2 Peter 1:16-21 “The Trustworthiness Of The Bible”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church Manhattan KS, 28 Jan 2024

Introduction

• In verses 12-15, Peter wrote that he wanted to provide a reminder to believers-in-Jesus, so that they would always be able to remember the truth they had been established in.

• Next, in v.16, Peter reminds them that his gospel and their faith is based on eye-witness accounts of Jesus, not on speculative philosophy. And if this is the case, then we had better be giving God’s word our best attention and devotion.

v.16 Eye-witness Accounts are Better than Sophisticated Stories

• This point was very important for Peter to make, because, philosophers were walking all over the Roman empire at the time, speculating about all kinds of things, and we likewise, today, are drowning in an ocean of video, audio, and text messages competing for our attention.

  • Classical Greek scholar Marvin Vincent noted three religious groups in Peter’s day who particularly liked to make up stories:

    • First was “the Jewish myths, rabbinical embellishments of Old-Testament history…

    • [then there were] the heathen myths about the descent of the gods to earth...

    • [and then there were] the Gnostic speculations about aeons or emanations, which rose from the eternal abyss...”

  • The only other places in the Greek Bible where this word for “fables/myths” occur are in the pastoral epistles:

    • 1Ti. 1:4 “...fables & endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification...”

    • 1 Tim. 4:7 “...profane and old wives' fables…”

    • 2 Tim. 4:4 “...turned aside… from the truth... to fables.”

    • Titus 1:14 “...Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.”

  • It was – and still is – a Jewish past-time to re-tell Old Testament stories with interesting twists, connections, or embellishments that are not in the Bible. Part of the intrigue of this tradition is that the Jewish storyteller knows he will be held accountable not to contradict the Bible at any point, so he shows his cleverness by only adding things that will fit plausibly into the Biblical account. (A recent popular example of that might be the Noah movie that came out in 2014 with Russel Crowe.) But that tradition does not build truth, it is more about creativity and entertainment.

• Peter had to establish that the Christian gospel was categorically different from Jewish, Pagan, and Gnostic fiction-writing.

  • It’s important to understand the verbal structure of the sentence in v.16.

    • The main verb is “we made known.”

    • Before that main verb is a participial phrase, “we were not following myths,”

    • and after that main verb is a matching participial phrase, “but we were eyewitnesses.”

    • The contrast between those two participial phrases is the main point of v.16: “It was not after following myths, rather it was after becoming eyewitnesses, that we made known Jesus Christ to you.”

  • Luke also made this point in the prologue of his gospel, using a synonym to the word Peter used for “eyewitness”: “...those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses [εὐτόπται] and ministers of the word delivered them to us... that you may know the certainty [ασφαλειαν] of those things in which you were instructed.” (Luke 1:2-4, NKJV)

• Peter reviews the core of his gospel message in v.16: it is the message of the “power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

  • The Greek word for “power” (dynamin) was often used to denote Jesus’ “miracles” in the Gospels.

    • And in the epistles we read: 1 Cor. 1:22-24 “Jews are requiring signs, and Greeks are seeking wisdom [more of those cleverly-devised tales], but, as for us, we are preaching a Christ who has been crucified – to ... the called ones (both Jews and Greeks) – Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God… 2:4-5 and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but rather in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, in order that your faith might not exist in the wisdom of men, but rather in the power of God.” (NAW) Like Peter and Luke, Paul was also concerned that the New Testament church realize the difference between man-made fables and absolute truth as revealed by God.

    • Jesus was not some larger-than-life human hero or tall tale, nor was He merely another normal human being; He was (and is) God, and as God, He revealed absolute truth which is categorically different from all human speculation.

    • Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the radiance of His glory and the stamp of His substance and carrying all things by the word of His power, having made purification from our sins with His own self, He took office at the right hand of the Greatest One in the heights.” (NAW)

  • Peter uses the adjective μεγαλειότητος to describe the “majesty” he saw in Jesus – Peter was probably thinking of how dazzling Jesus looked during the transfiguration incident.

    • That word is the superlative form of the word for “great” reserved for kings and gods.

    • In the Gospels, it occurs only once more describing Jesus, in Luke 9:42-43, the day after the transfiguration, when “...Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the majesty of God…” (NKJV) which Jesus displayed in His power over demons and His power over sickness.

  • By the way, the Greek word for “coming” (παρουσια) is never used in the Bible of Jesus’ first coming, but only of His return. When Jesus returns,

    • He will raise up all the dead,

    • He will execute judgment upon all who have ever lived on this earth,

    • and He will (on the basis of His sacrificial death on the cross) justify and glorify forever all who believe on Him. That’s the Gospel message Peter had made known.

• But Peter has an even more-compelling case. Not only had he heard the Lord Jesus Christ speak, he had actually heard God the Father speak! The significance of a message directly from God the Father in Glory cannot be overestimated!

v.17-18 A Message From God Himself Is Greater Than That Of Any Man

• Peter, of course, is speaking of his experience at Jesus’ Transfiguration.

  • (He calls the mountain “holy” in v.18 because God showed His holiness in a special way there, not because there is any intrinsic special-ness about the Golan Heights.)

  • We already read Peter’s account in the Gospel of Mark for our lectionary, so here’s Mat­thew’s account: “Now, after six days, Jesus took along Peter, James, and John his bro­ther, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. Then He was transformed in front of them: and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light, and look, Moses and Elijah were made visible to them, conversing with Him! Then in response, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, It's good for us to be here! If you don't mind, let's make three booths here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!’ While he was yet speaking, see, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and consider [this], a voice out of the cloud was saying, ‘This One is my beloved Son in whom I delight; keep listening to Him!’” (Matt. 17:1-4, NAW)

• Translators have generally considered the two participle phrases in 2 Peter 1:17 (“He received honor and glory” and “a voice was brought to Him”) as happening at the same time. I side with the NASB, ESV and NLT here, which say that it was “while” Jesus was being glorified that the voice came to him, rather than with the KJV and NIV which seem to indicate that the coming of the Father’s voice was the only means of Jesus receiving glory.

• At any rate, Peter heard the voice of God the Father, or, to be more precise, we should say Peter heard the sound of a “voice” that was “brought” “by the magnificently-glorious One.”

• The Greek word translated “majestic/excellent” in v.17 only occurs one other place in the whole Greek Bible, and that is Deuteronomy 33:26 “There is not any such as the God of the beloved; he who rides upon the heaven is thy helper, and the magnificent One of the firmament¹.” Peter is clearly alluding to that passage with this name for God. It is a compound of the Greek word for “great” and the Greek word for “fitting/proper.”

• And Peter even quotes God’s message for us.

  • He says in v.18 that “this was the very voiced-message brought out of heaven that we ourselves heard while we were together with Him on the holy mountain.”

  • However, in v.17, Peter qualifies his quote with the Greek word τοιᾶσδε, translated “such” in the KJV and NASB, and unfortunately dropped out of the NIV and ESV. Now, you might expect an eyewitness to be able to communicate the exact words, but Peter tells us instead that this is an approximation. Why?

    • I suspect that the words Peter heard were in the Aramaic language, but since he is writing in Greek, he is having to make a translation, and Greek isn’t exactly Peter’s first language, so he is letting us know this may be a rough translation, but it’ll get the idea across.

    • An additional consideration is that if Peter switched to Aramaic here and gave a verbatim quote, the foreign words might sound like a magic formula and start being used as meaningless “holy talk” – as has become the case with certain Hebrew words like “Hosanna” and “Hallelujah” in our day, and Peter would not have wanted to encourage misuse of God’s words, so he gives a plain translation into Greek.

  • That message is: “This is my beloved Son in whom I myself am well-pleased.”

    • The “I myself” is emphatic in Greek.

    • This quote agrees with the wording of the Transfiguration accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, although Mark and Luke do not quote the phrase “with whom I am well-pleased” while they do mention the additional words, “Listen to Him.”

• Consider the import of this message:

  • Jesus, as THE Beloved Son of God, had to be, therefore, of the same status as God the Father.

  • And God the Father was putting His absolute mark of approval upon every word Jesus spoke.

  • And Peter heard both God the Father and Jesus with his own ears.

  • This underscores how important Peter’s ministry was of sharing what Jesus said.

  • And this underscores how seriously we should take his writings in the Bible. This is not fiction; this is not legend; this is not opinion; this is God’s word! We must read it, respect it, believe it and obey it above all the other books and media in our libraries because...

v.19 Biblical Prophecy Is The Way To Get Light For Your Heart

• The subject “we” is carried over from v.18, indicating Peter, James, and John who saw Jesus’ Transfiguration. “We apostles have God’s message about Jesus, and this message has been doubly-confirmed by God the Father’s personal approval.”

• Peter says that what he and the Apostles “have” is “the prophetic word.”

  • The Greek adjective translated “prophetic” occurs only one other place in the Bible, and that is in Romans 16:25-26 “...to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations...” (NKJV)

  • Peter and Paul’s readers would understand “prophetic Scriptures” to mean the Old Testament, but the Apostles’ job was to contribute to this body of prophecy so as to “reveal” the “mystery” of Christ and make it “manifest” in “all nations.”

• The Greek word for “confirmed/sure/certain” is spelled in the comparative degree, so not merely “confirmed” (as the New King James mistakenly translated it) but made “more-confirmed” or perhaps, “more permanent.”

