Blown Away

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (v21).

People don’t blow away God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit blows people away. Peter wants to make cause and effect clear. God is the Cause. When His Spirit moves, things happen. He has His effect on His creation. That includes human beings. Just like the ocean trade wind fills the sails of a schooner and propels it over the sea. Just like a kite would fight a losing battle the breeze, people don’t influence the Holy Spirit. People don’t tell God what to do. We don’t tell Him what to say. Nope. It’s the other way around. God’s Spirit blows people away.

Pete is talking specifically about the source of Scripture. The apostle lets us know that men didn’t concoct these cockamamy stories and then label it as prophecy from God. It’s the other way around. When God’s Spirit started blowing and inspiring human authors, the result was God’s Word. When the winds blow, the sailboat moves. When God’s Spirit blows, people move.

I admit that there are times when I’m full of hot air. But here the former fisherman chooses his words very carefully. He selects the Greek verb phero not once but twice here in this verse. The term has a wide range of meanings but here he uses it to describe causing an object to move by means of force. To bring something or someone along. There’s a sense of driving by force or speed. To be blown away by the wind. Pete’s already used this word twice before. On that amazing day on the mountain with the transfigured Jesus, the apostle and his buddies heard “the voice was borne (Gr. phero) by the Majestic Glory…We ourselves heard this very voice borne (Gr. phero) from heaven” (1:17-18). Father God’s voice roared from heaven like hurricane to deliver the greatest “That’s My Boy!” the world has ever heard. To say the least, the boys were blown away.

Over in Luke’s sequel, the good doctor uses this word a couple of times to describe powerful winds. Let’s pick it up in the Upper Room as the Holy Spirit starts to blow. “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing (Gr. phero) wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). Those 120 believers were blown away. Later Paul and Dr. Luke are sailing to Rome when their ship gets slammed by a hurricane. “When the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along (Gr. phero)” (Acts 27:15). The ship was blown away.

The same thing happens when God’s Spirit hits humans like a hurricane. We move. In this case, he’s talking specifically about the human authors of Scripture. They weren’t cooking up crazy stories (1:16). They weren’t simply sharing their opinions (1:20). The Holy Spirit blew them away. When the Spirit of God rushes in, it makes a cat 5 hurricane look like a ceiling fan on low. There’s no holding on. There’s no fighting it. The result was that prophets grabbed a pen and put God’s Word on paper. They were blown away.

On the other hand, Pete lets us know that people who manufacture messages from God are big blow hards. That’s exactly what’s going down in several churches. A team of false teachers have snuck into local churches (2:1). The apostle is writing to punch a hole in these heretical gas bags. These hucksters are selling their alleged secret message from heaven. There’s just one problem. One very BIG problem. It’s NOT from God. They’ve simply made all this stuff up. This is about cause and effect. Humans don’t cause God’s Word. God’s Word has its effect on us. It blows people away.