Here is the New American Standard Version (NASB) translation of 2 Peter 1:16-18, which sets the backdrop for verse 19-21. The NASB is a pretty close literal translation, and the meaning of verse 16-18 is not disputed in any Bible translation:
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"--
18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
Now here is the literal Greek, Romanized translation of verses 19 through 21 (Greek details: circumflex “e” for eta, circumflex “o” for omega, “y” for upsilon by itself, punctuation according to NA27 and GNT4, English semicolon for the Greek raised dot which means the English semicolon),
19 Kai echomen bebaioteron ton prophêtikon logon, hô kalôs poieite prosechontes hôs lychnô phainonti en auchmêrô topô, heôs hou hêmera diaugasê kai phôsphoros anateilê en tais kardiais hymôn,
20 touto prôton ginôskontes hoti pasa prophêteia graphês idias epilyseôs ou ginetai;
21 ou gar thelêmati anthrôpou ênechthê prophêteia pote, alla hypo pneumatos hagiou pheromenoi elalêsan apo theou anthrôpoi.
Here is Steve Blackwelder’s English word for word translation:
19 And we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts,
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of / comes from private interpretation;
21 for not by human will was any prophecy brought, but, being brought along by the Holy Spirit, people spoke.
With help from the Greek New Testament editions NA27 and GNT4, and from the Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker (BAGD) 1979 lexicon, here are some very important translation points:
The text marked as verses 19 through 21 is one very complicated Greek sentence, separated by the equivalent of an English semicolon between 20 and 21. This is extremely awkward style in English, so most translations start a new sentence at verse 20. Nevertheless, verse 20 is not a sentence but is merely a participial phrase; the participle “knowing” is plural, referring back to the plural “you” in 19. Therefore, 20 belongs more with 19 than with 21.
Now let’s look at some individual words.
According to BAGD, all the meanings of the adjective idias (v. 20) translate as “private,” as in “private property,” not as in, “not in the company of others.”
The verb ginetai (v. 20) has many meanings in Greek, mostly translated as something close to either “become/happen” or “is” in English.
In verse 21, the verb ênechthê and the participle pheromenoi are both from the verb pherô (irregular just as go-went-gone is irregular in English), which is translated by forms of “bring,” “bear,” or “carry.” In 21, ênechthê refers to the act of human will, and pheromenoi refers to the act of the Holy Spirit. No form of ginetai occurs in 21.
Now to examine the confusion over 2 Peter 1:20-21 and why these seemingly technical details of ancient Greek matter for understanding the text:
Having established that “private” is referring to ownership, what is the ownership being contrasted to? The one acting privately is clearly contrasted with prophets who were led by the Spirit of God. Using this contrast to understand the meaning of “private”, one could understand 2 Peter 1:20 such that “private” means, “apart from the ownership of God”. Here, the idea of being “brought along by God” is being made equal to the idea that whatever is being brought along is owned by God.
While this understanding of “private” is a correct understanding of the passage, it is a jarring use of the word “private”, since “private” in English means “apart from the presence of other people”. It is on this basis that certain English translations that use the English word “private” have been interpreted by various groups to mean that people should not operate to interpret prophecy or Scripture apart from the community of others, i.e. others in the Church. Here are some translations that lend themselves to this interpretation by using either directly using the English word “private” or something similar that conveys the idea of “apart from other people”.
New American Bible (NAB)
20 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
New King James
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
America Standard Version (ASV)
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation.
The idea that the passage is referring to “private” as “apart from other people” is an incorrect interpretation of the passage, and it is for this reason that most English Bible translations translate “private interpretation” as “one’s own interpretation”, which brings an English speaker closer to the true meaning of the text.
Now here is the next major source of confusion on this passage. The Greek verb ginetai can either be interpreted “is” or “comes from”. How one translates ginetai will decide whether A) the passage is talking about interpretation as part and parcel with the very same act of generating a prophecy or B) whether the passage is talking about generating an interpretation of a prophecy, as something that is done to a prophecy that is a separate act from originally uttering the prophecy.
If the Greek verb ginetai for this passage is taken to mean “comes from” as meaning “is generated from”, 2 Peter 1:20 would then be discussing the act of generating prophecy through the very act of interpreting something.
