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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
S E C O N D P E T E R.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have,
I. An introduction, or preface, making way for, and leading to, what is
principally designed by the apostle,
II. An exhortation to advance and improve in all Christian graces,
III. To enforce this exhortation, and engage them seriously and
heartily to comply with it, he adds,
1. A representation of the very great advantage which will thereby
accrue to them,
2. A promise of the best assistance the apostle was able to give to
facilitate and forward this good work,
3. A declaration of the certain truth and divine origin of the gospel
of Christ, in the grace whereof they were exhorted to increase and
persevere.
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1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the
righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of
him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.
The apostle Peter, being moved by the Holy Ghost to write once more to
those who from among the Jews were turned to faith in Christ, begins
this second epistle with an introduction, wherein the same persons are
described and the same blessings are desired that are in the preface to
his former letter; but there are some additions or alterations which
ought to be taken notice of, in all the three parts of the
introduction.
I. We have here a description of the person who wrote the epistle, by
the name of Simon, as well as Peter, and by the title of
servant, as well as that of apostle. Peter, being in both
epistles, seems to be the name most frequently used, and with which he
may be thought to be best pleased, it being given him by our Lord, upon
his confessing Jesus to be Christ the Son of the living God, and
the very name signifying and sealing that truth to be the fundamental
article, the rock on which all must build; but the name Simon,
though omitted in the former epistle, is mentioned in this, lest the
total omission of that name, which was given him when he was
circumcised, should make the Jewish believers, who were all zealous of
the law, to become jealous of the apostle, as if he disclaimed and
despised circumcision. He here styles himself a servant (as well
as an apostle) of Jesus Christ; in this he may be allowed to
glory, as David does,
The service of Christ is the way to the highest honour,
Christ himself is King of kings, and Lord of lords; and he makes
all his servants kings and priests unto God,
Rev. i. 6.
How great an honour is it to be the servants of this Master! This is
what we cannot, without sin, be ashamed of. To triumph in being
Christ’s servant is very proper for those who are engaging
others to enter into or abide in the service of Christ.
II. We have an account of the people to whom the epistle is written.
They are described in the former epistle as elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, and here as having obtained
precious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for the faith here
mentioned is vastly different from the false faith of the heretic, and
the feigned faith of the hypocrite, and the fruitless faith of the
formal professor, how orthodox soever he is. It is the faith of
God’s elect
(Tit. i. 1),
wrought by the Spirit of God in effectual calling. Observe,
1. True saving faith is a precious grace, and that not only as it is
very uncommon, very scarce, even in the visible church, a very small
number of true believers among a great multitude of visible professors
but true faith is very excellent and of very great use and advantage to
those who have it. The just lives by faith, a truly divine
spiritual life; faith procures all the necessary supports and comforts
of this excellent life; faith goes to Christ, and buys the wine and
milk
which are the proper nourishment of the new creature; faith buys and
brings home the tried gold, the heavenly treasure that enriches; faith
takes and puts on the white raiment, the royal robes that clothe and
adorn,
Observe,
2. Faith is alike precious in the private Christian and in the apostle;
it produces the same precious effects in the one and in the other.
Faith unites the weak believer to Christ as really as it does the
strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; and
every sincere believer is by his faith justified in the sight of God,
and that from all sins,
Faith, in whomsoever it exists, takes hold of the same precious
Saviour, and applies the same precious promises.
3. This precious faith is obtained of God. Faith is the gift of God,
wrought by the Spirit, who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead.
4. The preciousness of faith, as well as our obtaining it, is through
the righteousness of Christ. The satisfactory meritorious righteousness
and obedience of Christ gives faith all its value and preciousness: and
the righteousness of such a person cannot but be of infinite value to
those who by faith receive it. For,
(1.) This Jesus Christ is God, yea, our God, as it is in the
original. He is truly God, an infinite Being, who has wrought out this
righteousness, and therefore it must be of infinite value.
(2.) He is the Saviour of those that believe, and as such he
yielded this meritorious obedience; and therefore it is of such great
benefit and advantage to them, because, as surety and Saviour, he
wrought out this righteousness in their stead.
