2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

[of true doctrine] destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who purchased them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
KJV 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
TRANSLATION HIGHLIGHTS
For those of you who like theological details, I am including part of a research paper I
wrote years ago in seminary on this passage. There are almost as many views on this
passage as there are commentaries. I am not alone in my view, which is of course the
correct one. To summarize, I am of the persuasion that (a) these false teachers had
already become Christians, (b) they were from inside the church and not from outside the
church, (c) they were definitely and effectively redeemed by Christ, (d) they contradicted
or repudiated their positional status as Christians by living and teaching others to live in
licentiousness, and (e) they were currently living a ruinous spiritual life and were soon
"punched-out" or taken home by Christ in order to prevent them from infecting others
with their poison. The phrase “Lord that bought them” can only be applied to Christians,
and the current state of these Christians (in fellowship or in apostasy) is totally irrelevant.
These false prophets arose without going through a traditional chain of command
(Ingressive Aorist tense). They have showed up at various times throughout history,
pretending to be legitimate communicators of the original canon of Scripture. The use of
the word “false apostle” is an allusion to the Old Testament false prophets while the use
of the rare word (used only here) “false teacher” is an allusion to New Testament false
teachers. The two identical prepositions “en” indicate that the first category was "in" or
"among" Israel, while the second category is "in" or "among" the church. In other words,
the first phrase means "among the people" (Israelites), while the second reference means
"coming from within," in this case members of the local assembly - believers in the
church Peter is addressing (the Predictive Future tense also points to these false teachers
coming in the Church Age). The obvious parallel is that the Israelites and Christians
connect each other. They both arise from within, rather than from without.
The false teachers are not like those in Jude who "came in from the cold," but will be
members of the local church - maybe even friends you know personally. Rather than
creating additions to the canon, they will contradict and twist the existing canon of
Scripture by introducing secretly and maliciously alongside of true doctrine, damnable
heresies. These heresies destroy both individuals and society in general. These false
teachers probably know some true doctrine, but they have some "pet" philosophies which
they have secretly and insidiously brought in (stealth attack) along side of true doctrine.
Calvin calls this "infiltrating by flanking attacks and by underground tunnellings." These
false teachers sneak their heresies in like a covert CIA operation - nobody sees them or
knows they are there. The descriptive genitive means these heresies are ruinous to the
spiritual life if they are believed and practiced. Eternal destruction is not in mind here. It
is a phrase which points to "Christian apostasy" under the heading of temporal disaster.