2 PETER

In This Section:

2 PETER 2:1-20

2 PETER 2:1

2 Peter was written by Peter the apostle as a follow up letter to 1 Peter. From what we know, 2 Peter is the apostle Peter's last letter he ever wrote. The context is that Peter is in prison, and the Lord has revealed to Peter that he is about to be executed for being a Christian, (cf. 2 Peter 1:14). God has given Peter other revelations to share, and so Peter shares them with the church in this letter. Consequently, this is Peter's prophetic warning letter concerning false Christians and false teachers. False teachers had already been getting in among God's people in the first century. Peter writes this epistle primarily to warn the church in his generation of more false teachers that are coming. His warning is for the true Christians to not be deceived. Peter's warning, of course, is just as relevant for each generation over the last 2000 years, as it was to the generation he originally sent his revelation to. Peter proceeds to write through chapter one concerning the true knowledge of God, the miracle of salvation, the assurance of salvation, and various urgings toward Christian living. As Peter ends chapter one, he shares about God's true apostles and prophets who relate the truths of God. God's true prophets are in direct contrast to the fakes who are insidious infiltrators of the church that are bent on destroying the work of God as He is establishing His church in this first generation of His New Covenant. This brings us into chapter two, where we see Peter begins his warnings that such false teachers, (who are historically and contextually, typically apostate Jews), are coming. They, like the false prophets among ancient Israelites of the past, will deny the Master of the universe who bought them, and introduce destructive heresies;

"1 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. 2 Many will follow their licentious-destructive ways, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Those who believe in the NEST typically interpret this passage to mean that Peter is saying that Christ bought the false prophets in His atoning, and propitiating work on the cross. To be bought by Christ in certain redemption, is to be saved. Therefor, it is said that such people had faith in the Master, in salvation, then later denied the Master, and lost their salvation. Further, "many" more saved people will, can, and do follow the "licentious-destructive ways" of such false prophets, and so they also end up losing their salvation, are damned, and burn forever in hell.  

The NEST is wrong.

As a primary consideration, we must recognize that Peter is saying that there were false prophets in the Old Testament times as a matter of record;

"1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, ..." (2 Peter 2:1)

One part of Peter's intention is that he wants his audience to know that false teachers in the first century just before the parousia, like false teachers in the ancient past, are not going to arrive from outside the church in such a way that they instantly seem foreign. They may be like an old friend. They could be a member of the family. In fact, they may appear very religious and like they worship the same God that the Christians do, like for example apostate Jews seemed to be doing in Peter's generation. Further, they are not necessarily going to be speaking forth assertions of God's own words in a mystical type manner when they come. False teachers can prophecy, preach, hand out tracts, and give advice in various venues of persuasion. They can even do it in a casual conversation over dinner. In other words, there are many ways for a false teacher to teach. Mystical sounding prophecy is just one way. Various ways of spreading false teachings can be almost undetectable if we are not aware and applying discernment. Peter knows this. So Peter, as a true prophet, prophesies in this passage. He says that the false teachers are coming in the same kind of legacy of the false prophets of Old Testament times and so the dispersed church needs to be aware and applying discernment. The true Christians must be grounded in all they ever learned about the true knowledge of God. They must be assured of everything He has given them for life and godliness.  Now comes that controversial part, where Peter says;

"... there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master (Gk. Despotes) who bought (Gk. agorazo, agoradzein) them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves." (2 Peter 2:1)

