2 Peter 2:20–22

Context

2 Peter is a letter addressed to a number of churches in the name of the apostle Peter. Chapter 2 warns against false teachers who have entered the church, and its content overlaps considerably with Jude. After charging that the false teachers use licentious desires to lure back those who had only just escaped (2 Peter 2:18), the author concludes the chapter with this passage.

Of the two proverbs in verse 22, the one about the dog comes from Proverbs 26:11. The one about the sow does not appear in the Old Testament and is generally regarded as a popular saying of the time. There are two readings of who "they" are in verse 20: one takes them to be the false teachers themselves, and the other takes them to be the people the false teachers have led astray.

Interpretation

• Reformed reading: The Calvinist tradition, including Presbyterians, teaches the perseverance of the saints, the doctrine that God keeps to the end those who are truly born again. This tradition understands the "knowledge" mentioned here as an intellectual grasp of the gospel accompanied by outward change, and holds that regeneration (the new birth of the heart) had not actually taken place. The image of the dog and the sow, whose nature remained unchanged even after being washed, is often offered in support of this view. Some scholars argue that such warnings are themselves the means by which God preserves believers to the end.
• Wesleyan and Arminian reading: Denominations that follow Wesleyan theology, such as Methodists and Holiness churches, along with the Arminian tradition, focus on the wording. The Greek word epignosis, used in "the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," also appears in 2 Peter 1:2–3 to denote saving knowledge. This tradition likewise takes the word "escaped" to refer to genuine conversion. It therefore reads the passage as a warning that even a true believer can fall from grace by abandoning the faith. The Lutheran tradition and many Pentecostal denominations also tend to acknowledge the possibility of apostasy (abandoning the faith).
• Baptist reading: Views are divided among Baptists, although many churches teach the "eternal security of the believer," the belief that a believer once saved cannot lose salvation.

Debates and Issues

• Together with Hebrews 6:4–6 and Hebrews 10:26–31, this passage is counted among the principal texts addressing whether salvation can be lost.
• Verse 21, "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness," is sometimes read to mean that such people would have been better off never knowing the gospel at all. More commonly, however, it is read as a rhetorical expression emphasizing the greater responsibility of those who knew the truth and then turned away from it.
• The passage was originally directed at false teachers and their followers. Some therefore point out that using it to condemn church members who have stumbled for a time does not fit the context.

In the Korean Church

The passage is cited in preaching as a warning against leaving the faith or returning to one's former way of life. It is also frequently raised in interdenominational discussions concerning assurance of salvation.

Related Passages

• Proverbs 26:11
• Hebrews 6:4–6
• 1 John 2:19
• John 10:27–29