20251109 2 Peter 1:16-21 Countering a Disregard for Divine Authority
I have a friend who was part of a church that was involved in so many scandals that they made the local news in Pennsylvania, USA. While all this was going on, the church leaders had a narrative. They insisted that all these investigations into the church were the devil’s work aimed at hindering God’s work. Church members were told that talking about the scandals was gossip and a sin against God. They were also told to ignore what they heard on the news about the scandal because it was all lies. It seems like a common technique among false-teachers is to stir doubt in their followers so they stop trusting reliable people and information.
Sowing distrust in healthy authority was part of the false
teachers’ scheme in Peter’s day. They sowed doubt in the authority of the
Apostles and the authority of the Bible. According to 2 Peter 1:16, Peter
taught of Jesus’ power and of his second coming. False-teachers taught that the
apostles and Peter taught cleverly devised myths. The accusation against the
apostles was that they were making things up about Jesus.
The purpose of this text, 2 Peter 1:16-21 is to show that what
the Apostles taught came from God. The keyword of our text is the word “to
carry, to bear, to deliver”. This verb occurs four times (2 Pet 1:17, 18, 21)
to show that God is the one who delivers the message of Jesus’ power and coming,
not the apostles. The argument is that the truth of Jesus’ powerful second
coming is not man-made but from God, so the Apostles can be trusted and so can
the Scriptures.
SIOS: The teaching of the powerful second coming of Christ
is not a cleverly devised myth, since God himself bore witness about Christ at
the Transfiguration which the Apostles Witnessed, and God himself bore witness
about Christ in the Scriptures.
We will look at three points. First in 2 Pet 1:16a, we will
look at the phrase, “The Power and Coming of Christ.” Second, we will see in 2
Pet 1:16b-18, that God himself bore witness about Christ at the Transfiguration
which the Apostles witnessed. Third, we will see in 2 Pet 1:19-21 that God himself
bore witness about Christ in the Scriptures.
First, we look at Peter’s Thesis that The Power and Coming of Christ Are
not cleverly devised Myths in 2 Peter 1:16a.
2 Peter 1:16a
The words “power” and “coming” go together to speak of
Christ’s powerful second coming (c.f. Matt 25:31; 2 Thess 1:7-10).[i] The Apostles and Jesus
himself taught that Jesus is coming back in power to judge the world. This
return will be physical, in space and time. God is just and must punish sin. Without
Christ, this judgment means eternal damnation for our sins.
Application
The false teachers call this “cleverly devised myths.” We can
admit that we can also find the idea of Christ’s return hard to believe. When
we look around us, the world seems stable. The world has operated in the same
way for what seems to be thousands of years. It is hard to imagine the world as
we know it ending.
Peter teaches that despite our instincts and despite what appears
to be stable, there will be a Day Jesus will return in glory and power. This teaching
affects all people.
If there is no return of Christ nor judgment, it does not matter
how we live. This is what the false-teachers taught. If Jesus is coming back in
power, we must live lives ready for this coming.
This is true for Christians even if we are saved by faith,
works are important. The gift that Christians have is that our faith is counted
as righteousness. This means that we get our final judgment verdict ahead of
time, which is "righteous" because Christ paid our punishment and
clothed us in righteousness. For Christians, the judgment will not be one of
condemnation but rather one where salvation is confirmed (Rom 8:1, 1 Cor 3:15).
We will give an account for our thoughts, words, and deeds (WCF 33:1). This
will be to receive rewards for the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Rev
20:11-15; 2 Cor 5:10). The Christians good news of salvation by faith without
works, does not deny the importance of good works in the life of a believer for
the judgment to come.
This is the first point. False teachers deny this, but Jesus
is coming back in power to judge the world. The truth of the second coming and
judgment is important and affects how we live.
Second, we look at the first argument for the power and coming of Christ. The
argument is that God himself bore witness to Christ’s power and coming at the
Transfiguration which the Apostles Witnesses in 2 Peter 1:16b-18.
This argument has two elements. First, Peter denies the
second coming in power is a cleverly devised myth, because the apostle’s did
not make it up. Rather, they witnessed it firsthand at the Transfiguration. Second,
Peter argues that it is not a cleverly devised myth because it was God who bore
witness to Christ's second coming in power.
2 Peter 1:16b-18
First, in 2 Pet 1:16, Peter writes “we were eyewitnesses of
that majesty.” He didn’t make anything up, he was an eyewitness. An eyewitness
account has weight in court. It is not just hearsay. The Gospels teach that
Peter was not alone. He was with James and John at the Transfiguration, they
are corroborating witnesses.
