Holy Ghost, whereby they were moved to preach or write.

21. came not in old time—rather, "was never at any time borne" (to us). by the will of man—alone. Jer 23:26, "prophets of the deceit of their own heart." Compare 2Pe 3:5, "willingly." holy—One oldest manuscript has, "men FROM God": the emissaries from God. "Holy," if read, will mean because they had the Holy Spirit. moved—Greek, "borne" (along) as by a mighty wind: Ac 2:2, "rushing (the same Greek) wind": rapt out of themselves: still not in fanatical excitement (1Co 14:32). The Hebrew "nabi," "prophet," meant an announcer or interpreter of God: he, as God's spokesman, interpreted not his own "private" will or thought, but God's "Man of the Spirit" (Ho 9:7, Margin). "Thou testifiedst by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets." "Seer," on the other hand, refers to the mode of receiving the communications from God, rather than to the utterance of them to others. "Spake" implies that, both in its original oral announcement, and now even when in writing, it has been always, and is, the living voice of God speaking to us through His inspired servants. Greek, "borne (along)" forms a beautiful antithesis to "was borne." They were passive, rather than active instruments. The Old Testament prophets primarily, but including also all the inspired penmen, whether of the New or Old Testament (2Pe 3:2).

21 . For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ] More accurately, For prophecy was not sent (or borne) at any time by the will of man . The article before “prophecy” in the Greek simply gives to the noun the generic sense which is better expressed in English by the absence of the article. The word for “came” is the same as that used of the “voice” in 2 Peter 1:17-18 , and is, as there shewn, characteristic of St Peter. That for “old time” is wider in its range than the English words, and takes in the more recent as well as the more distant past, and is therefore applicable to the prophecies of the Christian no less than to those of the Jewish Church. In the phrase “by the will of men” we have a parallelism with John 1:13 . but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ] Better, but being borne on (the same word as the “came” of the previous verse, and therefore used with an emphasis which cannot well be reproduced in English) by the Holy Ghost, men spake from God . Some of the better MSS. have the preposition “from” instead of the adjective “holy.” The words assert in the fullest sense the inspiration of all true prophets. Their workdid not originate in their own will. They felt impelled by a Spirit mightier than their own. The mode and degree of inspiration and its relation to the prophet’s cooperating will and previous habits of thought are left undefined.

The words lend no support to a theory of an inspiration dictating the very syllables uttered by the prophet, still less do they affirm anything as to the nature of the inspiration of the writers of the books of the Old Testament who were not prophets. If we retain the Received Text, we have in it an example of the use of the term “man of God” (i.e. called and sent by Him) as equivalent to “prophet,” parallel to what we find in Deuteronomy 33:1 ; 2 Kings 4:9 ; 2 Kings 4:16 ; 2 Kings 5:8 , and probably in 1 Timothy 6:11 .

Verse 21. - For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; literally, for not by the will of man was prophecy borne at any time. The verb is that already used in verses 17, 18, "was not borne or brought;" it refers not to the utterance of prophecy, but to its origin - it came from heaven. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; literally, but being borne on by the Holy Ghost, the holy men of God spake ; or, if we follow the Vatican Manuscript, "But being borne on by the Holy Ghost, men spake from God." We have again the same verb, "being borne on" ( φερόμενοι ); comp. Acts 27:15, 17 , where it is used of a ship being borne on by the wind. So the prophets were borne on in their prophetic utterance by the Holy Spirit of God. They were truly and really inspired. The mode of that inspiration is not explained; perhaps it cannot be made plain to our human understanding; all the points of contact between the finite and the Infinite are involved in mystery. But the fact is clearly revealed - the prophets were borne on by the Holy Spirit of God. This is not, as some have fancied, the language of Montanism. Prophecy is but a lamp shining in a dark place; it is not the day-star. Prophecy came not by the will of man; the prophets were moved or borne on by the Holy Ghost. But St. Peter does not say that their human consciousness was suspended, or that they were passive as the lyre when swept by the plectrum.