In analyzing this part of Peter's statement, we must recognize that the Greek word agorazo really does mean bought. These false teachers deny the Master who had bought them already, and owns them. Agorazo is used 30 times in the New Testament. It is translated correctly as purchased, redeemed, bought, and to buy--all ways of acquiring ownership by payment of a price. Twenty-six of the places it is used, (whether in compound form like exagorazo or not) are in a common, or secular, sense like in buying a field (cf. Matthew 13:44), or buying food (cf. Luke 9:13); or buying up time in an idiomatic sense, (cf. Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5). Eight times the word is used of people in relationship to God, or Christ, as the purchaser; "You have been bought with a price," (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20), or "you were bought with a price," (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:23). Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, (cf. Galatians 3:13); and, "in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law," (cf. Galatians 4:5); and, "You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (cf. Revelation 5:9). "... who had been purchased from the earth" (cf. Revelation 14:3). "These have been purchased from among men" (cf. Revelation 14:4). Agorazo always means to redeem, buy, to purchase, to acquire, and to obtain ownership. It does not mean merely to offer to purchase, or to make the price available, or to put down a price on something. It does not mean that acquisition, or ownership has now been made into a possibility to be obtained by some other action. It is a word that is used as always meaning, a transaction being consummated where someone gains possession of something. So these false teachers deny the Master who purchased them and owns them right now. It means bought and you can not get around it (see footnote 1 below).

The second thing we need to determine is whether Peter asserts that these false teachers have been particularly redeemed, purchased, as in bought, through Christ's atoning, and propitiating work on the cross. Those who think there is a universal purchasing atonement say that Peter must necessarily be saying, in words unmistakably clear, that Christ paid the ransom price even for those who deny Him. In plainer terms, some claim that this verse provides proof that Christ died for every person everywhere; even all those who are never saved, and additionally, that even if saved, this verse provides proof that salvation is not always eternal. The main problem with such interpretations has to do with the actual scope of Christ's atoning, propitiating, cleansing, and purchasing work. What is that scope?

a) Christ's atonement is the covenant "covering" of actual people through His blood in His work of the cross as both High Priest and Sacrificial Lamb.

b) Christ's propitiation is the wrath absorption that He experienced in the stead of actual people that occurred in His work on the cross.

c) Christ's cleansing is His washing away the sinfulness status of actual people in His work on the cross.

d) Christ's purchase is His procurement of actual people in His work on the cross.

Christ's atonement, propitiation, cleansing action, and purchase, is certainly powerful enough to apply to everyone, but it only applies to certain ones. Those people are actual people that Christ elected in His comprehensive foreknowledge. Those certain ones are manifested in receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior by grace through the gift of faith (cf. Philippians 1:29, 2 Peter 1:1, Romans 12:3, Hebrews 12:2, John 6:29,  1 Corinthians 2:14, Acts 16:14, Acts 18:27 for faith as a an appointed gift). So when we look at the purchasing work accomplished on the cross, we can think of an analogy. It is like when one goes into a store and pays a price for a particular item. The purchaser knows that there has been an actual purchase of a particular identifiable item. The purchaser may not have had foreknowledge of the particular item he will purchase, as Christ did, but the purchaser certainly has afterknowledge of what has just been bought. What has been purchased by Christ are particular people that He elected beforehand to purchase. In doing so, He not only decided to reconcile them to God, He made sure that it would necessarily happen through His comprehensive reconciling work at the cross and following. Yes, Christ is still working. His post-resurrection work is seen in bringing His purchased ones to Himself through the preaching of the Gospel. It is seen in giving the gift of faith to His elect. It is seen in drawing them in His effectual calling out by His Spirit. It is seen in regenerating them in a miracle action. It is seen in the Holy Spirit dwelling within all of His people. If you remain not reconciled to God in the curse and penalty of sin, and you remain separated from God, then you were never atoned for. You did not have the wrath that you deserve, absorbed by Christ. There was no cleansing for you by the blood of Jesus. You were not particularly and effectually purchased.

But, agorazo here means that those false teachers were particularly and effectually purchased, and so they really were someone's property in a certain manner and certain sense. With this fact in mind, we must recognize something of vital importance. Notice that Peter does not make a statement that says that Christ Jesus bought the false teachers in the work of the cross. Instead what does Peter actually say? He says that the false teachers will deny the Master who bought them.. To figure out what this means, we start with the presupposition that we know these people are not saved because of what they are. Foremost we must recognize that historically Peter is describing first century apostate Jews. They mirror apostate Jews that came before them in their ancient past (cf. Matthew 23:31-36, Galatians 5:7-10 etc.).   Contextually, we know that these people are not, and were not, spiritually saved in the New Covenant. Why? Because Peter describes them as not being, and having never been, saved. This is why Peter starts out explaining that they are false teachers who secretly introduce destructive heresies, bringing swift destruction upon themselves in reference to the coming parousia in a couple of years in AD 70 at the destruction of the apostate Jewish shell of a religion.. They malign the way of truth (2 Peter 2:2). Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep (2 Peter 2:3). They are the unrighteous being kept under punishment until the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9) which means they are not, and never were, the righteousness of God in Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). Their punishment is like God did to angels that sinned when He cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment (2 Peter 2:4). Their punishment is like God did to the ancient world, "when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly" (2 Peter 2:5). In other words, their punishment is like that which is upon those who were unsaved who remained unsaved while perishing. Their punishment is like when God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter (2 Peter 2:6). They, in like manner to the lost Sodomites, torment the souls of the righteous day after day by their lawless deeds (2 Peter 2:7-8). They indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties (2 Peter 2:10). They are like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed (which means that they are not born again spiritually in the image of Christ) and they are reviling where they have no knowledge, and they will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you (2 Peter 2:12-13) which means they can be "with you" true Christians, but they are not the same as "you." They are tare plant weeds (darnels) among the true wheat plants of God. They have eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children (2 Peter 2:14). They are accursed children as a reference to Deuteronomy 32 concerning apostate genetic Israelites who were rejected by their Father who delivered them out of Egypt. In fact forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Peter 2:15). "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved" (2 Peter 2:17). "18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error," (2 Peter 2:18). "promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; (not slaves of righteousness, cf. Romans 6, but slaves of corruption) for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved" (2 Peter 2:19). This is not the beautiful description of blood-purchased, bought, born-again, saved people that we are so familiar with. This is the description of lost people who have been intent upon rejecting God and His Messiah.

So, presupposing that the false teachers are not saved as per the description of them in the rest of chapter 2, we can ask ourselves who exactly purchased and owns these people?; and how?; and in what manner?

As a primary consideration; based upon the presupposition of what it means to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Christ can not be, and is not the Master of the false teachers through purchasing them at the cross. The cross redemption is eternal, because redemption is salvation. Hebrews 9 states this fact well:

"12 ... through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ..." (Hebrews 9:12 ESV)

[We notice that the redemption is described as being eternal]

"... 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, ..." (Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV)

[The reference is again, to the eternal, as in the eternal Spirit. It is the work and life of the eternal Spirit. In all this the blood of Christ is what will]

"... cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 Therefore He [the eternal one] is the mediator of a new covenant [an eternal covenant], so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance ..." (Hebrews 9:14-15)

[This eternal inheritance is according to the eternal redemption, which is not temporal redemption. Salvation is defined as having eternal life--not the opposite which is temporal life of the perishing. You can not lose what is eternal by supposedly making it temporal in some theoretical way of defying the law of non-contradiction. Therefor salvation is not eternally secure life for some, and merely temporary life for others. Reading on,]

"... since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15 ESV)

The death that has occurred that redeems particular people from the transgressions committed under the first covenant is the purchase that delivers from something. The redemption is from sin--sins against God under the Law of Moses, which is Paul's point in the first two chapters of Colossians, where our eternal inheritance is in the first born heir (Christ). In light of this, we must recognize that Peter does not specifically state that the sacrificed Messiah is redemptive Master of those apostate Jewish teachers.  It does not matter if someone merely asserts that the Master here must be Jesus in His particular office of Messianic Lord in resurrection from the dead. The actual passage does not state such a thing. If Peter had actually stated that Christ redeemed, through the cross, these false teachers who have denied Him, then we would have something else to deal with, but the passage does not state that either. These people that Peter is referencing, are going into eternity in an unredeemed state.

The question before us, then, is who is the Master who bought these false teachers that are coming. With what has been covered so far, we can look at some popular views, and then finalize with the view of the author of this book.

/1/
One view is that these false teachers are bought like a down payment promissory note, but not actually redeemed. This view fails because there must be an artificially contrived distinction made between bought, purchase, redeem and so forth with agorazo.