III. We have the apostolical benediction, wherein he wishes for the
multiplication and increase of the divine favour to them, and the
advancement and growth of the work of grace in them, and that peace
with God and in their own consciences (which cannot be without
grace) may abound in them. This is the very same benediction
that is in the former epistle; but here he adds,
1. An account of the way and means whereby grace and peace are
multiplied–it is through the knowledge of God and Jesus
Christ; this acknowledging or believing in the only living and
true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is the great
improvement of spiritual life, or it could not be the way to life
eternal,
2. The ground of the apostle’s faith in asking, and of the Christian’s
hope in expecting, the increase of grace. What we have already received
should encourage us to ask for more; he who has begun the work of grace
will perfect it. Observe,
(1.) The fountain of all spiritual blessings is the divine power of
Jesus Christ, who could not discharge all the office of Mediator,
unless he was God as well as man.
(2.) All things that have any relation to, and influence upon, the true
spiritual life, the life and power of godliness, are from Jesus Christ;
in him all fulness dwells, and it is from him that we receive,
and grace for grace
(John i. 16),
even all that is necessary for the preserving, improving, and
perfecting of grace and peace, which, according to some expositors, are
called here in
this verse
godliness and life.
(3.) Knowledge of God, and faith in him, are the channel whereby all
spiritual supports and comforts are conveyed to us; but then we must
own and acknowledge God as the author of our effectual calling, for so
he is here described: Him that hath called us to glory and
virtue. Observe here, The design of God in calling or converting
men is to bring them to glory and virtue, that is, peace and
grace, as some understand it; but many prefer the marginal
rendering, by glory and virtue; and so we have effectual calling
set forth as the work of the glory and virtue, or the glorious
power, of God, which is described
It is the glory of God’s power to convert sinners; this is the power
and glory of God which are seen and experienced in his sanctuary
(Ps. lxiii. 2);
this power or virtue is to be extolled by all that are called out of
darkness into marvellous light,
1 Pet. ii. 9.
(4.) In the
the apostle goes on to encourage their faith and hope in looking for an
increase of grace and peace, because the same glory and virtue are
employed and evidenced in giving the promises of the gospel that are
exercised in our effectual calling. Observe,
[1.] The good things which the promises make over are exceedingly
great. Pardon of sin is one of the blessings here intended; how great
this is all who know any thing of the power of God’s anger will readily
confess, and this is one of those promised favours in bestowing whereof
the power of the Lord is great,
Num. xiv. 17.
To pardon sins that are numerous and heinous (every one of which
deserves God’s wrath and curse, and that for ever) is a wonderful
thing, and is so called,
[2.] The promised blessings of the gospel are very precious; as the
great promise of the Old Testament was the Seed of the woman,
the Messiah
(Heb. xi. 39),
so the great promise of the New Testament is the Holy Ghost
and how precious must the enlivening, enlightening, sanctifying Spirit
be!
[3.] Those who receive the promises of the gospel partake of the
divine nature. They are renewed in the spirit of their mind,
after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness;
their hearts are set for God and his service; they have a divine temper
and disposition of soul; though the law is the ministration of
death, and the letter killeth, yet the gospel is the
ministration of life, and the Spirit quickeneth those
who are naturally dead in trespasses and sins.
[4.] Those in whom the Spirit works the divine nature are freed from
the bondage of corruption. Those who are, by the Spirit of grace,
renewed in the spirit of their mind, are translated into the
liberty of the children of God; for it is the world in which
corruption reigns. Those who are not of the Father, but of
the world, are under the power of sin; the world lies in
wickedness,
And the dominion that sin has in the men of the world is through lust;
their desires are to it, and therefore it rules over them. The dominion
that sin has over us is according to the delight we have in it.
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5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and
to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you
that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see
afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old
sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your
calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall
never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.
In these words the apostle comes to the chief thing intended in this
epistle–to excite and engage them to advance in grace and holiness,
they having already obtained precious faith, and been made partakers of
the divine nature. This is a very good beginning, but it is not to be
rested in, as if we were already perfect. The apostle had prayed that
grace and peace might be multiplied to them, and now he exhorts them to
press forward for the obtaining of more grace. We should, as we have
opportunity, exhort those we pray for, and excite them to the use of
all proper means to obtain what we desire God to bestow upon them; and
those who will make any progress in religion must be very diligent and
industrious in their endeavours. Without giving all diligence,
there is no gaining any ground in the work of holiness; those who are
slothful in the business of religion will make nothing of it; we must
strive if we will enter in at the strait gate,
Luke xiii. 24.
