Then, in explaining, Peter adds why his words were not interpreted as
private or personal: at the same time, he also distinguishes true prophecy from
demonic and false prophecies, which are found to operate in heretics, and says:
“that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.”
That is, indeed, the prophets receive prophecy from God, but not as they wish,
but as the divine Spirit works in them moving them: and they certainly knew and
understood the prophetic message sent to them, yet they did not make the
interpretation themselves. That the prophets, moved by the divine Spirit, knew
how the Spirit was sent to them from God is evident from the fact that they
spoke voluntarily and said what they wished, while they remained silent on what
they did not want to say; just as the prophet Jonah, refusing to preach in
Nineveh (Jonah 1:3), and Balaam (Num. 22:13), commanded to speak what was
suggested to him. However, the false prophets or the oracles of the Greeks did
not have this: for they did not know while they were being agitated, but,
having become made with frenzy, they were unaware of that was happening to
them, as if they were drunk.
Therefore, the holy prophets, I say, the ancients, although they
understood, did not, however, have to interpret what they predicted, but they
served these things to others, namely to us. Likewise, so that the Lord’s
coming might remain hidden, and that traps might not be prepared for Him by the
wicked. Indeed, even if the power of God could escape from assaults, it is
likely that through extraordinary means of escape, the incarnation would appear
as if it were a miraculous event. And that this is true is evident from the
prophets who were in the New Testament, who also interpreted themselves while
prophesying, although not in all cases, as the blessed Paul says in his earlier
letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 14:21); for there was no such suspicion in
the New Testament. Furthermore, it is also clear that the prophets did not
prophecy outside of themselves.
When they prophesied with one spirit, both those in the Old Testament
and those in the New, Paul says: “If, however, something is revealed to another
sitting there, let the first be silent.” (1 Cor. 14:30) From this, it is
evident that the prophets, remaining in their natural consistency, prophesied
spontaneously and intelligently. Therefore, when another rises to whom inspiration
has been given, the one who was speaking first is commanded to be silent; which
could not be found among made prophets. For how will he be silent who does not
even know what he is doing? Paul himself says that the energy of the Holy Spirit
is in the prophets, speaking thus: “To one is given the word of wisdom, to
another the word of prophecy.” (1 Cor. 12:8) (Commentary on the Catholic
Epistles by Oecumenius (6th Century) [trans. John Litteral; 2025], 114-15)
