2 Peter 1:1
Συμεὼν Πέτρος, δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, Τοῖς ἰσότιμον ἡμῖν λαχοῦσιν πίστιν, ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·
2 Peter 1:2
Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν.
2 Peter 1:3
Ὡς, 〈τὰ〉 πάντα ἡμῖν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ τὰ πρὸς ζωὴν καὶ εὐσέβειαν δεδωρημένης, διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς ἰδίᾳ δόξῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ,
2 Peter 1:4
δι’ ὧν τὰ τίμια καὶ μέγιστα ἡμῖν ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται, ἵνα διὰ τούτων γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως, ἀποφυγόντες τῆς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ, φθορᾶς.
2 Peter 1:5
Καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δὲ, σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες, ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν γνῶσιν,
2 Peter 1:6
ἐν δὲ τῇ γνώσει τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ τὴν ὑπομονήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὑπομονῇ τὴν εὐσέβειαν,
2 Peter 1:7
ἐν δὲ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ τὴν ἀγάπην.
2 Peter 1:8
ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ὑπάρχοντα καὶ πλεονάζοντα, οὐκ ἀργοὺς οὐδὲ ἀκάρπους καθίστησιν, εἰς τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπίγνωσιν.
2 Peter 1:9
ᾧ γὰρ μὴ πάρεστιν ταῦτα, τυφλός ἐστιν, μυωπάζων, λήθην λαβὼν τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν.
2 Peter 1:10
Διὸ μᾶλλον, ἀδελφοί, σπουδάσατε, βεβαίαν ὑμῶν τὴν κλῆσιν καὶ ἐκλογὴν ποιεῖσθαι, ταῦτα γὰρ ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴ πταίσητέ ποτε.
2 Peter 1:11
οὕτως γὰρ πλουσίως ἐπιχορηγηθήσεται ὑμῖν ἡ εἴσοδος εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον βασιλείαν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
2 Peter 1:12
Διὸ μελλήσω ἀεὶ ὑμᾶς ὑπομιμνῄσκειν περὶ τούτων, καίπερ εἰδότας καὶ ἐστηριγμένους ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ.
2 Peter 1:13
δίκαιον δὲ ἡγοῦμαι, ἐφ’ ὅσον εἰμὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ σκηνώματι, διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει,
2 Peter 1:14
εἰδὼς ὅτι ταχινή ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ σκηνώματός μου, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐδήλωσέν μοι.
2 Peter 1:15
σπουδάσω δὲ καὶ ἑκάστοτε, ἔχειν ὑμᾶς μετὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ἔξοδον, τὴν τούτων μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι.
2 Peter 1:16
Οὐ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες, ἐγνωρίσαμεν ὑμῖν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν, ἀλλ’ ἐπόπται γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος.
For not following cleverly invented stories, we revealed to you the power and return of our Lord, Jesus Christ but eye-witnesses being of that splendor.
Paraphrase: Now be assured, my dear friends, that I am not just passing along clever stories which I spun out of my own imagination. On the contrary, we saw the transfiguration of our Lord (Matthew 17) with our own eyes. When I speak to you about the glory and splendor of what we saw on that day, I am speaking of something that really happened.
Comments:
I’ve understood δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν as a hendiadys (p657).
2 Peter 1:17
λαβὼν γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν, φωνῆς ἐνεχθείσης αὐτῷ, τοιᾶσδε ὑπὸ τῆς μεγαλοπρεποῦς δόξης· Ὁ Υἱός μου, ὁ ἀγαπητός μου, οὗτός ἐστιν, εἰς ὃν ἐγὼ εὐδόκησα.
For receiving from God, the Father, honor and glory, such a voice being carried to Him from the magnificent glory, “This One is My Son, My beloved, in whom I am pleased.”
Paraphrase: We can never forget that day when God gave us the privilege of seeing this magnificent event. There we were, John, James, and I, on the mount when we heard a voice which we can never describe. It was a voice so full of honor, dignity, and glory such as none of us had ever heard before. It came from heaven, from the very dwelling place of God. “This is My Son,” the voice announced, “He is My beloved Son; and in Him, I find great joy and delight.”