I. Here we cannot but observe how the believer’s way is marked out step
by step.
1. He must get virtue, by which some understand justice;
and then the knowledge, temperance, and patience that follow,
being joined with it, the apostle may be supposed to put them upon
pressing after the four cardinal virtues, or the four elements that go
to the making up of every virtue or virtuous action. But seeing it is
a faithful saying, and constantly to be asserted, that those who
have faith be careful to maintain good works
(Tit. iii. 8),
by virtue here we may understand strength and
courage, without which the believer cannot stand up for good
works, by abounding and excelling in them. The righteous must be bold
as a lion
a cowardly Christian, who is afraid to profess the doctrines or
practise the duties of the gospel, must expect that Christ will be
ashamed of him another day. “Let not your hearts fail you in the evil
day, but show yourselves valiant in standing against all opposition,
and resisting every enemy, world, flesh, devil, yea, and death too.” We
have need of virtue while we live, and it will be of excellent use when
we come to die.
2. The believer must add knowledge to his virtue, prudence to
his courage; there is a knowledge of God’s name which must go before
our faith
(Ps. ix. 10),
and we cannot approve of the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of
God, till we know it; but there are proper circumstances for duty,
which must be known and observed; we must use the appointed means, and
observe the accepted time. Christian prudence regards the persons we
have to do with and the place and company we are in. Every believer
must labour after the knowledge and wisdom that are profitable to
direct, both as to the proper method and order wherein all Christian
duties are to be performed and as to the way and manner of performing
them.
3. We must add temperance to our knowledge. We must be sober and
moderate in our love to, and use of, the good things of this life; and,
if we have a right understanding and knowledge of outward comforts, we
shall see that their worth and usefulness are vastly inferior to those
of spiritual mercies. Bodily exercises and bodily privileges profit but
little, and therefore are to be esteemed and used accordingly; the
gospel teaches sobriety as well as honesty,
We must be moderate in desiring and using the good things of natural
life, such as meat, drink, clothes, sleep, recreations, and credit; an
inordinate desire after these is inconsistent with an earnest desire
after God and Christ; and those who take more of these than is due can
render to neither God nor man what is due to them.
4. Add to temperance patience, which must have its perfect
work, or we cannot be perfect and entire, wanting nothing
(Jam. i. 4),
for we are born to trouble, and must through many tribulations enter
into the kingdom of heaven; and it is this tribulation
which worketh patience, that is, requires the exercise and occasions
the increase of this grace, whereby we bear all calamities and crosses
with silence and submission, without murmuring against God or
complaining of him, but justifying him who lays all affliction upon us,
owning that our sufferings are less than our sins deserve, and
believing they are no more than we ourselves need.
5. To patience we must add godliness, and this is the very thing
which is produced by patience, for that works experience,
When Christians bear afflictions patiently, they get an experimental
knowledge of the loving-kindness of their heavenly Father, which he
will not take from his children, even when he visits their iniquity
with the rod and their transgression with stripes
and hereby they are brought to the child-like fear and reverential love
wherein true godliness consists: to this,
6. We must add brotherly-kindness, a tender affection to all our
fellow-christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the
same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the same
country, and heirs of the same inheritance, and therefore are to be
loved with a pure heart fervently, with a love of complacency, as those
who are peculiarly near and dear to us, in whom we take particular
delight,
7. Charity, or a love of good-will to all mankind, must be added
to the love of delight which we have for those who are the children of
God. God has made of one blood all nations, and all the children of men
are partakers of the same human nature, are all capable of the same
mercies, and liable to the same afflictions, and therefore, though upon
a spiritual account Christians are distinguished and dignified above
those who are without Christ, yet are they to sympathize with others in
their calamities, and relieve their necessities, and promote their
welfare both in body and soul, as they have opportunity: thus must all
believers in Christ evidence that they are the children of God, who is
good to all, but is especially good to Israel.
