THE APOSTOLIC TESTIMONY AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE.
2 Peter 1:16-21.
I). THE APOSTOLIC TESTIMONY.
2 Peter 1:16-18.
Peter had a genuine pastoral concern for the purity of the church after his own death, literally his “exodus” (2 Peter 1:14-15). The Apostle wrote his second letter against a background of false teaching which denied the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:3-4). Therefore he called to the witness stand the apostles (2 Peter 1:16-18) and prophets (2 Peter 1:19-21), upon whose testimony the church is built (Ephesians 2:20).
Peter emphasised the genuineness of the apostolic teaching. The “telling” (2 Peter 1:16) of the message was the imparting of a divine mystery. The Apostles were not following cleverly imagined fables in need of the de-mythologising pruning knife of the new teachers.
When the Apostles spoke of the power and coming of Jesus it was no lie, but followed on from their experience of His glory in the holy mount of transfiguration. Jesus’ preaching in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21) had already severed “the acceptable year of the LORD” from “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2). As Peter unfolded his argument it would become apparent that Jesus’ first coming was in order to usher in a dispensation of mercy, but that he would just as surely have a second coming to judgement (2 Peter 3:9-10).
In the mountain Peter, James and John “beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). Jesus changed in His physical appearance, shining with the brightness of His heavenly glory. The witnesses saw (and heard) Moses and Elijah talking with our Lord about His death, literally “the exodus which He would accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).
The incarnation of Jesus was His clothing in humility, as a sacrifice for sin. The impending “coming” of the Lord Jesus speaks of His splendid arrival as judge and king. For a brief moment, in the transfiguration, the three disciples saw the veil between heaven and earth lifted, and were “eyewitnesses” of His “majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).
The silversmiths of Ephesus may give expression to the imagined magnificence of Diana (Acts 19:27), but this does not hold a candle to the divine majesty of the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. His is the excellence of God (Deuteronomy 33:26), the honour and majesty of the Messianic king (Psalm 21:5), the glorious splendour of the majesty of the One who rules over the words and works of Providence (Psalm 145:5). This majesty was not only manifested to the three witnesses in the mount of transfiguration, but also afterwards in the valley where the people marvelled at the majesty of God (Luke 9:43) when Jesus healed a boy who was troubled by a demon.
The Apostles were being accused of misrepresentation, so having borne testimony to what they had seen, Peter now turned to his account of what they heard. Peter speaks of a commissioning from God the Father, in which Jesus received honour and glory (2 Peter 1:17). A voice was heard from “the very excellent glory,” the pillar of cloud no less, the glory which filled the tabernacle and Temple, and which was now seen momentarily on the holy mount.
“This is my Son,” said the voice, “my beloved in whom I am well pleased.” Peter does not mention that God also said “Hear ye Him” (Matthew 17:5). He is more interested at this point in what God the Father was saying about Jesus than in Jesus’ subsequent teaching.
“This voice,” says Peter, “we ourselves heard when we were with Him in the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:18). The eyewitnesses were also witnesses to the audible voice of God, which came from heaven. It was God who spoke, so the place was sacred, like Sinai (Exodus 19:23), or Zion (Psalm 2:6).
The privileged trio would have shared what they saw with the other disciples after the resurrection, making sense of it (Matthew 17:9). Even after the death of James, Peter is here still telling what he had seen (2 Peter 1:16), and what he had heard (2 Peter 1:17-18); John likewise added his testimony (1 John 1:2). The apostles informed the Jewish council that they could not remain silent about all that they had seen and heard (Acts 4:20).
The doctrine of the second coming of Christ is no pretty religious fantasy, but is a truth which was anticipated in the holy mountain (Mark 9:1-2). At the back of Peter’s apostolic testimony to the transfiguration of our Lord (2 Peter 1:16-18) lies the foundational authority of the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Peter 1:19-21). And the voice of God Himself (2 Peter 1:18).
II). THE FOUNDATIONAL AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE.
2 Peter 1:19-21.
The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20). At the back of Peter’s apostolic testimony to the transfiguration of our Lord (2 Peter 1:16-18) lies the foundational authority of the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Peter 1:19-21). Later on he will make the bold move of adding Paul’s writings to his list of canonical books (2 Peter 3:15-16).
When Jesus was reproving the Sadducees with their unbelief (Matthew 22:31-32), He did not ask whether they had heard that which was spoken to Moses, but whether they had heard “that which was spoken to you”. Neither did He ask whether they had heard that which was spoken to them by Moses, but whether they had heard “that which was spoken to you by God.” The Bible is the Word of God direct to you!
“And we have more sure the prophetic word” (2 Peter 1:19) refers back to the Old Testament. Peter is reassured of the truth of the old prophecies by what he has witnessed in the mount of transfiguration, and so looks forward all the more to what it anticipates. Confronted with those who are offloading their own doubts on the young believers, he is claiming for his own experience the same authority as Scripture.
You would do well to be “taking heed” to the prophetic word, as to a lamp shining in the midst of the obscure darkness of this dungeon of a world. What a gloomy prospect we have if we ignore the Word of God! But into this murky world comes a “light shining” - exactly the words which Jesus used of the last of the Old Testament style prophets, John the Baptist (John 5:35).
And there is the anticipation that a day will dawn, the very day that the new teachers deny, a day of judgement (Malachi 4:5) and of salvation (Acts 3:19-21). The nearness of that day should effect our style of life (Romans 13:11-14), our desire to have fellowship with like-minded people (Hebrews 10:25), and our witness to the unbelieving world (1 Peter 2:12).
Balaam was a prophet who was hired to curse Israel, but could only speak the true words of God (2 Peter 2:15-16). He foresaw the day of judgement as the rising of a “star” in Israel (Numbers 24:17). John the Baptist’s father saw the first coming of Christ as an early visitation of the “dayspring” (Luke 1:78-79).
The “morning star” is actually the planet Venus, the first to reflect the sun’s rays in the morning. Peter speaks of a similar refreshing dawn “within our hearts.” Jesus identifies Himself as the “bright and morning star” (Revelation 22:16).
When Jesus returns, believers will enter into a new level of experience (1 John 3:2). We will be “face to face” with God (1 Corinthians 13:12). “Until” then, we can be sure of the truth of the old prophecies: Jesus is coming back!
What we must understand above all, says Peter, is that “no prophecy of Scripture is of its own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). The voice of God taught the three disciples the significance of the transfiguration (2 Peter 1:17): similarly the prophets were given some understanding of the things which they saw (e.g. Jeremiah 1:11-14). The visions were from God, and the words by which they convey those visions to us are also inspired by God.
The concepts of wind, breath, and Spirit are all as one in Old Testament Hebrew, and in New Testament Greek. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2); and God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of man (Genesis 2:7). All Scripture is inspired by God: literally “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).
In the Old Testament men spoke, but they spoke from God: “no prophecy was summoned at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were borne along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). This “bearing along” is like a sailing ship being driven by a strong wind upon the sea (Acts 27:15, 17). Jesus mentions that David spoke “by the Holy Ghost” about the Messiah (Mark 12:36).
This inspiration is also the experience of the apostles (2 Peter 3:2; 2 Peter 3:16). The message of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is not some sly religious myth (2 Peter 1:16), but the very Word of God. It is taught in the Old Testament, and brought out more fully in the New.
