You Are a Slave of What Controls You
February 17, 2019
Commentary
Peter goes on to describe these false teachers as “wells without water” (v. 17). Can you picture finding a well of water in the middle of a desert and then discover that it was dry. In conclusion Peter says it is better to be ignorant of the way of the truth than to know it and then depart from it. He compares this to a dog who returns to his own vomit and a pig who returns to the mud puddle. They brag out loud about their stupid nonsense (v. 18). And by being vulgar and crude, they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. They promise freedom to everyone (v. 19). But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.
Peter is speaking of a person who has learned about Christ and how to be saved. When they learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world (v. 20). But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in worse shape than they were at first. They would have been better off if they had never known about the right way (v. 21). Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments that they were given. What happened to them is just like the true saying,"A dog will come back to lick up its own vomit (v. 22). A pig that has been washed will roll in the mud.”
Application
If I refuse to follow God I will follow my own sinful desires and become enslaved to whatever my body wants. If I submit my life to Christ, He will free me from the slavery of sin.
2 Peter 2:17– 22 (NET)
17 These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. 18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. 19 Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. 22 They are illustrations of this true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.”