2 Peter 2:20 20For if, after having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but these people are defeated by becoming again entangled, they have become worse than the first.
This verse echoes a common thought in the early church: it is a tragedy to turn away from Jesus after believing. Hebrews 6:4-6 gives the strong warning that it is even “impossible” to come back to repentance after falling away. Peter is not quite so forceful in this verse, but similar in intent. This verse is a strong warning to the false teachers and, by implication, to the readers of his letter who may be fooled and deceived into following false teaching. The focus in this verse is on the defilements of the world. The meaning of this phrase is broad enough to include many types of sins and evil influences that morally and spiritually corrupt a person. The word for defile (miasma) comes into English to describe unpleasant and poisonous swamp gas. This chapter has hinted at the financial temptations and lure of wealth, but moral compromise can include many forms of selfishness, pride, and lusts of the flesh. We must be ever vigilant about the power of temptation. At first, many temptations are only a small compromise of conviction. As the temptations continue, the compromise gets bigger. The devil gets a foothold in the door of our thinking and keeps pushing himself in (Ephesians 4:27).
Peter uses the powerfully graphic word entangled for how our lives can get caught up in the world. When we take our eyes off Jesus, there is generally only one other place they go: to created things. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:23, people replace the worship of God with the worship of created things. Peter writes that this situation is even worse than before for people who were Christians because they have deliberately turned from Christ. Such people are not innocent because they once knew Christ. They knew the truth about Christ, but because of their speculations and the enticement of the world, they drifted away. The answer to this crisis is choosing to live the crucified life (Galatians 2:20). We must choose every day to say, “Not my will, but yours.” This commitment of self upon the altar of consecration will replace our own thinking with the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who will help us stay true to the gospel as we choose each day the way of holiness, life, light, and love.