2 Peter 1:20

2 Peter 1:20, in plain English

Most importantly, understand this: no prophecy of Scripture came from someone's private interpretation or personal ideas. Prophets weren't making it up.

Why it's here

False teachers were likely reinterpreting Scripture to support their false teaching, claiming special knowledge or secret meanings. Peter's saying that's backwards. The prophecies didn't come from human effort or imagination—they came from God's Spirit. So you can't just interpret them however you want.

Who's speaking

Peter, warning against the misuse of Scripture by false teachers.

Where it sits in the story

This opens into verse 21, where Peter will explain that prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Scripture's authority comes from its source in God, not from human cleverness.

The scholarly reading

Above all, understand that prophecy never originated from individual interpretation but was divinely inspired—its meaning transcends personal intuition or private exegesis.

Language and setting

The phrase 'no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation' (Greek: pasa propheteia graphēs idias epilyseōs ou ginetai) employs epilyseōs ('interpretation,' literally 'loosing,' 'resolution'), suggesting that meaning is not private invention but divinely determined. Idias ('one's own') emphasizes individual subjectivity in contrast to the objective revelation behind Scripture. This verse directly counters the false teachers' practice of eisegesis—reading their own speculative philosophy into Scripture to support Gnostic doctrines. Peter asserts the objectivity of prophetic meaning: it originates not in the prophet's imagination but in divine inspiration. This principle serves as hermeneutical guardrail: believers are not free to reinterpret Scripture according to private opinion or contemporary philosophy. The verse introduces a transition to verse 21, which specifies that prophecy came 'from the Holy Spirit' (Greek: apo theou pheromai tō pneumati hagiō)—divine origin guarantees meaning's stability and binding authority.

Voice

Peter, establishing the principle that Scripture's meaning is objectively determined, not subjectively negotiable.

Significance

This echoes 2 Timothy 2:15 ('present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who correctly handles the word of truth') and prefigures the church's later development of hermeneutical principles. It affirms that while individual believers may arrive at fresh applications, the gospel's fundamental meaning remains fixed—not subject to perpetual reinterpretation according to cultural preference or personal intuition.

18And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

19We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.

21For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Read all of 2 Peter 1 — Peter's final letter — a warning against false teachers and a reminder that the day of the Lord is coming, even if it seems delayed.