Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Peter 2:1

"But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." — 2 Peter 2:1 (ASV)

But there were false prophets also among the people,

How true that is still! Do not be startled, brothers, as though some strange thing had happened to us in this generation. It always was so, and so it will continue. If there are true prophets, there will also be false prophets; and if there is the Spirit of God, there will be the spirit of evil; and often, just as the everlasting truth is full of power, the everlasting lie will be full of power, too, and will strive mightily against it. That same sun and shower, which will make that wheat grow, will at the same time cause the thorns also to spring up; and perhaps for a time they may threaten to choke the wheat, until at last the wheat will choke the thistles.

There were false prophets also among the people,

Even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly will bring in damnable heresies,

They always try to do their hateful work secretly; and then they ask, "What is all this fuss about? We have not departed from the truth; we are as sound in the faith as any of you are," when they know, traitors that they are, that they are undermining the foundations and trying to take away the very cornerstone of the faith.

These "false teachers" will deceive the very elect of God if it is possible. But they are not easily deceived, for God has given them a discerning mind by which they try the spirits whether they are of God. The Lord Jesus said of His sheep, A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. Sheep though they are, they have discernment enough to know their Shepherd; and the godly soon detect false teachers who secretly "bring in damnable heresies."