What Does 2 Peter 2:1 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Greek word for ruin names both the teaching they introduce and the destruction they bring upon themselves.
THE MEANING
A harmful voice can rise from within a community and quietly plant teaching that carries ruin. The ones who deny the Master who bought them bring that ruin swiftly upon themselves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that harmful teaching only damages its hearers: the ones who introduce it also bring ruin upon themselves.
THE ROOT
ἀπωλείας
apōleias
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To perish, be lost, or lose the way; ἀπώλεια names ruin or perishing.
“damnable; destruction” in this verse is apōleias. The Greek repeats ἀπώλεια: it describes the heresies as bringing ruin, then names the swift ruin brought upon the teachers. What enters the community as destructive teaching returns as their own end.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: Ruin, destruction, perishing.
ἀπώλεια
This noun appears twice in the verse, linking the teaching’s destructive character with the teachers’ destruction.
apollymenos: One who is perishing or being lost.
ἀπολλύμενος
This form of the related verb shows ruin as a process of being lost, not merely a label for punishment.
ἀρνούμενοι
arnoumenoi
GROWS FROM
ἀρνέομαι
arneomai
To deny, disown, or refuse to acknowledge.
“denying” in this verse is arnoumenoi. The word can carry the force of disowning, so the verse places a relational rejection beside the claim that the Master bought them. Denial here is more than a disagreement with an idea: it turns away from the one named as their buyer.
ALSO GROWS
arnēsis: Denial or disowning.
ἄρνησις
This noun from the same word family names the rejection that the verse describes through the participle “denying.”
arnoumenoi: Denying, disowning; the form used in this verse.
ἀρνούμενοι
Its present participle places the denial alongside the teachers’ ongoing introduction of ruinous teaching.
ἀγοράσαντα
agorāsanta
GROWS FROM
ἀγοράζω (agorazō), from ἀγορά (agora)
To buy or acquire in a market; ἀγορά means marketplace.
The verse makes the denial especially stark by naming the rejected Lord as the one who bought them. The purchase language places their denial beside a concrete claim of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
agora: Marketplace or public gathering place.
ἀγορά
This is the noun behind the verb, giving “bought” its marketplace image.
exagorazō: Buy out; redeem.
ἐξαγοράζω
This related verb keeps the purchase image while adding the sense of buying someone out of a condition.
THE PATTERN
A path or teaching that carries ruin bears its consequence in the lives of those who follow or carry it.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)THE THREAD
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.The verb ἀπόλλυμι appears here as “perish,” from the same word family as the repeated ἀπώλεια in 2:1. The connection holds the warning of ruin alongside the Lord’s patience and stated desire that all turn.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us