/2/
Another view is that Christ bought these false teachers in the sense that they were associated with the true church, and they even made a profession of faith. The problem is said to be that the profession of faith is false. So, being false teachers, they are falsely asserting that they are bought. In doing so, they deny the Master who they falsely claim bought them. This view does not work because these people are identified by Peter the truth teller to be actually bought, and Peter says they have a Master. And once again, it should be pointed out that Peter does not say that the Master is the crucified and resurrected Messiah.

/3/
Another view asserts that the false teachers are bought by Christ in their outward appearance only. In other words, they are in and among the larger church community, so they appear to be purchased. Certainly they are among the church community, and are not actually in the church, but this view must be rejected because they do not merely appear to be bought. They are bought. And we remember that Peter does not say that the Master is the crucified and resurrected Messiah.

/4/
Another view is that they have been bought by escaping the corrupting defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, much like many religious moral people do who are not really saved. This view also fails because these people have actually been purchased by the Master.

There is yet another view. It is the view argued here in this book as the correct interpretation. It is the view that points out that Peter intentionally uses Deuteronomy 32 as His Old Testament reference passage for his analogous warning to false Jewish teachers who have infiltrated the New Covenant people of God (the church). Peter is alluding to Moses' prophetic song that spoke of God's anger with certain people in genetic Israel. Remember, Peter makes the point concerning Old Testament prophets in the verse right before this one, so Old Testament referencing is what Peter has already started doing in the contextual flow. Peter goes on to use more Old Testament illustrative material in his following verses, where he compares these people to historic angels that sinned; to the ancient world with Noah; to Sodom and Gomorrah, to following the way of Balaam, etc.. In 2 Peter 2:14 the allusion to Deuteronomy 32 becomes more specific. With this in mind, we look to Deuteronomy 32 for further revelation,

"5 They [certain Israelites] have acted corruptly toward Him [Yahweh], They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation. ..." (Deuteronomy 32:5)

[Israel is typically called God's children. Proverbs 14:26, (a Proverb concerning Israel of the time), states, "In the fear of Yahweh there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge." Old Covenant genetic Israel was once referred to as God's children, but there is more to this, because Deuteronomy 32:5 says that certain apostate Israelites are not His children because of their defect. This is why Peter refers to the apostate Jewish teachers as accursed children in 2 Peter 2:14. There is a principle here that stretches from Deuteromic time all the way through to the generation consummated in 70 AD at the destruction of apostate Israelites. Paul explains the principle in Romans 9 where he says that "they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel." (cf. Romans 9:6)  In fact, only a remnant of Israel will be saved in the New Covenant according to Paul quoting the ancient prophet in Romans 9:27, "27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: 'Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,' [in the New Covenant]" (cf. Romans 9:27) So, Moses in Deuteronomy 32:5 explained that "They have acted corruptly toward [God], They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation." What happened was that some genetic Israelites had turned against God after being delivered by Him from Egypt. A remnant did not, but the rest did. In the same way, in the first generation of Peter's New Covenant ministry, there were Israelites who turned against God by rejecting the promised Messiah. This is the key, so keep it in mind. The rest of Peter's analogy passage from Deuteronomy explains that Moses goes on to say to the apostate Israelites who were false prophets who were false teachers who taught to reject God,]

"6 Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you." (Deuteronomy 32:6 emph. mine)

Deuteronomy 32:5-6 is the key parallel passage because this has the specific terminology that Peter addresses to the apostate Jewish teachers. Again in 6, "Is not He your Father who has bought you?" But we must remember, Moses just said that they are not God's children in the previous verse (cf. Deuteronomy 32:5). We absolutely must Keep this important detail in mind. Further, Messiah's unique purchasing of spiritually dead people through the work of the New Covenant establishing cross, had nothing to do with the purchase ownership action of the Israelite's Father in respect to that Old Testament time reference in history. Certainly, Christ purchased all the remnant Old Testament Saints on the cross too as is explained in Hebrews 11:14-16, 39-40 in regard to their resurrection salvation in Him. This is important because Peter (in the future New Covenant) is establishing his point through his analogy reference to God's dealings with unsaved apostate Israelite teachers and prophets who have existed side by side with the remnant of saved elect Israelites. In other words, according to Peter's analogy allusion, Moses is recorded in Deuteronomy as speaking out to the whole expanse of Israel to hear, but the rebuke of what he is saying only applies to those who are accursed children who are also said to not truly be God's children who are among the whole group, who, as a corporate mass, have been bought by Yahweh the Master from out of the bondage of Egypt, but not through any kind of cross sacrifice. Peter knows his Jewish audience will recognize his point very quickly.

