ESV
20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
NASB
20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
NASB
20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
Peter’s point is that mere religious profession or even outward change does not change a person’s heart. These “professors but not possessors” seemed to some (especially the gullible) to have experienced salvation, but in due time they drifted back to the life that was a true reflection of their inner nature. Certainly the dog feels better after emptying his stomach, but it is still a dog. “Having an experience” did not change the dog's nature. In fact it only served as further proof of his “cannine nature,” because he came back and just like a dog lapped up his own vomit. What a disgusting picture of these vile false teachers!
The principle brought out by Peter calls for us all to apply this truth to our lives and reflect on our choices. Our choices are seen to be consistent with what we are. A good tree bears good fruit, a brackish spring pours forth brackish water, and the pig returns to wallowing in the mire.
What do my choices today and this past week, this past year, etc loudly proclaim about who I really am?
For heaven's sake, we need to be honest with ourselves!
The dog and pig in this context picture temporary external change resulting from conformity to a false profession of faith much like a chameleon blends with its surroundings whatever they might be. True faith is fruitful faith. False "faith" is shown by absence of good fruit (see Peter's earlier comments 2Pe 1:8, 9-note, 2Pe 1:10-note). Ignorance in the spiritual realm is not bliss but leads to fleshly indulgence. Unsaved people lack spiritual intelligence (Hos 4:6), and this causes them to give themselves to all kinds of fleshly and worldly indulgences (Acts 17:30; Ep 4:17 18, 19-note). Since we were born with a fallen nature it is natural for us to live sinful lives. Nature determines appetites and actions. A dog and a pig behave differently because they have different natures.
Jesus also used the designations "dogs" and "swine" in speaking of those opposed to God and his Word
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Mt 7:6-note)
The principle of the animal illustrations is that like these animals, these false teachers were never what they seemed to be on the outside. They had never experienced a changed heart and been made new creatures in Christ (2Cor 5:17-note). To the contrary, they were still old creatures in Adam! (cp 1Co 15:22) And so it should not surprise us that return to those things that reflect their true nature. These charlatans are like dirty pigs which can be washed (cp Jesus' comparison of Pharisees to white washed tombs Mt 23:27) on the outside but on the inside are still dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1-note) and filled with hostility toward God and His will (Col 1:21-note) Their hearts had never been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb and thus they were unable to behave in any way but "unclean". The irony is that the punishment for these fakers is that they incur a greater bondage to sin than before they masqueraded as teachers of the liberating truth of the Gospel! It is because of the very fact that false professors of a (pseudo) "new birth" return to their "pre-Christ" way which makes the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints so important. In other words those who persevere to the end of their life and never renounce their faith, prove by this perseverance that they are truly new creatures in Christ.
2 Peter 2:22 Commentary | Precept Austin
Hard Sayings of the Bible
When we read this verse in context, we recognize that the people being discussed are the false teachers whom Peter opposes. They were once orthodox Christians who were "cleansed from [their] past sins" (2 Peter 1:9), or "washed" (2 Peter 2:22). They had come to know Jesus Christ, and this was a personal knowledge that released them from "the corruption of the world," or, in Pauline language, the power of sin over them had been broken. And they had come to know "the way of righteousness" (meaning a righteous lifestyle; 2 Peter 2:21). It is not that in some way they had been taught poorly or had not experienced the power of God freeing them from the world and its desires. They had experienced all of this. They were in every way righteous and orthodox.But now they have done exactly what they are enticing others to do (2 Peter 2:18-19). They have claimed freedom, but their freedom is a freedom to live according to their desires. These desires have mastered them. They have rejected "the way of righteousness" or "the sacred command" (perhaps the teaching of Jesus or even the Old Testament standard of righteousness). They are back doing what they did before they were converted, but now they are claiming Christian justification for it.
