Sources for Knowing God | 2 Peter 1:12-21
Peter directs us to three authoritative sources that we should rely upon for knowing God: (1) the apostles' teaching; (2) the apostles' witness; and (3) the prophetic word. This sermon is part 3 of "A Fisherman's Truth," Bryan Craddock's series of verse-by-verse sermons on 2 Peter.
Technology has made navigating from one point to another much easier than it used to be. In the past, you had to get a map, study it, and plan a route. Now you just enter a destination on your smartphone, and you are guided with turn-by-turn directions as you drive. The system warns you about accidents, stalled cars, and speed traps along the way. It will even plot a new route to save time.
Some people expect a relationship with God to operate that way. They want personal revelation from him for every turn, or at least the major ones. They seek it through signs, dreams, an internal voice, or just through their feelings. But even in the Bible, such experiences are rare. So, when that approach does not work, they often end up following a leader who claims to have that kind of connection with God. Sadly, they are easily exploited in that situation.
Peter wrote his second letter to warn believers about the influence of false teachers. Before he gets to that, however, he lays a foundation. In verses 1-4 of chapter 1, he describes the privileges granted to everyone who knows God: an equal faith, a full knowledge, and a glorious calling. Then in verses 5-11, he walks through the commitments of knowing him: diligence in building upon our faith, fruitfulness, and the pursuit of assurance that God has chosen us.
As we come to verses 12-21, Peter directs us to three authoritative sources that we should rely upon for knowing God. We could simply say that he points us to the Bible, but its various writings had not yet been gathered as they are now. This passage helps us understand how and why they go together, why they are authoritative, and how we should relate to them. They provide the map that we need for spiritual life.
The Apostles’ Teaching
My wife and I made several long road trips when our children were young. We thought that it would be smart to drive through the night so that the kids would sleep most of the way. But the same darkness and steady vibration that kept them from waking up made it terribly hard for us to stay awake. You have to find something to engage your mind.
Peter knew this struggle well. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told him, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mk 14:38). But Peter could not do it. He kept falling asleep.
Of course, our real need is not physical but spiritual alertness. In his Olivet Discourse, recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus instructed his followers to watch for his coming (24:42-44). So, it should not surprise us that Peter describes his reason for writing as stirring believers up, and I think that the same could be said about all of the Apostles’ teaching.
He begins to express this thought in 2 Peter 1:12-14 by saying,
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Peter does not speak to his readers as people who are ignorant. He has already said that they possess everything pertaining to life and godliness through their knowledge of God (2 Pe 1:3). There may still be things that they need to learn, adding knowledge to their faith and virtue (v. 5), but he says here that they are established in the truth. All the same, they still need reminders.
He recognized that his own life was limited. In fact, a more literal translation of the word “body” in verse 13 is “tent”, a temporary dwelling. Tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. As he wrote, he probably recognized that this was imminent, but he must have already possessed a strong sense of urgency.
John 21:18-19 tells us that when Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection he spoke to Peter and said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."
We all know that we will die unless Jesus returns beforehand. But this prediction made it particularly clear to Peter. So, he wanted to create a reminder for believers that would last forever. He reiterates his purpose in 2 Peter 1:15 by saying,
And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
He knew that people needed more than oral communication. That is why he wrote this letter, and it seems clear that he understood it to be more than a normal letter. Later in verses 15 and 16 of chapter 3 he refers to Paul, saying,
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
We will examine these verses more closely later. For now, we need to see that by referring to “other Scriptures,” Peter indicates that he considers Paul’s letters to be Scriptures. Sometimes skeptics argue that the New Testament was created by a church council a few centuries after the time of Jesus and the apostles. It is true that councils rejected some writings as false and affirmed lists of the ones that should be accepted. But these verses from 2 Peter 3 show that the authority of these writings were recognized immediately while the apostles were still alive. Peter probably even had this awareness as he wrote.
He will explain why their writings carried such authority at the end of the chapter. But before moving on, we should be clear about how central the apostles’ teaching should be for us as New Testament believers. Acts 2:42 describes the early church by saying,
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Their teaching in the Book of Acts, the New Testament letters, and the Book of Revelation helps us understand the implications of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and return. They lay out the principles for how we should live in response to those truths. Even though they were addressing the relevant issues of their day, they still give us a definitive map of Christian life and belief to use in our journey. We may not always find new information there, but we still need to be stirred up to remember the hope of our salvation and to keep moving forward toward our destination. That leads us to a second source.
