ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

2 Peter 1.16

Book: 2 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

14. knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me. 15. Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance.

16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

  1. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: 18. and this voice we ourselves heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. (2 Peter 1:14-18, ASV)
WEB

14. knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15. Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.

16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

  1. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18. We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:14-18, WEB)
KJV

14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 15. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

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.

  1. 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. (2 Peter 1:14-18, KJV)
YLT

14. having known that soon is the laying aside of my tabernacle, even as also our Lord Jesus Christ did shew to me, 15. and I will be diligent that also at every time ye have, after my outgoing, power to make to yourselves the remembrance of these things.

16. For, skilfully devised fables not having followed out, we did make known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but eye-witnesses having become of his majesty

  1. for having received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being borne to him by the excellent glory: 'This is My Son, the beloved, in whom I was well pleased;' 18. and this voice we, we did hear, out of heaven borne, being with him in the holy mount. (2 Peter 1:14-18, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the author of 2 Peter, writing in Peter's name and voice
  • Audience: believers facing teachers who denied the promised return
  • Location: unknown; traditionally Rome
  • Time period: traditionally the mid-60s AD; the letter's authorship and date are the most disputed in the New Testament

Theological reading

The New Testament's most explicit internal denial of the legend hypothesis. "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."

The sentence is a direct antithesis. On one side sesophismenois mythois, cleverly devised myths, with sophizō carrying the sense of something skillfully contrived. On the other epoptai genēthentes, "having become eyewitnesses." The writer names the accusation he expects and denies it in its own terms.

The word for eyewitness. Epoptēs occurs once in the New Testament, here. It was also the technical term at Eleusis for an initiate admitted to the highest grade, one to whom sacred things had been shown. Whether the choice is a deliberate appropriation (taking the vocabulary of secret revelation and applying it to a public event on a named mountain) or simply ordinary Hellenistic Greek for "spectator" is genuinely disputed, and the codex does not present the first reading as established. See G2030 - epoptes.

The referent is the transfiguration, spelled out in verses 17 and 18 with the voice from the Majestic Glory and the explicit "we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain." Sight and hearing are both claimed, and a location is given.

The authorship problem, stated honestly. 2 Peter is the most widely disputed book in the New Testament canon. Its Greek differs markedly from 1 Peter, it shows literary relationship with Jude, its reception in the early church was slower and more contested than any other canonical book, and the eyewitness claim is precisely what a pseudonymous author would need to make. That is a real difficulty and pretending otherwise is worse than useless. See Half of Pauls Letters Are Forgeries Objection Defeater for the codex's general treatment of the pseudonymity question.

What survives the difficulty: the verse shows that the charge of contrived myth was live and was being answered inside the first-century Christian movement, not invented by modern critics. That is evidence about the shape of the debate rather than about who won it.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.