‘But there were false prophets among the people, even as
there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction.’ Some are of opinion that ‘the Lord’ here does not refer to
Christ; and certainly the original term (δεσποτην) is not that by which the
Saviour is commonly designated. Others, again, think that by which the Saviour
is commonly designated. Others, again, think that by which the Saviour is
commonly designated. Others, again, think that the buying here does not refer
to the meritorious purchase which Christ made of the church with his blood, but
to the redemption from Egypt or some other thing of inferior importance. But we
are willing to admit that Christ is ‘the Lord’ spoken of, and that the purchase
of redemption by his blood is what is meant by the word ‘brought:’ and yet we
see nothing in the text that opposes our doctrine. It is not necessary to
suppose that the false teachers who were to bring on themselves swift
destruction, were actually bought with the blood of Christ. It is enough from
the apostle’s purpose that they were professedly so. He argues again them on
their own principles, and shows thus that their conduct was heinous and
dangerous in the extreme. And in doing so, he only follows the example of the Saviour
himself, who confuted the Pharisees who professed to be righteous and were not,
on their own acknowledged principles:--‘I say unto you, that likewise joy shall
be in heaven over one sinner that repeneth, more than over ninety and nine just
persons which need no repentance.’ Are we to conclude, from this, that there
were any such just persons who needed no repentance? Surely not; but there were
persons who made pretensions to this character; and again these was the reproof
contained in the passage directed. Neither are we, from the expression under
consideration, to conclude that the persons spoken of were actually ‘bought’
with the price of Christ’s blood; but there were persons who pretended to be so
and yet acted inconsistently with the supposition; and such pretension
certainly tended to enhance the enormity of their guilt. (William Symington, On
the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ [West Linn, Oreg.: Monergism
Books, 2024], 235-26)