II. All the forementioned graces must be had, or we shall not be
thoroughly furnished for all good works–for the duties of the
first and second table, for active and passive obedience, and for those
services wherein we are to imitate God as well as for those wherein we
only obey him–and therefore to engage us to an industrious and
unwearied pursuit of them, the apostle sets forth the advantages that
redound to all who successfully labour so as to get these things to
be and abound in them,
v. 8-11.
These are proposed,
1. More generally,
v. 8.
The having these things make not barren (or slothful) nor
unfruitful, where, according to the style of the Holy Ghost, we
must understand a great deal more than is expressed; for when it is
said concerning Ahaz, the vilest and most provoking of all the kings of
Judah, that he did not right in the sight of the Lord
we are to understand as much as if it had been said, He did what was
most offensive and abominable, as the following account of his life
shows; so, when it is here said that the being and abounding of all
Christian graces in us will make us neither inactive nor unfruitful, we
are thereby to understand that it will make us very zealous and lively,
vigorous and active, in all practical Christianity, and eminently
fruitful in the works of righteousness. These will bring much glory to
God, by bringing forth much fruit among men, being fruitful in
knowledge, or the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ, owning
him to be their Lord, and evidencing themselves to be his
servants by their abounding in the work that he has given them to do.
This is the necessary consequence of adding one grace to another; for,
where all Christian graces are in the heart, they improve and
strengthen, encourage and cherish, one another; so they all thrive and
grow (as the apostle intimates in the beginning of
v. 8),
and wherever grace abounds there will be an abounding in good works.
How desirable it is to be in such a case the apostle evidences,
v. 9.
There he sets forth how miserable it is to be without those quickening
fructifying graces; for he who has not the forementioned graces, or,
though he pretends or seems to have them, does not exercise and improve
them, is blind, that is, as to spiritual and heavenly things, as
the next words explain it: He cannot see far off. This present
evil world he can see, and dotes upon, but has no discerning at all of
the world to come, so as to be affected with the spiritual privileges
and heavenly blessings thereof. He who sees the excellences of
Christianity must needs be diligent in endeavours after all those
graces that are absolutely necessary for obtaining glory, honour,
and immortality; but, where these graces are not obtained nor
endeavoured after, men are not able to look forward to the things that
are but a very little way off in reality, though in appearance, or in
their apprehension, they are at a great distance, because they put them
far away from them; and how wretched is their condition who are thus
blind as to the awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see
any thing of the reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of
the glorious rewards God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful
punishment he will inflict on the ungodly! But this is not all the
misery of those who do not add to their faith virtue, knowledge,
&c. They are as unable to look backward as forward, their memories are
slippery and unable to retain what is past, as their sight is short and
unable to discern what is future; they forget that they have been
baptized, and had the means, and been laid under the obligations to
holiness of heart and life. By baptism we are engaged in a holy war
against sin, and are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh, the
world, and the devil. Often call to mind, and seriously meditate on,
your solemn engagement to be the Lord’s, and your peculiar advantages
and encouragements to lay aside all filthiness of flesh and
spirit.
2. The apostle proposes two particular advantages that will attend or
follow upon diligence in the work of a Christian: stability in grace,
and a triumphant entrance into glory. These he brings in by resuming
his former exhortation, and laying it down in other words; for what in
is expressed by giving diligence to add to faith virtue, &c., is
expressed in
by giving diligence to make our calling and election sure. Here
we may observe,
(1.) It is the duty of believers to make their election sure, to
clear it up to themselves that they are the chosen of God.
(2.) The way to make sure their eternal election is to make out their
effectual calling: none can look into the book of God’s eternal
counsels and decrees; but, inasmuch as whom God did predestinate
those he also called, if we can find we are effectually called, we
may conclude we are chosen to salvation.
(3.) It requires a great deal of diligence and labour to make sure our
calling and election; there must be a very close examination of
ourselves, a very narrow search and strict enquiry, whether we are
thoroughly converted, our minds enlightened, our wills renewed, and our
whole souls changed as to the bent and inclination thereof; and to come
to a fixed certainty in this requires the utmost diligence, and cannot
be attained and kept without divine assistance, as we may learn from
Ps. cxxxix. 23; Rom. viii. 16.