At this point we must familiarize ourselves with the Hebrew word qanah which is the word translated here as bought. In the Greek septuagint, this word is, ktaomai. This word has exactly the same meaning as agorazo. In fact, ktaomai and agorazo are used interchangeably in two Old Testament parallel accounts of 2 Samuel 24:21, and 1 Chronicles 21:24, (also see 2 Kings 22:6 with 2 Chronicles 34:11). The point is that both words are used back and forth, like we would say "purchased" in one sentence, and then "bought" in the next sentence. Peter does this too. Luke records Peter saying ktaomai in Acts 1:18 and 8:20 where it is translated as purchased, redeemed, bought, to buy, and to acquire. Peter is using agorazo in 2 Peter 2:1 to say the same thing. Peter knows what Dr. Wayne Grudem writes in His huge Systematic Theology, commenting on Deuteronomy 32:6, Grudem says,

'"Peter is drawing an analogy between the past false prophets who arose among the Jews and those who will be false teachers within the churches to which he writes. ... From the time of the exodus onward, any Jewish person would have considered himself or herself one who was 'bought' by God in the exodus and therefore a person of God's own possession. ... So the text means not that Christ had redeemed these false prophets, but simply that they were rebellious Jewish people (or church attenders in the same position as rebellious Jews) who were rightly owned by God because they had been bought out of the land of Egypt (or their forefathers had), but they were ungrateful to him."--Dr. Grudem

In other words, the important point is that people were owned by the Sovereign Master of the Universe, but not saved along with the rest of the people that the Sovereign Master also owned (see footnote 2 below).

Reading on, we continue in the Deuteronomy 32 context, where we find some more fascinating, and important details. We read in verse 15,]

"15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked--You are grown fat, thick, and sleek--Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation." (Deuteronomy 32:15 emph. mine)

[Jeshurun, who is a representation of a Jewish kingdom personified, forsook the God who made him and he forsook God who bought Him out of slavery to Egypt. The important detail that we must notice is that Jeshurun as a people (like a false teacher) is not part of the remnant elect of Israel, made manifest in the fact that they forsook God who made them, and scorned the Rock that was provided for their salvation as a part of genetic Israel. Moses goes on in the next verse demonstrating that even though owned by the Sovereign God of the universe, such manifest Israelites are not of remnant Israel;]

"16 They made Him [God] jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. 18 You neglected the Rock Who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth." (Deuteronomy 32:16-18 emph. mine)

[We can not let this part of Peter's analogy reference slip past us; The God who gave them birth is the Despotes-Master of the Universe. The same Father-God who bought them; the same Rock who begot them. This is the obvious, striking, and crucial parallel to 2 Peter 2. Moses goes on in Deuteronomy 32;]

"19 Yahweh saw this, and spurned them because of the provocation of His sons and daughters. 20 Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness." (Deuteronomy 32:19-20 emph. mine)

[Again, we notice the family terminology. They are called "sons," yet we must remember that according to verse 5, they are not really God's true children. Continuing,]

"21 'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols." (Deuteronomy 32:21)

The point is that as apostate God haters, they worshipped false gods. In like manner the apostate Jews of the future New Covenant rejected Messiah and sought after another. The key thing is that we find the definition given in the Deuteronomy passage of the great Master Father-God who had bought the Jews out of slavery. It gives us the explanation of the purchase that had a non-spiritually salvific application without having to distort the purchasing gospel of the cross with a misunderstanding of one esoteric verse out of 2 Peter 2:1. Again,

"They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, ... O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you." (Deuteronomy 32:5-6 emph. mine)

This is only part of the explanation of what Peter means in 2 Peter 2:1. There is another important key to understanding what Peter means. It has to do with the Greek word that Peter uses for Master. Peter uses the unique Greek word, despotes. This is important because everywhere else in 1 Peter and 2 Peter where Jesus in His Messianic state is called Lord, the Greek word is Kurios. This is important because Kurios-Lord is used in the established New Covenant when referencing Jesus,

a) in His particular office of resurrected triumphant and now reigning, Messianic-Son-Lord,  

and

b) as the personal Messianic sovereign owner of His New Covenant people specifically.