  • Now, it would be a mistake to see this as Peter pitting New Testament revelation against Old Testament revelation or vice versa. That’s not what he’s doing. He is saying that the Old and New Testament go together and bring greater confirmation².

  • “The Transfiguration scene confirmed the Messianic prophecies and made clear the deity of Jesus Christ as God’s Beloved Son.” ~A.T. Robertson, 1933 A.D.

  • “All the prophecies of the Old Testament are more sure and certain to us who have the history of the... exact... accomplishment of them.” ~Matthew Henry, 1714 A.D.

  • “The combined witness of the apostles with the prophets gives a ‘broader basis for the Christian’s trust.’” ~D.F. Zeller, 2014 A.D., quoting Alford

  • “[T]he Transfiguration gives us a pledge to make our faith still stronger, that “the day” of His glory will “dawn” ere long... The fulfillment of prophecy so far in Christ’s history makes us the surer of what is yet to be fulfilled, His consummated glory.” ~A.R. Fausset, 1871 A.D.

• It is to this “hyper-confirmed prophetic word” that Peter says we would “do well to pay attention.”

• Peter then paints a vivid picture of sitting in a dark, dingy room in the middle of the night (The Greek word for “dark” has more to do with the presence of dust than with the absence of light, so it it not only “dark” but dirty.), yet you have a lantern which you are keeping beside you, constantly using its light to reveal the true nature of where you are. However, over time, the night will pass. Peter poetically describes the first beam of morning sunlight “piercing through” the “dark” squalor and then a new “light-carrier rising up within your own hearts.” That lamp that will get us through the night is the Bible.

• The Greek Old Testament also used this word for “lamp” to refer to the Bible:

  • Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (KJV)

  • Proverbs 6:23 “For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life; reproof also and correction” (Brenton)

  • In the New Testament, Jesus brings a new development to the light of Scripture. He said in John 5:33-37 "You have sent to John [the Baptizer], and he has borne witness to the truth… He was the burning and shining lamp [like all good prophets were], and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish-- the very works that I do-- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me…” (NKJV)

• Peter also speaks here of a new development when “the daylight will shine through and the morning star will rise in your hearts.”

  • The only other reference in the Greek Bible which associates these words for “light” “rising” and “heart” is Psalm 97:10-12 “...The Lord preserves the souls of his saints; he shall deliver them from the hand of sinners. Light is sprung up for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous…” (Psalm 96:10-12, Brenton)

  • What is the nature of this new light? It seems to be still in the future for Peter; it doesn’t seem to have “dawned” yet, and had yet to “rise” in his readers’ hearts.

  • He calls the light which would rise in their hearts the φωσφoρος (from which we get the name of the light-emitting element phosphorus). It literally means “light bearer,” but since, in Classical Greek literature it is often used to refer to the planet Venus (which shines like a big star in the morning sky), most English Bibles translate it “daystar/morning star,” even though “star” is not actually part of this Greek word.

  • Since this word occurs nowhere else in the Bible, we have to look up synonyms for the words Peter wrote for “light” and “dark” and also find out what the rest of the Bible says about “dawning, shining, and rising.” Here are some verses that seem to have a bearing on what Peter says here:

    • Malachi 4:2 “But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings…” (NKJV)

    • Num. 24:17 “... a star [ἄστρον] shall rise out of Jacob... shall spring out of Israel…” (Brenton)

    • Matthew 4:13-16 “And after leaving Nazareth, Jesus came to reside in Capernaum… In order that the word through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled saying, ‘Land of Zebulon and land of Naphtali... the people sitting in darkness [σκοτει] saw a great light [φως], and for those who are sitting in the boondocks of the shadow of death, light [φως] rose for them.’” (NAW)

    • Luke 1:76-79 “And you, child [John the Baptizer], will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the [dawning] from on high has visited us; To give light [φως] to those who sit in darkness…” (NKJV)

    • Luke 2:30-32 “For my eyes have seen Your salvation… A light [φως] to bring revelation to the Gentiles…” (NKJV)

    • Matthew 17:2 “Then He was transformed in front of them: and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light [φως]…” (NAW)

    • John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... In Him was life, and the life was the light [φως] of men. And the light shines in the darkness [σκοτια]…” (NKJV)

    • John 8:12 “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light [φως] of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness [σκοτια], but have the light [φως] of life… 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light [φως] of the world... 11:9 Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light [φως] of this world... 12:36 While you have the light [φως], believe in the light [φως], that you may become sons of light [φως].” (NKJV)

    • 2 Cor. 4:3-6 “...the light [φως] of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them... For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness [σκοτια], who has shone in our hearts to give the light [φως] of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)

    • Revelation 21:23 “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light [λύχνος].” (NKJV)

    • Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright [λαμπρος] and Morning [πρωινος] Star [αστηρ].”

    • Now, can you take a wild guess as to Who the Light-bearer/Morning Star is?

  • “Christ’s ‘arising in the heart’ by His Spirit giving ‘full assurance,’ creates spiritually full ‘day’ ‘in the heart,’ the means to which is prayerfully ‘giving heed’ to the ‘word’…. the ‘day’ has already ‘dawned in the heart’ of believers³; what they wait for is its visible manifestation at Christ’s coming [‘whenever that shall be’].” ~A.R. Fausset

• The application is to “pay attention” to the Bible. Make time to read it, meditate on it to understand it and internalize it, prioritize its truth above human opinions, and treasure God’s word in your heart!

  • Psalm 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure [πιστή], making wise the simple...” (NKJV)

  • Isaiah 8:20 “To the instruction and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, then that one has no dawn [שָֽׁחַר].” (NAW)

  • Luke 8:18 “Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (NKJV)

  • Luke 11:35 “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.” (NKJV)

  • 1 Tim. 4:16 “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (NKJV)

  • Hebrews 2:1-3 “...it is more abundantly necessary for us to keep holding on to the things we have heard in order that we might not drift aside. For, since the word spoken through messengers got confirmed, and every transgression and disobedience received a just payback, how would we ourselves escape after showing apathy for such a great salvation?” (NAW)

• In the final verses of chapter 1, Peter clinches his argument for why we should pay attention to Scripture by making a truly astounding statement:

v.20-21 Nothing In The Bible Came From Man’s Personal Opinions

• Follow the nominatives of the main verbs leading up to this point, “We made known to you… We heard… We have… You do well to heed…” and now this, “knowing that no prophecy originates from a private interpretation.”

• The point of v.20 is that not a single word written in the Bible “originated from/came about by” a man making up words “on his own.”

  • The Bible is not like a public forum where anybody can give his or her own “two cents;” if it were, then everybody could choose for themselves whether to take the Bible’s words seriously or to ignore them. There are lots of folks who do that, but they are profoundly mistaken about the authority of the Bible.

  • The Biblical prophets and Apostles, when they conducted their ministries, were – not private individuals but rather – public persons tasked by God with responsibility and accountability for writing down God’s word for God’s people. Therefore, what they wrote cannot be judged by us – or ignored by us – except at our own peril.

  • “The prophets of the Lord did not speak nor do any thing of their own mind, as Moses, the chief of them, says expressly (Numbers16:28), ‘I have not done any of the works (nor delivered any of the statutes and ordinances) of my own mind.’ But false prophets speak a vision ‘of their own heart, not out of the mouth of the Lord,’ Jer. 23:16.” ~M. Henry

  • The Greek noun for “interpretation” in v.20 appears nowhere else in the Greek Bible, but it has a verb form which appears in two places, giving us more context for its meaning:

    • Mark 4:34 “But without a parable He [Jesus] did not speak to them. And when they were alone [privately], He explained all things to His [own] disciples.” ~NKJV Here, this word clearly has to do with “unpacking” the meaning of some truth and “explaining” it. But there is another component of meaning to this word which we see in the other passage where its verb form occurs:

    • Acts 19:39 “...Let it be determined/settled in the legal/lawful assembly.” This second passage brings in the angle of authoritativeness. This is not merely a private person “unpacking” his understanding of a matter to someone else, this is a “determination,” made by an authority, of the boundaries in which those under that authority must operate.

    • Because of that component of authority, it is vitally-important to get Peter’s point right. If you believe that any one could write with that kind of authority, you are giving that person control of your life.

    • Of course, most people today don’t want to allow anybody else to be in control of their life – not even God, so they dismiss, not only the possibility that the Bible is God’s word, but also dismiss the authority of all of Scripture as nothing more than the ideas of a bunch of crazy old-fashioned religious extremists. Then they arrogate to themselves the super-human ability to decide what is true from what is false and what is right from what is wrong for themselves, in an attempt to escape the authority and accountability of God. And it doesn’t work.

• I might add that prophecy was not limited to the Old Testament. “Prophecy” simply means “speaking forth” God’s words. The New Testament speaks of prophecy as something going on still in the early church, and it even calls a New Testament book a “prophecy”:

  • Romans 12:6 “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith” (ESV)

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:20 “Despise not prophesyings.” (KJV)

  • Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (NKJV)

  • And you see how serious a matter it was for the early church to receive John’s Apocalypse as prophecy when he ended the New Testament with these words: “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:18-19, NKJV)

• Roman Catholics have interpreted 2 Peter 1:20 to mean that no “private” person should try to “interpret” any “scripture” by themselves, but rather, everyone is obligated to follow the interpretations of the Pope and the consensus of the church fathers. But that is the opposite of what 2 Peter 1:20 actually says!

