Paul links the ministry of the apostles with the ministry of the prophets. As the prophets were divinely inspired and spoke the express word of God (Num. 11:25, Ezek. 1:3), so Peter and Paul’s inspiration was direct from God through Christ (Gal.1:1). It was Peter and the apostles who first received the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:23–2.4), an event prophesied by Joel (Joel 2:28–32).
Peter also sees that the ministry of the apostles succeeds the ministry of the prophets when he says, “I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:2). This supports his earlier words in 1 Peter 1:10–12, where he said the message first given by the prophets “has now been told . . . by those who have preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven”—i.e., the apostles.
In fact, the whole point of the second epistle of Peter is to stress the divine teaching authority of the apostles. Second Peter is a long argument against false teachers, whom Peter compares to false prophets (2 Pet. 2:1). In the Old Testament it is only false prophets who prophesy what their own minds prompt them to say (Jer. 23:15, Ezek. 13:3). The genuine prophet only speaks from the Lord (Jer. 1:4–10). The false teachers therefore teach stories that they have made up out of their own minds (2 Pet. 2:3), and Peter condemns them throughout the second chapter.
He does so only after he first establishes his own foundation for speaking with authority. The false teachers might promote cleverly invented stories but not the apostles. Instead they were eyewitnesses of Christ’s life and work (2 Pet. 1:16). Peter speaks with authority because, like Moses and Elijah, he had heard the voice from heaven when he was with Christ on the holy mountain (2 Pet. 1:18). Peter understands his presence at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–13) as the time when he inherited the prophetic authority of Moses and Elijah. Just before this transmission of authority Christ commissioned Peter to be the rock on which the Church would be built (Matt. 16:17–19). As a result, Peter claims an even higher authority and a more certain word than the prophets themselves (2 Pet. 1:19).
Because of this it is Peter who has the authority to interpret Scripture. Just as the gospel does not consist of “cleverly invented fables,” so the interpretation of Scripture is not of any private interpretation (2 Pet. 1:20). As the false prophets spoke out of their own imagination, so the Greek word for “private” in verse 20 of chapter 1 means “out of your own head.” It is the familiar opposite of “authoritative” or “inspired.” So we can conclude that Peter viewed his own interpretation of Scripture as authoritative and inspired.
The Anglican J. N. D. Kelly admits, “There can be little doubt that he is not thinking of the spirit-endowed individual or prophet in the community, but rather of apostolic authority as embodied in the recognized ministers of the local church who, as he understands it, bear the Spirit’s commission” (Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude, 324).
Peter sees himself as an apostle just as Paul does—one who speaks, like the prophets, with a direct authority from God through Jesus Christ. And just as the prophecies themselves did not come from human imagination, so the correct interpretation of Scripture cannot come from human imagination, sincerity, or goodwill. It must be given by God through his chosen channel, the apostles.
My fundamentalist terrier was still unsatisfied and asserted that even if Peter was in Rome and claimed such authority himself, Scripture nowhere says he passed that authority on to the next generation. “Surely,” argued Jimmy, “if it was such an important matter Peter would have written down clearly who his successor was supposed to be.”
That solution might seem obvious to us, but Peter must have seen things in a different way. He doesn’t designate a successor in writing, but 2 Peter suggests that his authority was to be handed on to the next generation. In chapter one he recognizes that his end is near. He has always reminded his hearers of the truth (1:12), but Jesus Christ has revealed that he (Peter) will soon die (1:14), and as a result Peter will make every effort to ensure the faithful will remember the truth after his departure (1:15).
