This verse explains why verse 20 is true. The first assertion is that the interpretation of the prophetic message is not dependent on human power, because the prophetic message did not come about by the impulse of man. Another way of saying it is that no prophecy is of human origin, since it always originates from God. This first clause may also be rendered “Because no one from his own power (or, intelligence) ever announced God’s message,” or we can say “No prophecy ever originated in a human being.”

The second assertion, however, defines the place of people in the interpretation of prophecy: people are moved by the Holy Spirit. Men here does not refer just to males, but means people in general (human beings). It was God’s Spirit that carried them along and enabled them to say what God wanted them to say. Apart from the Spirit, the prophetic message does not exist and cannot be understood. It is of course clearly understood that the Spirit belongs to the church, which is created by the same Spirit and therefore plays an important role in the interpretation and preservation of the prophetic message. So people who are moved by the Holy Spirit are enabled to proclaim and interpret the prophetic message. The term for moved can also be translated “carried away,” “have their hearts stirred up,” or “The Holy Spirit stirred up their hearts” (note Good News Translation “under the control,” New English Bible “impelled,” Phillips “inspired,” New International Version “carried along”); and this somehow suggests a state of ecstasy in which the Holy Spirit takes full control of a person. At any rate, this expression belongs to the vocabulary of prophetic inspiration that was in use within the Greek-speaking section of Judaism. In certain languages translators will need to render this clause in the active rather than the passive; for example, “But the Holy Spirit stirred up people’s hearts (or, inspired them) as they spoke the message that came from God.”

The third assertion is that these people spoke from God. The vocabulary may have been their own, but the message that they proclaimed “came from God” (Good News Translation). This anticipates chapter 2, where false prophets are mentioned; in contrast to true prophets, these people proclaimed a message that did not come from God but was a product of their own mind.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .