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, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction (2 Pet 2:2; emphasis added).
The
term "bought" is the Greek αγοραζω. Louw-Nida define the term as
follows:
57.188 ἀγοράζω ; ὠνέομαι: to acquire possessions or
services in exchange for money - 'to buy, to purchase.' ἀγοράζω: ἀπερχομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀγοράσαι ἦλθεν ὁ νυμφίος 'while they were gone to buy
(some oil), the bridegroom arrived' Mt 25.10. ὠνέομαι: ἐτέθησαν ἐν τῷ μνήματι ᾧ ὠνήσατο Ἀβραὰμ τιμῆς ἀργυρίου παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Εμμώρ 'they were buried in a grave
which Abraham had bought from the tribe of Hamor for a sum of money' Ac 7.16.
This
text has often been used as one of the strongest passages refuting various
theories of “eternal security” (others including Heb 6:4-6). While some have
tried to relegate the force of this term and the phrase, it clearly teaches
that there are those for whom Christ died for who fall from their salvation and
are ultimately damned; furthermore, such also serves as an explicit refutation
of Limited Atonement. Consider the following comment from a well-known Reformed
commentator and grammarian of the New Testament:
That bought
them (ton agorasanta autous). First aorist active articular participle of
agorazó, same idea with lutoó in 1 Pet. 1:18f. These were
professing Christians, at any rate,
these heretics. (Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament [6 vols.; Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker Books, 1933], 6:160; emphasis in original).
