Commentary - 2 Peter 1:16-18

Bird's-eye view

In this potent little section, the apostle Peter is grounding the faith of his readers in the bedrock of historical reality. He is writing to believers who are being unsettled by various forms of Gnostic nonsense, what he calls here "cleverly devised myths." The Christian faith is not a philosophy, not a collection of inspiring stories, but is rather an announcement of something that happened. God broke into human history in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Peter's response to these cunning fables is not to offer a better fable, but to point to the unshakable fact of what he and the other apostles saw and heard. The central event he brings forward is the Transfiguration, a moment when the veil was pulled back and the disciples were given a glimpse of the unveiled, majestic glory of the Lord Jesus. This was not a subjective vision; it was an objective event, confirmed by the audible voice of God the Father. This testimony, Peter argues, is the firm foundation upon which our faith rests, a faith that is not based on human ingenuity but on divine revelation.

Peter is establishing the apostolic authority that undergirds the whole Christian enterprise. He is saying, in effect, "We were there." This is not hearsay. This is not second hand information. We saw His glory. We heard the Father's voice. The Christian message is therefore not a matter of private interpretation or spiritual guesswork. It is a public record, a testimony delivered by appointed witnesses. The power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ are historical realities, witnessed by men who touched and saw and heard. The glory they saw on the mountain was a down payment, a foretaste of the ultimate glory that will be revealed when Christ returns. And so, the faith of every believer, down to the present day, is connected directly to this historical, witnessed event.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 16 For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of His majesty.

Peter begins with a sharp contrast. The apostolic message is not in the same category as the religious speculations and fables that were so common in the ancient world. The Greek word for "myths" here is muthois, from which we get our word myth. In the modern sense, a myth is just a story that isn't true. But in the biblical sense, a myth is a story that tries to explain reality without reference to the God who actually created and governs reality. These are man-made stories, cleverly devised, sophisticated, and ultimately empty. The gospel is not like that. It is not a product of human cleverness. The apostles did not sit around a campfire and brainstorm a new religious system. They were messengers, reporters of what they had seen and heard.

The subject of their proclamation was "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This refers to His first coming in humility and His second coming in glory. The power was evident in His miracles, His resurrection, and His ascension. The apostles were not just sharing good ideas; they were announcing the arrival of a kingdom and a king. And their basis for this announcement was that they were "eyewitnesses of His majesty." The word for eyewitness here is epoptai, a term that could be used for those initiated into the highest level of the mystery religions. Peter is co-opting the term to say that the apostles were initiated into a true mystery, not a fabricated one. They saw with their own eyes the megaleiotēs, the magnificence, the sheer grandeur of Jesus. This wasn't a feeling they had; it was a sight they saw.

v. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”,

Here Peter specifies the event he has in mind: the Transfiguration. On that mountain, Jesus "received honor and glory from God the Father." This is a crucial point. The glory Jesus displayed was not his own independent glory, but a glory bestowed by the Father. This is the constant pattern in the Trinity. The Father glorifies the Son, and the Son glorifies the Father. This event was a Trinitarian affair. The honor and glory were conferred when a voice came "by the Majestic Glory." This is a striking way to refer to God the Father. It is a circumlocution, a way of speaking about God that emphasizes His transcendent greatness. The glory itself spoke.

And what did the Majestic Glory say? The words are a direct quotation, a conflation of the words spoken at Jesus' baptism (Matt. 3:17) and the account of the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5). "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased." This is the ultimate testimony. The Father Himself identifies the Son. This is not a prophet, not an angel, not a mere teacher. This is God's own Son, His beloved, the one in whom all His delight is found. This declaration from heaven is the bedrock of Christian theology. Everything we believe about Jesus is grounded in who the Father says He is. The entire gospel is wrapped up in this paternal pleasure. The Father is pleased with the Son, and it is only by being "in Christ" that we can be pleasing to God.

v. 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Peter brings it back to the personal, empirical, and historical. "We ourselves heard this." He is speaking of himself, James, and John. This was not a mass hallucination. This was a specific event, with specific witnesses. They heard the voice that came "from heaven." The testimony was supernatural in its origin but historical in its reception. It entered the stream of human history through the ears of the apostles.

He calls the location "the holy mountain." The mountain became holy because of what happened there. God's presence sanctifies a place. Just as Mount Sinai became holy when God descended upon it to give the law, so this mountain became holy when the glory of God was revealed in the Son and the voice of the Father was heard. This was a new Sinai. The old covenant was given on a mountain with thunder and lightning, inspiring fear. The new covenant is revealed on a mountain with a radiant Son and a loving Father, inspiring awe and worship. The apostles were there. They stood on holy ground. And because they were there, and because they reported what they saw and heard, we who are centuries removed can stand on that same solid ground of faith.

Application

The application of this passage is direct and bracing. First, we must have a robust confidence in the historical reliability of the New Testament. Our faith is not built on fables, cleverly devised or otherwise. It is built on the testimony of eyewitnesses who had nothing to gain by lying and everything to lose. In an age of skepticism and cynicism, we must be people who know why we believe what we believe. We believe it because it happened.

Second, our understanding of Jesus must be governed by the Father's testimony. The world wants to make Jesus into a hundred different things: a good teacher, a moral example, a revolutionary. But the Father says, "This is My beloved Son." That is the non-negotiable center. To see Jesus in any other way is to ignore the voice from the Majestic Glory. Our worship, our doctrine, and our lives must be centered on the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ.

Finally, we are called to be faithful witnesses to this reality. The apostles heard the voice and then they told the world. They made known the power and coming of the Lord Jesus. We have received their testimony, written down for us in the Scriptures. We are now the ones who must pass it on. We do not do this by devising our own clever arguments or myths, but by faithfully proclaiming the apostolic record. We point people to the Christ who was revealed in majesty on the mountain, who died for our sins, who was raised from the dead, and whose power and coming are the only hope for this world.