“But, how great soever the labour is, do not think much of it, for
great is the advantage you gain by it; for,”
[1.] “By this you will be kept from falling, and that at all times and
seasons, even in those hours of temptation that shall be on the earth.”
When others shall fall into heinous and scandalous sin, those who are
thus diligent shall be enabled to walk circumspectly and keep on in the
way of their duty; and, when many fall into errors, they shall be
preserved sound in the faith, and stand perfect and complete in all the
will of God.
[2.] Those who are diligent in the work of religion shall have a
triumphant entrance into glory; while of those few who get to heaven
some are scarcely saved
with a great deal of difficulty, even as by fire
those who are growing in grace, and abounding in the work of
the Lord, shall have an abundant entrance into the joy of their
Lord, even that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they
shall reign with him for ever and ever.
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12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in
remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be
established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to
stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my
decease to have these things always in remembrance.
I. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance in grace
and holiness made the apostle to be very diligent in doing the work of
a minister of Christ, that he might thereby excite and assist them to
be diligent in the duty of Christians. If ministers be negligent in
their work, it can hardly be expected that the people will be diligent
in theirs; therefore Peter will not be negligent (that is, at no
time or place, in no part of his work, to no part of his charge), but
will be exemplarily and universally diligent, and that in the work of a
remembrancer. This is the office of the best ministers, even the
apostles themselves; they are the Lord’s remembrancers
they are especially bound to make mention of the promises, and put God
in mind of his engagements to do good to his people; and they are the
people’s remembrancers, making mention of God’s precepts, and putting
them in mind of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, that they may
remember God’s commandments, to do them. And this the apostle does,
though some persons might think it needless, inasmuch as they already
knew those thing that he writes about, and were established in the very
truth that he insists upon. Observe,
1. We need to be put in mind of what we already know to prevent our
forgetting it, and to improve our knowledge, and reduce all to
practice.
2. We must be established in the belief of the truth, that we may not
be shaken by every wind of doctrine, and especially in that which is
the present truth, the truth more peculiarly necessary for us to know
in our day, that which belongs to our peace, and which is more
especially opposed in our time. The great doctrines of the gospel,
that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners, that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
saved, and all that believe in God must be careful to maintain good
works–these are truths the apostles insisted on in their day;
these are faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation in
every age of the Christian church. And, as these must be constantly
affirmed by ministers
(Tit. iii. 8),
so the people are to be well instructed and established therein, and
yet must, after all their attainments in knowledge, be put in mind of
such things as cannot be too clearly known nor too firmly believed. The
most advanced Christians cannot, while in this world, be above
ordinances, nor beyond the need of those means which God has appointed
and does afford. And, if the people need teaching and exhortation while
they are in the body, it is very meet and just that ministers should,
as long as they are in this tabernacle, instruct and exhort them, and
bring those truths to their remembrance that they have formerly heard,
this being a proper means to stir them up to be diligent and lively in
a course of gospel-obedience.
II. The apostle, being set upon the work, tells us
(v. 14)
what makes him earnest in this matter, even the knowledge he had, not
only that he must certainly, but also that he must shortly, put off
this tabernacle. Observe,
1. The body is but the tabernacle of the soul. It is a mean and
movable structure, whose stakes can be easily removed, and its cords
presently broken.
2. This tabernacle must be put off. We are not to continue long in this
earthly house. As at night we put off our clothes, and lay them by, so
at death we must put off our bodies, and they musts be laid up in the
grave till the morning of the resurrection.
3. The nearness of death makes the apostle diligent in the business of
life. Our Lord Jesus had shown him that the time of his departure was
at hand, and therefore he bestirs himself with greater zeal and
diligence, because the time is short. He must soon be removed from
those to whom he wrote; and his ambition being that they should
remember the doctrine he had delivered to them, after he himself was
taken away from them, he commits his exhortation to writing. The
apostle had not any great opinion of oral tradition. This was not so
proper a means to reach the end he was in pursuit of. He would have
them always to remember these things, and not only to keep them in
mind, but also to make mention of them, as the original words import.
Those who fear the Lord make mention of his name, and talk of
his loving-kindness. This is the way to spread the knowledge of the
Lord and this the apostle had at heart: and those who have the written
word of God are thereby put into a capacity to do this.