The English Standard Version (ESV) tries to convey this idea
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
First, here’s the strength of this line of understanding 2 Peter 1:20-21. There is a clear parallel that Peter is making with “private interpretation” in verse 20 and “the will of man” in verse 21. One thing is linked strongly to the other with the word "for" that starts verse 21, and it is plain that Peter intends the reader to understand verse 20 with what is provided in verse 21. Here in these verses, both "private interpretation" and "the will of man" are contrasted with the manner in which the men were led by the Spirit of God. At first glance, the text lends itself to the possibility that the act of applying one’s own private interpretation to prophecy is synonymous with the act of applying one’s human will to make a prophecy come about.
Now here is the problem with this line of understanding the passage. As mentioned earlier, the verb ginetai that is used in verse 19 is not the same as the verbs that are used in verse 20 to mean “brought about”. Peter could have said that no prophecy is “brought about” by private interpretation if he wanted to convey the idea that prophecy originated from interpretation.
If one interprets the passage to mean that no true prophecy “comes from” one’s own interpretation, does the true prophecy therefore come some sort of God-ordained interpretation? To examine the question further, if the passage is saying that prophecy does not come from one’s own interpretation, the passage is implying either one of two things: A) there is, in fact, a God-owned and God-assisted form of interpretation that a prophet is endowed with to produce a prophecy or B) that trying interpret something—whatever it is (current events, the future, God’s will, etc…)— merely a false and inappropriate way for one to try to begin to generate a prophecy.
In regard to A), this seems very unlikely, since the idea of being “brought along” by God does not leave any room for an act of interpretation by the prophet under the auspices of God. In other words, to create a prophecy, a prophet is not engaging in an act of interpretation (except perhaps in the case of Joseph) but is hearing something first hand from God. This does not exclude the possibility that someone might be brought along later by God to interpret an already existing prophecy.
In regard to B), while it is true that many in the pagan world at the time of Peter did try to “interpret” various things to try to know the future, this is specifically an act of “divination”. There is a separate Greek word mantike for “divination” that Peter could have used. The idea of B) is also jarring because “interpretation” is an act that looks backwards, and is done to something that already exists or has already happened. One interprets the meaning of something that is already available to be interpreted. Having eliminated the possibility of “divination”, it is unlikely that there is any point of reference in the ancient world whereby Peter’s readers would have understood what someone could possibly try to interpret in order to create a prophecy.
Now here is another weakness if one understands 2 Peter 1:20 to mean “no prophecy comes from one’s own interpretation. If one translates the passage using “comes from”, the passage would hypothetically suppose that the “prophecies of Scripture” could still come about. The use of the present tense would imply that “prophecy of Scripture” would mean “prophecy whether past, present or future that is worthy to be included in Scripture”. Here, one could argue that Peter affirms Paul’s writing as Scripture later in 2 Peter 3:16, and that perhaps, Peter is open to the idea that Scripture-writing prophecy might be a continuing phenomenon.
The problem with applying this idea to 2 Peter 1:20, is that the context that immediately precedes in verse 19 is about past prophecies, wherein “the word of the prophets”/or “the prophetic word” is presented as a single, past unit. Furthermore, as Steve Blackwelder pointed out at the beginning, verse 20 is a continuation of the Greek sentence that began in verse 19. It is for this reason that the thing that one is to understand about “prophecy of Scripture” is to apply directly to the “word of the prophets”.
In addition to what immediately precedes verse 20, in verse 21 Peter says “for not by human will was any prophecy brought, but, being brought along by the Holy Spirit, people spoke”. If Peter wanted to indicate the possibility that prophecies of Scripture could still come about, he could have used the present tense to say “for no prophecy ever comes about by human will, but men of God have been carried along by the Spirit”.
Even granting the possibility that Peter recognized his contemporary, Paul, as writing Scripture and that Peter recognized a contemporary “gift of prophecy”, Peter’s clear use of the past tense in the immediate context surrounding verse 20 seems to indicate that, for the purpose of making his point in verse 20, he is referring to acts of prophesying that lie squarely in the past and that have been recorded in Scripture, and not ones that could hypothetically occur in the present and/or future.
If one concludes that it is a stronger idea that “prophecy of Scripture” in verse 20 is referring to the already-recorded prophecies in what where already commonly regarded at the time as “Scripture”, then one must work backwards from this conclusion to say that generating an interpretation of a prophecy—an act spoken of in the present tense— is a separate act from generating the prophecy. Based on this, one must interpret the Greek word ginetai in the direction of “is of”.
