The Objective Word in a Subjective Age Text: 2 Peter 1:19-21
Introduction: The Crisis of Authority
We live in an age that is drowning in words and starving for a Word. Our culture is adrift on a sea of subjectivity, where every man’s feelings are his own north star, and "my truth" is the only truth he will acknowledge. This is the logical outworking of a rebellion that began in the Garden, a rebellion against the very idea of an external, objective, authoritative Word from God. The serpent did not argue with Eve about the details; he questioned the source. "Did God really say?" And ever since, mankind has been trying to answer that question with a resounding "No," or at least a "Yes, but..."
This crisis of authority has not left the church untouched. We have evangelicals who want to affirm the Bible’s authority in theory, but who develop all sorts of interpretive gymnastics to get around what it plainly says when it offends our modern sensibilities. They want to treat the Word of God not as a rock to build on, but as a lump of clay to be molded to the spirit of the age. They speak of the Bible "becoming" the Word of God in a personal experience, rather than confessing that it simply "is" the Word of God, whether they feel like it or not. This reduces the Lion of Judah to a house cat, declawed and domesticated, that only purrs when we pet it just right.
Into this swamp of sentimentalism and subjectivism, the Apostle Peter throws a granite boulder. He has just finished recounting his own personal, jaw-dropping experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw Christ in His glory. He heard the voice of God the Father from heaven. If anyone had a right to build his faith on a personal, mystical experience, it was Peter. But what does he say? He points us away from his experience to something "more sure." He points us to the prophetic Word, the Scriptures.
This passage is a direct assault on the modern notion that truth is found by looking inward. Peter tells us that truth is an objective reality, delivered to us from outside of ourselves. It is not something we invent, but something we receive. It is not a product of human ingenuity or spiritual intuition, but a divine revelation, spoken by God through men carried along by the Holy Spirit. If we do not get this right, we get nothing right. The authority and objectivity of Scripture is not one doctrine among many; it is the foundation of them all.
The Text
And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
(2 Peter 1:19-21 LSB)
A More Sure Word (v. 19)
Peter begins by making a startling comparison. He has just described hearing God's voice thunder from heaven, an experience that confirmed Jesus as the beloved Son. But then he says this:
"And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts." (2 Peter 1:19)
How can anything be "more sure" than the audible voice of God the Father? Peter is not denigrating his experience on the mountain. That experience was glorious, and it was true. But he is establishing a vital principle: the written Word of God is our ultimate and most certain authority. Why? Because my memory of an experience can fade. My interpretation of an event can be skewed. My feelings about what I saw and heard can fluctuate. But the written Word is fixed. It is objective. It stands outside of me, judging me, and does not submit to being judged by me.
The "prophetic word" here refers to the Old Testament Scriptures, which testified to Christ. But by extension, it applies to all of Scripture, including the apostolic writings that were then being completed. This Word is our final court of appeal. Personal experiences, testimonies, and spiritual goosebumps are all well and good, but they must be brought to the bar of Scripture to be tested. If your experience contradicts the Word, you must discard your experience. The modern church has this exactly backwards. We are told to interpret the Word through the lens of our experience, particularly our experience of suffering or oppression. Peter says no. You interpret your experience through the lens of the Word.
He gives us a powerful image for the function of this Word: it is "a lamp shining in a dark place." This world is a dark place. Our hearts are naturally dark places. We are stumbling around in the pitch black, unable to make sense of anything. The Scripture is the flashlight God has given us. It doesn't illuminate everything all at once, but it casts a clear, steady beam on the path directly in front of us, showing us where to step next. To neglect your Bible reading is to turn off the flashlight and insist on walking through a minefield by memory.
We are to pay attention to this lamp "until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts." The dawning of the day is the final return of Christ. The "morning star" is Jesus Himself (Rev. 22:16). The hope of the Christian is not found in an inner light, but in the dawning of an external reality, the consummation of all things in Christ. The Word of God is our guide in this "in-between" time, the time between the first and second advents. When Christ returns, we will no longer need the lamp of Scripture, because we will have the sun of His immediate presence. But until that day, to set aside the lamp is the height of presumption and folly.
No Private Interpretation (v. 20)
Next, Peter gives us the fundamental rule for how we are to approach this prophetic Word.
"Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation." (2 Peter 1:20 LSB)
This verse is a direct refutation of the entire modern project of expressive individualism. The phrase "one's own interpretation" can be understood in two ways, both of which are true and important. First, it can refer to the origin of the prophecy. The prophet did not invent the message. He didn't look at the political situation, decide what God ought to say about it, and then write it down. The prophecy did not originate in the prophet's own mind or analysis. This is what the next verse clarifies.
But second, and just as crucial, it refers to us as the readers. We do not get to come to the text and make it mean whatever we want it to mean. The meaning of the text is not determined by the reader. The meaning is in the text itself, placed there by the divine author. Our job is not to create meaning, but to discover the meaning that is already there. This is why we have rules of grammar, history, and context. This is why we say that Scripture interprets Scripture. The clear passages illuminate the more difficult ones. We don't get to isolate a verse from its context and say, "Well, to me, this means..." That is an act of supreme arrogance. It is to place your own private judgment over the public, objective Word of God.
This is the error of Rome, which subjects the Scripture to the private interpretation of the Magisterium. And it is the error of the radical individualist, who makes every man his own pope. The Reformed principle is that the Scripture alone is the final interpreter of Scripture. The meaning is public and accessible, not private and esoteric. God spoke in order to be understood, and He gave us His Spirit not to reveal new truths, but to illuminate the one truth already revealed in the text.
The Divine Origin (v. 21)
Peter concludes by explaining why Scripture is not a matter of private interpretation. It is because it is not a product of private origination.
"For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:21 LSB)
The Bible is not man's word about God. It is God's Word through man. The origin of Scripture is not the "will of man." Isaiah didn't just decide to be a prophet one day. Paul didn't sit down to write his best thoughts on theology. The human authors were not the ultimate source. The ultimate source was God Himself.
Peter says they were "moved by the Holy Spirit." The Greek word here is pheromenoi, which means to be carried along, like a ship is carried along by the wind in its sails. The human authors were not mindless robots taking dictation. God used their personalities, their vocabularies, their circumstances, and their styles. Luke writes as a meticulous historian. Paul writes as a brilliant logician. David writes as a passionate poet. But the wind filling all their sails was the Holy Spirit. He was the one directing the course, ensuring that the final destination was exactly what God intended. The result is a book that is fully human, and yet fully divine. Every word is the word of a human author, and every word is the Word of God.
This is what we call the doctrine of plenary, verbal inspiration. Plenary means full, every part of the Bible is inspired. Verbal means the very words themselves are inspired, not just the general ideas. This is why we can trust it completely. It is not a collection of men's best guesses about God. It is not a record of Israel's evolving religious consciousness. It is God's own speech, delivered through His chosen vessels. They "spoke from God." Because the origin is divine, the authority is absolute. And because the authority is absolute, our only proper response is humble submission.
Conclusion: Bowing to the Word
So what does this mean for us, here and now? It means we must reject the spirit of our age, which is a spirit of autonomy and rebellion. We are not the source of truth. We are not the arbiters of reality. We are creatures, and we must listen to our Creator.
This means we must come to the Scriptures with a spirit of submission, not suspicion. Our first question should not be, "Do I like this?" or "Does this fit with my politics?" but rather, "What is God saying?" and "How must I change to align my life with this truth?" We must read the Bible, study the Bible, memorize the Bible, and meditate on the Bible. We must let it shape our minds, correct our desires, and direct our steps. We must treat it as what it is: a lamp in a dark place.
And we must understand that this objective, external Word is not a dead letter. The same Holy Spirit who carried the prophets along now works in our hearts to make that Word come alive to us. He doesn't give us new information, but He opens our eyes to see the glory of the information that is already there. He enables us to see that this entire prophetic Word, from Genesis to Malachi, is about Jesus Christ.
The Bible is not a rulebook dropped from heaven. It is the story of God's redemptive love, culminating in the person and work of His Son. When the Spirit opens our hearts to the Word, the morning star, Jesus Christ, arises in our hearts. We see Him as the fulfillment of every prophecy, the substance of every shadow, the hero of the entire story. And in seeing Him, we are saved. Our subjective experience of salvation is grounded in the objective reality of this sure, prophetic Word. Therefore, let us pay attention to it, until the day finally dawns.