  • Verse 21 explains the meaning of v.20, so we see that “private interpretation” means the same thing as “prophecy carried on by the will of man” not “by the Holy Spirit.”

  • Roman Catholics (as well as other man-centered religious groups) who follow a humanly-controlled religion actually stand condemned by these verses.

• In v.21, Peter uses the same word to describe Old Testament prophecy of “old time” (KJV) as he had used in v.18 to describe when he himself heard God speak at the Transfiguration, equating his own transmission of the Gospel with the authority of Old Testament prophecy.

  • At the end of v.21, several Greek manuscripts (including the oldest-known one) read “men spoke from God”

  • Whereas the majority of Greek manuscripts and ancient translations read, “Holy men of God spoke.”

  • The difference in Greek is only a difference of three letters in one word. Both readings fit well with the rest of scripture; the traditional one emphasizes the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the character of the Biblical writers, while the currently-popular one emphasizes that what they spoke was God’s word, not theirs, and that is certainly in harmony with the overall point Peter is making.

• The grammar of v.21 forms a contrast between prophecy carried out “by the will of man” and prophecy carried out “under [the control of] the Holy Spirit.” In Greek, the verb translated “came/made/produced/had its origin” at the beginning of v.21 is the same root as the verb translated “moved/carried along” later in the verse.

  • Peter is contrasting the Biblical teaching of the Bible as divine revelation from God with the humanistic falsehood that all religious teaching was made up by men to control other people, and he categorically denies that Scripture is man-made.

  • If the Bible is a mere human invention, it doesn’t have to be taken authoritatively, but if the Bible is the divinely-inspired word of God to us, then it must be treated with all the reverence and obedience that the word of God deserves.

  • “[W]e know how much labor men bestow on frivolous refinements – and that just for their amusement. Therefore no less seriously ought our minds to be applied to know the truth which is not fallacious, and the doctrine which is not nugatory, and which discovers to us the glory of the Son of God and our own salvation!” ~ J. Calvin, 1554 A.D.

  • “He tells us, ‘We do well if we take heed to them;’ that is, apply our minds to understand the sense, and our hearts to believe the truth, of this sure word, yea, bend ourselves to it, that we may be moulded and fashioned by it. The word is that form of doctrine into which we must be cast (Rom. 6:17), that formulary of knowledge (Rom. 2:20) by which we are to regulate our thoughts and sentiments, our words and confessions, our whole life and conversation. If we thus apply ourselves to the word of God, we certainly do well in all respects, what is pleasing to God and profitable to ourselves; and this indeed is but paying that regard which is due to the oracles of God.” ~Matthew Henry

Comparison of Bible Translations of 2 Peter 1

GNTA	NAWB	KJVC	MurdockD (Peshitta)	RheimsE (Vulgate)
1 ΣυμεὼνF Πέτρος, δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῖς ἰσότιμον ἡμῖνG λαχοῦσιH πίστινI ἐνJ δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆροςK ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ·	1 Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the free-recipients of a faith of equal value with us in the right­eousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:	1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of X God and [our] Saviour Jesus Christ:	1 Simon Peter, a servant and legate of Jesus the Messiah, to those who have obtained equal­ly precious faith with us, through the righteousness of Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus the Messiah;	1 Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ: to them that have obtained equal X faith with us in the justice of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνηL πληθυν­θείηM ἐνN ἐπι­γνώσειO τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν.	2 May grace and peace be multiplied in y’all through the certain know­ledge of God and of Jesus our Master,	2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,	2 May grace and peace abound to you through the recognition of X X our Lord Jesus [the Messiah],	2 Grace to you and peace be accomplished in the know­ledge of God and of [Christ] Jesus our Lord.
3 ῾ΩςP πάντα ἡμῖν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως αὐτοῦQ τὰ πρὸς ζωὴνR καὶ εὐσέβειαν δεδωρημένηςS διὰT τῆς ἐπιγνώ­σεως τοῦ καλέ­σαντοςU ἡμᾶς διὰV δόξης καὶ ἀρετῃ῀ςW,	3 [even] as His divine power has given to us all the things for life and godliness, through our certain know­ledge of the One who called us to glory and virtue,	3 According [as] his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godli­ness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:	3 as the giver to us of all things that be of the power of GodX, unto life and the fear of God, through the recognition of him who hath called us unto his own glory and moral excellence:	3 As all things of his divine power [which appertain] to life and godli­ness areY giv­en us through the knowledge of him who hath called us by his own [proper] glory and virtue.
4 δι᾿ ὧνZ τὰ τίμιαAA ἡμῖν καὶ μέγισταAB ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηταιAC, ἵναAD διὰ τού­τωνAE γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεωςAF ἀποφυγόντες τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ ἐνAG ἐπιθυμίᾳ φθορᾶς.	4 through which things He has given His valu­able and great­est promises to us in order that through them y’all might become partakers of the divine nature, having fled from the cor­ruption in the world caused by lust.	4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and pre­cious promis­es: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine na­ture, having escaped the corruption [that is] in the world through lust.	4 wherein he hath given you very great and precious promises; that by them ye might become partakers of the nature of God, while ye flee from the corruption[s] of the lust[s that are] in the world.	4 By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concu­piscence [which is] in the world.
5 καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτοAH δὲ σπουδὴν πᾶσ­ανAI παρεισενέγ­καντεςAJ ἐπιχορη­γήσατεAK ἐν τῃ῀ πίστειAL ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήνAM, ἐνAN δὲ τῃ῀ ἀρετῃ῀ τὴν γνῶσιν,	5 Now, for this very reason, y’all having been equipped with all diligence, y’all must start supplying with your faith virtue, and with your virtue, knowledge,	5 And beside this, giving all diligence, addX to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;	5 And, while ye apply all dili­gence [in the matter], addX to your faith mor­al excel­lence; and to moral excel­lence, know­ledge;	5 And X you, employing all care, minister in your faith, virtue: And in virtue, know­ledge:
6 ἐν δὲ τῃ῀ γνώσει τὴν ἐγκράτειανAO, ἐν δὲ τῃ῀ ἐγκρατείᾳ τὴν ὑπομονήνAP, ἐν δὲ τῃ῀ ὑπομονῃ῀ τὴν εὐσέβειαν,	6 and with your know­ledge, self-control, and with your self-control per­severance, and with your per­severance, godliness,	6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temper­ance patience; and to patience godliness;	6 and to know­ledge, perse­verance; and to persever­ance, patience; and to patience, the fear of God;	6 And in knowledge, abstinence: and in abstin­ence, patience: and in patience, godliness:
7 ἐν δὲ τῃ῀ εὐσεβείᾳ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν, ἐν δὲ τῃ῀ φιλαδελφίᾳ τὴν ἀγάπηνAQ.	7 and with your godliness, fraternity, and with your fraternity, love,	7 And to god­liness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.	7 and to the fear of God, sympathy with the brother­hood; and to sympathy with the brother­hood, love.	7 And in god­liness, love of brotherhood: and in love of brotherhood, charity.
8 ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ὑπάρχονταAR καὶ πλεονάζοντα οὐκ ἀργοὺς οὐδὲ ἀκάρπους καθίστησινAS εἰςAT τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπίγνωσιν·	8 for while these things are existing and abounding in y’all, they install neither useless things nor unfruitful things into the certain know­ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.	8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.	8 For, while these are found in you, and abound­ing, they ren­der [you] not slothful, and not unfruitful, in the recog­nition of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.	8 For if these things be with you and abound, they will make [you] to be neither empty nor unfruitful in the know­ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 ὧͺAU γὰρ μὴ πάρεστι ταῦτα, τυφλός ἐστι μυωπάζωνAV, λήθην λαβὼνAW τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ AXτῶν πάλαι αὐτοῦAY ἁμαρτιῶν.	9 Then again, to whomever these things do not adhere, he is myopically blind, having taken to forget­fulness of the cleansing of his old sins.	9 But he that X lacketh these things is blind, [and] cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.	9 For he, in whom these things are not found, is blind and seeth not, and hath for­gotten the pur­gation of his former sins.	9 For he that hath not these things with him is blind and groping, having forgot­ten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 διὸ μᾶλλον, ἀδελφοί, σπουδά­σατεAZ βεβαίαν ὑμῶν τὴν κλῆσιν καὶ ἐκλογὴνBA ποιεῖσθαιBB· ταῦτα γὰρ ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴBC πταίσητέ ποτε.	10 Therefore, brothers, start being diligent all-the-more to make confirmed for yourselves your calling and choosing, for when y’all do these things you shall never stumble then,	10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make X your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall X:	10 [And] there­fore, [my] brethren, be ye exceedingly diligent to make X your calling and election sure, [by your good actions]: for, by so do­ing, ye will never fall away X.	10 Wherefore, brethren, lab­our the more, that [by good works] you may make X sure your calling and election. For doing these things, you shall not sin at any time.
11 οὕτω γὰρ πλουσίωςBD ἐπι­χορηγηθήσεται BEὑμῖν ἡ εἴσοδος εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον βασιλείανBF τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ.	11 for in this way the inroad into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly provisioned to y’all.	11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abun­dantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Sav­iour Jesus Christ.	11 For thus will X entrance be given you abundantly, into the ever­lasting king­dom of our Lord and Re­deemer Jesus the Messiah.	11 For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abund­antly into the ever-lasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12̈ Διὸ οὐκBG ἀμελήσω ἀεὶ ὑμᾶς ὑπομιμνήσκειν περὶ τούτωνBH, καί­περBI εἰδότας καὶ ἐστηριγ­μένουςBJ ἐν τῃ῀ παρούσῃBK ἀληθείᾳ.	12 Therefore I will not neglect to remind y’all always concern­ing these things, even though y’all have known and have been established in the truth which has come.	12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in rememb­rance of these things, though ye know them, and be estab­lished in the present truth.	12 [And] for this reason I am not wear­ied in remind­ing you con­tinually of these things; although ye know them well, and are established in this truth.	12 For which cause, I will begin to put you always in remembrance of these things: though indeed you know them and are con­firmed in the present truth.
13̈ δίκαιον δὲBL ἡγοῦμαι, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον εἰμὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῳ῀ σκηνώματι, διεγείρεινBM ὑμᾶς ἐνBN ὑπομνήσει,	13 Neverthe­less, for as long as I am in this temp­orary dwelling, I consider it right to rouse y’all with a reminder,	13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by [putting you in] remembrance;	13 And it seemeth right to me, so long as I am in this body, to excite you by monition;	13 But I think it meet, as long as I am in this taber­nacle, to stir you up by [putting you in] remem­brance.
14̈ εἰδὼς ὅτι ταχινήBO ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις BP τοῦ σκηνώματός μου, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐδήλωσέBQ μοι,	14 knowing that the demise of my tempor­ary dwelling is to be sudden, even as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me,	14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my taber­nacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.	14 since I know, that the demise of my body is speedy, as also my Lord Jesus the Messiah hath showed me.	14 Being ass­ured that the laying away of [this] my taber­nacle is at hand, accord­ing as our Lord Jesus Christ also hath signi­fied to me.
15̈ σπουδάσω δὲ καὶ ἑκάστοτε ἔχεινBR ὑμᾶς μετὰ τὴν ἐμὴνBS ἔξοδονBT τὴν τούτων μνήμην ποιεῖσθαιBU.	15 so I will be dil­igent in order for y’all to be in pos­session of these things so that you can make the rem­embrance for your­selves at any time after the departure of myself.	15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.	15 And I am anxious, that, after my de­parture, ye too may have it always [with you] to make mention of these things.	15 And I will endeavour that you frequently have after my decease where­by you may keep a memory of these things.
16 οὐ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοιςBV μύθοιςBW ἐξακολ­ουθήσαντεςBX ἐγνωρίσαμενBY ὑμῖν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμινBZ καὶCA παρουσίανCB, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπόπταιCC γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητοςCD	16 For it was not after following sophisticated stories that we made known to y’all the power of our Master Jesus Christ and His coming; rather it was after we had been eye-witnes­ses of that Man’s incomparable-greatness.	16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, [when] we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.	16 For we have not gone after fables artfully framed, [in] making known to you the power and advent of our Lord Jesus the Messiah; but it was after we had been spectators of his majesty.	16 For we have not by following artificial fables made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ: but we were eyewitnesses of his great­ness.
17 λαβὼνCE γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ πατρὸς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν φωνῆς ἐνεχθείσης αὐτῳ῀ τοιᾶσδεCF ὑπὸ τῆς μεγαλοπρεποῦςCG δόξης, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητόςCH, εἰς ὃνCI ἐγὼ εὐδόκη­σαCJ·	17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voiced-message was brought to Him by the Magnificent Glory, something like, “This is my beloved Son in whom I myself am well-pleased.”	17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I X am well pleased.	17 For, when he received from God the Father honor and glory, [and,] after the splen­did [glory] of [his] majesty, a voice came to him thus: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;	17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, [this] voice coming down to him from the excel­lent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [Hear ye him.]
18 καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐνεχθεῖ­σαν, σὺν αὐτῳ῀ ὄντες ἐν τῳ῀ ὄρει τῳ῀ ἁγίῳCK.	18 This was the very voiced-message brought out of heaven that we ourselves heard while we were together with Him on the holy mountain.	18 And this voice which came from heaven we X heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.	18 we X also heard this [id­entical] voice from heaven, which came [to him] while we were with him in the holy mount.	18 And this X voice, we X heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερονCL τὸν προφητικὸνCM λόγον, ὧͺ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσ­έχοντεςCN ὡς λύχνῳCO φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῳ῀CP τόπῳ ἕως οὗCQ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃCR καὶ φωσφόροςCS ἀνατείλῃ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶνCT·	19 So we have the more-confirmed prophetic word – to which you do well when you are paying attention – as to a lamp bringing light in a dingy place until whenever the day shall shine through and the Light-bearer shall rise in y’all’s hearts –	19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:	19 And we have moreover a sure word [of] prophecy; [and] ye will do well, if ye look to it as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day shall dawn, and the sun shall arise in your hearts;	19 And we have the more firm propheti­cal word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.
20 τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντεςCU, ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆςCV ἰδίαςCW ἐπιλύσεωςCX οὐ γίνεταιCY·	20 knowing, first-of-all, that not any prophecy of Scripture originates from a private interpretation,	20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.	20 ye having the previous knowledge, that no X pro­phecy X X is an exposition of its own [text].	20 Under­standing this first: That no X prophecy of scripture is [made] by pri­vate interpreta­tion.
21 οὐ γὰρ θελή­ματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθηCZ ποτέDA προφητεία, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου φερόμενοιDB ἐλάλησαν DCἅγιοι Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι.	21 for it was not by the will of a man that prophecy was brought forth back then, but rather, it was while being led by the Holy Spirit that holy men of God made utterance.	21 For the pro­phecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.	21 For at no time was it by the pleasure of man, that the prophecy came; but holy men of God spoke, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.	21 For pro­phecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.

