The Prophets Were “Carried Along”

Prophecy [of Scripture] 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 (NIV)

The best way to grasp what Peter is saying is through a story.

Paul is under arrest and he is being taken to Rome. Luke describes the journey: “A wind of hurricane force, called the ‘northeaster’ swept down… The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along” (Acts 27:14-15 NIV).

The word Luke uses here for the ship being “driven along” by the wind is the same word Peter uses for the prophets being “carried along” by the Spirit. How much control do you have when your ship is being carried along by a storm?

The direction of the boat was controlled by the wind in the same way that the message of the prophets was controlled by the Spirit. These men did not control the message; the message controlled them. It came to them from God like a mighty wind.

If they were “carried along,” so that what they wrote was exactly what God wanted them to say, then this puts the Bible in a different category from every other book written—religious or secular—since the beginning of time.

And if what Peter says here were not true, we would hardly know God at all. If God had not spoken, then all we would have is the sum of human experience found on Amazon, and much of it is immensely painful. In a world of opinion God has given us this revelation.

What is your reaction to the statement: “In a world of opinion God has given us this revelation”?