The Bible Says
2 Peter 2:1 Meaning

In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter introduces the enemies of the “prophetic word” that leads to Christian maturity: false teachers. Just as God has a plan to grow believers to maturity, call them to a special ministry, and reward them for faithful service, Satan also has a plan to halt the believer’s journey to maturity, prevent them from making their lives on earth fulfill God’s plan for ministry, and keep them from being richly rewarded as they enter Christ’s kingdom.

Peter asserts: But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves (v 1).

Knowing there is a battle between God’s plan and Satan’s plan, Peter warns his readers about the way of apostasy. Apostasy will arise because false prophets also arose among the people (v.1). The false prophets from the Old Testament were people who said they had a dream, a vision, or a word from God when they in truth did not (Deuteronomy 13:1-3, Jeremiah 6:13). In the Old Testament, false prophets frequently arose among the people of Israel (Jeremiah 14:14).

Peter continues his warning, just as false prophets arose among the people of Israel, there will also be false teachers among you. A false teacher is someone who proclaims things from the Bible but misinterprets or twists the meaning to suit his purposes (2 Corinthians 11:13, 2 Timothy 4:3-4). No church is immune from having false teachers arise among themselves (Acts 20:29-30), and it will get worse in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 4:1-4).

These false teachers are people who arise among you, referring to the churches his readers were attending (Acts 20:29-30). Peter describes them as false teachers who will secretly introduce, meaning they will be sneaky about adding destructive heresies to their teaching. The word heresies is directly from the Greek “haireseis” meaning beliefs that are unique to a group (1 Corinthians 11:19, Galatians 5:20). Unfortunately, the beliefs of this group are destructive, meaning they bring about complete ruin (Hebrews 10:39, 2 Peter 3:16).

The teaching of these false teachers is so far out of line with the main group of believers in the churches they attend that they even go so far as denying the master who bought them; the master here refers to Christ. It is important to note that even though these unbelieving false teachers denied Christ as the master, meaning one who owns them, they are still described as people who were bought by Christ.

These are people who believed in Jesus, so they were given new birth and made new creations in Christ; all that is required to be born again is to believe on Jesus (John 3:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:17). But they deny that Jesus is their master, inferring that they want to be their own master. This is one of Satan’s primary lies-in truth when we assert we are our own “master” we become slaves to sin, which makes us slaves to our passions, the flesh, and the world (Romans 6:16, James 1:14-16).

The original sin stemmed from Satan tempting Eve to have knowledge independent of God, which is a version of being her own master (Genesis 3:4-6).

The word bought translates the Greek word “agorazo” which means to purchase by the payment of a price. This means that the death of Jesus Christ paid the price for the sins of all mankind, believer and unbeliever alike (1 John 2:2). All who have sufficient faith to look upon Jesus on the cross, hoping to be delivered from the poisonous venom of sin, are granted eternal life (John 3:14-15). But just as with physical birth, to experience the benefits of the gift of eternal life requires a person to make choices in keeping with life.

If these false teachers persist in denying Christ, it will result in the same thing sin always results in: death. Peter describes this as bringing swift destruction upon themselves, meaning a quick and utter ruin (2 Peter 3:16). Death is separation, and sin separates us from life, which is connection.

When we disconnect from God’s design for us, the result is destruction. Most directly, following false teaching leads to destruction of our path to Christian maturity and to all the immense benefits it brings. As we saw in Chapter 1, walking in maturity allows us to partake in the “divine nature” and escape the “corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

The Greek word “apoleia” is translated destruction in verse 1. In some translations, “apoleia” also occurs in verse 2, where it is translated “pernicious ways” (NASV95 uses a text with the word “aselgeia” which is translated “sensuality”). “Apoleia” also appears in verse 3 where it is also translated “destruction” in NASV95.

Through repetition Peter is hammering home a key point-following false teaching leads to destruction! James 1:21 speaks of the “word implanted” in our hearts saving our lives from the destruction of the sin that dwells within our old nature (James 1:14-15). It is learning and following the prophetic word of truth that saves our lives or souls (both being English words that translate “psyche”) from the deceptive lies of the flesh and Satan.