1Brenton’s English translation of the Greek Vaticanus

2cf. 1 Peter 1:10 “Concerning which salvation the prophets who prophecied concerning grace going into y'all sought out and searched out...” (NAW)

31 John 2:8 “Then again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, for the darkness is leading itself away and the true light is already shining.” (NAW)

A1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church, as published by E-Sword in June 2016. Annotated by NAW where the 27^th edition of the Nestle-Aland GNT differs.

BNathan A Wilson’s translation

CKing James Version of the Holy Bible (a.k.a. Authorized Version), 1769 edition, as published by E-Sword in July 2019.

DTranslation of the Peshito Syriac New Testament into English by James Murdock. Published in 1851. Republished by E-sword in June 2016.

ERheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised by Bishop Richard Challoner, A.D. 1749-1752, as published by E-sword in June 2016.

FTechnically this is the name Simeon, but the two oldest-known manuscripts spell Peter’s name Σιμων here, and that is also the tradition of the Coptic, Ethiopic, and English Bibles (although the ESV and NET Bibles have recently pushed back against the tradition).
“The two forms occur indifferently in 1 Macc. 2:3, 65 for the same man.” ~ATR
“If a later writer wished to imitate Peter, he would have been more likely to use the form of signature in the first epistle than to adopt one that Peter himself had not used. Only Peter himself would be completely free to sign as he wished.” ~Gordon Clark

G“The faith which they have obtained is like in honor and privilege with that of Peter or any of the apostles.” ~ATR
“The word here … was used to indicate that a non-native of a city had the equal rights of a citizen born in that city. In this context it is [probably] referring to Gentile readers having the same standing before God as Jewish Christians. If this is the case, then ημιν is referring to Peter and all other Jews who believed.” ~DFZ

HReineker & Rodgers: “The word implies a gift or a favor”
“Peter describes a king conferring privilege on one of his choice. Accordingly Peter is addressing his fellow nobles. The contrast between nobility and slavery is striking and can hardly have been unintentional…. Classical Greek uses it for the result of a deity apportioning goods (or evils) to a man and protecting him. The verb also refers to a military post being assigned… [T]he notion that God, prior to human choice, assigns faith to certain individuals cannot be deleted from the verb...” ~Gordon Clark

I“subjective… power God gives to a sinner so that he can believe.” ~DFZ

JCalvin: “[T]he efficient cause of faith is called God's righteousness for this reason, because no one is capable of conferring it on himself. So the righteousness that is to be understood, is not that which remains in God, but that which he imparts to men, as in Romans 3:22. Besides, he ascribes this righteousness in common to God and to Christ, because it flows from God, and through Christ it flows down to us.” Calvin’s editor, John Owen of Thrussington, noted that the preposition should be “in” rather than “through.”
“Even if the word faith is objective rather than subjective – the doctrines believed rather than the psychological act of believing… objective faith has equal honor, no matter to whom given… The righteousness mentioned is God’s [Christ’s] not ours… Thus those to whom faith was given received a faith in God’s righteousness. That is, righteousness is the object of belief. The Christian believes in God’s justice.” ~Gordon Clark
“Lenski and MacArthur opt for the forensic use… ‘a righteousness from God as Ro. 1:17..., whereas The New Geneva Study Bible, … ATR, and Alford think it is ethical righteousness… ‘God is righteous…’ Both are true, but the ethical use is more in keeping with Peter’s letter... most likely referring to God’s righteousness – his justice, his equity – of giving faith to Jews and Gentiles alike” ~DFZ
The SIL team under Jim Lander that published Louw & Nida semantic domain numbers for every word in the GNT of 2 Peter in Dec. 2017 (hereafter “Lander”) chose 89.26 “because of, on account of, by reason of.”
ATR noted that “righteousness” can be given the definite article in English because of the definite object, “The God.”

KMoule’s Idiom Book of New Testament Greek p.109, noted that “God” is intended to apply to Jesus “our God even Jesus.” Easton, in his commentary on this verse asserted that this phrase ‘God and Savior’ always means one deity and not two in Greek literature written between 95-105 AD. Cf. v.11 and Titus 2:13. ATR also weighed in “one person, not two” citing Schmeidel in support.

L“By grace is designated God’s paternal favor towards us… Peace is added; for as the beginning of our happiness is when God receives us into favor; so the more he confirms his love in our hearts, the richer blessing he confers on us, so that we become happy and prosperous in all things,” ~Calvin

M“optative… a wish for the future (volitive use)” ~ATR

N“[B]oth senses [“through” or “in”] may suit the context. I am, however, more disposed to adopt the former.” ~Calvin
Lander: L&N#89.76 “by means of”

O“The compound expressing full knowledge” ~Vincent
“Full (additional, epi) knowledge... is urged against the claims of the Gnostic heretics to special gnōsis.” ~ATR
“The Christian or perfect knowledge of God… implies a more intimate and personal relationship than gnosis… gnosis was associated with Gnosticism… but both in Classical Greek and in Koine, it is a common word for ordinary knowledge. Note that in this very chapter, the epignosis of 1:2 is designated as gnosis in 1:5,6.” ~Gordon Clark
“‘fuller knowledge, precise knowledge, or correct knowledge’ … not used in the NT without reference to knowledge of some kind connected with God. The Christ[ian] faith is NOT based on mysticism, but upon objective and historical truth which God wants His children to have.” ~DFZ

P“Hence the Apostle justly animates the faithful to entertain good hope by the consideration of the former benefits of God.” ~Calvin
“Others, perhaps more correctly, view this verse as connected with the 5th, and render ὡς, “Since,” and the beginning of the 5th verse, “Do ye also for this reason, giving all diligence, add,” etc.; that is, “Since God has done so great things for you, ye also for this reason ought to be diligent in adding to your faith virtue, etc.” ~Owen
Lander: L&N#89.37 “on the grounds that, because”
“Gingrich cites this as a case where ‘ως ‘introduces the characteristic quality of a person, thing, action, etc.’ This is true, but in this instance, one needs to look at more than the ‘Ως, one needs to go on to the participle of the clause… BDAG comments on ‘ως with a participle as giving the reason for action… I have tried to bring in both the participial causal sense as well as the ‘Ως connection, with ‘Because, even as.’ The points of Gingrich and BDAG need to be brought together.” ~DFZ

Q“Autou refers to Christ, who has ‘divine power’… the dunamis of Christ ‘is the sword which St. Peter holds over the head of the False Teachers’ (Bigg)” ~ATR

R“Peter does not speak here of the natural gifts of God, but only mentions those things which he confers peculiarly on his own elect above the common order of nature.” ~Calvin

S“This is the only word which Peter and Mark alone have in common in the New Testament; a somewhat singular fact in view of their intimate relations, and of the impress of Peter upon Mark's gospel: yet it tells very strongly against the theory of a forgery of this epistle. The word is stronger than the simple δίδωμι, to give, meaning to grant or bestow as a gift.” ~Vincent
The verb form, by the way, is either middle or passive, but none of the standard English versions rendered it passively.

TLander: L&N#89.76 “by means of, through”

U“When God is the subject, it has the sense of effectual calling… it describes the knowledge as… a personal relationship knowledge of Jesus Christ.” ~DFZ

VThis is the reading of both the majority of manuscripts and lectionaries as well as the reading of the two oldest-known manuscripts. With the accusative objects it could mean either “by means of” or “because of” or “with a view to,” and the latter makes most sense. However, the critical GNTs follow the Latin, Syriac, and Coptic Bibles, which followed about 20 Greek manuscripts that add a iota to the beginning of this word, changing the meaning to “in the same/by his own” which also changes the case from genitive to dative, which, in turn, changes the case of the two objects “glory” and “excellence” from genitive to dative, forcing an instrumental meaning “by means of.” “Beza and also Schleusner, regard διὰ as expressing the final cause, to; it is also used in the sense of “for the sake of,” or, “on account of.” ~Owen “[E]ither instrumental case ‘by’ or dative ‘to’” ~ATR
Clark: “… does not mean to… God calls us by means of glory and might… Power and might are indispensable for a call that effectively raises a dead sinner to newness of life.”
“The dative form can be taken instrumentally or as a dative of advantage. It can be: ‘called us by His own glory…; or ‘called us to His own glory…’ Although the grammar allows either, the very next verse favors the instrumental use.” ~DFZ
The only other instances of dia doxes in the NT (2 Cor. 3:11, 6:8) describe the circumstance of being glorious. There is no other instance of idia doxai in the GNT.

W“The original classical sense of the word had no special moral import, but denoted excellence of any kind – bravery, rank, nobility... Bengel says, ‘the former indicates his natural, the latter his moral, attributes.’”~Vincent

XThe Peshitta translator missed the genitive absolute which makes the genitive “divine power” the subject of “having given” rather than its object, as well as the possessive “his.”

YThe Greek verb is spelled in the middle or passive voice here; all the other versions (except for DFZ’s) interpret it as middle voice.

Z“‘for the sake of which,’ that is, for the purpose of leading us to ‘glory and virtue,’ ‘many and precious promises have been given’ … ‘Escaping the corruption of the world’ is ‘godliness/virtue;’ and partaking of the divine nature is ‘life/glory.’” ~Owen
Vincent, ATR, Clark, and DFZ all posited that this refers to “his glory and virtue”

AATextus Receptus, diverges from the majority of Greek manuscripts, following 2 of the 4 oldest-known Greek manuscripts (plus 10 more overall), and reverses the order of the words “great” and “precious,” which is why the KJV order (followed by the NIV and NLT) is “great and precious,” whereas the NASB, NET, and ESV follow the majority of manuscripts with “precious and great.”

ABESV and NIV interpret as comparative degree, but this is actually superlative.

AC“Middle voice, not passive” ~Vincent

ADAlthough all the standard English versions interpret this as purposive “that” (so also ATR and R&R), “Lenski and Wallace see this as a substantive, or in apposition to … ‘promises.’ The ‘promises’ are the partaking of the divine nature…” DFZ followed the latter, translating this hina as “that is.”

AEATR refers “these” to “the promises” Clark to “either the promises or even the glory and might”

AF“Peter is referring to the new birth as 1 Pet. 1:23” ~ATR
“Salvation is not deification – that would be Gnosticism indeed… Salvation is a moral rejuvenation… [W]e become partakers of the divine nature through grace, through the promises, through a sovereign grant to those called. In Stoicism, every man by nature has a spark of divinity. It is not a matter of special calling, but of natural law. In fact, an author of AD 150 who wanted to appear apostolic and orthodox would probably have avoided such a phrase… ” ~Gordon Clark

AG“Caused by, consisting in, lust. ‘Man becomes either regenerate or degenerate’ (Strachan).”~ATR

AHBlass & Debrunner’s Grammar notes that this phrase is adverbial with the meaning “for this very reason.” The same phrase is also found in Rom. 9:17, 13:6, 2 Cor. 5:5, 7:11, Gal. 2:10, Eph. 6:22, Phil. 1:6, and Col. 4:8 with a similar meaning.

AIThe only other places we find “all” modifying “diligence” are in 2 Cor. 8:7 & Jude 1:3, where their order is reversed from Peter’s. The 2 Cor. passage is very similar to this one.

AJHapex Legomenon. Based on φερω (“carry”) + παρα (“alongside”) + επι (“in”); the picture is that you are traveling on a journey, and so you are carrying food and other necessities with you for that journey that you are using along the way. The participle is plural, referring to the readers (“y’all”), Aorist (indicating that it happened before the main verb “supply”), and passive (indicating that they were loaded up with the supplies by God, as per the previous verses, although most English versions interpret this as middle voice, loading themselves up), and the object is “all diligence” (that which is to be carried along and used).
Fausset: “‘introducing,’ side by side with God’s gift, on your part ‘diligence.’”
Vincent: “bring in by the side of” G. Clark: “smuggle”

AKVincent: “The verb originally means to bear the expense of a chorus, which was done by a person selected by the state, who was obliged to defray all the expenses of training and maintenance. In the New Testament the word has lost this technical sense, and is used in the general sense of supplying or providing.” DFZ: “[T]he prefix επι does imply this is to provide completely or lavishly.”

ALDFZ: “I am strongly inclined to think that the faith here is objective… believing in Jesus Christ… and comes at one’s calling (vv. 3, 10).”

AMJ. Calvin: “I take virtue to mean a life honest and rightly formed; for it is not here ἐνέργεια, energy or courage, but ἀρετὴ, virtue, moral goodness.”
M. Henry: “by virtue here we may understand strength and courage, without which the believer cannot stand up for good works, by abounding and excelling in them.”
A.R. Fausset: “moral excellency; manly, strenuous energy, answering to the virtue (energetic excellency) of God.”
M. Vincent: “Not in the sense of moral excellence, but of the energy which Christians are to exhibit, as God exerts his energy upon them. As God calls us by his own virtue (2 Pet. 1:3), so Christians are to exhibit virtue or energy in the exercise of their faith, translating it into vigorous action.”
A.T. Robertson: “Moral power, moral energy, vigor of soul”
Rodgers & Rodgers: “In classical Greek, god-given power/ability to perform heroic deeds...”

ANLander tagged this as Louw & Nida semantic domain #89.80, “attendant circumstances… with.”
Fausset: “in the possession of your faith, minister virtue.”
Vincent: “develop one virtue in the exercise of another”
G. Clark seems off-base in claiming it means “by means of.” He later wrote, “faith is the foundation of, or issues in, seven virtues.”
DFZ: “One is accomplished, then the next can be accomplished ‘in’ the preceding virtue...”

AOAlford and DFZ: “self-government”

APVincent: “Not merely endurance of the inevitable, for Christ could have relieved himself of his sufferings (Heb. 12:2-3; compare Matt. 26:53); but the heroic, brave patience with which a Christian not only bears but contends.”
ATR: “The opposite of the pleonexia of the heretics.”

AQVincent and Fausset saw in the progression from brotherly-love to charity a widening of love from brothers to all mankind, but I’m not sure that captures all the field of meaning between them. DFZ and Alford saw philadelphian to be just as “universal/catholic” as Vincent and Fausset saw agapen to be.

ARDFZ admits these participles could be temporal (“while”), but preferred conditional (“if”), along with the standard English versions.

ASAll the parsing experts agree that this is 3^rd person singular present active indicative, so the subject can’t be “you” (which is plural) as per the NKJV, and it’s not future as per the NIV. The subject could be the neuter plural “things,” in keeping with the exceptional characteristic of neuter plural subjects taking singular verbs.
Fausset: “constitute”

ATDFZ: “...this should be understood as directional … ‘unto’”

AURobertson’s Grammar notes that this may be a possessive dative with parestin, meaning “to whom these are not,” and the subjective negative is used with an indicative verb to indicate that this is an indefinite relative which is not speaking of any one in particular.

AVHoward’s Grammar explains the components of this word in terms of one who squints (μυει) his eye (ωφ). The English word “myopia/c” is a transliteration of this Greek root.
Anderson (Calvin’s editor) noted, “‘He is blind, (manu palpans) stroking with the hand,’ is Calvin's; the Vulgate is manu tentans, ‘feeling with the hand:’ but the original word means, ‘closing the eyes,’ according to the Greek grammarians, Hesychius and Suidas: ‘He is blind, closing his eyes.’”
ATR: “a rare verb from muōps (in Aristotle for a near-sighted man) and that from mueō tous ōpas (to close the eyes in order to see, not to keep from seeing)... the word here limits tuphlos as a short-sighted man screwing up his eyes because of the light.”
Fausset: “Perhaps a degree of willfulness in the blindness is implied in the Greek, ‘closing the eyes,’ which constitutes its culpability; hating and rebelling against the light shining around him.”
G. Clark picked up the same idea ATR and I did, that the use of this participle is adjectival, modifying “blind.” “‘[T]he man… is blind, myopic’ … a climax was not intended, but a more accurate description…” and it appears Rodgers & Rodgers saw it similarly either correcting or modifying “blind.”

AWFausset: “‘contracted forgetfulness,’ willful and culpable obliviousness.”
MacArthur: “The failure to diligently pursue spiritual virtues produces spiritual amnesia.”

AXAlthough some commentators refer this to Christian baptism, ATR wrote, “See Heb. 1:3 for this word for the expiatory sacrifice of Christ for our sins as in 1Pet. 1:18, 2:24, 3:18. In 1Pet. 3:21 Peter denied actual cleansing of sin by baptism (only symbolic). If there is a reference to baptism here, which is doubtful, it can only be in a symbolic sense.” (Lange and G. Clark agreed.)

AYTurner’s Grammar notes that there is no emphatic meaning to the emphatic positioning of this word in the sentence.

AZI interpreted the Aorist Imperative as Ingressive (as did ATR). Alford commented, “The Greek aorist implies one lifelong effect.” cf. 2 Tim. 2:15, which starts with the same verb: “Be diligent to show yourself approved...”

BAOwen remarked in a footnote to Calvin’s commentary, “The order is such as we often meet with, the visible effect first, and then the cause, as in Romans 10:9; confession, the ostensible act, is mentioned first, and then faith, which precedes it. So here, calling, the effect produced, is first mentioned, and then election, the cause of it...”

BBRobinson (E-Sword parsing), Bushell (BibleWorks parsing), Fausset, and ATR all agreed this is Middle voice. It occurs again in the same spelling in v.15. Fausset commented, “Greek middle voice; to make so far as it depends on you; to do your part towards making. ‘To make’ absolutely and finally is God’s part, and would be in the active.”

BC“strong double negative” A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures In the New Testament

BDFausset: “answers to ‘abound’ in v.8” ATR noted that this adverb is in Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...”

BE“Verses 3 and 4 indicate the bestowal upon believers is passive, then man’s response in verses 5-10 is active, now the resulting end – eternal kingdom – is passive, it is provided for us.” ~Dwight F. Zeller, 2 Peter: an Exegetical Procedure...

BF“In the first epistle, Peter designated the believer's future as an inheritance; here he calls it a kingdom.” ~M. Vincent

BGThe majority of Greek manuscripts, supported by the oldest-known manuscript of 2 Peter, read with a double negative, but 8 manuscripts read without either of the double negatives. Because 5 of the 8 manuscripts dated to the first millennium are among the 8 manuscripts without the negatives, critical scholars have eschewed the negatives for the easier reading, which, thankfully, means about the same thing. The alpha-privative “unsympathetic” shows up four other places in the GNT (Matt. 22:5, 1 Tim. 4:14, and Heb. 2:3 & 8:9) whereas the future indicative of mellw appears only once elsewhere (Matthew 24:6 “And y'all are about to hear…” ~NAW).
Henry: “If ministers be negligent in their work, it can hardly be expected that the people will be diligent in theirs; therefore Peter will not be negligent (that is, at no time or place, in no part of his work, to no part of his charge), but will be exemplarily and universally diligent, and that in the work of a remembrancer. This is the office of the best ministers, even the apostles themselves; they are the Lord's remembrancers (Isaiah 62:6); they are especially bound to make mention of the promises, and put God in mind of his engagements to do good to his people; and they are the people's remembrancers, making mention of God's precepts, and putting them in mind of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, that they may remember God's commandments, to do them.”

BHClark suggested that “these things” here and in vs. 10-15 “suggests something more... [than] the several virtues previously enumerated.” He believed it “points forward rather than backward… to emphasize the contents from 16-21.” I have yet to be convinced.

BIMoulton’s Grammar noted that this word was used to make the concessive idea of the participle more distinct “although you know.” This particle only occurs in four other places in the GNT: Phil. 3:4, and Heb. 5:8, 7:5, & 12:17.

BJVincent noted that this is the same verb Jesus used to tell Peter what to do after he recovered from denying Christ in Luke 22:32.
Wallace categorized these two participles under “Perfect with a Present Force.”

BKM. Henry interpreted “present truth” as “the truth more peculiarly necessary for us to know in our day, that which belongs to our peace, and which is more especially opposed in our time,” but the Greek word seems more likely to have to do with “arriving,” as in the truth which has already “come” in the preaching of the Apostles, and Peter intends it to oppose the continuously-evolving knowledge that false teachers are still in the process of developing.
Faussett: “...the Gospel truth now present with you: formerly promised to Old Testament believers as about to be, now in the New Testament actually present with, and in, believers…”
Vincent: “i.e., the truth which is present with you through the instruction of your teachers.”

BL“The δε – ‘And’ continues from verse 1. It is Peter’s rationale for reminding his Christian readers. But the adversative indicates that, notwithstanding the facts of verse 12 that they know and are established in the truth, he would remind them of that truth.” ~DFZ

BMThis word is repeated at the beginning of ch. 3. It was used previously in Est. 1:1, 3 Macc. 5:15, Mark 4:39, and Luke 8:24 to describe rousing a person from sleep, in Judith 1:4 to describe the construction of a new gate, in 2 Maccabees to describe emotionally-rousing speeches (7:21; 15:10), and John 6:18 to describe wind whipping up surface-water on a lake. ATR suggested that the present tense indicated continuing action “to keep on rousing you up.”

BNThe Lander tagging project of the GNT with Louw & Nida semantic domain numbers chose 89.76 “means by which one event makes another event possible” for this instance of en, and there seems to be no controversy over this among commentators.