Now here is the New International Version (NIV),
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Here is where the NIV tries to split the difference. The NIV translators recognized that “prophecy of Scripture” is referring squarely to the past. At the same time, the NIV translators didn’t want to translate ginetai as “is of”. Straddling these interests, the NIV translators took ginetai out of its original the present tense and translated it into past tense, “came about”, thereby implying the idea that the prophets in the past were not guilty of a bad form of interpretation when they spoke their prophecies.
If 2 Peter 1:20 is translated with ginetai as “is of” as opposed to “comes from”, then 2 Peter 1:20 is discussing the act of interpreting a prophecy as an act of claiming some sort of dominion over a prophecy that already exists and not an act of trying to create a prophecy. In this understanding, the text would be best understood as “no prophecy belongs to one’s own interpretation”.
If one goes with this line of understanding, it begs the question, what would it mean to for a prophecy to “belong to” someone’s interpretation? The closest meaning for the idea that a prophecy is under someone’s “interpretive dominion”, would be that someone would have the authority or dominion to declare the definitive meaning of/ and or fulfillment of a prophecy. If this is true, saying “no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own private interpretation” to communicate this idea is an annoying and vague way to do it. Leaving open the possibility that Peter’s readers might have understood what he meant, saying “no prophecy is of one’s own private interpretation” to mean “no prophecy belongs to/is under the dominion of one’s own interpretation” is jarring to 21st century ears. The confusion over this passage is further compounded by the fact that Peter could have used other Greek words to more clearly convey this idea, had he meant to.
That is why most Bible translations of 2 Peter 1:20 translate the passage with “is a matter of” to make the idea of “interpretive dominion” a possible interpretation without totally committing to the idea. In English “is a matter of” is used to imply the idea of jurisdiction over something and/or creation of something in a vague way. For example, if an issue “is a matter of jurisprudence”, it conveys the idea that jurisprudence is involved in an authoritative way on the issue without clearly stating how that authority is exercised.
As Steve Blackwelder points out, it's important to note that ginetai is a form of ginomai; In the entry for ginomai, BAGD supports “is a matter of” specifically for verse 20 in ginomai II 2 a, page 160, left column, bottom. Here is a sampling of other Bible translations that translate ginetai as “is a matter of”
NAB
20 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
21 for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.
NASB
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
If we operate on an understanding of ginetai as meaning “is a matter of”, implying the idea of “interpretive dominion”, the best way to understand 2 Peter 1:20 in the context of verse 21 would be this: the act of attempting to claim “interpretive dominion” over a prophecy apart from God’s leading, would be akin to – but not exactly the same as— attempting to generate a prophecy from human will. In other words, both would be applications of human will oriented toward related but different acts.
In other words, Peter would be saying that there is a bad way to interpret a prophecy whereby one tries to operate on one’s own authority to apply one’s human will to produce an interpretation. If we understand, verse 20 in this way, what is said negative can be inverted into something good – that there is a good way to interpret a prophecy, whereby one’s interpretation is being brought along by God. If verse 20 is inverted into something positive, Peter would then be making a parallel between A) the possibility that one could be brought along by God in the present day to interpret a prophecy and B) the past acts of the prophets who where brought along by God to originally speak the prophecy.
Having explored the ramifications of translating the 2 Peter 1:20 use of ginetai as either “comes from” or “is of”, and given that there are annoying elements to interpreting the Greek verb either way, one must look to the immediate context of the rest of the passage to see which is favored.
Again, the central thrust of the passage is Peter refuting the idea that he and the other apostles had cleverly fabricated the Gospel. Peter is not addressing a lack of confidence that exists on the part of his readers in regard to the validity of the prophets of old. If there were any question of that, there wouldn't be a consensus among his readers as to what the Scriptures even were. Rather, Peter is seeking to buttress the readers confidence in him as an eyewitness among other eyewitnesses to the voice of God proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God.
Peter is claiming that what he has witnessed is buttressed by the “word of the prophets”, thereby making himself distinct from the prophets, as a group. At the same time, Peter is also claiming the authority as a messenger/apostle to proclaim that he has witnessed the fulfillment of prophecy, and that the prophecies of Scripture are the backdrop to what he has witnessed. In sum, Peter is making his authority to proclaim revelation of God that is co-equal to that of the prophets, without necessarily making his title as an apostle/messenger co-equal to the title of being a prophet.
While the word “prophet” is used throughout Scripture to have a broader meaning than simply “foreteller of the future”, it is “foreteller of the future” that is central to the meaning of “prophet” in 2 Peter. While the prophets had the unique role of speaking of the future, Peter is speaking of an event that is the fulfillment of what had been spoken by them.
