II Peter 2:12-22
Carol will attest to the fact that I have trouble with pronouns. I’m consistently asking her which “him” or “her” she is referring to. So I had to ask myself in today’s reading, who are the “they”, “them”, and “these” to whom Peter is referring? And as I read and re-read today’s passage, I find that those three pronouns all refer to those “insiders” who are leading people astray with their false teaching. Two sentences refer to their unrighteous “evangelism” efforts: They entice unsteady souls (v. 14b) and For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. (v. 18) Clearly their target in these verses are new Christians or older Christians who have not yet been fully discipled. There are two other third-person plural pronouns in verse 18 cited above – “those”. Here the first “those” refers to those “unsteady souls” mentioned in verse 14b, while the second “those” refers to “unrighteous” persons completely outside the Christian community. So as you read this passage, all of Peter’s chastisement is falling on those “false leaders”.
The end of today’s reading challenges the “once saved, always saved” proposition. For 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. For 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. What 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.” (vv. 20-22) Again, those third-person pronouns refer to the “false leaders” – they have come to Jesus, but then turned away. My Study Bible points to John 10:27-30 and Romans 8:28-39 as support for the “once saved, always saved” argument. So the question hinges on whether or not these false leaders are genuinely saved. And the last verse – the references to dogs and pigs – suggests that these leaders are not genuinely saved; they started as dogs and pigs and they are still dogs and pigs. Draw your own conclusion!
Slava Bohu!