Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
'Forasmuch as ye know this' (1 Peter 1:18). First - the foremost consideration in studying prophecy; a first principle, never to be lost sight of. Is, х ginetai (G1096)] - 'proves to be.' No prophecy found to be the result of "private (the individual writer's uninspired) interpretation" (solution), and so origination. х Epilusis (G1955) does not mean in itself origination, but that which the sacred writer could not always interpret; though, being the speaker or writer (1 Peter 1:10-12), was plainly not of his own, but of God's disclosure, origination, and inspiration, as Peter proceeds to add, "But holy men ... spake (and afterward wrote) ... moves by the Holy Spirit:" a reason why ye should 'give' all "heed" to it.] The parallelism to 2 Peter 1:16 shows that "private interpretation," contrasted with "moved by the Holy Spirit," answers to 'fables devised by (human) wisdom,' contrasted with "we were eye-witnesses of His majesty," etc., attested by the 'voice from God.' The words of the prophetic (so of all) Scripture writers were not mere words of the individuals, therefore to be interpreted by them, but of "the Holy Spirit," by whom they were "moved." "Private" is explained (2 Peter 1:21) "by the will of man" (namely, the individual writer). In a secondary sense, as the word is the Holy Spirit's, it cannot be interpreted by its readers (anymore than by its writers) by their private human powers, but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit (John 16:14); for it was by the Holy Spirit that its speakers and writers were "moved." х Idias (G2398), "private," is not opposed to the Catholic Church's interpretation (as Rome argues), but to the Holy Spirit's motion.] It is not by individual wisdom, but by the Holy Spirit, the Bible's Author, that any can interpret it. No Scripture is an isolated composition of the individual man, but part of an organic whole, to be solved by comparison with the rest of the Spirit-inspired Word. 'He who is the Author of Scripture is its Supreme Interpreter' (Gerhard). Alford, 'Springs not out of human interpretation' - i:e., is not a prognostication by a man, knowing what he means when he utters it, but, etc. (John 11:49-52.) Rightly: except that the verb is, Doth prove to be. It not being of private interpretation, you must 'give heed' to it, looking for the Spirits illumination "in your hearts" (notes, 2 Peter 1:19).