2 Peter 1:16-21: The Foundation of Our Faith

2 Peter 1:16-21: The Foundation of Our Faith

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 2 Peter, and today the next passage we come to is 2 Peter 1:16-21. It says,

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we come to you with all kinds of needs this morning. But we believe that, by your Spirit and through your Word, you can minister to every need we have. So please do that and, above all, draw us into a deeper relationship with you. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.We live in a world in which things are constantly changing. For example, just consider the way people’s thinking about health and nutrition has shifted over the past few decades. Not that long ago, the most popular weight-loss diets emphasized the importance of eliminating fat from your diet and eating foods with a lot of carbs, whereas today, it’s almost the exact opposite, isn’t it? There now seems to be a much greater emphasis on limiting the number of carbs you consume and not being so concerned about your fat intake. 

There have also been significant shifts in the advice that’s commonly given about red meat, salt, sugar substitutes, coffee, gluten, and a number of other things people consume. In so many instances, what was once thought to be healthy is now regarded as unhealthy, and what was once thought to be unhealthy is now totally fine. Personally, I’m just waiting for the day when a new study tells us about all the health benefits of Mountain Dew. Won’t that be a good day—when the “experts” start encouraging us to increase the amount of Mountain Dew in our diet? 

In addition, not only have views of nutrition changed radically over the past few decades, views of many other things have changed radically as well. Scientific consensus about a whole range of issues is constantly changing, and views of morality have been turned upside down as well. In fact, almost everywhere you look in society, things are rapidly changing. The ground that once seemed so solid and stable is now shifting beneath our feet. It’s enough to make just about anyone feel a bit on edge.

Yet that’s not the only thing causing many people to feel on edge. We’re also living in a world in which lies and misrepresentations abound—especially when it comes to digital technologies. And it seems to be getting worse. With the so-called “deepfake” technology that’s out there now and the ways people can use AI to create just about anything, we’re quickly approaching the point where we can’t even believe our eyes anymore. Whenever we see a picture or video, we just don’t know—especially at first glance—whether what we’re looking at is real or fabricated. 

So, with all of this in mind, we might wonder, is there anything we can trust? Is there anything out there that we can be sure won’t be disproven tomorrow by the latest peer-reviewed study or shown to be a farce upon further investigation? Thankfully, there is. And we read about it in our main passage this morning of 2 Peter 1:16-21. According to this passage, we can be confident that the gospel is true. Unlike so many other things in our society, the Christian gospel message of who Jesus is and what he’s done to rescue us has a solid foundation. According to Peter, that foundation consists of both eyewitness testimony and the Word of God. So, if you’re taking notes, feel free to write that down as the main idea of this passage. The Christian gospel is supported by eyewitness testimony and by the very Word of God. Again, the Christian gospel is supported by eyewitness testimony and by the very Word of God.

So, regarding the eyewitness testimony, look first at what Peter writes in verse 16: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Now, when Peter speaks of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he’s referring to what’s often called the “second coming” of Jesus that’s still to come in the future. Jesus came for the first time just over 2,000 years ago when he was born in a manger in Bethlehem and then proceeded to live a perfectly righteous life, die on the cross to pay for our sins, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven. All of those things were a part of his first coming. Yet there will also be a second coming in which Jesus will return to this earth in order to judge those who are in rebellion against God and to rescue his people. And that’s the “coming” Peter’s primarily referring to here. We know that because of several things Peter says about the “coming” of Jesus later in the letter—specifically in 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 4 and 12—that make it clear he’s referring to the second coming. 

However, everything Jesus accomplishes in his second coming will simply be a completion of what he started at his first coming. So, it’s not as though the first coming is disconnected from the second. In reality, the two comings of Jesus go together. Jesus secured the rescue of his people from sin at his first coming and will complete their rescue at his second coming. So, when Peter speaks of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” here in verse 16, we can view that as a reference not only to the Jesus’s second coming but also as a reference to the broader message of the gospel. 

And Peter says that, in making this message known, he and the other apostles “did not follow cleverly devised myths.” They didn’t simply repeat legendary stories about Jesus they had heard. Instead, Peter states, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” That’s the kind of testimony you want—firsthand testimony from multiple eyewitnesses. Not people who talked to people who talked to people who talked to people who might have seen something but rather people who are eyewitnesses themselves. And thankfully, that’s the kind of testimony we have when it comes to the key historical events that form the foundation of the gospel. 

Now, the specific event Peter’s referring to in this particular instance is what’s often called Jesus’s “transfiguration.” This becomes clear in verses 17-18, where Peter writes, 17 For when he [Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 

We also have a much fuller account of this event in Matthew 17:1-6. It says, 1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.