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16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when
there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were
with him in the holy mount.
Here we have the reason of giving the foregoing exhortation, and that
with so much diligence and seriousness. These things are not idle
tales, or a vain thing, but of undoubted truth and vast concern. The
gospel is not a cunningly devised fable. These are not the words
of one who hath a devil, nor the contrivance of any number of men who
by cunning craftiness endeavour to deceive. The way of salvation by
Jesus Christ is eminently the counsel of God, the most excellent
contrivance of the infinitely wise Jehovah; it was he that invented
this way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ, whose power and coming are
set forth in the gospel, and the apostle’s preaching was a making of
these things known.
1. The preaching of the gospel is a making known the power of Christ,
that he is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. He
is the mighty God, and therefore can save from both the guilt and the
filth of sin.
2. The coming of Christ also is make known by the preaching of the
gospel. He who was promised immediately after the fall of man, as in
the fulness of time to be born of a woman, has now come in the flesh;
and whosoever denies this is an antichrist
(1 John iv. 3),
he is actuated and influenced by the spirit of anti-christ; but those
who are the true apostles and ministers of Christ, and are directed and
guided by the Spirit of Christ, evidence that Christ has come according
to the promise which all the Old-Testament believers died in the faith
of,
Christ has come in the flesh. Inasmuch as those whom he undertakes to
save are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of
the same, that he might suffer in their nature and stead, and
thereby make an atonement. This coming of Christ the gospel is very
plain and circumstantial in setting forth; but there is a second
coming, which it likewise mentions, which the ministers of the gospel
ought also to make known, when he shall come in the glory of his Father
with all his holy angels, for he is appointed to be Judge both of quick
and dead. He will come to judge the world in righteousness by the
everlasting gospel, and call us all to give account of all things done
in the body, whether good or evil.
3. And though this gospel of Christ has been blasphemously called a
fable by one of those wretches who call themselves the
successors of St. Peter, yet our apostle proves that it is of the
greatest certainty and reality, inasmuch as during our blessed
Saviour’s abode here on earth, when he took on him the form of a
servant and was found in fashion as a man, he sometimes manifested
himself to be God, and particularly to our apostle and the two sons of
Zebedee, who were eye-witnesses of his divine majesty, when he was
transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his
raiment was white as the light, exceedingly white, as snow, so as no
fuller on earth can whiten them. This Peter, James, and John, were
eye-witnesses of, and therefore might and ought to attest; and surely
their testimony is true, when they witness what they have seen with
their eyes, yea, and heard with their ears: for, besides the visible
glory that Christ was invested with here on earth, there was an audible
voice from heaven. Here observe,
(1.) What a gracious declaration was made: This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased–the best voice that ever came from
heaven to earth; God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him.
This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who believe in
him shall be accepted and saved.
(2.) This declaration is made by God the Father, who thus publicly owns
his Son (even in his state of humiliation, when he was in the form of a
servant), yea, proclaims him to be his beloved Son, when he is in that
low condition; yea, so far are Christ’s mean and low circumstances from
abating the love of the Father to him that his laying down his life is
said to be one special reason of the Father’s love,
(3.) The design of this voice was to do our Saviour a singular humour
while he was here below: He received honour and glory from God the
Father. This is the person whom God delights to honour. As he
requires us to give honour and glory to his Son by confessing him to be
our Saviour, so does he give glory and honour to our Saviour by
declaring him to be his Son.
(4.) This voice is from heaven, called here the excellent glory,
which still reflects a greater glory upon our blessed Saviour. This
declaration is from God the fountain of honour, and from heaven the
seat of glory, where God is most gloriously present.
