I find that one striking characteristic of mistaken theologies, religious organizations, churches, denominations, and individuals is that they deny the right of so-called “private interpretation” to individual readers and students of the Bible. Some of them reserve that right for themselves.
The term “private interpretation” is found in the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible at 2 Peter 1:20,
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (KJV)
This is a mistaken translation of the underlying original Greek text of the New Testament. Comparing other English translations, I find several of them contain the same mistaken rendering:
2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. (WEB, World English Bible)
2Pe 1:20 Yet always you must always remember this, that no prophecy in scripture is the subject of private interpretation. (Ronald Knox translation)
There are some English translations that provide a much better rendering:
2Pe 1:20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, (NET Bible)
2Pe 1:20 Most important of all, you must understand this: No prophecy in the Scriptures comes from the prophet’s own understanding. (ERV, Easy-to-Read Version)
I have discussed this passage at length in my digital resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, from which the following notes are taken:
//This text in Scripture does not address what the readers of the Bible do when they seek to understand and interpret what they read, but what the writers did when they were directed by the Holy Spirit what to write. Anyone who would suggest otherwise is simply not reading very well.
This is what the text says. This is what the text means. To suggest otherwise is clearly error, falsehood, or heresy. The writers did not write their own opinion when they wrote “the more sure word of prophecy” (2Pe 1:19), but wrote what God by divine inspiration moved them to write (2Pe 1:21). Any denomination, church, or religious organization that uses this text to forbid so-called “private interpretation” by individual Bible readers does not know how to read Scripture in context and must surely not be trusted as to any claim it makes of teaching authority or any claim to be the “one true church.” //
Just today, Thursday, January 22, 2026, I saw on Facebook the following helpful information shared (not authored) by Ken Litchfield:
Instead, He said things like this:
“He who hears you hears Me.” – Luke 10:16
“I will build My Church.” -Matthew 16:18
“If he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile.” – Matthew 18:17
“As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” – John 20:21, 22, 23
Jesus established a Church, gave it authority, appointed apostles, and promised the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (John 16:13). The first Christians didn’t live an isolated, “me-and-my-Bible” faith—they lived in communion, devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42).