What is the meaning of 2 Peter 2:19?

They promise them freedom

“They promise them freedom” (2 Peter 2:19a). Peter pictures convincing teachers who dangle liberty before their listeners.

• Their message sounds positive—much like the serpent’s “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).

• They speak of release from restraints: “Do as you please; grace covers all.” Paul confronted the same twisting of grace in Romans 6:1.

• The genuine freedom Scripture celebrates flows from Christ’s work—“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36)—and never from self-willed independence (Galatians 5:13).

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while they themselves are slaves to depravity

“…while they themselves are slaves to depravity” (2 Peter 2:19b). The glittering promise is hollow because the teachers are shackled to the very corruption they deny.

• Peter has already described them as “carousing in broad daylight” and “eyes full of adultery” (2 Peter 2:13–14).

• Their lifestyle contradicts their lips—echoing Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:15–20 about wolves in sheep’s clothing.

• Whatever we excuse in public tends to rule us in private (Proverbs 26:11).

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For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him

“For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2 Peter 2:19c). Here Peter states the unbreakable principle: mastery determines identity.

• Jesus used identical language: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

• Paul explains the same dynamic in Romans 6:16—obedience leads to righteousness; sin leads to death.

• Addictions of body or attitude—lust, greed, pride—become tyrants (Proverbs 5:22). Real freedom arrives only when Christ becomes Master (1 Corinthians 7:22).

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summary

False teachers trumpet freedom yet remain chained to corruption; their promises ring empty because a person serves whatever rules the heart. True liberty is never the absence of lordship but the presence of the right Lord—Jesus Christ—who alone breaks sin’s chains and leads into genuine, holy freedom.