Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Peter · About this commentary
Carried Along by the Holy Spirit
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. · WEB
Scripture's own account of where Scripture came from: not the will of a man, and not a man bypassed either.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. The clause is easy to misapply, and verse 21 controls it — the connective is for, which makes what follows the reason rather than a new subject, and what follows is about origin.
No prophecy ever came by the will of man. That is the negative half, and it rules out the prophet as the source: the message did not begin as his own reading of events. The positive half is stated with care: holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit. The verb is pherō G5342, to carry or bear along, used of a ship driven by wind Acts 27:15 — the vessel is genuinely moving and genuinely not steering.
Both halves are needed. Men spoke, so the personality, vocabulary and circumstances of the writers are not erased. They were carried, so the result is not their opinion. That is why verse 19 can call the written word more sure than a voice heard on a mountain, and why the letter can rest its whole case against the mockers on it.
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