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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 2 Peter 1:19 - 1:19
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We have also a more sure word of prophecy (καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον)
The A. V is wrong, since more sure is used predicatively, and word has the definite article. We may explain either (a) as Rev., we have the word of prophecy made more sure, i.e., we are better certified than before as to the prophetic word by reason of this voice; or (b) we have the word of prophecy as a surer confirmation of God's truth than what we ourselves saw, i.e., Old-Testament testimony is more convincing than even the voice heard at the transfiguration. The latter seems to accord better with the words which follow. “To appreciate this we must put ourselves somewhat in the place of those for whom St. Peter wrote. The New Testament, as we have it, was to them non-existent. Therefore we can readily understand how the long line of prophetic scriptures, fulfilled in so many ways in the life of Jesus, would be a mightier form of evidence than the narrative of one single event in Peter's life” (Lumby). “Peter knew a sounder basis for faith than that of signs and wonders. He had seen our Lord Jesus Christ receive honor and glory from God the Father in the holy mount; he had been dazzled and carried out of himself by visions and voices from heaven; but, nevertheless, even when his memory and heart are throbbing with recollections of that sublime scene, he says, 'we have something surer still in the prophetic word.'...It was not the miracles of Christ by which he came to know Jesus, but the word of Christ as interpreted by the spirit of Christ” (Samuel Cox).
Onto a light (λύχνῳ)
More correctly, as Rev., a lamp.
In a dark place (ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ)
A peculiar expression. Lit., a dry place. Only here in New Testament. Rev. gives squalid, in margin. Aristotle opposes it to bright or glistering. It is a subtle association of the idea of darkness with squalor, dryness, and general neglect.
Dawn (διαυγάσῃ)
Only here in New Testament. Compare the different word in Mat 28:1, and Luk 23:54, ἐπιφώσκω. The verb is compounded of διά, through, and αὐγή, sunlight, thus carrying the picture of light breaking through the gloom.
The day-star (φωσφόρος)
Of which our word phosphorus is a transcript. Lit., light-bearer, like Lucifer, front lux, light, and fero, to bear. See Aeschylus, “Agamemnon,” 245.