2 Peter 2:1

Peter says this so that people will not just listen to everyone who claims to be a prophet, without discerning whether they really are or not. He tells them to be careful not to listen to false prophets instead of the true ones.

And they deny the Lord who bought them, etc. Concerning this buyer, Paul also says: "For you were bought at a great price; glorify and carry God in your body" (1 Cor. 6). Rightly indeed do they bring upon themselves swift destruction, who, denying their …

To their own destruction. For those who attempt to corrupt the holy Scriptures and to disturb and pervert the Catholic faith bring condemnation upon themselves in this. However, the Church of Christ, having dispelled the darkness of errors, enjoys its true light. Hence, it is …

By false teachers the apostle means the like-minded followers of Nicolaus and Cerinthus, and by the name of prophecy, commonly attributed to both prophets and false teachers, he warns the faithful not to heed false prophets. What the difference is between the one and the …

Either the heresies are the effect of denying the Lord, or the denying the Lord was the consequence of the heresies. Even denying - Both by their doctrine and their works. The Lord that bought them - With his own blood.

But there were false prophets also among the people,....

Whom the true doctrine teaches to be their OWNER by right of purchase. Literally, "denying Him who bought them (that He should be thereby), their Master." bought them--Even the ungodly were bought by His "precious blood." It shall be their bitterest self-reproach in hell, that, as far as Christ's redemption was concerned, they might have been saved.

But there were false prophets - There were not only holy men of God among the Jews, who prophesied by Divine inspiration, but there were also false prophets, whose prophecies were from their own imagination, and perverted many. As there shall be false teachers among you - At a very early period of the Christian Church many heresies sprung up; but the chief were those of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Nicolaitans, Menandrians, and Gnostics, of whom many strange things have been spoken by the primitive fathers, and of whose opinions it is difficult to form any satisfactory view. They were, no doubt, bad enough, and their opponents in general have doubtless made them worse. By what name those were called of whom the apostle here speaks, we cannot tell. They were probably some sort of apostate Jews, or those called the Nicolaitans. See the preface. Damnable heresies - Αἱρεσεις απωλειας· Heresies of destruction; such as, if followed, would lead a man to perdition. And these παρεισαξουσιν, they will bring in privately - cunningly, without making much noise, and as covertly as possible. It would be better to translate destructive heresies than damnable. Denying the Lord that bought them - It is not certain whether God the Father be intended here, or our Lord Jesus Christ; for God is said to have purchased the Israelites, Exo 15:16, and to be the Father that had bought them, Deu 32:6, and the words may refer to these or such like passages; or they may point out Jesus Christ, who had bought them with his blood; and the heresies, or dangerous opinions, may mean such as opposed the Divinity of our Lord, or his meritorious and sacrificial death, or such opinions as bring upon those who hold them swift destruction. It seems, however, more natural to understand the Lord that bought them as applying to Christ, than otherwise; and if so, this is another proof, among many, 1. […]