2
Peter 2:1
by
John Gill
The
Cause of God and Truth, Part I, Section LIV
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, denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction.2 Pet. 2:1.
This passage of
scripture is often produced as a proof both of the saints' final
and total apostasy, and of universal redemption; or that, besides
those that are saved, Christ died also for them that perish. Dr.
Whitby mentions the severa1 answers which different men give to
these words: one saith, Christ bought these persons only to be
slaves; another, that he died to rescue them from temporal, but
not eternal punishments; a third, that he died for them because
he gave a sufficient price for them; a fourth, that they denied
that Lord whom they professed to have bought them; and a fifth,
that they denied him, who, in the judgment of other men, had
bought them. Upon which he observes, that they are so
extravagant, that it is as easy to confute as to recite them.
1. I do not think
myself concerned to defend any of these senses of the text
mentioned, judging neither of them to be the meaning; of the
words, and so have nothing to do with the reasonings made use of
in the confutation of them; though, perhaps, the two latter are
not so extravagant as represented. However, in order to give the
genuine sense of this text, let it be observed,
2. That Christ is
not here at all spoken of; nor is there one syllable of his dying
for any persons, in any sense whatever. The word
"despotes", Lord, does not design Christ, but
God the Father of Christ. The only places besides this where this
word is used, when applied to a divine person, are Luke 2:29,
Acts 4:24, 2 Tim. 2:21, Jude ver. 4, Rev. 6:10, in all which
places God the Father is plainly intended, and in most of them
manifestly distinguished from Christ; nor is there anything in
this text or context which obliges us to understand it of the Son
of God; nor should this be thought any diminution of the glory of
Christ, since the word "despotes" is properly
expressive only of that power which masters have over their
servants; whereas the "kurios" which is used whenever
Christ is called Lord, signifies that dominion and authority
which princes have over their subjects. Besides Christ is called King
of kings, and Lord of lords, and the only
potentate; yea, God over all, blessed forever. Moreover,
3. When these
persons are said to be bought, the meaning is, not that
they were redeemed by the blood of Christ, for, as is
before observed, Christ is not intended. Besides, whenever
redemption by Christ is spoken of, the price is usually
mentioned, or some circumstance or another which fully determines
the sense of it; see Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:20; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet.
1:18-19; Rev. 5:9, and 19:3-4, whereas here is not the least hint
of anything of this kind. Add to this, that such who are redeemed
by Christ, are never left to deny him, so as to perish eternally;
for could such be lost, or bring on themselves swift destruction,
Christ's purchase would be in vain, and the ransom-price be paid
for nought. But,
4. The word
"buying" regards temporal deliverance, and particularly
the redemption of the people of Israel out of Egypt; who are
therefore called the people the Lord had purchased. The
phrase is borrowed from Deut. 36:6; Do ye thus requite the
Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father that hath
bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee? Nor
is this the only place the apostle Peter refers to in this
chapter; see ver. 12, 13, compared with Deut. 36:5. Now the
persons the apostle writes to, were Jews, the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, a people who, in all ages, valued themselves upon,
and boasted mightily of their being the bought, purchased
people of the Lord; wherefore Peter makes use of this phrase
much in the same manner as Moses had done before him, to
aggravate the ingratitude and impiety of these false teachers
among the Jews; that they should deny, if not in words, at least
in works, that mighty Jehovah, who had of old redeemed their
fathers out of Egypt, with a stretched-out arm, and, in
successive ages, had distinguished them with peculiar favours;
being ungodly men, turning the grace, the doctrine
of the grace of God, into lasciviousness. Hence,
5. Nothing can be
concluded from this passage in favour of Christ's dying for them
that perish; since neither Christ, nor the death of Christ, nor
redemption by his blood, are here once mentioned, nor in the
least intended. Nor can these words be thought to be a proof and
instance of the final and total apostasy of real saints, since
there is not anything said of these false teachers, which gives
any reason to believe that they were true believers in Christ, or
ever had the grace of the Spirit wrought in their souls.