The Apostles’ Witness
Ancient religions tell epic stories that play well on stage and screen. People are still fascinated by the tales of Greek gods. But every poet or dramatist embellished them as they saw fit. They might have tacked on some moral lessons, but they did not present them as historically accurate accounts communicating absolute truths. They are myths.
Since other cultures use this approach, skeptics often claim that the Bible was also written from a mythological point of view. But Peter explicitly refutes that idea in 2 Peter 1:16. He directs believers to rely upon the apostles’ eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as another authoritative source. He says,
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Acts 1:8 tells us that in his last words before ascending to heaven, Jesus charged his disciples to serve as witnesses. We often use that term in a generic sense. Every believer can and should testify to the saving power of Christ. But the apostles were selected to provide a firsthand account about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus from his baptism to his ascension. This was the main criteria that they used in selecting someone to replace Judas. So, the faith that they proclaimed is grounded in fact not fiction.
Specifically, Peter focuses on the power and coming of Christ. Every other time that this word for coming is used in relation to Jesus, it refers to his second coming. In chapter 3, Peter says that people were denying that he would return. Even today a lot of believers seem to downplay it. Some seem to be embarrassed by talk of the end times, while others focus on fighting culture wars and gaining political power.
Throughout the New Testament, however, the apostles call believers to live with great hope and urgent anticipation as they wait for Christ’s return. Peter encouraged this focus in 1 Peter 1:13 by saying,
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
But his point here in 2 Peter is that this aspect of the apostles’ teaching is rooted in an event that they witnessed. They saw a preview of the majesty of Christ. In 2 Peter 1:17-18, he says,
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
This event is recorded in three of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We often call it the Transfiguration, because Matthew 17:2 says that Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light. Moses and Elijah also appeared. Peter offered to make tabernacles for each of them, and that is when God the Father spoke. Jesus is more than a prophet. He is the beloved Son of God.
So, Peter presents the Transfiguration as confirmation that Jesus will return and will reign in power. In fact, everything recorded in the Gospels points to that conclusion. In his teaching, Jesus called people to repent and live in light of the kingdom’s coming. His miracles all foreshadow the abundance and physical wholeness of the life that we will experience there. Then his death and resurrection make it possible for sinful people like us to be forgiven and reconciled with God so that we can enter the kingdom and live there forever.
Now it's hard to know exactly when each of the Gospels were written. Some critics date them late to allow time for them to copy one another. But if you take them as independent works by the traditional authors, then it is possible that Peter’s readers might have already had access to some of them. They quickly became the authoritative source for the apostles’ witness.
Peter did not write a Gospel himself. There is a document from the second century that is called the Gospel of Peter, but the church has never accepted it as genuine. Since Peter mentions having a close relationship with Mark in 1 Peter 5:13, Mark probably drew upon Peter’s testimony.
As for the other Gospels, Matthew and John both offer their personal testimony as apostles. Luke probably gathered accounts from Jesus’ family and from some of the other apostles. In Luke 1:1-4, he says,
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
His approach demonstrates this concern for historical accuracy that we have been talking about, and there is no reason to doubt that the other apostles wrote with the same goal in mind. So, as we seek to know God we should rely upon the apostles’ teaching and the apostles’ witness. But Peter adds a third source.
The Prophetic Word
Some historians remind us that light used to be more costly. In ancient times, it required significant time and effort to keep the tiniest flame going. In the Mediterranean world, people had to harvest olives, mash them, and strain them to make oil for their lamps. But light is easily accessible and relatively cheap for us. With the flip of a switch, we flood our homes with all the light we want.
Throughout history we find a similar progression in God’s revelation. We now have the apostles’ witness in the Gospels and their teaching in the rest of the New Testament. But we must understand that the New Testament builds upon the prophetic word of the Old Testament and is leading us to something far greater. In 2 Peter 1:19, Peter tells us,
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
The first part of the verse could be interpreted in two ways. Peter could be saying that the prophetic word is more certain than the apostles’ teaching and witness. The King James Version reflects this understanding by saying, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” But the verse describes a progression from a lamp in the dark to the full light of day. So, the idea is that the apostles’ teaching and witness makes the prophetic word more certain than it was previously. How could that be?
