Wednesday, March 3, 2021

2 Peter 1:19 and "The Prophetic Word"

2 Pet 1:19 is a common "proof-text" for Sola Scriptura. The passage reads as follows:

 

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. (NASB)

 

Protestant apologists who appeal to this verse understand "the prophetic word" to refer to the Bible. Of course, this itself is anachronistic (see the section "Falling at the First Hurdle: Why Sola Scriptura is an exegetical impossibility" in Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura).

 

According to Richard Bauckham, the phrase refers, not to the Bible as a whole, but the Old Testament (interpreted through the Christ event):

 

The phrase τον προφητικὸν λογον (“the prophetic word”), has been held to refer to (1) OT messianic prophecy (2) the whole OT understood as messianic (3) one specific OT prophecy (4) OT and NT prophecies (5) 2 Pet 1:20-2:19 (6) the Transfiguration itself as a prophecy of the Parousia . . . In view of 2 Pet 3:16, where Paul’s writings are called γραφαι (“Scriptures”), it is perhaps not impossible that NT writings are included but against this we should consider: (1) Even Justin does not use the term προφητικος λογος (“prophetic word”) of NT Scripture. (2) Our writer is not likely to be representing Peter as saying that he and his fellow-apostles based their preaching of the Parousia on apostolic writings. The best sense of the whole passage 1:16-19 is that the apostles based their eschatological message on (a) their own eyewitness testimony (vv 16-18), and (b) OT prophecies (v 19). (3) 2:1a, referring to false prophets in the OT period, presupposes that the preceding verses are about the OT Scriptures. (Richard J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter [Word Biblical Commentary 50; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992], 224)

 

That Peter is only speaking of the OT (via a “Messianic lens”) and not the OT and NT is further supported by vv. 20-21:

 

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (NASB)

 

The phrase translated as “until” in 2 Pet 1:19 is that of εως ου, the same term that appears in Matt 1:25. Most Latter-day Saints and Protestants today interpret this to mean a cessation of the main clause when the until/εως ου is reached. Interestingly, this would claim that “the prophetic word” ceases to have ultimate authority when Christ returns(!) As Eric Svendsen (Reformed Protestant) wrote:

 

Peter entreats us to pay attention to the word of the prophets “as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises” (2 Pet 1:19)—doubtless a reference to the parousia, after which it will no longer be necessary to turn to the word of the prophets as a guide which navigates us through a dark place; Christ himself will supersede any such need. (Eric D. Svendsen, Who Is My Mother? The Role and Status of the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament [Amityville, N.Y.: Calvary Press, 2001], 52)

 

I have added a discussion of 2 Pet 1:19 to Not By Scripture Alone. As some already know, I have been asked by a Reformed Protestant in Utah to debate Sola Scriptura, and I have seen him allude to this verse on his Youtube videocasts on the authority of the Bible.