Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Peter · About this commentary
We Were Eyewitnesses
2 Peter 1:16-18
16 For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. · WEB
Against the charge of invented stories, Peter offers what he saw and heard on one mountain.
We didn't follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The accusation being answered is that the apostolic message about the coming was constructed, and the reply is testimony: we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
The event is unmistakable. Honor and glory from the Father, a voice from the Majestic Glory declaring this my beloved Son, and a holy mountain — the transfiguration, where Peter, James and John were present and the same words were spoken Matthew 17:1–5. Peter chooses this and not the resurrection, and the choice fits his subject: the transfiguration was a preview of the coming in glory, which is exactly what the mockers deny.
What he claims is deliberately modest. He does not argue that the vision proves the doctrine; he reports that he was there and that the voice was heard. Three men saw it, and Scripture requires more than one witness to establish a matter Deuteronomy 19:15. The next verse will then say something more surprising still — that there is something surer than this.
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