When Peter talked about his experience in 2nd Peter 1 he made it clear his description of what happened was not the result of a fertile imagination. Then, referring to the prophets he again made it clear they didn’t come up with their own interpretation about what was going on in their world or in the world to come. They spoke God’s truth to the issues they faced in their contemporary world.
Their certainty and authority with which they proclaimed God’s message was not because they fully understood all that they said. They spoke and wrote as “they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (verse 21).
Peter made this clear in his 1st epistle, chapter 1 verses 10-12, “Concerning this salvation,” he wrote, “the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” He adds, “Even angels long to look into these things.”
There is an emphasis on the human element in all of this. It was “men (who) spoke from God.” But it is clear; God inspired these men, guiding them in the use of their own vocabulary, educational and/or vocational background and cultural perspective, making sure they communicated clearly God’s message.