(5.) This voice was heard, and that so as to be understood, by Peter,
James, and John. They not only heard a sound (as the people did,
but they understood the sense. God opens the ears and understandings of
his people to receive what they are concerned to know, when others are
like Paul’s companions, who only heard a sound of words
(Acts ix. 7),
but understood not the meaning thereof, and therefore are said not to
hear the voice of him that spoke,
Blessed are those who not only hear, but understand, who believe the
truth, and feel the power of the voice from heaven, as he did who
testifieth these things: and we have all the reason in the world to
receive his testimony; for who would refuse to give credit to what is
so circumstantially laid down as this account of the voice from heaven,
of which the apostle tells us,
(6.) It was heard by them in the holy mount, when they were with
Jesus? The place wherein God affords any peculiarly gracious
manifestation of himself is thereby made holy, not with an inherent
holiness, but as the ground was holy where God appeared to Moses
(Exod. iii. 5),
and the mountain holy on which the temple was built,
Such places are relatively holy, and to be regarded as such during the
time that men in themselves experience, or may, by warrant from the
word, believingly expect, the special presence and gracious influence
of the holy and glorious God.
| Inspiration of the Scriptures. | A. D. 67. |
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19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of
any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man:
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
In these words the apostle lays down another argument to prove the
truth and reality of the gospel, and intimates that this second proof
is more strong and convincing than the former, and more unanswerably
makes out that the doctrine of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ is not a mere fable or cunning contrivance of men, but the wise
and wonderful counsel of the holy and gracious God. For this is
foretold by the prophets and penmen of the Old Testament, who spoke and
wrote under the influence and according to the direction of the Spirit
of God. Here note,
I. The description that is given of the scriptures of the Old
Testament: they are called a more sure word of prophecy.
1. It is a prophetical declaration of the power and coming, the Godhead
and incarnation, of our Saviour, which we have in the Old Testament. It
is there foretold that the seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent’s head. His power to destroy the devil and his works, and
his being made of a woman, are there foretold; and the great and awful
Old Testament name of God, Jehovah (as read by some), signifies
only He will be; and that name of God
is rendered by many, I will be that I will be; and, thus
understood, they point at God’s being incarnate in order to the
redemption and salvation of his people as what was to come. But
the New Testament is a history of that whereof the Old Testament is a
prophecy. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John,
Matt. xi. 13.
And the evangelists and the apostles have written the history of what
was before delivered as prophecy. Now the accomplishment of the Old
Testament by the New, and the agreeableness of the New Testament to the
Old, are a full demonstration of the truth of both. Read the Old
Testament as a prophecy of Christ, and with diligence and thankfulness
use the New as the best exposition of the Old.
2. The Old Testament is a more sure word of prophecy. It is so
to the Jews who received it as the oracles of God. Following prophets
confirmed what had been delivered by those who went before, and these
prophecies had been written by the express command, and preserved by
the special care, and many of them fulfilled by the wonderful
providence of God, and therefore were more certain to those who had all
along received and read the scriptures than the apostle’s account of
this voice from heaven. Moses and the prophets more powerfully
persuade than even miracles themselves,
How firm and sure should our faith be, who have such a firm and sure
word to rest upon! All the prophecies of the Old Testament are more
sure and certain to us who have the history of the most exact and
minute accomplishment of them.
II. The encouragement the apostle gives us to search the scriptures. He
tells us, We do well if we take heed to them; that is, apply our
minds to understand the sense, and our hearts to believe the truth, of
this sure word, yea, bend ourselves to it, that we may be moulded and
fashioned by it. The word is that form of doctrine into which we must
be cast
(Rom. vi. 17),
that formulary of knowledge
by which we are to regulate our thoughts and sentiments, our words and
confessions, our whole life and conversation. If we thus apply
ourselves to the word of God, we certainly do well in all respects,
what is pleasing to God and profitable to ourselves; and this indeed is
but paying that regard which is due to the oracles of God. But, in
order to this giving heed to the word, the apostle suggests some things
that are of singular use to those who would attend to the scriptures to
any good purpose.
1. They must account and use the scripture as a light which God hath
sent into and set up in the world, to dispel that darkness which is
upon the face of the whole earth. The word is a lamp to the feet of
those who use it aright; this discovers the way wherein men ought to
walk; this is the means whereby we come to know the way of life.
2. They must acknowledge their own darkness. This world is a place of
error and ignorance, and every man in the world is naturally without
that knowledge which is necessary in order to attain eternal life.
3. If ever men are made wise to salvation, it is by the shining of the
word of God into their hearts. Natural notions of God are not
sufficient for fallen man, who does at best actually know a great deal
less, and yet does absolutely need to know a great deal more, of God
than Adam did while he continued innocent.
