Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Transfiguration

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” (Matthew 17:1–9)

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:16–21)

After six days, Peter, James, and John were taken apart from the others and brought to the top of a mountain. As they were looking on, the Lord was transfigured and resplendent in all the brilliance of his garments. In this manner there is preserved an underlying principle, a number, and an example. It was after six days that the Lord was shown in his glory by his clothing; that is, the honor of the heavenly Kingdom is prefigured in the unfolding of six thousand years. By the three disciples who were taken apart is shown the future election of the people who were to come from a threefold origin: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. That Moses and Elijah, out of the entire company of saints, were standing by, shows Christ in his Kingdom standing among the Law and the prophets, with whom he will judge Israel, in whose testimonies he was foretold. So too, the reason that Moses was visibly standing by was to teach that the glory of the resurrection was designated for human bodies. As the Lord became brighter than snow or the sun, he was conspicuous with a splendor that exceeds even our view of the heavenly lights. But to Peter, who offered to make there three tabernacles, he did not respond at all; for it was not yet the time that the Lord should be found in his glory.

While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and they were encompassed by the spirit of divine power. A voice called out from the cloud: This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him, so that the Lord himself should be the proper author of such teachings. After the sacrifice of the world, after willingly going to the cross, after the death of the body, the Lord reaffirmed the glory of his heavenly Kingdom by the resurrection from the dead as our model to follow.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 17.2–3

For it is clear that the same Peter, together with his fellow apostles James and John, heard the aforesaid voice above the Lord when he was glorified on the mountain, according to the faith of the Gospels.

And we have a surer prophetic sentence, that, namely, in which he speaks in the person of the mediator between God and men, saying, The Lord said to me, You are my Son, today have I begotten you, “For if anyone at all,” he says, “does not consider our witness worthy of belief, the fact that we beheld in secret the divine glory of our Redeemer, that we heard the voice of the Father brought to him, at least no one will dare contradict the prophetic sentence, no one will dare to dispute this, which already long ago was incorporated in the divine scriptures and all bear witness is true.”

Bede the Venerable, Commentary on 2 Peter 1.18–19