2 Peter 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Fuerunt vero et pseudoprophetæ in populo, sicut et in vobis erunt magistri mendaces, qui introducent sectas perditionis : et eum qui emit eos, Dominum negant, superducentes sibi celerem perditionem.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται ἐν τῷ λαῷ, ὡς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσονται ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, οἵτινες παρεισάξουσιν αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας, καὶ τὸν ἀγοράσαντα αὐτοὺς δεσπότην ἀρνούμενοι, ἐπάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν·
Haydock's commentary
Lying teachers among you, some of which were already come, and many more were to follow, who shall bring in sects,1 (heresies) leading to perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer; such were the disciples of Simon, and many after them. (Witham)
Sects of perdition; that is, heresies destructive of salvation. (Challoner)
1 Sectas introducere, doxas, as this Greek word sometimes signifies; witness Aristotle, 4. Eth., where he puts as apposite, kata doxan, kai kat aletheian.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian The Prescription Against Heretics, Chapter I
The character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth from us even this admonition, that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound) neither ought their existence to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor the fact that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being “approved.” Groundless, therefore, and inconsiderate is the offence of the many who are scandalized by the very fact that heresies prevail to such a degree. How great (might their offence have been) if they had not existed. When it has been determined that a thing must by all means be, it receives the (final) cause for which it has its being. This secures the power through which it exists, in such a way that it is impossible for it not to have existence.
Pseudo-Hippolytus Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus. Containing Dubious and Spurious Pieces, Section X
And the apostles, who speak of God, in establishing the truth of the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, have each of them indicated the appearing of these abominable and ruin-working men, and have openly announced their lawless deeds. First of all Peter, the rock of the faith, whom Christ our God called blessed, the teacher of the Church, the first disciple, he who has the keys of the kingdom, has instructed us to this effect: “Know this first, children, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. And there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.” After him, John the theologian, and the beloved of Christ, in harmony with him, cries, “The children of the devil are manifest; and even now are there many antichrists; but go not after them. …