2 Peter 1:20

2 Peter 1:20 ‘But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is. matter of one's own interpretation,'

‘But know this first of all' -‘Understanding this, at the outset' (Mof). ‘is meant that we must recognize this truth as of primary importance, or, before we commence the study of the prophetic word.' (P.P. Comm. p. 10). The first essential truth to be understood about the Old Testament Scriptures is as follows. Or, we might say, ‘The first rule in studying the Old Testament, is to recognize that….'

‘that no' -This truth applies to the whole Old Testament.

‘prophecy of Scripture' -the utterances of the Old Testament prophets.. prophet was. mouthpiece or spokesman for God (Exodus 2:1; Hebrews 1:1). “Prophecy”-‘signifies the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God' (Vine p. 221) “Scripture”-hence we are talking about the written messages of the prophets, i.e. the Old Testament. Keep in mind that the writings of the New Testament are also labeled as Scripture (1 Timothy 5:18; 2 Peter 3:16)

‘is a' -‘comes, springs' (Robertson p. 158); ‘becomes, arises, comes into being' (P.P. Comm. p. 10); ‘arises, originates' (Vincent p. 688).

‘one's own' -‘pertaining to oneself, one's own' (Thayer p. 296). ‘according to his own capability' (Arndt p. 369).

‘interpretation' -‘to loose, solve, explain, denotes. solution, explanation…i.e. the writers of the Scriptures did not put their construction upon the “God breathed words they wrote” (Vine p. 268). ‘was ever though up by the prophet himself' (Tay)

Points to Note:

Unfortunately, some have concluded that the above passage is saying that the individual cannot understand the Bible. Barclay erroneously concludes, ‘The one place in which the Spirit specially resides, and the one place in which the Spirit is specially operative is the Church; and, therefore, Scripture must be interpreted in the light of the teaching, the belief, and the tradition of the Church. God is our Father in the faith, but the Church is our mother in the faith.' (p. 370) 2. Notice how he is using the word ‘Church'. He thinks that there is. ‘Church' that exists separate and apart from Christians (Acts 20:28). 3. He views the educated leaders in the Church as being infallible, which is another misconception (Acts 20:29). In fact, Barclay even goes so far as to say, ‘If then, we wish to interpret (understand) Scripture, we must never arrogantly insist that our interpretation of it must be correct; we must humbly go to the works of the great devoted scholars to learn what they have to teach us, because of what the Spirit taught them.' (p. 370) 4. In contrast, to the above view, the apostle Paul believed that every Christian could understand what he wrote (Ephesians 3:3). In addition, none of the Bible was written for the ‘great scholars'. The letters were written to members, common people! 5. We can understand the Scriptures! (Acts 17:11; Ephesians 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:15; John 5:39). 6. I'm not impressed by the so-called inspiration of the great scholars, when such men can't even properly interpret this verse! 7. Peter is not talking about the interpretation of those reading the Scriptures, for everyone must interpret. Interpretation means nothing more than ‘understanding'. Each one is commanded to understand (Ephesians 5:17). Rather, Peter is talking about the prophets who delivered the prophecies. The next verse explains that the prophecies did not originate in the mind of the prophet, but rather with God.