False prophets is a term used for people who claim to be sent by God to proclaim his message, when in fact God has not sent them at all. See, for example, Deut 18.22 (Good News Bible), “If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord’s message.” The word “prophet” itself is sometimes used to refer to someone who predicts events in the future, but in most cases it refers to someone who is called and sent by God to proclaim a certain message. Therefore prophets may be effectively translated as “people who speak for God” or “people who proclaim God’s message.” False prophets can then be rendered as “fake (or, counterfeit) prophets,” “people who pretend to speak God’s message,” or “people who pretend to speak on behalf of God.” There were many false prophets who appeared among the Israelites at various times in their history. The punishment for false prophets was usually death: “But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it” (Deut 18.20, TEV; and see also Jer 14.15; 23.15; 28.16-17).

Arose translates the past tense of the verb “to be” and indicates that this refers to an event or events “in the past” (Good News Translation), that is, in the history of Israel. Other ways of rendering “in the past” are “in olden times,” “long ago,” “years that are gone,” or “many generations ago.” People here refers to the Israelites as God’s chosen people. To make this clear it is possible to translate people as “God’s people.”

Just as: in many languages translators will need to begin the verse with these words; for example, “Just as false prophets … so also false teachers….”

The equivalent of false prophets in the present is false teachers. The focus here is not so much that these people claim to be sent by God when in fact they are not, or that they lay claim to the office of teacher to which they have no right, but that they have been teaching ideas and doctrines that are wrong. Their teachings are based not on any revelation from God but on their own ingenious inventions. This is made clear by the statement that these false teachers will secretly bring in destructive opinions. False teachers may be translated using the same sort of expressions as those used for false prophets. In certain languages false teachers can be expressed idiomatically; for example, “Teachers who weave lies with their mouths.”

Secretly bring in translates a Greek verb that appears only here in the New Testament and that means either to bring in without indicating how it is done, or “to bring in under false pretenses.” In this context secrecy is perhaps intended; they will introduce these teachings without anyone noticing it. Another word that fits this context is “unobtrusively.” In some languages translators will be able to find an idiomatic expression like “slip in”; for example, “slipped in destructive opinions” (see Gal 2.4, where Paul uses the same Greek word but in a different context).

Heresies: in Greek thought the term “heresy” was used to refer to a particular school of thought or the teachings of such a group. This positive sense was later lost, and the negative sense of “faction” (as in 1 Cor 11.19) or “false teaching” became its primary meaning. In the present context heresies refers to teachings or doctrines that are false and against accepted Christian teaching (as in Good News Translation “untrue doctrines”). These heresies taught by the false teachers are also described as destructive. It is possible, as some commentators suggest, that there were some heresies that were positive and useful, and that the addition of the term destructive indicates that these particular teachings were not useful. It is more likely, though, that destructive here refers not to the teachings themselves but to the bad effects of these teachings on the members of the Christian community. They are destructive because those who follow them become immoral and are therefore subject to judgment. And so destructive can also be rendered as “cause people to go astray” or “cause people to come under judgment.” Some commentators notice irony here: the false teachers taught that there would be no final judgment; but in reality their teaching had the effect of leading people to experience the judgment that these teachers themselves had denied.

One part of these false doctrines is now mentioned: denying the Master who bought them. The Greek word translated deny can also mean “disown” or “renounce.” Here the focus is on their not acknowledging the Master. Master can be used for either God or Christ, but in the present context it clearly refers to Christ. The Greek word translated Master is the general term for “owner.” Bought strengthens the idea of ownership and gives the sense that, since Christ has bought them, he now owns them and they belong to him. (For further discussion, please see Jude 4.) In certain languages it will be necessary to include the name “Christ” in this context and say “who do not acknowledge Christ as their Master,” or “who do not recognize Christ as their Lord,” or even “who say that they no longer belong to Christ.”

The word translated bought is the general word for buying anything, including slaves; here it is used with the extended sense of “ransom” or “redeem.” The terms “ransom” and “redeem” include the component of paying a price and therefore raise the problem of who paid what to whom. This theological problem is at least avoided by stressing that we are here dealing with figurative language: by dying on the cross Christ gave his life as a “payment” for us, enabling us to be free from the power of sin and to belong to Christ, who now owns us. So we may translate the phrase who bought them as “who set them free,” “who set them free from the power of sin,” or even “who ransomed (or, paid for) them and set them free (from sin).”

The results of the activities of these false teachers are now mentioned. They will first of all bring swift destruction upon themselves. That this is a result is made clear in Good News Translation by the use of “and so.” The word swift can also be translated “fast,” “speedy,” “sudden” (Good News Translation), “quick.” The focus here is twofold: the suddenness with which destructive forces come upon the false teachers, and the quickness with which the teachers are destroyed. Destruction translates the same word translated destructive in destructive heresies earlier in this verse; perhaps a play on words is intended: in much the same way that these false teachers introduce teachings that destroy people’s faith, so also these false teachers will be destroyed. Other ways of saying this are “and so they will cause themselves to suddenly receive destruction” or “Because they do this, God will destroy them suddenly.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Just as people who pretended to speak God’s message appeared long ago, so false teachers will appear among you. They will slip in untrue teachings that will cause people to stop believing in Christ (or, people’s beliefs to be destroyed). These false teachers will even refuse to acknowledge Christ as their Master who owns them and freed them from the power of sin. In this way they will cause themselves to be destroyed suddenly.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .