A total misinterpretation of II Pet I:19-21 has greatly contributed to the quagmire the Church of God finds itself in today, at this crucial stage of Church history.

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The passage reads as follows:

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19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

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This passage of Scripture has been used to convince Church members that it is impossible for them to come to an understanding of the Bible on their own, especially regarding prophecy. As a consequence, brethren have been coerced into accepting the explanations given by Church leaders who claim that they alone can understand God's Word.

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​Notice that the brethren were told by Peter in verse 19 to "heed" the prophecies. Now how were they meant to do that? Did Peter write an authorised Church commentary on all the prophecies, make an untold number of copies of it, and hand it out at every place he preached? Of course not.​

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The meaning of this passage is so basic that it can only be explained as another point regarding which the Laodicean Church era is "blind".

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Most commentaries have little trouble explaining these verses.

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They agree that verse 20 is not talking about the interpretation of prophecy, but rather where prophecy originated, a conclusion verse 21 makes obvious.

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The Greek verb genetai translated "is" in the phrase "is of any private interpretation" has the following dictionary meanings: "to cause to be, to generate, to become, to come into being, to be brought to pass" (Strong's Concordance).

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Let's re-read this passage with this one word translated more correctly:

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 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture came into being of any private interpretation,

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

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(Check the Companion Bible, Clarke's Commentary or Green's Interlinear Bible)

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Notice how the three verses together now make perfect sense. This passage tells us that prophecy did not originate with men, but rather that men of God were moved by God's spirit to record His words. How simple and logical!

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The brethren are told by Peter that they can personally study and meditate on the prophecies, knowing that they did not originate in the minds of men, but rather came from God.

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The explanation we have traditionally been given of these verses is the 180 degree opposite of what they actually mean.

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We have been told it says "don't read the prophecies because you can't understand them", whereas God emphatically is trying to get each and every one of us to read the prophecies!

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The message from these verses is that our Father in Heaven does want to talk to us personally and individually, does want to answer our questions, does want to see us open His Word and with His help understand it. He wants to have a meaningful and beneficial relationship with all His children.

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This website encourages its readers to heed Bible prophecies and to study them for themselves.

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