Comments:
2 Peter 1:18
καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐνεχθεῖσαν σὺν αὐτῷ, ὄντες ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ὄρει.
and this voice, we heard being carried from heaven, being in the holy mountain with Him.
Paraphrase: Now, as I said, we heard this voice with our own ears and saw our Lord transfigured right before our eyes. We were right with Him when this took place on that holy mountain.
Comments:
Edersheim says (p92) that this mountain must have been one of the slopes of the gigantic, snowy Hermon.
2 Peter 1:19
Καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, ᾧ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες, ὡς λύχνῳ φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ, ἕως οὗ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃ καὶ φωσφόρος ἀνατείλῃ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν,
and we have a more sure prophetic word to which you do well coming as a light shining in a murky place until that day might break and the morning star might arise in your hearts.
Paraphrase: Now dear brothers and sisters, we saw this event with our own eyes. We saw and heard God the Father place His seal of approval on Jesus. We know that Jesus has come down from heaven (John 3:2) and brings us a revelation from God. (John 1:1) Furthermore, we remember what Jesus taught us about the law and the prophets. He taught us to regard the Bible as the very word of God which cannot be broken. (John 10:35) Now if this is what Jesus taught us and if Jesus really came down from heaven as God’s word of revelation, then we can know with certainty that the word of the prophets which we read and study is infallible. Our faith rests with perfect confidence in these writings. In these writings, we hear the voice of God, and that is why you should treasure these above all others. They truly are a light which illumines our path as we walk through this dark world. Eventually, our Lord Jesus will return, and we will know Him as we are known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) Until then, we should study the word of God and submit all our thinking to its light.
Comments:
Note the comparative form of βέβαιος; cf Deissmann (p104). The NET translators write:
As such, the construction almost surely has the force “The prophetic word is (more certain/altogether certain)—and this is something that we all have.” Many scholars prefer to read the construction as saying “we have the prophetic word made more sure,” but such a nuance is unparalleled in object-complement constructions (when the construction has this force, ποιέω is present as in 2 Peter 1:10). The meaning, as construed in the translation, is that the Bible (in this case, the OT) that these believers had in their hands was a thoroughly reliable guide.
The next question is whether this adjective is a comparative adjective i.e. the prophetic word is more sure than the experience of the transfiguration or whether it is to be understood as an elative (GGBB p300) “the prophetic word is very sure…”.
Note the attributive adjective προφητικὸν. “Τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, in Jewish terminology, designates the whole of the Scriptures, including the historical books.” Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. φῶς.
Winer writes (p370) that ἕως οὗ refers a definite past event.
2 Peter 1:20
τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως οὐ γίνεται.
This first knowing that every prophecy of Scripture did not become of one’s own understanding.
Paraphrase: We know this because Jesus Himself taught us. None of the prophetic writings originated in the prophet’s own mind or were the product of his own genius.
Comments:
The word Scripture γραφη here refers to something written. Peter is not referring to anything transmitted orally. “In the LXX, γραφή is always the rendering of כָּתוּב כְּתָב מִכְתָּב [see here] and once מִדְרָשׁ (2 Chronicles 24:27). On the other hand, סֵפֶר [see here] is never γραφή but βιβλίον, βίβλος. TDNT s.v. Γράφω, Γραφή
2 Peter 1:21
οὐ γὰρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη προφητεία ποτέ, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου φερόμενοι, ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι.
For not by the will of man was a prophecy ever carried but by the Holy Spirit being carried, men spoke from God.
Paraphrase: On the contrary, the prophetic writings originated with the Holy Spirit. It’s not as if these prophets had a sudden inspiration in their mind which they then wrote down and claimed was a word from God. No, they did not create these messages themselves. God gave messages to these holy men, and the Holy Spirit oversaw the delivery and recording of these messages such that they were preserved pure and complete for all the people of God to receive.
Comments:
When ποτέ comes after a negative, it means “ever.” (bottom of p374)
Warfield compares (p2579) the passivity present in the word φερω and compares it to being led or guided.