This is why Peter uses the term Kurios-Lord for Jesus in both epistles. At the same time, the interchangeable description of God in general can be either Despotes or Kurios. This also means that the Son as the third person of the Trinity in the One Godhead is despotes in that defined sense too. But it must be stressed that Kurios-Lord in the New Testament with Jesus as the specified reference, has to do with His state of existence as reigning resurrected Messiah finding its consumate expression in His fullness as redeemer and Head of His body which is the New Covenant church. The great New Covenant Theologian, Dr. Gary Long, is to be commended for his scholarly work on the term despotes. Dr. Long demonstrates that despotes-master is never used of Christ as Mediating redeemer (see footnote 3 below). When Christ, as Godhead, is distinguished with the word Despotes-Master, the designation of Kurios-Lord is given as a separate designation. This is done in both places that despotes is used in conjunction with Christ (Here in 2 Peter and in Jude 4). In 2 Peter, we see that Jesus is called God and then He is immediately designated as Savior according to the Granville Sharp Rule, as we see;

"God and Savior Jesus Christ: ..." (2 Peter 1:1)

Then Peter repeats the sequential identification, but replaces Savior with Kurios-Lord saying,

"knowledge of God and of Jesus our Kurios-Lord, (2 Peter 1:1-2 emph. mine)

Peter is consistent in calling Jesus Kurios-Lord in reference to being Messianic Savior. Then Peter says,

"... our Kurios-Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Peter 1:8 emph. mine))

"... entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Kurios-Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:11 emph. mine)

"... our Kurios-Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:14 emph. mine))

"... coming of our Kurios-Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Peter 1:16 emph. mine))

Over and over Peter consistently repeats the exclusive Kurios-Lord relationship of Jesus as reigning Messiah over His New Covenant people. But then after 2 Peter 1:16 comes the 2 Peter 2:1 passage under scrutiny where Peter rightfully changes the language to the purposeful designation of "the Master" of those apostates. He shifts to a new term that can apply to apostates in which false teachers are described as those who deny the despotes-Master which signifies the triune Godhead in that aspect where He is Sovereign of the universe. To really get a fuller picture of this intentional clarification on the part of the New Covenant writers, we need to look at the follow up letter of Jude,

"1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: ["kept for Jesus Christ" is permanence in salvation, as in being once saved in eternal spiritual salvation.] May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the set apart ones. 4 Because ["Because," or "for" here is the Greek word gar. It is post positively referring to the appeal for Christians to contend earnestly for the faith. So Jude urges Christians to contend for the faith because] certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only despotes-Master [as the Godhead] and kurios-Lord, [resurrected Messiah] Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:1-4)

Noticing verse 4 of the Jude quote, we see that there is the purposeful distinguishing identification of the two types of ownership authority of the One God in more than one person of the triune, yet One Godhead. Jude, like Peter, is not being redundant. Jude, like Peter, is making clarifications of the Godhead, and the God-man, in each aspect of His sovereign rule. We see this clarification brought out in the way the New King James renders Jude 1:4 according to Sharp's rule,

"... deny the only [despotes] Lord God and our [kurios] Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)

The only despotes-Master of the universe is the One triune Godhead, (which includes the eternal Son) and the only crucified and resurrected Messiah redeemer is our Kurios-Lord in salvation. This is an important clarifying distinction that Jude is making, and it is the same one that Peter makes in 2 Peter. This is important because it is only an assumption (a presuppositional theory) of certain people that despotes-Master God of the apostate Jewish teachers in 2 Peter 2:1 must necessarily be referring to Messiah in His role as kurios-Lord in His redemptive aspect of His relationship to His church--just as it is only an assumption that bought must necessarily mean these false teachers were purchased by Christ on the cross in the specious theory of unlimited atonement.