BOThe sentence structure is a predicate adjective followed by the verb of being followed by a definite noun: “Swift is my demise.” KJV and NIV inaccurately turned the subject into a verb (“I will put away”). Furthermore, nowhere else in the Bible is this word used to mean “imminent/close/at hand;” everywhere else it occurs, it means “fast/swift/hasty” (Prov. 1:16; Wis. 13:2; Sir. 11:22; 18:26; Hab. 1:6; Isa. 59:7; 2 Pet. 2:1). Despite this fact, it seems to be the consensus of Bible translators to interpret in the former sense, while it seems only the older commentators did so (Calvin, Henry, Vincent). The more-contemporary commentators seemed to want to have it both ways: Fausset insisted it meant both (“soon” and “violent”); ATR wrote, “It is not clear whether tachinos means soon or speedy (as in Isa. 59:7 and like tachus in Jas. 1:19), or sudden (like tachus in Plato Republ. 553 D). Either sense agrees with the urgent tone of Peter here, whether he felt his death to be near or violent or both;” and DFZ added, “This has been misunderstood by many translators to only mean ‘imminent,’ ...but the word… has the first meaning of ‘rapid,’ ‘sudden,’ ‘quick.’ It can have a secondary meaning of ‘soon,’ or ‘imminent.’ So I have tried to get both concepts across… ‘Because I know that the removal of my tent is imminent/to be sudden...’”

BPDFZ had a curious interpretation of this word. Instead of “demise,” he considered the meaning to be “removal… the taking down of a tent that will be put up again in another location.” Could it refer to Peter relocating to Rome, rather than to Peter dying? The word exodon (rather than something like thanaton) in the subsequent verse continues this ambiguity, but I have a hard time imagining that Peter is speaking of anything other than his death.

BQOwen wrote in a footnote to Calvin’s commentary: “It has been disputed, whether he refers here to what is recorded in John 21:18, 19, or to a new revelation. The latter was the opinion of some of the ancient fathers; and not without reason, for in John the manner of his death is what is mentioned, but here the near approach of it, — two things wholly distinct.”

BRLit. “to have,” NIV = “be able,” Omitted from the ESV. ATR called it an “idiom,” following Vincent, who pointed to three passages where he thought it also meant “be able” (Mark 14:8, Matt. 18:25, & John 8:6).

BS“my” is emphatic here, so I translated it “myself.”

BTCompare Peter’s “exit” (exodos) upon his death to his readers’ “entrance” (εἴσοδος) into the kingdom in v.11.
“It is at least remarkable that, with the recollection of the scene on the mount of transfiguration floating in his mind, the apostle should use so close together the words which were there also associated, tabernacle and decease. The coincidence should not be forgotten in treating of the question of the genuineness of the epistle.” ~Dean Alford

BUThis spelling could be middle or passive. The Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes and the BibleWorks Greek New Testament Morphology and A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures all tag the voice as middle.
Vincent noted that this phrase with the infinitive of “to make” with the object “memory” doesn’t occur anywhere else in the Bible, although “memory” does occur four other times with participial and indicative forms of “make” (Rom. 1:9, Eph. 1:16, 1Th. 1:2, and Phm. 1:4) denoting “prayer” as “making mention.”
DFZ: “Why can’t this be a purpose infinitive of ‘in remembrance?’ Therefore, I have translated it: ‘in remembrance to do.’”

BVThis word, particularly frequent in the wisdom books of Ecclesiastes and Sirach, implies Godly wisdom everywhere else in scripture it is used. Its case is Dative, which A.T. Robertson labeled as “Associative instrumental case.”
Calvin: “The old interpreter renders the word ‘feigned,’ (fictas;) Erasmus, ‘formed by art.’ It seems to me that what is subtle to deceive is meant: for the Greek word here used, σοφίζεσθαι, sometimes means this. And we know how much labor men bestow on frivolous refinements, and only that they may have some amusement. Therefore no less seriously ought our minds to be applied to know the truth which is not fallacious, and the doctrine which is not nugatory, and which discovers to us the glory of the Son of God and our own salvation.”
Gordon Clark’s Commentary, New Heavens, New Earth, pp.186-189 soundly rebuts Strachan’s suggestion that Peter is speaking of the Eleusinian mysteries, as well as claims that 2 Peter is a forgery, claims that there are inconsistencies between 2 Peter and the Synoptics in the Transfiguration account, and the general approach of dialectical theology, as well as Mayor’s mystical application of this passage.

BWThe only other places in the Greek Bible (besides the apocryphal Sirach 20:19) where this word occurs are in the pastoral epistles: 1 Tim. 1:4, 4:7, 2 Tim. 4:4, and Titus 1:14.
Vincent: “The reference here may be to the Jewish myths, rabbinical embellishments of Old-Testament history; or to the heathen myths about the descent of the gods to earth, which might be suggested by his remembrance of the transfiguration; or to the Gnostic speculations about aeons or emanations, which rose from the eternal abyss, the source of all spiritual existence, and were named Mind, Wisdom, Power, Truth, etc.”

BXThis verb is parallel to γενηθέντες in this verse: “It was not after following myths, rather it was after becoming eyewitnesses, that we made known Jesus Christ to you.” Both are aorist participles. I think they should be translated temporally, denoting what had happened before the main verb (“we made known”). D.F. Zeller considered them to be “causal.” Most English versions instead translated these participles as though they were indicatives, which forced them into the error of turning the main indicative Greek verb into a dependent temporal clause (“when we made known” – but the word “when” isn’t there in Greek). Murdock, in his English translation of the ancient Peshitta, and Douay, in his translation of the ancient Vulgate, agreed with me to some extent: Douay getting the main verb right and translating “following” as a participle (but relating it to the main verb in terms of means rather than temporally), and Murdock translating “after we had been” as a temporal participle like I did.

BYThis verb is indicative, but all the standard English versions translate it as though it were a participle with a temporal meaning. Douay’s English translation of the Vulgate got the Greek right here.

BZThis word was often used to denote Jesus’ “miracles” in the Gospels. Then in the epistles we read: 1 Cor. 1:22-24 “Since Jews are also requiring signs, and Greeks are seeking wisdom, but, as for us, we are preaching a Christ who has been crucified – to ... the called ones (both Jews and Greeks) – Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God… 2:4-5 and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but rather in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, in order that your faith might not exist in the wisdom of men, but rather in the power of God.” (NAW) and Hebrews 1:3 Who being the radiance of His glory and the stamp of His substance and carrying all things by the word of His power, having made purification from our sins with His own self, He took office at the right hand of the Greatest One in the heights.” (NAW)

CABlass & Debrunner: “Και is used here to co-ordinate two ideas one of which is dependent on the other. Thus the conjunction serves to avoid a series of dependent genitives, “the power of our Lord's appearing.”
D.F. Zeller, on the other hand suggested that this is a hendiadys (“the powerful coming”) because there is only one definite article for the two accusatives.
Lander tagged this conjunction with L&N#89.92, which is a simple “and,” and that’s the way all the English versions went, as well as the Vulgate and Peshitta.

CBThis word for “coming” is never used of Jesus’ first coming, only of His return arrival. Gordon Clark was the only commentator I found who referred it to anything else. (He thought it referred to the Transfiguration.) DFZ insisted it had to refer to both comings.

CCHapex Legomenon. This word does occur in the Apocrypha, but only to describe God, the one who has his “eye upon” all things on earth (Est. 5:1; 2 Mac. 3:39; 7:35; 3 Mac. 2:21). Calvin’s editor commented, “it betokens those who not only see or behold a thing, but who attentively look on. It is more emphatical than αὐτόπται…” A related word shows up in the similar prologue to the Gospel of Luke [εὐτόπται].

CDThis word in the Greek Old Testament is used to describe the majesty of kings. In the Gospels, it occurs once, in Luke 9:42-43, the day after the transfiguration, when “...Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the majesty of God...” (NKJV) (The only other NT occurrence is Acts 19:27 when a pagan was verbally praising a Greek goddess.)

CETranslators have generally considered the two aorist participles in this verse (“he received” and “voice was brought”) as parallel in time rather than sequential (Peshitta possibly being an exception.) Translators are split over whether to put the temporal indicator “when” with “He received” (NASB, ESV, NLT, Murdock) or with “voice was brought” (Geneva, KJV, NIV, NET, Douay, Fausset, Henry). The distinction would be between which participle is describing the main action and which is describing an incidental action. I would argue that due to “He received” being earlier in the sentence and more comprehensive in scope of meaning (seeing as it was at only one point during the experience of glory that the words came), the “when” should go with the former participle. The latter participle describing the voice is somewhat subordinate to the first, coming later in the sentence and being a genitive absolute. And, besides the grammar, the “sound” of the voice is not what appears to be the main source of glory in the account.

CFIt appears that Peter does not want to be held accountable to giving an exact quote, which is odd, considering his emphasis on being an eyewitness. Perhaps God spoke it in Aramaic, and Peter is giving a rough translation in Greek.
“τοιασδε draws attention to the uniqueness of what was being said, as well as the fact that this is not a verbatim quote.” ~D.F. Zeller

CGcf. megaleiotetos describing Jesus in the previous verse. The word here has only one other instance in the whole Greek Bible (not counting a couple of citations in the Maccabees), and that is Deut. 33:26, so this is clearly an allusion to this O.T. passage referring to God. It is a compound of the Greek word for “great” and the Greek word for “fitting/proper.”