It is with this understanding that one can deal with 2 Peter 1:20-21 as a principle that Peter offers to buttress his authority and counter the charge that he has fabricated a clever story. Being that Peter has declared the fulfillment of prophecy under the title of eyewitness, Peter is exercising a sort of “interpretive dominion” over the prophecies of the past. In other words, the prophecy of Scripture is of Peter’s interpretation in the sense that it is a matter that Peter is worthy to authoritatively address. Of course, it is not of Peter’s interpretation on Peter’s own authority, but it is of Peter’s interpretation on the authority of God and what Peter directly witnessed from God.
Peter, operating not “privately” but via the direction of God, is not taking interpretive dominion over the prophecy as an act of his human will apart from God. It is the sense of being an eyewitness to the miraculous fulfillment of prophecy that Peter has been lead by the God in a manner akin to the prophets. In other words, as the prophets were led by the Spirit to speak the prophecy, so too is Peter being led by God to be an eyewitness of the fulfillment of the prophecy.
To sum it up, Peter’s logic in 2 Peter 1:16-21, re-worked by me, is as follows:
A) I, Peter, have witnessed God declaring Jesus as His Son
B) the prophets foretold that this would happen
C) the prophets were led by the Spirit of God, and did not dream up these prophecies on their own steam.
D) in like manner that the prophets didn’t generate the prophecies on their own steam in the past, neither can people in the present day properly interpret these prophecies of Scripture on their own steam apart from the leading of God.
D) Unlike people who would try to interpret these prophecies apart from the leading of God, I, Peter have been led by God to be a reliable witness to the fulfillment of the prophets’ prophecies in like manner that those prophets were led by God to utter their prophecies.
E) Therefore, I, Peter, am not making up cleverly invented stories.
I'm not saying that this is the definitive answer to the meaning of 2 Peter 2:19-20, but it's my best crack at it.
Post Script
Here is a sampling of the many translations that are “all over the map” on this passage:
TRANSLATIONS TRYING TO BE NEUTRAL BY USING “IS OF”
New King James
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God[c] spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
America Standard Version
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation.
21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit
TRANSLATIONS THAT INTERPRET GINETAI AS “IS OF” AS MEANING “IS A MATTER OF” WHICH WOULD INCLUDE THE IDEA OF “INTERPRETIVE DOMINION”
NAB
20 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
21 for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.
TRANSLATIONS THAT INTERPRET GINETAI AS “IS OF” AS MEANING “IS A MATTER OF” WHICH WOULD INCLUDE THE IDEA OF “INTERPRETIVE DOMINION”
NAB
20 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
21 for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.
NASB
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Contemporary English Version
20 But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures.
21 The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.
TRANSLATIONS THAT INTERPRET GINETAI AS “COMES FROM”
MEANING “IS GENERATED FROM”
NIV
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
ESV
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Here is a sampling of other attempts to exegete 2 Peter 1:20-21. You’ll see that they’re all over the map too.
This commentator The commentator argues that the prophets of did not try to interpret the current events of their day to predict the future.
This commentator says that Catholics understand 2 Peter 1:20-21 as indicating that they should use the Catholic Church to properly understand Scripture. He then goes on to say that verse 20 is talking about the origin of prophecy and therefore is not talking about its interpretation.
This commentator says that a believer should be careful and humble about how he approaches trying to interpret a prophecy, since he may very well be wrong.
This commentator uses 2 Peter 1:20-21 to make a point about the God-authorship of all of Scripture.
This commentator says that it requires the community of faith to interpret prophecy.
20 But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures.
21 The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.
TRANSLATIONS THAT INTERPRET GINETAI AS “COMES FROM”
MEANING “IS GENERATED FROM”
NIV
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
ESV
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Here is a sampling of other attempts to exegete 2 Peter 1:20-21. You’ll see that they’re all over the map too.
This commentator The commentator argues that the prophets of did not try to interpret the current events of their day to predict the future.
This commentator says that Catholics understand 2 Peter 1:20-21 as indicating that they should use the Catholic Church to properly understand Scripture. He then goes on to say that verse 20 is talking about the origin of prophecy and therefore is not talking about its interpretation.
This commentator says that a believer should be careful and humble about how he approaches trying to interpret a prophecy, since he may very well be wrong.
This commentator uses 2 Peter 1:20-21 to make a point about the God-authorship of all of Scripture.
This commentator says that it requires the community of faith to interpret prophecy.
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