2 Peter 1:20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.
How much input did the prophets have in what they said? This is a question of how the words we have in the Bible have been inspired. Peter clearly believes that the prophets spoke the words of God. His point in this verse is that they were not giving their own interpretation but what God moved them to say and write. The prophets had different literary and speaking abilities. Their vocabularies were different. The situations and times in which they prophesied were different. All of these influenced the words that we have recorded in the Bible. There is a human component to biblical prophecy. How much this human component entered into the words we have in the Bible is unclear and there is no way to know. Peter’s point is not about individual words but the ideas, “the interpretation of things.” God empowered and directed the prophets to speak the ideas as God desired. Many places in the Bible, we have “thus says the Lord.” In other places we have more of the prophets’ ideas. The bottom line for us today is that we can trust what the prophets said. We can trust what is recorded in the Bible. Trust should lead to faith and action. How are we going to respond to the words of the prophets? Peter urges his readers to believe in them and use them to grow their faith.
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