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 writes of those who “escaped” enslavement to the defilements of the world, their means of escape being the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The use of the full title “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” suggests Peter has in mind those who were genuinely saved and living in obedience to Christ (see Rom. 10:9–10, 13). Further, they had returned to their former ways after embracing false teachings. Peter judges that their current state (being enslaved by the false teachings) is worse than the original state before they came to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thus it would have been better for them to have remained in their pre-conversion state.

Upon further investigation, however, Peter does not say that such a person loses his salvation and is now destined for hell. If Hebrews 6:1–6 were to be interpreted in this same way, that a person could fall away and lose his or her salvation, then that passage teaches it would be impossible to renew that person again to repentance. A fallen-away Christian, then, would have no hope of ever being “saved again.” That would make falling away an unforgivable sin; there would be no second chance to repent, for it would be impossible! We conclude those interpretations miss the mark.

Peter here is not teaching about justification but sanctification; that is, a Christian can lose his or her experience of freedom from the defilement of the world. In Romans, Paul wrote about justification (Rom. 1–11). But when addressing sanctification, he had similar sentiments as Peter: “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). Many, unfortunately, have fallen back like seed planted in rocky or thorny ground, whose fruit dies; the evidence of their salvation shrivels up. They jettison the experience of the blessings of freedom in Christ as they go back to their former enslavement (the imagery of a dog returning to its vomit is poignantly graphic). Who can deny that anyone who has experienced freedom from slavery and throws it away by returning to bondage, is more miserable because now he knows what he is missing?

Lord, help me never forget my bondage to the flesh from which I have been saved so that I am not fooled into thinking returning there would be freedom.