What Does 2 Peter 1:20 Mean About Interpreting Scripture?
Short answer
2 Peter 1:20 says that no prophecy in Scripture came from a prophet's own private interpretation of events — it is a statement about how Scripture originated, through the Holy Spirit moving the prophets, not a rule forbidding ordinary Christians from reading and understanding the Bible for themselves. The very next verse makes the subject explicit: "prophecy never had its origin in the human will."
This verse gets misapplied more often than almost any other in debates about who is "allowed" to interpret the Bible. Read carefully, in its own context, 2 Peter 1:20–21 is not talking about you reading your Bible at home — it is talking about where Scripture itself came from in the first place. This page separates the common misreading from what Peter actually says, walks through the context of false teachers he is refuting, and answers the practical question of whether ordinary believers can responsibly interpret Scripture.
The verse people misread
The King James rendering — "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" — is often quoted to argue that individual Christians have no business forming their own understanding of a Bible passage, that interpretation belongs only to a teaching authority. That reading takes "interpretation" to mean the reader's later act of understanding a text. But Peter's own follow-up sentence points somewhere else entirely, and most modern translations (NIV: "no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things") make the intended subject much clearer.
What "private interpretation" actually refers to
Peter explains himself in the next verse: "For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). The subject is the prophet's own interpretation of the events or visions he was given — did he simply guess at what they meant and write down his own theory, or did he speak what the Spirit gave him to say?
Peter's answer is that the prophets were not freelancing their own private theories; they were carried along by God. This is a statement about the origin and reliability of Scripture, not a rule about the reader.
The context: false teachers denying Christ's return
Second Peter is largely written to counter false teachers who were mocking the promise of Christ's second coming, treating it as a made-up story rather than something God had actually revealed (2 Peter 2–3). Right before verse 20, Peter defends the reliability of prophetic Scripture by appealing to his own eyewitness experience of the Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16–18) and then to the trustworthiness of the prophetic word itself. His point is that Scripture is not "cleverly devised stories" (v16) invented by its human authors, but God-breathed truth — which is exactly why it can be trusted regarding a future event like Christ's return.
So can ordinary Christians interpret the Bible?
Yes — and Scripture itself commends it. The Bereans are praised precisely for testing Paul's teaching against the Scriptures for themselves, "examining the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11).
What varies between traditions is how much weight is given to individual interpretation versus the church's teaching authority and historic tradition when questions get difficult: Catholic teaching holds that Scripture is read within the living tradition and teaching office of the Church (Catechism 85–87, 113), while many Protestant traditions place more emphasis on Scripture interpreting Scripture directly. Both agree that 2 Peter 1:20 is not the verse settling that particular debate — its subject is prophecy's origin, not the reader's task.
Key Bible verses
- "No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets… spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." — 2 Peter 1:20–21
- "We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power." — 2 Peter 1:16
- The Bereans, "examining the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so." — Acts 17:11
Frequently asked questions
What does 2 Peter 1:20 actually mean?
It means that no biblical prophecy came from a prophet inventing his own theory about events — the prophets were "carried along by the Holy Spirit" (v21). It is a statement about the divine origin of Scripture, not a rule about who may read and understand the Bible.
Does 2 Peter 1:20 forbid Christians from interpreting the Bible themselves?
No. The verse is about how prophecy originated with the prophets, not about the reader's later act of understanding a text. Acts 17:11 explicitly praises believers for examining Scripture for themselves.
Why is 2 Peter 1:20 often misquoted?
Because the word "interpretation" can be read two ways — as the reader's understanding or the prophet's own account. Verse 21 clarifies Peter meant the latter: prophecy did not originate in human will or guesswork, but from the Holy Spirit.
What is the context of 2 Peter 1:20?
Peter is defending the reliability of prophetic Scripture — including the promise of Christ's return — against false teachers who dismissed it as an invented story, appealing first to his own eyewitness experience of the Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16–18).