While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
Parallel translations
- WEB promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
- BSB They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
- NKJV While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
- NASB promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
- NLT They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They promise freedom while being themselves slaves of corruption, for whatever masters a person enslaves him. It matters because sin disguised as liberty actually enslaves both teacher and follower.
Overview
The false teachers advertise liberty but are themselves in bondage to the very corruption they spread. Peter states a timeless principle: a person is enslaved by whatever overcomes him. True freedom is found only in Christ, not in the licentiousness these teachers promote.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- John 8:34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
- Rom 6:16–22Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
- Gal 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
- Gal 5:13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
- 1 Pet 2:16As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
- Titus 3:3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- 2 Tim 2:26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
- Jer 23:9Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
- Rom 6:12–14Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
- 2 Pet 2:20For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
- Isa 28:1Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
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The sure word of the prophets and the promise of the coming day of the Lord anchor the believer in the knowledge of 'our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'
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Original language
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