Verse 20 says, “For if having escaped the defilements of the world by the full knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and having again been entangled in these, they are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” This verse indicates that, at least to some extent, the false teachers had the full knowledge of Christ. However, they again became entangled, and therefore the last state became worse for them than the first.
In verse 21 Peter goes on to say, “For it were better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than fully knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.” This means that it would have been better for them if they had not known anything concerning the Lord than to have turned back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
In verse 21 Peter speaks of the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness is to live a life that is right with both God and man. This is another aspect of the way of the truth (v. 2) and the straight way (v. 15). This is the way to live a life according to God’s justice, a way that can take His governmental judgment (vv. 3, 9) for His kingdom of righteousness (Rom. 14:17; Matt. 5:20). Peter in his Epistles stresses both the manner of life and the way of life, because his writings are based on the governmental point of view of God’s administration. In order to fit in with the government of Him who is holy and righteous, God’s people need to live in a manner of life that is holy, pure, good, and excellent (1 Pet. 1:15; 3:16, 2; 2:12; 2 Pet. 3:11), not licentious or vain (2:7; 1 Pet. 1:18), in His straight way of righteousness and truth.
Verse 22 concludes, “It has happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog has turned to its own vomit, and the washed sow to wallowing in the mud.” Here Peter is quite strong and uses two kinds of animals, a dog and a sow, to describe the unclean, false teachers. Dogs and sows are unclean animals, according to the ordinances of God’s holiness (Lev. 11:4, 7; Matt. 7:6). Dogs have a habit of eating filthy things. They vomit what they eat and turn to their own vomit to become filthied inwardly. Sows wallow in the mud to make themselves filthy outwardly. The God-denying heretics eventually become like these dirty animals, making themselves filthy both inwardly and outwardly. What serious judgment they deserve according to God’s righteousness in His governmental administration! Because the defilement of the false teachers is very contagious, the believers’ contact with them is prohibited (2 John 9-11).
We have seen that in 2:10-22 Peter exposes the evils of the false teachers and their punishment under God’s judgment. Because the false teachers go after the flesh, indulge in defiling lust, corrupt luxury for pleasure, despise the Lord’s government, and rebel against His authority, in God’s governmental dealing they will be especially kept under punishment for the day of judgment. We have seen that they become like animals without reason, spots and blemishes, Balaam, springs without water and mists driven by a storm, and dogs and sows. Peter is unique in giving us such a description of the evil condition of the false teachers.
Chapter two of 2 Peter proves that this Epistle was written during the degradation of the church. The church had become degraded through apostasy. Apostasy is a deviation from the right track of God’s truth. This apostasy was the background of this Epistle. Peter’s burden was to inoculate the believers against the poison of apostasy.
The Epistle of 2 Peter was probably written between A.D. 65 and 68, approximately thirty years after the establishment of the church in Jerusalem. During those years, the church became degraded, and apostasy crept in.
The Epistles of 2 and 3 John were also written during a time of apostasy. However, those Epistles were written about a quarter of a century later than 2 Peter, that is, approximately A.D. 90. Thus, five books—2 Timothy, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude—were written during a time of the church’s degradation in apostasy.
It is important for us to realize that the element of apostasy continues today. Because a number of basic truths have been given up, even by those who apparently are fundamental believers, there is the need for us in the Lord’s recovery to fight the battle for the truth. At the time of Martin Luther it was necessary to fight regarding justification by faith. It certainly was worthwhile for Luther to fight that battle. But today we need to fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God. We believe not only in all the genuine items held by fundamental Christians, but also in the deeper truths. We definitely believe that the Bible is fully inspired by God word for word. We would follow the literal translation of 2 Timothy 3:16 to say that all Scripture is God-breathed. We believe that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. He is true God and true man. We believe in Christ’s incarnation and in His death on the cross for our redemption. According to the Scriptures, we believe that the Lord’s death was all-inclusive. Through His crucifixion He terminated the old creation, including us with our flesh and our fallen nature. We fully believe in the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. We believe that the Lord is now on the throne. But we also believe that He is not limited to the throne, for as the life-giving Spirit He dwells in our spirit. We believe in every aspect of what Christ is and of what He has done, is doing, and will do. We also believe in all that Christ has attained and obtained. Furthermore, according to the Bible, we believe in transformation and in being constituted of the element of God for the rearrangement of our being. We may say that all this is our deeper faith. In a time of apostasy, we believe and testify the full revelation of the pure Word of God.