Peter describes Jesus’ glorious appearance at the
Transfiguration as “his majesty.” The Transfiguration presented Jesus the
Messiah in glory as he will be when he returns to judge the world. What the
Transfiguration revealed to Peter, John, and James will be revealed to all at
Christ’s second coming when we see Jesus in glory. Peter can say that he witnessed
the glorious King who will return to establish his kingdom.[ii] This was Peter’s first
argument, he did not make it up, he witnessed Jesus’ glory and coming at the
Transfiguration.
Second, in 2 Pet 1:17, Peter writes that it is God who bears
witness to Christ. Christ received honor and glory from God the Father and it
was the voice of the Father, not the apostles that bore witness saying, “This
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 2 Pet 1:18 goes on to say that
Peter heard this with others on God’s Holy Mountain. The mention of the Holy
Mountain and the Father's words announce Christ’s glorious coming because they
allude to Psalm 2. Psalm 2 is about the Messiah who will rule and judge the
nations. In Psalm 2, the Lord says, “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill,
You are my Son, I will make the nations your heritage, with a rod of iron.” So
at the Transfiguration, when God says, “You are my Son,” he is declaring
Christ’s power and coming.
Application
Sometimes there are Christian teachings that we struggle
with. Sometimes, if we don’t like it, we choose not to believe or leave a
church over it. Sometimes there are very good reasons to leave a church over
its teachings.
Other times,
the church may be right, and we may be wrong. It is important for us to
remember where the teaching comes from. Who is teaching it? Is it a cleverly
devised myth? Did humans make it up to suit their purposes? Or does the message
come from God? In this case as with the false teachers in Peter’s day, we need
to believe it, even if we don’t fully understand it, Jesus is coming back in
power! In this second point, Peter defends himself by saying, it is not him the
false teachers have a problem with, but God himself.
Third, we see that God himself bears witness about Christ in the Scriptures
in 2 Peter 1:19-21.
Peter is defending the Second Coming of Christ. His second
argument is that God bears witness to Christ in the Scriptures. These are not cleverly
devised myths, God is the one who testifies.
2 Peter 1:19-21
Peter says something incredible about the Scripture. According
to 2 Pet 1:19, the prophetic word is more firm than his eyewitness of the
Transfiguration.[iii]
This is hard to believe. If we did a poll and asks what we found
more convincing between experiencing the Transfiguration and the Bible, what
would you say? I bet many of us would rather witness Jesus being transfigured
than read the Bible. Peter saw Jesus turn shiny white with Moses and Elijah and
he says that the prophetic word is more firm or more valid as a testimony than
his eyewitness and God speaking from the heavens.
We see this point in the Scriptures. The same people who
experienced the first Passover, crossed the Red Sea, heard the voice of God at
Mount Sinai, were those who built the Golden Calf and did not believe God to
enter into the Promised Land. We second guess what we see years later. Our
memory can fail us, but the Prophetic Word, the OT, the NT are available to be
read and heard and are a reliable source. We can turn to these words at any
time.
Another way I
have found the Bible to be superior to my past experience is that it is more
immediate. With the Bible, I can enjoy intimacy with God daily, rather than
having to remember that time I had that wonderful experience in the past.
I knew a guy who had an amazing testimony about God’s work in
his life. I was so amazed when he shared his story the first time, and again
the second time, and again a third time. And, I realized that 10 years had past
and he was still sharing the same story of being saved out of drug smuggling. In
the day to day, he was very insecure, proud, quick-tempered, he was not at all
familiar with his Bible. An amazing encounter with God is spectacular, but the Scriptures
are a firmer testimony.
Since it is
more firm, 2 Pet 1:19 tells us to devote ourselves to it. The text says, “pay
attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the
morning star rises in your hearts.” The Word is a light that shines, and we
need it to guide our path until the end, until the Day of the LORD, in which
Christ will return defeat his enemies and save those who are his.
This return is described as the time when “the morning star
rises in your hearts.” The phrase “morning star” comes from Num 24:17 which was
a Messianic prophecy, “A star will come from Jacob, and a scepter will rise
from Israel.” When Jesus comes back, we will no longer need the Word to shine because
our hearts will be enlightened by the Morning Star himself, so that that to
which prophecy points will have arrived.[iv]
2 Pet 1:20-21 teaches us that the reason we can trust the
prophetic words is that they are God’s own words. Peter says, “No prophecy of
Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21For
no prophecy was ever carried by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they
were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Peter offers one of the most explicit
statements regarding the inspiration of Scripture. 2 Tim 3:16 speaks to the product
of inspiration, a God-breathed text. Now, 2 Peter 1:21 speaks to the process of
inspiration, a Spirit-carried author.