So, this is the event Peter’s talking about back in our main passage. Peter was an eyewitness of the visible glory and majesty of Jesus. He saw Jesus transfigured with his own two eyes and heard God the Father’s voice testifying about Jesus from heaven with his own two ears. So, Peter knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is no ordinary Person. Rather, he’s the very Son of God. 

And this fact that we have eyewitness testimony supporting the key historical events of the gospel—including not only Jesus’s transfiguration but also his crucifixion and, most importantly, his resurrection from the dead—that should give us great confidence that the gospel is true. Josh McDowell writes about this quite persuasively in his book More Than a Carpenter. In Chapter 7, which is titled “Who Would Die for a Lie?”, McDowell examines the role that the eyewitness testimony of the apostles should play in our view of the gospel. He writes, “Since the Christian faith is historical, our knowledge of it must rely heavily on testimony, both written and oral. Without such testimony, we have no window to any historical event, Christian or otherwise. In fact, all history is essentially a knowledge of the past based on testimony. If reliance on such testimony seems to give history too shaky a foundation, we must ask, How else can we learn of the past? How can we know that Napoleon lived? None of us was alive in his time period. We didn’t see him or meet him. We must rely on testimony.”

McDowell then points out that the key question we should ask of any eyewitness testimony is whether that testimony is reliable. Can we trust that the eyewitnesses are accurately relaying to us what they saw? And in the case of the apostles, we have every reason to believe that we can trust them—because, here’s the thing: these men were willing to die for their testimony. Take a moment and let that sink in. Peter and the rest of the apostles who claimed to be eyewitnesses of the key historical events of the gospel weren’t getting rich off of their testimony. They weren’t getting lucrative book deals or high-paying speaking engagements. They weren’t flying around in private jets or enjoying luxurious lifestyles. 

Instead, their testimony resulted in each of them facing tremendous suffering throughout their lives and eventually being killed for their testimony. Every one of the apostles—with the sole exception of the Apostle John—died a martyr’s death. Peter was crucified, Andrew was crucified, James the son of Zebedee was killed by the sword, Philip was crucified, Bartholemew was crucified, Thomas was killed by a spear, Matthew was killed by the sword, James the son of Alphaeus was crucified, Thaddaeus was killed by arrows, and Simon the zealot was crucified. All of these men were willing to die for their testimony about Jesus. 

Now, at this point, someone might object that many people throughout history have died for things that aren’t true. There are many adherents of other religions, for example, who have been willing to be killed for their beliefs. However, there’s a key difference between these adherents of other religions and the apostles. Adherents of other religions are sometimes willing to die for their beliefs, but they’re only willing to do so because they’re taking it by faith that their beliefs are true. They have no way of knowing whether their beliefs are true but are simply taking it by faith. However, the apostles, by contrast, were in a unique position to actually know whether the testimony they were dying for was true or not. They knew whether or not they were telling the truth about what they claimed to see as eyewitnesses, and they were still willing to die for their testimony. 

Why in the world would they do that if they weren’t telling the truth? Why would they be willing to endure tremendous suffering throughout their life and eventually die a martyr’s death for a testimony they knew was a lie? So, it’s difficult to imagine any eyewitnesses who could possibly be more credible and trustworthy than these eleven men. Again, who would die for something they knew to be a lie? 

So, when we read here in 2 Peter 1 about Peter’s claim to be an eyewitness and combine that with the claims of the other ten apostles who all said they saw certain things happen—they saw Jesus transfigured, they saw him crucified, they saw him raised from the dead—it should give us wonderful confidence that the gospel isn’t just some fairy tale but is rather a true message that’s rooted in actual historical events that have been verified by numerous trustworthy eyewitnesses.

In addition, not only does Peter remind his readers that he’s an eyewitness of Jesus’s transfiguration, he also reminds them that the gospel they believe has an even stronger foundation than that. It’s based on the very words of God himself. 

Look at verse 19: “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Now, in speaking about “the prophetic word,” Peter’s primarily referring to the so-called “prophetic” books of the Old Testament. However, there’s also a sense in which the entire Old Testament is prophetic as well since the Old Testament in its entirety anticipates Jesus and points forward to him.

And Peter says that this “prophetic word” is “more fully confirmed.” Now, there are actually two different ways scholars have interpreted that statement. The way that’s clearly preferred by the translators of the ESV is that Jesus’s transfiguration and the other key events of the gospel confirm what was already written in the Old Testament. The Old Testament predicted certain things would happen, and they happened—and Peter was an eyewitness of many of them happening. Therefore, the “prophetic word” was “confirmed” by what Peter saw. The Old Testament was confirmed by Peter’s personal experience. 