4. When the light of the scripture is darted into the blind mind and
dark understanding by the Holy Spirit of God, then the spiritual day
dawns and the day-star arises in that soul. This enlightening of a
dark benighted mind is like the day-break that improves and advances,
spreads and diffuses itself through the whole soul, till it makes
perfect day,
It is a growing knowledge; those who are this way enlightened never
think they know enough, till they come to know as they are known. To
give heed to this light must needs be the interest and duty of all; and
all who do truth come to this light, while evil-doers keep at a
distance from it.
III. The apostle lays down one thing as previously necessary in order
to our giving heed to, and getting good by, the scriptures, and that is
the knowing that all prophecy is of divine origin. Now this important
truth he not only asserts, but proves.
1. Observe, No scripture prophecy is of private interpretation (or a
man’s own proper opinion, an explication of his own mind), but the
revelation of the mind of God. This was the difference between the
prophets of the Lord and the false prophets who have been in the world.
The prophets of the Lord did not speak nor do any thing of their own
mind, as Moses, the chief of them, says expressly
(Num. xvi. 28),
I have not done any of the works (nor delivered any of the
statutes and ordinances) of my own mind. But false prophets
speak a vision of their own heart, not out of the mouth of the
Lord,
Jer. xxiii. 16.
The prophets and penmen of the scripture spoke and wrote what was the
mind of God; and though, when under the influence and guidance of the
Spirit, it may well be supposed that they were willing to reveal and
record such thing, yet it is because God would have them spoken and
written. But though the scripture be not the effusion of man’s own
private opinion or inclination, but the revelation of the mind and will
of God, yet every private man ought to search it, and come to
understand the sense and meaning thereof.
2. This important truth of the divine origin of the scriptures (that
what is contained in them is the mind of God and not of man) is to be
known and owned by all who will give heed to the sure word of prophecy.
That the scriptures are the word of God is not only an article of the
true Christian’s faith, but also a matter of science or knowledge. As a
man not barely believes, but knows assuredly that that very person is
his particular friend in whom he sees all the proper, peculiar,
distinguishing marks and characters of his friend, so the Christian
knows that book to be the word of God in and upon which he sees all the
proper marks and characters of a divinely inspired book. He tastes a
sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a glory, in it truly divine.
3. The divinity of the scriptures must be known and acknowledged in
the first place, before men can profitably use them, before they can
give good heed to them. To call off our minds from all other writings,
and apply them in a peculiar manner to these as the only certain and
infallible rule, necessarily requires our being fully persuaded that
these are divinely inspired, and contain what is truly the mind and
will of God.
IV. Seeing it is so absolutely necessary that persons be fully
persuaded of the scripture’s divine origin, the apostle
(v. 21)
tells us how the Old Testament came to be compiled, and that,
1. Negatively: It came not by the will of man. Neither the
things themselves that are recorded, and make up the several parts of
the Old Testament, are the opinions of men, nor was the will of any of
the prophets or penmen of the scriptures the rule or reason why any of
those things were written which make up the canon of the scripture.
2. Affirmatively: Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost. Observe,
(1.) They were holy men of God who were employed about that book which
we receive as the word of God. If Balaam and Caiaphas, and others who
were destitute of holiness, had any thing of the spirit of prophecy,
upon occasion, yet such persons were not employed to write any part of
the scriptures for the use of the church of God. All the penmen of the
scriptures were holy men of God.
(2.) These holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost in what they
delivered as the mind and will of God. The Holy Ghost is the supreme
agent, the holy men are but instruments.
[1.] The Holy Ghost inspired and dictated to them what they were to
deliver of the mind of God.
[2.] He powerfully excited and effectually engaged them to speak (and
write) what he had put into their mouths.
[3.] He so wisely and carefully assisted and directed them in the
delivery of what they had received from him that they were effectually
secured from any the least mistake in expressing what they revealed; so
that the very words of scripture are to be accounted the words of the
Holy Ghost, and all the plainness and simplicity, all the power and
virtue, all the elegance and propriety, of the very words and
expressions are to be regarded by us as proceeding from God. Mix faith
therefore with what you find in the scriptures; esteem and reverence
your Bible as a book written by holy men, inspired, influenced, and
assisted by the Holy Ghost.
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