To understand this distinction even more according to a biblical New Covenant perspective, we need to recognize that the Greek word, despotes for Master here is used ten times in the New Testament. It is used three other times of God aside from the two references we have seen where it refers to Christ in His deity. Despotes for Master, is used twenty times in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) and in all instances, despotes-Master never refers to the Father, or the Son, as mediator. What we find is that despotes-master in the Bible, as the description of God, is always as the absolute sovereign of the universe--more particularly meaning the ultimate sovereign owner of any people He so desires to own, such as "the Father" figure in Deuteronomy 32. The three other direct references to God as despotes-master (where Christ specifically is not mentioned) in the New Testament are:

<1> "24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Despotes-Master, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them,'" (Acts 4:24)

<2> "29  'Now despotes-Master, You are releasing Your bondservant to depart in peace, According to Your word;'" (Luke 2:29)

<3> "10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O despotes-Master, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:10)

Through this analyzation, we see that when using the word, despotes, the Bible writers show how the unsaved rejectors of Messiah are owned in one sense by God as ultimate Sovereign, and then when using Kurios, Christians are shown to be owned in the New Covenant specific sense by the redeeming God-man Who is Messiah. Christians, as those who are once saved in eternal spiritual salvation (OSIESS), have been purchased by the blood of Christ the Kurios. The unsaved apostate Jewish false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1 are bought by the Despotes in the same type of general ownership as Deuteronomy 32:6.

A final comment involves referencing the epistle of Jude one last time; particularly where Jude speaks of Jesus delivering the people out of Egypt in Deuteronomy 32. Jude like Peter, is speaking to true, spiritually regenerated miracles in a warning. Jude, like Peter, says that Jesus Christ is "our" Kurios-Lord. By saying "our" Jude means that Christ is the Lord of Jude and the truly saved people who confess and believe in Him. Further, Jude, like Peter, is warning saved people about those "certain" unsaved people who deny "our" only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Actually, at the writing of Jude, the unsaved people that Jude is talking about are the same people who were prophesied to come beforehand by Peter (Jude is a follow up letter to 2 Peter). Also, like Peter, Jude states that the unsaved people were marked out beforehand in predestination as those who reject the only Despotes-Master God and Kurios-Lord Savior of the regenerated race of New Covenant people. Jude says that those fakes have "crept in" among the true believers but, they were not the true believers since they never believed in the first place. The analogy that Jude uses in this warning is the same big Old Testament illustration of Deuteronomy 32 that Peter used. Jude uses it to magnify his immediate point. Notice where Jude references Jesus;

"5 Now I want to remind you, ["you" being the true Christians] even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all, that Jesus, who delivered a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe." (Jude 1:5 emph. mine)

The person described as the deliverer here in the early Greek manuscripts is "Jesus" as the ESV, and NET, rightly render it. Some translations such as the NASB, or the KJV, put "Lord" here instead of Jesus. Unfortunately, through the following centuries, after Jude was originally written, scribes were uncomfortable with copying down such a clearly straightforward statement that Jesus was alive 1500 years earlier than when Jude was written. Apparently, they failed to stay true to the text and consistently recognize that Jesus Himself is actually the One, operating as Despotes in the triune Godhead, who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. Unfortunately, over the centuries, the name "Jesus" was variantly replaced in certain copied manuscripts. It was replaced with other words, such as "Lord" or "God" and "God-Christ." Nevertheless, whether scribes, or interpretative translators approved of the theological implications or not, it was Jesus in the fullness of His Godhead as Despotes Master of the Universe, who delivered Israelites out of Egypt. This is a strong support for the proper interpretation of 2 Peter 2:1 in respect to the triune Godhead as the despotes.

