2 Peter 1:21

2 Peter 1:21. For not by man's will was prophecy borne at any time. The statement is more absolute than it is made to appear in the A. V. The phrase ‘not of old time' means ‘never,' or ‘not at any time.' The verb rendered ‘came' is the one which was used already in 2 Peter 1:17-18, and means sent or communicated in the sense of being borne on. It points here, therefore, not to the utterance of prophecy, but to the prophetic afflatus, or to the prophecy as a gift imparted by God, and in relation to which man himself was simply a recipient.

but, being borne on by the Holy Ghost, men spake from God. Documentary evidence is in favour of this reading, which is both shorter and more expressive than that of the A. V. It drops the official title of the prophets as ‘holy men of God,' and, in harmony with the emphatic denial of the agency of ‘man's will' in the prophetic message, speaks of the bearers of prophecy simply as ‘men.' it describes them further as men who became prophets only by receiving an impulse from the Holy Spirit which bore them on, and as speaking, therefore, ‘from God,' that is to say, as commissioners from Him, having the point of issue for their message not in their own will but in God's will. On the term ‘borne on' compare Acts 17:15; Acts 17:17, where it is used of the ship driving before the wind. The A. V. misses the point when it renders ‘ as they were moved.' The statement is, that they spake because they were so moved.