2 Peter 1:20
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Peter is defending the reliability of Scripture against scoffers and false teachers. Having recalled his eyewitness experience at the transfiguration, he affirms that prophecy is even more sure, and explains its divine origin in verses 20-21.
What Does 2 Peter 1:20 Mean?
In short, 2 Peter 1:20 teaches that prophecy did not originate from the prophet's own private ideas but from God. Peter has just described the transfiguration, where he heard God's voice on the holy mount (verses 16-18), and has affirmed the "more sure word of prophecy" (verse 19). Now he explains why Scripture can be trusted: it does not arise from "any private interpretation."
The phrase "private interpretation" has been understood in two complementary ways, and the very next verse points to the heart of Peter's meaning. The most natural reading, confirmed by verse 21, concerns the origin of prophecy rather than merely its later reading: the prophets did not invent their messages or unloose them from their own imagination. Prophecy was not the prophet's personal opinion dressed up as God's word. Because it came from God Himself (as verse 21 explains, holy men "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"), it carries divine authority. This guards Scripture from being treated as merely human reflection. Peter's point is pastoral as well as doctrinal: in a letter warning against false teachers who twist truth, he anchors his readers in a word that did not begin with man and therefore cannot be dismissed as one person's viewpoint.
In the Original Language
The Greek "epilysis" (interpretation) means an unloosing, releasing, or explaining. "Idios" (private, one's own) points to something originating from the individual himself rather than from God.
Cross References
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
- 2 Peter 1:21
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
- 2 Timothy 3:16
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.”
- Jeremiah 23:16
Application
Approach Scripture with reverence, remembering it did not begin as human opinion but came from God; read it humbly and in step with His Spirit rather than bending it to your own preferences.