Prophecy never had its origin in the human will
2 Peter 1:21 - The lesson? It is important to understand that when you are reading the Bible, you are reading God’s truth and meaning.
Image generated by ChatGPT (OpenAI) using the DALL·E model.
“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Peter 1:21 NIV
Prophecy and the ability to prophesy play a big part in Scripture. Of the 66 books of the Christian Bible, 18 contain prophecy (17 in the Old Testament, one (Revelation) in the New Testament). What were prophets? GotQuestions.org provided a good answer:
A prophet in the Old Testament was someone who was used by God to communicate His message to the world. Prophets were also called “seers” because they could “see,” spiritually speaking, as God gave them insight (1 Samuel 9:9). The prophets can be divided into the “writing prophets” such as Isaiah, Daniel, Amos, and Malachi; and the “non-writing prophets” such as Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29), Micaiah (2 Chronicles 18:7), and Elisha (1 Kings 19:16). There are also some anonymous prophets in the Old Testament, such as the unnamed prophet in Judges 6:7–10.
Since John finished writing Revelation, there has been no need for prophets, and anyone claiming to be a messenger of God needs to have their message checked against biblical truth. Once again from GotQuestions.org:
Are there true prophets today? If the purpose of a prophet was to reveal truth from God, why would we need prophets if we have the completed revelation from God in the Bible? If prophets were the “foundation” of the early church, are we still building the “foundation” today? Can God give someone a message to deliver to someone else? Absolutely! Does God reveal truth to someone in a supernatural way and enable that person to deliver that message to others? Absolutely! But is this the biblical gift of prophecy? No.
Whatever the case, whenever a person claims to be speaking for God (the essence of prophecy) the key is to compare what is said with what the Bible says. If God were to speak through a person today, it would be in 100% complete agreement with what God has already said in the Bible. God does not contradict Himself.
With that context, let’s take a look at today’s message from 2 Peter. What he is saying is that the prophecies — and in fact all the verses of the Bible — were inspired by God. They were not the product of the human mind, or as Peter said, prophecy “never had its origin in the human will.”
From Precept Austin:
Beloved, don't miss what this verse is saying - Simply stated, Peter is teaching that the Scriptures are inspired by God (cf 2Ti 3:16, 17-note). Stated another way, what Peter is saying (in essence) in 2Peter 1:20, 21 is that one Author guided the Biblical writers through the process of recording His Words with their pens. Indeed, the resulting inarguable unity of the 66 books is another amazing proof of the divine inspiration and authority of the entire Bible! Hallelujah!
Peter goes on to reinforce the point that humans were merely the transcribers and speakers of God’s Word, separating the halves of this verse with ἀλλά (alla), defined in Strong’s Concordance as “contrariwise” and seen here in the word “but”. Prophets were not inventing God’s Word; on the contrary they “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” And once again from Precept Austin:
Peter supports Paul's doctrine that Scripture is not a man-made creation but represents the words breathed by God (see notes on inspiration of Scripture in 2Ti 3:16,17-note.) The Holy Spirit and not the will of men was the Source of Holy Scripture. In the OT alone, the human writers refer to their writings as the words of God over 3800 times.
That is vivid imagery, as if the prophets are vessels of God’s truth being blown across the sea by the winds of the Holy Spirit — hence the choice of illustration for today. In fact, the Ancient Greek word translated in the NIV version as “carried along” is φέρω (pherō), defined as “to move by bearing; move or, to be conveyed or borne, with the suggestion of force or speed
of persons borne in a ship over the sea
of a gust of wind, to rush
of the mind, to be moved inwardly, prompted”
We’ll end this examination of today’s verse with a quote from a John Piper sermon from February 26, 1984 titled “The Holy Spirit: Author of Scripture” cited in the previously mentioned commentary on Precept Austin:
“Yes, men spoke. They spoke with their own language and style. But Peter mentions two other dimensions of their speaking. First, they spoke from God. What they have to say is not merely from their own limited perspective. They are not the origin of the truth they speak; they are the channel. The truth is God’s truth. Their meaning is God’s meaning. Second, not only is what they spoke from God, but how they spoke it is controlled by the Holy Spirit. “Men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God.” God did not simply reveal truth to the writers of Scripture and then depart in hopes that they might communicate it accurately. Peter says that in the very communicating of it they were carried by the Holy Spirit. The making of the Bible was not left to merely human skills of communication; the Holy Spirit Himself carried the process to completion… But what about the New Testament? Did the apostles and their close associates (Mark, Luke, James, Jude and the writer to the Hebrews) experience divine inspiration as they wrote? Were they “carried” by the Holy Spirit to speak from God? The Christian church has always answered yes. Jesus said to his apostles in John 16:12, 13,
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot * bear them now. 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
Then the apostle Paul confirms this when he says of his own apostolic teaching in 1Cor 2:12,13, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” In 2Co 13:3 he said that Christ speaks in him. And in Gal 1:12 he said, “For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” If we take Paul as our model for what it meant to be an apostle of Christ, then it would be fair to say that the New Testament as well as the Old is not merely from man but also from God. The writers of the Old Testament and New Testament spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
The lesson? It is important to understand that when you are reading the Bible, you are reading God’s truth and meaning.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Knowing Jesus:
Heavenly Father, thank You that by Your grace and love, You gave us the inspired Scriptures through Your chosen apostles and prophets and that they were faithful in writing what the Holy Spirit moved them to write. What a blessing to read that You are my Father in heaven and that Your beloved Son came to earth to be my Saviour. Thank You for all the fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, and all the prophecies yet to be fulfilled. May I always hunger and thirst for Your Word as it is light, truth, and life to me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Yes! In fact, 2nd Peter 1:20 says prophecy is scripture. Therefore, if someone today claims to get a
"prophetic message" they are keeping that part of the scripture to themselves and cheating the rest of the world.