In their writings, the apostles show how the life and ministry of Jesus fulfilled some Old Testament prophecies. He is the offspring of a woman as promised in Genesis 3:15 and was born of a virgin as Isaiah 7:14 foretold. He is the descendant of David born in Bethlehem, as Micah 5:2 says, and the Son of God described in Psalm 2 who now sits in heaven and will one day return. These fulfillments should deepen our confidence in the prophetic word.
But what is the prophetic word? Is Peter referring to specific prophecies? Is he talking about the prophetic books as we know them in our English canon, Isaiah through Malachi? Jesus often referred to the Old Testament as the Law and the Prophets, and the Law itself was written by Moses who refers to himself as a prophet in Deuteronomy 18:15. So, I think that we should understand the entire Old Testament as the prophetic word. It all looks forward to Jesus, while the entire New Testament is a response to him.
In practice, many Christians ignore most of the Old Testament. We may get bogged down in the rules and genealogies and confused by the prophetic books. We enjoy the stories of judges and kings, but we may struggle to see any practical lessons for our lives. Yet Peter tells us to pay attention. The light may be dim in the Old Testament, but we need to see how it grows. Israel’s failures demonstrate our need for salvation in this dark world, and through faith in Christ we are grafted in to share in the glorious hope that God promised them.
Peter describes that hope as the dawning of the day. The Bible often speaks of the day of the Lord as a time of judgment for the world that leads into the fulfillment of God’s promises. Peter probably has the same event in mind here, but it is a little more difficult to define what the morning star in the verse is.
He may have been thinking of the prophecy in Numbers 24:17, where Balaam describes Israel’s coming king as a star coming out of Jacob. But Peter says that this star will rise in your hearts. So, perhaps he is speaking of the transformation that Christ will bring about in believers’ knowledge as he returns. Several passages describe this change. Hosea 6:3 calls the people of Israel to know the Lord whose going out is as sure as the dawn. Isaiah 11:9 says that when the Messiah comes, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Then in 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says,
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
On that day, our relationship with the Lord will be at a different level. We will live in his presence without any hindrances. But until then, Peter says that we should keep paying attention to the prophetic word, and he explains why we should trust it. In 2 Peter 1:20-21, he says,
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The word “interpretation” might confuse us here. Peter is not talking about how we interpret Scripture today, but about how Scripture was written. It is not an expression of human ideas about life or some personal interpretation of reality. It did not come about through human initiative. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So, Scripture is both human and divine. Its authors use normal human language. It reflects their time and culture. It even carries the marks of their unique personalities. God did not dictate what they should write. But he worked in and through them in such a way that the final product carries his full authority and perfectly expresses what he wanted to communicate. That is why in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul says,
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
As I noted earlier, since Peter considers Paul’s writings Scripture, the entire Bible, Old Testament and New, carries the authority of God. As Paul says here, that means it is completely sufficient to give us the guidance we need. So, we should rely upon it and interpret it in a way that respects its character as both human and divine.
__________
What sources are you drawing upon for guidance in life? Are you following your own fallible reason or looking for some feeling? We need something more sure than that, something that will give us the discernment that we need to recognize and refute false teaching. God has chosen to reveal himself and his will to us through the apostles teaching, the apostles witness, and the prophetic word. Are you relying upon the Scriptures?
There is certainly much to learn from the Bible, but this one idea should be clear. It is all about Jesus. It shows us the darkness of life without him. It reveals that through faith in him we can be saved and transformed as we wait for his return. So, if you have never done so, I invite you to start believing in Jesus Christ.
If you are a believer, do you need to deepen your reliance upon Scripture? A good place to start might be to read Paul’s full argument for biblical authority in 2 Timothy 3. But you can also work to cultivate your reliance by reading, studying, memorizing, and applying the Bible to your life. It might help to read and discuss the Bible with someone else--with another believer for your own growth or even with someone who doesn’t know the Lord as a way to share it with them.
May we be people of God’s Word!
Reflect
How does this passage shape your understanding of the Bible’s reliability? What other questions do you have?
What could you do to deepen your reliance upon Scripture?
Where would you recommend that someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible begin reading? Why?