Paragraph 1:19–21

The Transfiguration proved that the message about Jesus was true, but that is not all that proved it. The writings of the prophets also confirmed that this was a true message.

1:19a

We: This may refer to all believers. If it does, the pronoun is inclusive. Or it may refer to all the apostles, or just to the three apostles who had seen the Transfiguration. If the pronoun refers only to the apostles, it is exclusive. It seems more likely that the first interpretation is the correct one, because the words of the prophets in the OT are for all believers.

confirmed beyond doubt: The form of this word in the Greek text here can mean “very, very certain.” This meaning fits the context well. However some commentators think that here Peter was making a comparison and saying that people can now be even more confident that the words of the prophets are true than they could be before the Transfiguration because the apostles saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Here are some other ways that translate this:

so we have confirmation of what was said in prophecy (The Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
all this confirms for us the message of prophecy (New English Bible)

Peter referred to the words of the prophets to support what he taught about Christ’s return. In order to clearly communicate this, it may be necessary for you to include this implied information, as in the Display of 1:19a.

1:19b

a lamp shining in a dark place: Peter compared what the prophets wrote to a lamp shining in the darkness. Just as a lamp shining in a dark place shows people the right way to go, so the words that the prophets wrote will show people what is true and what is false.

1:19c

the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts: The type of lamp that Peter mentioned in 1:19b radiated light so that people could see until the morning star appeared and daylight returned. The morning star is the bright star (actually a planet, the planet Venus) which rises immediately before dawn. Does this star have a special name in your language? There are a number of examples in Scripture where the writers used similar metaphors in a way that shows that the morning star very probably refers to Christ. See Revelation 22:16 and Luke 1:78. In the same way that the morning star brings light to a dark world, the coming of Christ brings light into the hearts of believers and enables them to know God more fully. Peter was almost certainly thinking of Christ’s second coming, since “the day” in the NT usually referred to this, as in Romans 13:12.

General Comment about 1:19b–c: Here is one example of how you could translate 1:19b and 1:19c in order to clearly express all of the meaning of the metaphors:

You should listen well to those words until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. His coming will bring light like the dawn of a new day, and he will be like the morning star. At that time his light will shine in your hearts and reveal God to you clearly.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.