Sunday, April 5
Read 2 Peter 1:19-21. How does Peter express his conviction about the origin of the biblical prophetic message?
The Bible is not like any other book. According to the apostle Peter, the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit in such a way that the content of their message came from God. They did not invent it themselves. Rather than being “cunningly devised fables” (2 Peter 1:16), the prophetic message of the Bible is of divine origin, and thus it is truthful and trustworthy. “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). God was at work in the process of revelation, where He made known His will to selected human beings.
Direct verbal communication between God and particular human beings is an inescapable fact of the Scriptures. This is why the Bible has special, divine authority, and we need to take the divine element into consideration in our interpretation of the Scriptures. Having our holy God as their ultimate author, the biblical books are aptly called “holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2, 2 Timothy 3:15).
They were given for practical purposes, too. They are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
We also need the help of the Holy Spirit to apply to our lives what God has revealed in His Word. According to the apostle Peter, the interpretation of the divinely revealed Word of God is not a matter of our own opinions. We need God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to rightly understand its meaning.
Scripture also says, “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). The biblical words for “revelation” (in its various forms) express the idea that something previously hidden has now been disclosed or unveiled and thus becomes known and made manifest. As human beings, we need such an uncovering, or revelation, for we are sinful beings, separated from God because of our sin, and therefore dependent upon Him to know His will.
It’s hard enough obeying the Bible even when we believe in its divine origin. What would happen if we come to distrust or even question that divine origin?