Peter says that such people are worse off than before they were converted. He takes his words from the story in Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26 about the person cleansed from a demon who 730ends up in a worse state because the demon returns with seven others. The implication is that the person is in more bondage than before. Yet although verbally 2 Peter is closer to the statement about the demonized person, we are reminded even more of Luke 12:47-48, in which Jesus says that the person who does not know his master's will is beaten with few blows, while the one knowing it and still disobeying is beaten with many blows. Applied to the people in 2 Peter this indicates that the knowingly disobedient people he refers to will get a worse punishment than they would have received had they never been converted. They had been introduced to Jesus and experienced the power and freedom of his lordship, but now they have turned their backs on his teaching and are walking in willful disobedience.
Peter says that such people are worse off than before they were converted. He takes his words from the story in Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26 about the person cleansed from a demon who 730ends up in a worse state because the demon returns with seven others. The implication is that the person is in more bondage than before. Yet although verbally 2 Peter is closer to the statement about the demonized person, we are reminded even more of Luke 12:47-48, in which Jesus says that the person who does not know his master's will is beaten with few blows, while the one knowing it and still disobeying is beaten with many blows. Applied to the people in 2 Peter this indicates that the knowingly disobedient people he refers to will get a worse punishment than they would have received had they never been converted. They had been introduced to Jesus and experienced the power and freedom of his lordship, but now they have turned their backs on his teaching and are walking in willful disobedience.
The aorist tense indicates that this escape was an actual event at some time in the past. At some point in time, these false teachers and their followers wanted to escape the moral contamination of the world system and sought religion, even Jesus Christ (on their terms though, not His).
Knowledge (1922) (epignosis from gnosis = knowledge gained by experience + epi = direction toward or intensification of the gnosis) (4 of 20 NT uses are in 2Peter - see below) means a full, precise knowledge thus signifying a more complete, more thorough, larger knowledge than that found in gnosis.
Here are the 20 uses of epignosis in the NT -Rom. 1:28; 3:20; 10:2; Eph. 1:17; 4:13; Phil. 1:9; Col. 1:9, 10; 2:2; 3:10; 1Tim. 2:4; 2Tim. 2:25; 3:7; Titus 1:1; Philemon 1:6; Heb. 10:26; 2 Pet. 1:2, 3, 8; 2:20 Epignosis also implies a more intimate and personal relationship than gnosis. The learner exhibits a more thorough participation in the acquiring of knowledge. In the NT epignosis often refers to knowledge which should influence one's spiritual conduct in contrast to gnosis which Vincent says may be concerned with the intellect without affecting the character.
Epignosis is a knowledge that speaks of personal involvement. Peter's point is quite clear - he is saying that these individuals had experienced an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that knowledge included the truth about His being "Lord" (kurios - Master, Ruler, Absolute ownership, total power, supreme in authority) and "Savior" (Soter - Deliverer, Preserver, Protector, Healer Who rescues from danger or destruction and brings into a state of prosperity and blessedness). But knowledge alone, even the more intimate knowledge of epignosis, does not save a person, although it will make them more accountable at the judgment of unbelievers. For epignosis to be of any spiritual value, there must be a heart submission to that knowledge and a conduct which is in accord with that yieldedness.
*BE SURE TO - Compare 2 Peter 1:4 - "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption - Strongs #5356 that is in the world through lust with 2 Peter 2:20 - with they escaped the pollutions - Strongs #3356 (different Greek word) of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, yet they are again entangled therein, and overcome. *Notice that 2 Peter 2:20 did not mention them being "partakers of the divine nature.
Corruption (Strongs #5356) (to shrivel or wither, spoil , ruin , deprave, corrupt , defile, to destroy by means of corrupting, to spoil as does milk). Corruption - describes decomposition or rotting of an organism and the accompanying stench. The utter depravity of the fallen flesh and the resultant moral decomposition of the world opposed to God is driven by it sinful lusts or evil desires. Internal corruption.
Pollutions/Defilements (Strongs #3393) ("pollutions", "filthy things", "contaminations", "world's filth") describes the state of being tainted or stained by evil and refers to impurity, impure, tainted, defilement, foulness or pollution. Pollutions/Defilement refers to what is on the outside (2 Peter 2:20). But genuine believers have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4).
2 Peter 2:20-21 Commentary | Precept Austin
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