PETER’S TESTAMENT AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS
‘Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. 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 Pet 1:12-21
[12-15] PETER’S TESTAMENT
There are two main themes in these four verses; remembrance and Peter’s forthcoming death. The fact that he will die soon makes it important that the believers keep his teaching in mind. Each of the themes is mentioned three times.
REMEMBRANCE (12, 13, 15)
- v.12 ‘Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things’.
- v.13 ‘I think it meet, __ to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.’
- v.15 ‘that ye may be able__ to have these things always in remembrance.’
PETER’S DEATH (13, 14, 15)
- v.13 ‘as long as I am in this tabernacle.’
- v.14 ‘shortly I must put off my tabernacle’
- v.15 ‘after my decease.’
These verses are an example of a genre known as ‘testament.’ This is a written farewell speech in which the author predicts his death, emphasizes his legacy as a teacher and warns that some will come after his death and attack his memory and teachings. For other New Testament examples see: Jn 15;1-17:26; Acts 20:17-38; Phil 1:12-30.
[12] ‘these things’ i.e. Peter’s teaching in the previous section.
‘I intend to keep on reminding you of these things’ Since Peter will soon be dead, he must mean that his letter will be an ongoing reminder of him and his teaching. He encourages his readers by saying that they are already familiar with the truth and need to be established in it. The other uses of words in the same group (from sterixo, ‘to make fast’) at 2:14; 3:16,17 suggest that some of these believers were vulnerable and unsteady.
[13-14] In 2 Peter ‘tabernacle’ or ‘tent’ is a metaphor for ‘body’ (1:13-14), the word only occurs elsewhere in the NT in Acts 7:43, 46. The use here conveys the thought that our lives on earth are transitory.
This reminds me of the refrain of hymn No. 48 in The Believer’s Hymnbook:
Here in the body pent,
Absent from Him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day’s march nearer home.
Peter, too, was aware that he would soon die, in fact he says that the Lord Jesus Christ had made it clear to him. Two other references relating to predictions about Peter’s death are Jn 13:36-38 and Jn 21:18-19.
[15] Peter speaks of his death as an ‘exodus’. Within the space of just a few verses we learn that for the believer death is not just an éxodos (departure 1:15) from this life but also an eísodos (entrance 1:11) into the eternal kingdom.
[16-18] THE INTEGRITY OF THE APOSTLES
In this section Peter uses the Transfiguration as proof of the reliability of Christ’s future power and coming and emphasizes that he, with other apostles, was present:
- v. 16 ‘we were eyewitnesses (epóptēs -only occurs here in NT)
- v. 18 ‘we heard this voice’
- v.18 ‘we were with him’
They saw Christ’s ‘majesty.’ Verses 17-18 expand on this vision of Christ’s megaleiótēs (‘greatness’)
Peter maintains that the Transfiguration was not a cleverly devised fable but a genuine historical event that foreshadowed Christ’s parousia. The teaching about Christ’s power (dúnamis) and coming (parousía) is therefore said to be reliable. ‘Power’ is linked with Christ’s resurrection in Rom 1:4. In the New Testament ‘parousia’ never refers to Christ’s first coming (Incarnation) but always to his Second Coming, e.g. Mt 24:3. 37, 39; 1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1, 8; Jas 5:7,8; 1 Jn 2:28.
[17] ‘excellent (majestic) glory’ i.e . God.
[18] ‘voice which came from heaven’ i.e. the voice of God.
The above are examples of a type of synecdoche known as abstractum pro concreto, when an abstract concept is used for something concrete.
[19-21] THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHETS
Not only does the trustworthy testimony of apostles who have seen Christ’s majesty and heard God’s voice declare that Jesus is the Son of God confirm the reliability of the teaching about the parousia but the teaching is also founded upon the reliability of scripture.
[19] ‘We have also a more sure word of prophecy’ What Peter had seen and heard on the mountain is confirmed by the Scriptures. The identity of the Prophetic Word is not given. The term may refer to the Old Testament scriptures as a whole, because they speak of Christ. Verse 20, however, would imply that a particular prophecy is in mind. Since it is not specified it must have been well-known to the original readers of the letter. A couple of possibilities are Num 24:17 and Dan 7:13-14.
‘I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.’ Num 24:17
‘I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’ Dan 7:13-14
The latter passage is used eschatologically in Mt 26:64; Mk 13:26; 14:62; Rev 1:7, so it may be the most likely candidate.
The Christians in Asia Minor to whom Peter is writing are advised to pay attention to the message of prophecy as it is like a lamp shining in a dark world ‘until day dawns’ and the morning star arises in their hearts. Since there is no article preceding ‘day’ the reference is not to a specific day (e.g. The Day of the Lord) but just a contrast between darkness and dawn. When day dawns darkness will vanish!
In Lk 1:78 Jesus is called ‘the dawn from on high’ and in Rev 22:16 ‘the bright morning star.’
‘in your hearts’ Peter talks about the effect the parousia will have on believers. It will banish all doubt and uncertainty and for them the light from the lamp of the prophetic word will give way to the glorious illumination of eternal day. A new future age will begin.
[20-21] These verses emphasize that scripture is divinely inspired.
‘no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation’ Who is the individual doing the interpreting? The reader or the prophet? Both are possible.
1. The reader: no individual is permitted to interpret scripture according to their own ideas but in accordance with what is intended by the Holy Spirit.
2. The prophet: what any genuine prophet prophesies does not come from himself but God.
The reason is given in v. 21. Prophecy came via human beings, but they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What the prophets spoke and wrote was prompted by God.
Peter stresses the reliability of the teaching of the apostolic witnesses and of the Old Testament scriptures about the Lord’s parousia and coming judgement because he is about to deal with the topic of false teachers who scornfully reject these promises.
Written Exposition 