CHThe Patriarchal reading is supported by 5 of the 8 first-millennium manuscripts (including א, A, and C), as well as the readings of all the synoptic transfiguration accounts (although Mark and Luke substitute “Listen to Him” for “in whom I am well-pleased”). Nevertheless, on the basis of four manuscripts (two of which are among the oldest-known – P⁷² & B), the critical texts add an extra mou (“my”) here and move the outoV estin to here, so the translation of the critical editions should be, “This is my son, my beloved, in whom I…” which doesn’t effectively change the meaning, but it’s telling that all of the contemporary English versions abandoned their normal preference for the critical text to follow the Textus Receptus here. According to CNTTS critical apparatus, the Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus GNTs actually departed from the majority of Greek manuscripts which do not have the first mou (“my”). (The UBS critical apparatus lumped the Byzantine majority together with the seven manuscripts which had the first “my.”) This still doesn’t effectively change the meaning because of the Greek phenomenon of articular pronomials whereby “the” (‘ο) can be interpreted as “my.”

CIMoule, in his An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, wrote, “Εις with an accusative here is used with a sense equivalent to a pure dative, ‘with whom.’”

CJBurton, in his Moods and Tenses of New Testament Greek wrote, “The aorist verb εὐδόκησα may be explained in a variety of ways: 1) as an historical aorist having reference to a specific event as its basis, “I was well pleased with thee” (e.g., for receiving baptism); 2) as a comprehensive historical aorist covering the period of Christ's preincarnate existence; 3) as a comprehensive historical aorist having the force of an English perfect, and referring to the period of Christ's earthly existence up to the time of speaking; and 4) as an inceptive aorist referring to some indefinite, imagined point of past time at which God is represented as becoming well pleased with Jesus -- most probable” Robertson, in his Grammar, countered that “it is a timeless aorist and may also be gnomic.”
The pronoun “I” is emphatic.

CKThe critical GNT’s (following 9 manuscripts, including 5 of the 7 first-millennium manuscripts) switch the order of the words “mountain” and “holy” and remove the definite article before “mountain.” It doesn’t change the meaning, since there is still a definite article before “holy,” and “holy” is still an adjective describing “mountain.” The “holy mountain” in the Old Testament is mostly Jerusalem, although once it is Sinai (Ezek. 28:14), and a few times it is God’s place in heaven (as it also is in the only other NT citation – Revelation 21:10). At no other point in the Greek Bible is the phrase identical to the critical text, but it appears three other places identical to the majority text (1 Mac. 11:37; Psalm 14:1, and Isaiah 65:25).

CLcf. v.10 without the comparative degree “...being diligent all-the-more to make confirmed for yourselves your calling and choosing…”
Calvin: “[T]he truth of the gospel is here simply proved by a twofold testimony, — that Christ had been highly approved by the solemn declaration of God, and, then, that all the prophecies of the prophets confirmed the same thing... the word of the prophets should be said to be more sure or firmer than the voice which came from the holy mouth of God himself…”
Owen of Thrussington: “[T]hat is, ‘we have rendered more firm the prophetic word.’ This is confirmed by what follows; for the prophetic word is compared to ‘a light shining in a dark place,’ and, therefore, not clear nor firm until it be fulfilled; but they were ‘doing well to attend’ to this light until the full light of the gospel shone in their hearts. As Scott maintains, the reference here is clearly to the experience of Christians to their real knowledge of divine truths; for it was to be in their hearts…”
Gordon Clark pointed out the absurdity of comparing the Old Testament prophecies to a spoken word from God and saying that one is “more certain” than the other. He advocated for bebaioteron being translated “more permanent” (using a secondary definition of the Greek word in Liddell and Scott’s Lexicon suggested by Weymouth in his commentary), explaining the passage that “[T]he Old Testament, written, is more permanent than the brief duration of God’s declaration at the Transfiguration.”
DFZ: “This… is an elative comparison and not a superlative comparative. It is not making one revelation better than another, but the prophetic word becomes elevated because of the word of the apostles.”

CMRomans 16:25-26 is the only other place this adjective appears in the Greek Bible.

CNThe verb “you do” is present tense, not future, indicating ongoing action at the present time. Most English versions followed Moulton’s interpretation of the relationship to the participle to this main verb as complementary “do well to pay attention.” (DFZ narrowed it down further by labeling this participial phrase as “periphrastic.”) Geneva and KJV translated it with more of an explanatory force “that ye take heed” and NET (probably following Rodgers & Rodgers) and Murdock went with a conditional “if you...” I think that the temporal “when you” works best with the present force of the main verb.

COcf. Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet...” (KJV), Prov. 6:23, John 5:33-37.

CPThe Greek word has more to do with the presence of dust than with the absence of light.

CQ“indefinite temporal clauses” ~DFZ

CRHapex Legomenon. Literally to “shine/beam through.” Intensive form of another Hapex legomenon in 2 Cor. 4:4 “...lest the light of the gospel… shine on them.”

CSAnother Hapex Legomenon. Literally it means “light bearer.” In other Greek literature, it refers to the planet Venus (often visible as a “star” in the morning at sunrise) or to the Sun itself. To what does this refer? See Num. 24:17, Mal. 4:2, Matt. 4:13-16, 17:2, Luke 1:76-79, 2:30-32, John 1:1-5, 8:12, 9:5, 11:9, 12:36, 2 Cor. 4:3-6, Rev. 21:23 & 22:16.

CTThe only other reference in the Greek Bible which associates these words for “light” “rising” and “heart” is Ps. 97:10-12. (Isa. 58 and 60 also have prophetic passages about the coming of Christ as a dawning “light” and of the righteousness of His people also being a light that “dawns.”) Gordon Clark pointed out that “‘in your hearts’ … seems to rule out a public descent with angels and trumpets. Peter is urging his readers to continue studying the prophetic word until its meaning dawns in their minds.” DFZ added, “If this applies only to Christ’s second coming, ‘in your hearts’ becomes a difficult phrase to interpret. If this applies to Christ’s first and second coming, it is easier... all believers have some hope in the OT Messianic prophecies, ‘as a lamp or candle shining in a dingy place,’ but when the prophecies are really taken ‘to heart,’ it is as when the light of a new ‘day dawns’ within the believer’s life.”

CUThe subject of this NMP participle seems most likely to be “we,” following the nominatives of the main verbs (“We made known to you...Jesus… We heard… We have… knowing firstly...”), rather than the “you’s” of the dependent clauses. Peshitta, NIV, NET, NLT, Henry, Fausset, and A.T. Robertson, however, interpreted “you” as its subject. In terms of its grammatical use, most English versions interpreted it, as I did, as a causal or circumstantial participle, dependent on what is predicated at the beginning of the last verse (“We have the more-sure prophetic word… knowing that no prophecy is private…”), however the NASB and NIV and NLT interpreted it as an imperative (“you should know/understand this”). Since “first” is an adverb, it is describing the verb “knowing.” It could describe temporal succession, but NIV, NET, NLT, Fausset, & DFZ interpreted it as relational preeminence (“above all”).

CVRobertson’s Grammar: “The singular γραφη occurs twice in the N.T. as anarthrous but with a definite sense (here and in 1Pet. 2:6).”

CW“ablative of source” ~DFZ

CXHapex Legomenon. There is, however, a verbal form which appears twice in the Bible: Mk. 4:34 & Acts 19:39. The second passage brings in clearly the angle of authoritativeness. This is not merely one private person “unpacking” his understanding of a matter to someone else, this is a determination, made by an authority, of the boundaries in which subordinates must operate. Calvin’s editor insisted on translating it “impulse or invention.” Gordon Clark suggested the translation “released” (used today of book and music publishing), which incorporates well the literal meaning of the Greek word.

CYVincent: “originates.” The NIV “came about” would have been an excellent translation if it had been present tense to match the Greek.

CZThis is the same verb Peter used in v.18 to describe when he heard God speak at the Transfiguration, and it is the same verb used of prophecy by the Holy Spirit later in this verse. The grammar forms a contrast between prophecy carried out by the will of man and prophecy carried out by the Holy Spirit.
“Peter is not here warning against personal interpretation of prophecy as the Roman Catholics say, but against the folly of upstart prophets with no impulse from God.” ~A.T. Robertson

DAKJV gives the primary meaning of this word “then,” but all the contemporary versions read “at any time,” supported by Fausset & DFZ.

DBGordon Clark noted “the four-fold repetition of the verb borne… [in vs. 17-21] is a … literary device used to build up to a climax.”

DC11 Greek manuscripts (including the oldest-known one) differ from the majority of Greek manuscripts by reading apo (“from”) instead of agioi (“holy men”). In context, the majority (not only the Byzantine majority but also the majority of first-millennium manuscripts) read, “Holy men of God spoke” (which is the reading of the KJV and of the ancient Latin and Syriac versions as well. Curiously, the KJV followed the majority without a definite article before “holy” rather than the Textus Receptus which, with no known manuscript support, added a definite article before “holy men of God.”)
Commenting on the Alexandrian text, Hanna wrote, “Generally when the preposition απο is used in place of ‘υπο with an instrumental or causal sense, the passive voice of the verb is employed (cf. Acts 2:22; 20:19, Heb. 5:7 and Jas. 1:13). Consequently, Moule's first suggestion seems preferable [when he wrote, ‘Does ελαλησαν απο θεου mean “they spoke what was derived from God” (practically equivalent to τα απο θεου...’].”

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