1:21a

no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man: No prophecy originated from what the prophet himself wanted to say or from what other people wanted him to say.

1:21b

but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit: Instead of merely saying what they wanted to say, the OT prophets said what the Spirit of God moved or drove them to say. Luke used the same word in Acts 27:15 and Acts 27:17 to describe a ship that the wind was driving in a way that the people on the ship could not control. The prophets spoke and wrote “under the control of the Holy Spirit” (Good News Translation).

Paragraph 2:1–3

Peter warned that false teachers would come and deceive many people, but he also said that God would punish these false teachers in the end.

2:1

In the history of the Jewish people there had been many false prophets. Peter warned that, in the same way, false teachers would come among the Christians.

2:1a

Now: At the end of chapter 1 Peter had been talking about true prophets. He used the word Now here to contrast these true prophets with the false prophets who had come among God’s people in the past. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version do not retain this link. Another way to show the link would be as follows:

But, in the past, even though there were true prophets, there were also men among God’s people who said that they were prophets, but they taught lies, not the truth.

false prophets: These are people who say that their messages come directly from God, but they are lying.

the people: Jews used the phrase “the people” to refer to themselves, God’s chosen people, the Jewish people. Here, Peter was referring to the Jewish people, the people of Israel, in the time of the OT.

2:1b-c

false teachers This refers to those who were teaching the “destructive heresies”.

secretly introduce: These words translate a single Greek verb that means “bring in,” and which sometimes means even more: “bring in secretly so that other people will not notice what is happening.” Many scholars believe that it has this extra meaning here. So Berean Standard Bible translates it secretly introduce, see also The Jerusalem Bible: “insinuate” and Revised Standard Version “secretly bring in.” But Good News Translation and New English Bible do not include this extra meaning.

destructive heresies: Heresy is a doctrine or teaching about God which is untrue. Such teachings lead people to live wickedly. When people live wickedly, God judges them. This is how heresies destroy them.

2:1d

denying the Master: The Greek word here that Berean Standard Bible translates denying means “to deny, disown someone.” Here it probably means that although these people said that they followed Christ, they showed by what they did and by what they taught other people, that they did not really follow his teachings. It could also mean that they were “denying” Christ by saying untrue things about him like “he didn’t die for our sins.”

Master: This translates the Greek word that usually in the NT refers to God, but here clearly Peter was using it about Christ. This is the word that people used to refer to a person who owned slaves. This word fits well here because of the next words which speak about Christ buying people.

who bought them: When Peter said Jesus “bought” people, he is using a metaphor. When Jesus died on the cross, the blood he shed was like the money someone gives the owner of a slave so that the slave can be free from his old master and can have a new master.

2:1e

bringing swift destruction on themselves: Peter said that the way the false teachers were behaving would cause God to destroy them.

swift: The Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates swift can mean “sudden” or “imminent, soon.” It is the same word that Peter used in 1:14 when he said that he would die soon, and that is probably the meaning here. He is not saying that God would suddenly destroy the false teachers, but that he would do it soon.

destruction: The Greek word apōleia, “destruction,” is the same word as Berean Standard Bible translated “destructive” in 2:1c. It means “destruction, loss, ruin.” Here Peter was probably not referring to physical destruction, but spiritual ruin, or he may have meant that their influence over people would be destroyed.

© 2000 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.