We need a balanced view of this verse. I will address what
it teaches and what it does not teach. We need to hold in tension the fact that
the Bible is both a human and divine book.
Some people claim that the Bible is just a human book. They
claim it is propaganda written by an elite minority to control people. People
who say this need to read the Bible. The content of the Bible champions
minorities. Its authors, the prophets and apostles were often persecuted and
rejected by those in power. Also, in response to these claims, 2 Pet 1:20-21
teach us not to treat the Bible like someone’s opinion. Rather, we must revere
it, devote ourselves to it because it is God’s Word, it possesses his authority.
When people stress the human origin of the Bible, they may undermine the authority
of the Bible. This verse stresses its divine authorship and the divine
intention.
Now, we should not use 2 Pet 1:20-21 to deny the human
author either. It is also so clear from other passages in the Bible that the
Bible is a very human book as well. Luke tells us how careful he was in writing
his Gospel. If Luke’s care was used to stress the human nature of the book in
order to undermine its authority we could quote Peter. We could insist that
Luke was inspired by the Holy Spirit. He was trying to be careful, and he was carried
along by the Holy Spirit to write the very words of God. The authors were
carried by the Spirit, and they also intended to write what they wrote. We can
study the Bible’s historical background and study the intent of the human
author in writing. 2 Pet 1:20-21 teaches us the human author’s intent was
actually God’s intent. So when it comes to the meaning of a text, the human
author and historical background can be very useful to discern God's intention.
When it comes to truth/veracity/authority, infallibility, we look to the divine
author. We trust the Bible, not because Luke was careful, but because he was
carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Application
The application for us of this third point is that the Scripture
is reliable. We must study it, meditate on it, enter its story, obey it, use it
to interpret the world.
Reading the Bible is not a work to earn God’s favor. Rather
it is a means to enjoy God. For many of us, we are Christians, because God
revealed himself to us and showed himself to be reliable to us in his word. We
love the word so I don't have to convince you of the treasure we hold in our
hands. Some of us need to change some habits so that we can enjoy it more and
make it more of a priority. Our text teaches to devote ourselves to it like a
lamp that shines in a gloomy place. For many, what has worked is to read the
Bible first thing in the morning to make sure it happens. This is not a rule,
just advice. In this third point, we see that in response to the
false-teacher’s accusation that the apostles were teaching cleverly devised
myths, he points them to the Scriptures and defends their authority!
Conclusion
False-teachers often have similar traits. They teach new
things, they have no accountability, and they are often self-appointed. Particularly
from this text, we see that they isolate people by sowing doubt about the
apostle’s teaching and the authority of the Bible. To counter, Peter defends
the Apostles’ authority based on God’s authority. They did not come up with
cleverly devised myth, but they witnessed God delivering a message which they now
pass on. If we still don’t trust the apostles, we have the prophets of the OT.
Peter defends the authority of the Bible as a book written by
men carried along by the Holy Spirit. Though written by men, the Bible’s message
was delivered by God himself.
The way we can protect ourselves from false-teachers is by
being very familiar with God’s Word revealed in the Bible. Bring your Bibles to
church. Open them, follow along with your Bible. I hope that every Sunday worship
gathering will be a time when God speaks to you, through the Scriptures that
are read, sung, preached, and applied. When it comes to the Word of God, we
must submit to it. When it comes to human beings who teach from it, it is good
to have some healthy suspicion. Don’t hesitate to talk to people outside the
church about what you are taught in the church. This is a healthy way to
protect the whole community against false teaching.
It is also important for preachers not to preach their own
ideas, but as much as possible, to preach a text in a plain, simple, and clear
manner. If there ever was an accusation against us about promoting “cleverly
devised myths,” I wish that, like Peter, we could say, God himself testified
through his prophets.
The reliability of the Bible is important for all Christians.
We want to know God’s Word so that we are aware when teaching departs from
God’s truth. As we love God’s word, we want to obey it to see God’s will worked
out in our lives.
Peter defended the Second Coming in power and glory. It is
not a cleverly devised myth. It is what the Bible teaches, so we must live differently
as wait for Christ to return to judge the world.
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