If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

2 Peter 2:20-22

Whether you lean toward Calvinism or Arminianism, this is a difficult passage to digest simply because of the weight of the topic. Peter continues in his condemnation of false teachers by making a bold statement in the verses above. Those who have known the truth of the Gospel and turn away are in worse shape than if they had never known or heard. By turning their backs on what is sacred, they have forsaken the truth.

It reminds me of this passage of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s Gospel –

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Matthew 13: 43-45

Jesus says that “the last state of that person is worse than the first” and Peter’s words are just as sobering, intended to rescue those who might fall under the spell of the false teachers. but I can also see how his correction could be received by those who have turned their backs on the Gospel.