¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

Christianity is based on eyewitness testimonies since none of us can go back and check out the events for ourselves in person. Consider this: how do we know anything in the past really took place? History books are written by scholars who investigate the written records (what historians call their sources). Historians look for written documents, to be sure, but those documents were written by people who got their information from somewhere. What were their sources? Where did those sources get their information? The most reliable sources of what happened in the past rely on the personal testimonies of people who were there.

Christian historians gain much from the research of a fourth-century historian named Eusebius, who wrote volumes to preserve the record of the events of the Christian movement in the early centuries. He meticulously made clear what sources he relied upon for his findings. When we trace the sources back far enough, we arrive at the originals: first-person accounts of the foundational events upon which Christianity is based. The flesh-and-blood original witnesses, of course, are no longer with us, but we have the written record of what they saw. Peter, in his letter, claims to be one of the original sources of what Jesus taught and lived.

Historians and theologians study carefully to verify that what we have in our hands, the Bible, faithfully reflects the original eyewitness testimonies. An entire field of study (called “Bibliology”) investigates the authenticity, inspiration, transmission, preservation, and translation through the centuries of copies of the original documents containing the testimonies. But it all depends on the actual eyewitness accounts.

The apostle Peter asserts that the truths he and the other apostles were conveying were not the result of imaginative minds but were things they saw and heard themselves (1 John 1:1–4). Both in the first century as well as in law courts today, eyewitness testimony carries great weight of proof. That is why Jesus, before He ascended into heaven, appointed witnesses to provide an authoritative testimony about His life, death, and resurrection: “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). To this, Peter appeals. And on the apostolic testimony, the early church was founded (see Eph. 2:20).

Lord, thank You for the testimony of Peter in faithfully recording Your truth.