2 Peter 2:22 22The true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “The sow, after washing herself, wallows in the slime.”
It can be difficult to break old habits and ways of thought. Peter quotes Proverbs 26:11 and an unknown proverb to illustrate the point that the false teachers would not change. The sayings give a vivid and gross picture of base animal actions that show insensitivity and uncleanness. The false teachers’ hearts were hardened. They had descended so far in their thinking that they would not change. They returned to what is unclean. Their conversion and faith were insincere and fake. They were too much into self and materialism. They had tasted Christ but returned to the impurity of the world.
These proverbs illustrate the seriousness of the apostasy of the false teachers. Why do people fall back into the world? The temptations of the world are difficult to overcome, especially when a person has formed habits around them. It can be difficult to overcome these old habits. It is one thing to talk in theory about crucifying the old self and being remade into a new self (Ephesians 4:22-24), but it is another to live in obedience and to make this decision change genuine and lasting.