However, a more literal translation of the original Greek text is, “And we have the prophetic word more sure.” This has led a fair number of other scholars to interpret this as a statement that the Old Testament is even more reliable than Peter’s personal experience. Peter was given the privilege of witnessing the key events of the gospel, and yet the Scriptures are even more reliable than Peter’s personal experience. They’re “more sure” even than what Peter saw with his own two eyes. 

Yet, regardless of how exactly we interpret Peter’s statement here, it’s clear that his purpose in these latter verses is to emphasize the absolute reliability of what we read in the Bible and the absolute necessity of looking to the Bible as our ultimate source of revelation from God. Because notice what Peter says about the Scriptures in the middle of verse 19. He writes, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place….” Think about that analogy—“a lamp shining in a dark place.” Peter’s drawing from the imagery of Psalm 119:105, in which the psalmist says to God, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God’s Word in the Bible is a light that makes known to us what would otherwise be unknown and that reveals to us the truths that should guide our lives. 

Imagine that, for whatever reason, you’re trying to find your way through a forest in the middle of the night. And in this forest are all kinds of rocks and ravines and other hazards. Assuming you have a flashlight with you, how foolish would you have to be not to use that flashlight? Incredibly foolish, right? Any sensible person would rely heavily on their flashlight in a situation like that. And that’s what Peter tells us to do with the Bible. He tells us to “pay attention” to it “as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” 

We should do this first and foremost when it comes to answering life’s biggest questions such as, “Who are we?”, “What’s the purpose of our lives?,” and “What happens after we die?” The Bible answers these questions, of course. It teaches that we’ve all been created by God for the purpose of glorifying him and having a close relationship with him. However, instead of fulfilling the purpose for which God created us, we’ve rebelled against God. Even though God’s been good to us in so many ways and given us blessing on top of blessing, we’ve rejected him and determined to live life our own way. The Bible calls this “sin” and says that the rightful consequence of our sins is eternal punishment in hell. 

However, the Bible also reveals that, in his love, God’s provided a way for us to be rescued from our sins and the consequence our sins deserve. He actually loved us so much that he sent his own Son Jesus to come to this earth as a real flesh-and-blood human being, live a perfectly sinless life, and then voluntarily die on the cross to pay for our sins. All of the punishment our sins deserved was poured out on Jesus on the cross so it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us. He stood in our place and functioned as our substitute. He was then raised from the dead and now stands ready to save everyone who will put their trust in him. Regardless of what we’ve done or what messes we’ve made in our lives, God invites each one of us to be rescued from our sins simply by putting our trust in Jesus for that rescue. So, that’s one way in which the Bible functions as “a lamp shining in a dark place.” It reveals to us what we need to know in order to be saved. 

In addition, it also reveals to us how God expects us to live. We don’t have to wonder about what God desires for our lives. He’s already told us everything about his will that we need to know in the pages of Scripture. Paul says it like this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Notice in verse 17 the words “complete” and “every.” God’s given us the Bible so we can be “complete” and “equipped for every good work.” This means that the Bible’s not only a helpful guide to life—it’s also a sufficient guide to life. It tells us everything we need to know about living in a way that glorifies God. God doesn’t forbid anything that the Bible doesn’t forbid, and he doesn’t require anything that the Bible doesn’t require. We have in the Bible a sufficient guide to glorifying God in every situation we’ll ever face. 

So, going back to our main passage, the Bible is our light. Without it, we’re left in darkness. But in his grace, God’s provided us with the Bible and expects us—as Peter says—to “pay attention [to it] as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” And before we move on to the next part of the passage, I just want to say that what we’ve been talking about with the Bible as our light is the answer to postmodernism. According to postmodern thought, we don’t have access to absolute truth. There might conceivably be some absolute reality somewhere, but it really doesn’t matter, because there’s no way we can ever know what it is. That’s what postmodernism teaches. And on one level, given what postmodern thinkers believe about God—or, more accurately, what they don’t believe about God—I can understand how they could be so skeptical about our ability to know any kind of absolute truth.  

Listen to this quote from a Christian theologian named Wayne Grudem—whose book is actually the book we use for our theology class here at Redeeming Grace. Grudem writes, “A philosopher might argue as follows: The fact that we do not know everything requires us to be somewhat uncertain about everything we do claim to know. This is because some fact unknown to us may yet turn out to prove that what we thought to be true was actually false. For example, we think we know our date of birth, our name, our age, and so forth. But we must admit that it is possible that some day we could find that our parents had given us false information, and our ‘certain’ knowledge would then turn out to be incorrect. [Therefore,] it is difficult to answer the philosopher’s question: If we do not know all the facts in the universe, past, present, and future, then how can we ever attain certainty that we have correct information about any one fact?”

