Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Peter 1:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse denies fabricated myths and claims eyewitness testimony to Jesus's majesty as the basis for proclaiming his power and coming.
Read It With
- 2 Peter 1:16–21
Read 2 Peter 1:16 with 1:16–21. This verse denies fabricated myths and claims eyewitness testimony to Jesus's majesty as the basis for proclaiming his power and coming. The complete unit establishes this movement: The proclaimed power and coming of Jesus are grounded in claimed eyewitness experience of his majesty and in the prophetic word, which demands attention because prophecy did not originate in autonomous human will.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit supplies the evidential bridge between remembered teaching and discernment of destructive alternatives: not fabricated story, but witness and prophecy read together. Within that movement, this verse denies fabricated myths and claims eyewitness testimony to Jesus's majesty as the basis for proclaiming his power and coming.
Follow the Context
- The apostolic proclamation of Jesus's power and coming is denied to be a cleverly made myth and claimed as eyewitness testimony to majesty.
- Jesus receives honor and glory from the Father through a heavenly declaration of beloved sonship and pleasure.
- The 'we' claims to have heard that voice with Jesus on the holy mountain.
- The prophetic word is described as confirmed or more certain and as a lamp deserving attention until dawn.
- Prophecy is not from private interpretation or origination, because people spoke from God while carried by the Holy Spirit.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“power and coming”
In plain language: The transfiguration is used as a foretaste or confirmation of Jesus's future arrival, not as the coming's completion.
Denies fabricated myths and claims eyewitness testimony to Jesus's majesty as the basis for proclaiming his power and coming. Future hope is presented as accountable testimony, not secret invention.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the full unit and its stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Eyewitness language is not self-authenticating and supplies neither a date nor a complete sequence for Jesus's coming.
What Remains True
Future hope is presented as accountable testimony, not secret invention.
How It Can Shape Life
- Ask how a claimed witness connects evidence to the conclusion and whether the claim can be responsibly tested.
Teach It Back
Explain 2 Peter 1:16's contribution to 2 Peter 1:16–21: Denies fabricated myths and claims eyewitness testimony to Jesus's majesty as the basis for proclaiming his power and coming. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Peter 1:16–21 — Majesty Witness and Prophetic Word Ground the ComingSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Direct-Petrine and pseudonymous-testament readings explain the 'we' differently.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Peter 1:16–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, repeated terms, and the base text used for original-language discussion.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file 2Pet.txt, 1:16–21
Open the 2 Peter Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — 2 Peter with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level Greek, syntax, KJV-era wording, textual variants, and interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Peter PDF, 1:16–21 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 2 Peter PDF ↗