2 Peter 1:21

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. CAME NOT IN OLD TIME, [ ou (G3756) ... eenecthee (G5342) pote (G4218)] - 'was never at any time borne' (to us). BY THE WILL OF MAN - alone (Jeremiah 23:26: cf. 2 Peter 3:5, "willingly"). HOLY MEN OF GOD. 'Aleph (') A, Vulgate; but B C, 'men FROM God;' emissaries from God. "Holy," because they had the Holy Spirit. MOVED, [ feromen...

_But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. _They did not of themselves, or according to their own will, foolishly deliver their own inventions. The meaning is, that the beginning of right knowledge is to give that credit to the holy prophets which is due to God. He calls them the _holy men of God, _because they faithfully executed the office committed to them, having sustained the person of God in their ministrations. He says that they were — not that they were bereaved of mind, (as the Gentiles imagined their prophets to have been,) but because they dared not to announce anything of their own, and obediently followed the Spirit as their guide, who ruled in their mouth as in his own sanctuary. Understand by _prophecy of Scripture _that which is contained in the holy Scriptures....

16-21 The gospel is no weak thing, but comes in power, Romans 1:16. The law sets before us our wretched state by sin, but there it leaves us. It discovers our disease, but does not make known the cure. It is the sight of Jesus crucified, in the gospel, that heals the soul. Try to dissuade the covetous worlding from his greediness, one ounce of gold weighs down all reasons. Offer to stay a furious man from anger by arguments, he has not patience to hear them. Try to detain the licentious, one smile is stronger with him than all reason. But come with the gospel, and urge them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed to save their souls from hell, and to satisfy for their sins, and this is that powerful pleading which makes good men confess that their hearts burn within them, and bad men, even an Agrippa, to say they are almost persuaded to be Christians,...

Verse 2 Peter 1:21. _FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME_] That is, in any former time, by the will of man-by a man's own searching, conjecture, or calculation; but holy men of God-persons separated from the world, and devoted to God's service, spake, moved by the Holy Ghost. So far were they from inventing these prophetic declarations concerning Christ, or any future event, that they were φερομενοι, carried away, out of themselves and out of the whole region, as it were, of human knowledge and conjecture, by the Holy Ghost, who, without their knowing any thing of the matter, dictated to them what to speak, and what to write; and so far above their knowledge were the words of the prophecy, that they did not even know the intent of those words, but searched what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of...

FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME - Margin, or, “at any.” The Greek word (ποτὲ pote) will bear either construction. It would be true in either sense, but the reference is particularly to the recorded prophecies in the Old Testament. What was true of them, however, is true of all prophecy, that it is not by the will of man. The word “prophecy” here is without the article, meaning prophecy in general - all that is prophetic in the Old Testament; or, in a more general sense still, all that the prophets taught, whether relating to future events or not. BY THE WILL OF MAN - It was not of human origin; not discovered by the human mind. The word “will,” here seems to be used in the sense of “prompting” or “suggestion;” men did not speak by their own suggestion, but as truth was brought to them by God. But holy m

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 1:1 SIMON PETER. "Symeon" seems to be the best-supported spelling in this place. The same form of the name is found in Luke 2:25 and Acts 13:1; it also occurs in Acts 15:14, where St. James refers to St. Peter's speech on the great question of the circumcision of Gentile Christians. It is the form always used in the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. The old man's thoughts go back to his early years; he describes himself by the familiar name of his youth; he uses that Greek form of it which was most distinctively Jewish. But he joins with the old name, which spoke of Judaism, the

FOR THE PROPHECY,.... The whole Scripture, all the prophetic writings; so the Jews call the Scriptures הנבואה, "the prophecy" g, by way of eminence, and from the subject matter of the sacred word: CAME NOT IN OLD TIME BY THE WILL OF MAN; was not brought into the world at first, or in any period of time, as and when man would, according to his pleasure, and as he thought fit: neither Moses, nor David, nor Isaiah, nor Jeremiah, nor Ezekiel, nor Daniel, nor any other of the prophets, prophesied when they pleased, but when it was the will of God they should; they were stirred up to prophesy, not by any human impulse, but by a divine influence: with this agrees what R. Sangari says, "that the speech of the prophets, when the Holy Spirit clothed them, in all their words was directed by a divine influence, and the prophet could not speak in the choice of his own words,'' or according to his...

2 Peter 1:1. _Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:_ Peter here uses both his names,-Simon or Simeon, which was his first name, and signifies «hearing with acceptance,» and happy are they who have the hearing ear and the receptive heart; and then there is what I may call his Christian name, the name which Christ gave him, Petros, or Cephas, a rock or stone. Those who learn to hear well, since faith cometh by hearing, may hope to obtain even greater stability of character than Peter had. Observe that Peter calls himself «a servant of Christ.» There is no higher honour than to be a servant of God. «To serve God is to reign.» An ancient philosopher was the author of that maxim, and Christianity fully endorses it. He is a true king who is a servant of God.

2 PETER 1:21 avpo. qeou/ {A} The reading that best accounts for the origin of the others is avpo. qeou/, which is read by î72 B P 614 1739 syrh copbo arm _al_. The reading a[gioi qeou/ (a K Y 33 _Byz al_) appears to be secondary, being either (_a_) an emendation that commended itself to copyists because it gives greater prominence to the idea of holiness, or (_b_) the result of palaeographical confusion, apo;=u= having been taken for agioi;=u=. The two readings are combined in differing conflations in C 81 ù809 _al_....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE GRACIOUS PROVISIONS OF GOD CHAPTER 1 _ 1. God's gracious provisions in Christ (2 Peter 1:1)_ 2. The development of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:5) 3. The promises of prophecy (2 Peter 1:12) 2 Peter 1:1 We are not left in doubt who the writer is, not a pseudo Peter, but Simon Peter, the fisherman of Galilee. With this second Epistle he finishes the task given him by the Lord “to strengthen his brethren.” The opening verse of the third chapter shows that the Epistle is addressed to the same persons to whom he wrote the first Epistle. He gives his old name, Simon (or