Denying the Lord that Bought Them
2 Peter 2:1 — Does Limited Atonement Hold Up to Scripture?
Limited atonement is the Calvinist teaching that Jesus Christ's atonement was not for everyone — that he only died for the elect or the chosen. But the Bible does not teach that, and one person disproves it on their own.
2 Peter 2:1: "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."
The Bible is very clear here — denying the Lord that bought them. So even though these are false teachers and false prophets, even though they are wicked people, even though they go to hell, the Bible says the Lord bought them. He paid for their sins. He wanted to give them the gift of eternal life. They did not end up getting saved — they ended up going to hell. But that does not change the fact that the Lord bought them.
Now this is a verse that really stops Calvinists cold. They have no good answer for it. And so the common response you are going to see is they go back to the Greek and try to change the meaning of even denying the Lord that bought them. But we do not have to go back to the Greek to find out what the Bible says. And these people who like to go back to the Greek do not even speak Greek themselves. If you do not speak Greek, why are you going back to the Greek and acting like you are an expert? The people that translated the Bible understood language far better than any of us do. The Bible is very clear — even denying the Lord that bought them.
If you choose not to believe the Bible you can say whatever you want, I suppose. But the Bible is very clear. These false prophets that go to hell — the Lord bought them. He paid for their salvation. He wanted to give them the gift of eternal life. They did not believe on him and they ended up going to hell. But that does not change the fact that the Lord bought them.
I have yet to see a Calvinist give an explanation — without going back to the Greek — that makes any sense whatsoever. The Bible is very clear in this verse that the Lord did buy the people who went to hell. He paid for their salvation even though they never believed on him.
Pastor Matthew Stucky
