Peter now moves on to the second foundation
for his teaching—the reliability of the Scripture: Moreover, we possess the
prophetic message that is altogether reliable. “The prophetic message,”
equivalent to the “prophecy of scripture” in verse 20, is the Scripture itself,
which for Peter is the Old Testament because the whole Old Testament speaks
prophetically about the coming of Christ. Paul too when referring to the Scriptures
speaks of the “prophetic writings” (Rom 16:26). If we follow the NAB translation,
then the meaning is simply that the Scriptures are altogether trustworthy. Many
translations (for example, the NRSV) follow a more literal rendering: “So we
have the prophetic word made more sure.” In this case the word Peter heard on
the mountain fully confirms and strengthens the witness from the Scriptures.
Either interpretation is possible and both make sense of what Peter is claiming
here: God’s word, whether found in Scripture or confirmed by apostolic witness,
is altogether reliable. (Daniel Keating, First and Second Peter, Jude [Catholic
Commentary on Sacred Scripture; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2019], 152)