Grudem then writes, “Ultimately, there are only two possible solutions to this problem. (1) We must learn all the facts of the universe in order to be sure that no subsequently discovered fact will prove our present ideas to be false; or (2) someone who does know all the facts in the universe, and who never lies, could tell us some true facts that we can then be sure will never be contradicted. This second solution is in fact what we have when we have God’s words in Scripture. God knows all facts that ever have been or ever will be. And…it is from this infinite storehouse of certain knowledge that God, who never lies, has spoken to us in Scripture, in which he has told us many true things about himself, about ourselves, and about the universe that he has made.”

So, again, this is the answer to the postmodern conundrum. If we were just left to our own devices, we might very well have to follow the postmodern thinkers into their skepticism about any claim of knowing absolute truth. That skepticism might very well be justified. However, the fact is that we’re not left to our own devices. What does Peter say in verse 19? He says that, in giving us the Bible, God’s provided us with a light to illuminate the darkness in which we’d otherwise be imprisoned. We have access to absolute truth because the all-knowing God of the universe has revealed that truth to us. So, the Bible isn’t just one source of knowledge about various things but is actually what’s necessary for us to have certain knowledge about anything. Without the Bible, the entire edifice of all knowledge would come crashing to the ground—as we can plainly see all around us in the wreckage we call postmodernism.

Then, moving forward in our passage, Peter continues in verses 20-21, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So, when it comes to the things written in the Bible, not a single word of what we find written is merely the product of human thinking or human imagination. Instead, the way Scripture came about is that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The Greek verb translated here as “carried along” is the same verb used twice in Acts 27 to refer to a ship being “carried along” by the wind. Just like the wind filled the sails of that ship and carried the ship along on its journey, the Holy Spirit filled the biblical writers and carried them along as they wrote the words of Scripture. Now, there was a certain complexity to it, because, in doing this, the Holy Spirit also incorporated the unique personalities of the biblical writers as well as their unique backgrounds and vocabularies and literary styles. So, the Holy Spirit didn’t just override all of those things. However, the Holy Spirit nevertheless led the biblical writers in such a way that the final product of what they wrote was exactly what God wanted to be written. 

Therefore, it’s quite accurate to refer to the Bible as the “Word of God.” As Peter says, “men spoke from God.” This means, first of all, that there are no errors in the Bible since God never lies and is never mistaken. It also means that the Bible carries God’s authority. Any refusal to believe the Bible is a refusal to believe God, and any refusal to obey the Bible is a refusal to obey God. Whatever the Bible says about something is what God says about something—regardless of how popular or unpopular that teaching might be in society. The words of the Bible are the words of God. 

And that’s pretty incredible when you think about it. When we read the Bible, we’re actually reading the very words of God himself. We’re not just reading someone’s analysis of something or someone’s opinion about something. We’re reading the very words of God. 

So, as I mentioned at the beginning, we might be living in a society in which just about everything is rapidly changing and shifting and evolving. In so many cases, what’s thought to be true today is shown to be false tomorrow, and whatever direction the wind of popular opinion is blowing today is the opposite of the direction it’ll be blowing tomorrow. Yet in the midst of all of these changes and contradictions, the Bible is our sure foundation. It shows us what to believe and how to live and functions as “a lamp shining in a dark place.”

So, as simple and obvious as this might sound, I can’t encourage you enough to read the Bible. You’ve probably heard the expression “you are what you eat” when it comes to your physical health. Well, the same thing’s true when it comes to your spiritual health as well. You are what you eat. Whatever it is that you consume as a part of your daily diet is, more often than not, what you’ll end up becoming. So, what is it that you’re consuming in the course of an ordinary day? Just to be very direct with you, how does the time you spend consuming the Bible compare with the time you spend consuming various kinds of entertainment and social media? 

Jesus states in Matthew 4:4 that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Just as physical food sustains our physical bodies, the Word of God sustains us spiritually. In addition, Moses says this about the Word of God to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 32:47: “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” Friends, that’s what the Bible is! It’s not just words on a page but rather our very life! 

So, if you’re not already in the habit of reading the Bible every day, consider how you can get in that habit. What part of your day can you set aside to do that? What’s a good place to do that? What arrangements will you need to make in order for that to happen? And if you’re already in the habit of reading the Bible, how can you make that time more beneficial and be more consistent in doing it?