In summation, without the proper kurios / despotes distinction in 2 Peter 2:1, there is a problem for any other view where it is speculated that all humans everywhere are indiscriminately owned by Christ the Kurios-Lord of the church. This exegetical view avoids the self inflicted problem of someone who believes otherwise who can not sufficiently explain how Christians and non-Christians are owned by the same Christ. The view avoids the eisegetical error of suggesting that Christians are owned savingly by Christ in His cross work, but supposedly non-Christians are owned unsavingly by Christ in His cross work. Even if it may be said that one group "appropriates" Christ's atonement but the other group does not, this ignores the fact that they are bought and have an owning Master. So, instead of being stuck with the difficulty to come up with a tradition driven synergist philosophy to explain how Christ, as only one kind of Master, owns one group savingly and the other group non-savingly, we have been enlightened with amazing facts concerning apostate Jewish teachers who seek to influence the true people of God in Christ. This view keeps us from wrestling with to try to figure out how Christ can supposedly still own someone non-savingly while they have perished in their sins in eternal destruction. This view also enables us to go on believing correct New Covenant theology in which Jesus paid the high price to own property that does not experience eternal destruction. Remember, the wrong view suggests that Christ supposedly bought on the cross those who have perished in their sins. More, this view frees us from creating scenarios that can not happen in the real world in which a slave can supposedly un-buy, un-purchase himself simply by denying His master, or running away. A slave can deny his master all he wants, but the fact remains, he is a product that the Master purchased in ownership. This logical, exegetically sound explanation, preserves the true integrity of the gospel of grace. It does not do violence to true sovereign grace; making redemption at the cross merely a conceptual availability, but rather it maintains that redemption is what it really is--a particular, certain, and actual business deal in buying a particular, certain, and actually elect people. The view keeps us from artificially negating the fact that the term despotes refers to the Master-owner / slave relationship--it is actually more thorough; demonstrating that the meaning is not of Christ as Savior-Mediator Kurios over saved people, in which despotes is never used as a redemptive title, but rather, despotes refers to the full triune Godhead as Sovereign of the universe. This view demonstrates that Peter is not addressing the extent of the New Covenant atoning, propitiating, cleansing, buying power of the sacrifice, but is instead, providing Old Testament examples to a predominantly Jewish Christian audience, where God the Father and the eternal Son as both Yahweh of the One Godhead, according to Jude 1:5-6, is likened to operating in His state of Despotism as Sovereign who purchased genetic Israelites out of Egypt in honor of His earlier Abrahamic covenant, and commanded that the expanse of them must have allegiance to Him in the general call;

"They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect;" Deuteronomy 32:5

Yet, the next verse,  

"O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you," Deuteronomy 32:6

The summation is that these false teachers Peter is warning about, are infiltrating the external community of the local church, but are not really the miracle of being spiritually regenerated people of God. Ultimately, these play-acting Christians which are tares among the wheat who are owned by God the despotes-Master, are people who are a poison that mix in with the fellowship of the Christians who are the ones bought by "the only beggoten Son" the Kurios-Lord and owned by Him. These false teachers have used their position among the flock to spread their false Christ Jesus hating doctrines just as false prophets rose up among the people of God in ancient times--ultimately, as Peter says, bringing destruction upon themselves.
__________
FOOTNOTES;
(1) Some have tried to unsuccessfully argue against the actual meaning of agorazo, particularly agoradzein as is used in 2 Peter 2:1. One such author is the synergist by the name of G. Gordon Olson. Olson attempted to get around the clear meaning of agoradzein as used in 2 Peter 2:1, and elsewhere in the Bible, by suggesting that the word means that an objective price was merely paid, but that true liberation is not in view. True liberation means that a price is paid, and the subject is gained in the purchase. Olsen's attempt at redefining the term failed. His definition was arbitrary, and so he found that he had to admit that the term's "usage in Revelation 5:9 and 14:3, 4 might possibly include the liberation dimension," which, of course, it does (see Olson, Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism, p. 119).
Further, in respect to 2 Peter 2:1, Olson, in his synergistic presupposional error, equivocated the precise terminology that Peter uses by comparing 2:1, with 2:19; "slaves of corruption."

(2) The great Scottish expositor, John Gill expressed this also, in his work, "Cause of Truth", p. 61, first published in 1735.

(3) "Definite Atonement" Third edition 2006, New Covenant Media by Dr. Gary Long, Dean of Providence Seminary