God’s Word for You

2 Peter 2:20-22 Upchuck, mud, hell, and hope

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, August 6, 2022

20 And after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, if they are again entangled in them and overcome by them, they are worse off than they were to begin with.

This is a hard verse for many to read and comprehend. Peter’s language is simple and to the point, but we must understand that Peter is talking about salvation, and since this is about salvation, then we can only conclude: Peter is talking about faith, and not about works or deeds.

If this were about our deeds, then we would all be terrified by this verse. We would try to rip it from our Bibles, and say, “All of God’s Word blesses me, but here I am damned; forever damned!” This is because, according to our deeds, we are all lost. Who can read this and say, “I have not become entangled and overcome by the defilements of the world?” If anyone says this, they are lying, either to the world or to themselves. This is what Professor Deutschlander is talking about when he writes: “We may have days when in our sin and shame we do not want to come before Jesus face-to-face.” But he adds, as the Scriptures also do: “Nevertheless, faith in his promises presses us to him, if only to touch the hem of his garment with our prayers, our confessions, our desperate need.” (Your Kingdom Come, p. 140).

But when someone has faith, when they have been baptized into God’s family and grown up in their childlike faith, escaping through Christ all the defilements of the world, but then are overcome by those things, and lose their faith, they are worse off than before. That person can seem like the nicest guy, the friendliest neighbor, the host with the most, but if they walk away from their faith, they have become like Korazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum that Jesus condemns (Matthew 11:21-23). That person is someone who has had a miracle performed on them, the miraculous conversion to faith from the deadness of unbelief through holy baptism, and they have ripped themselves away from that faith, stomping that faith they once had like a vain social climber trying to rid themselves of their hometown accent. They are worse off than before because having rejected Christ, they have assured themselves of a worse punishment in hell than someone who simply never knew Christ because of the choices or unbelief of their parents or ancestors.

21 It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to turn back, after knowing it, away from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 The proverb is true that says has happened to them: “A dog returns to its own vomit.” A washed sow returns to wallow in the mud.

Peter stays with the picture of throwing away baptism by citing Proverbs 26:11. This is the first part of verse 22, the dog and its vomit. This isn’t just a problem with your own dog at home. Luther’s dog Töelpel did it, and so did Solomon’s puppies, and Job’s sheep dogs as well (we hear about Job’s dogs in Job 30:1), clear back to the fall of Adam and Eve and the corruption of creation, when the perfect world was stained by sin and everything was turned around and stood on its head by sin (Romans 8:20). But just so that disgusting picture doesn’t slip by the reader, Peter adds: “And a washed sow returns to her wallowing in the mud.” Who has ever seen a hog that stayed clean for any length of time at all? The pig, the hippo, the elephant (if there’s any mud to be found), the alligator, and so many of the unclean animals prefer a thick smear of mud to being clean. They serve as an illustration for the mind of the unbeliever. The unbeliever wants to coat himself in the world’s filth, as if to say to God, “Don’t look at me! I do as the world does! It’s the world’s fault!” And to be sure, that’s not far from the mark. The world is the enemy of the believer, but the world is the hovel of the unbeliever. The unbeliever will never, ever have it so good as he has it here in the fallen sinful world. What he has waiting for him is excruciating pain and suffering in hell, and the agony of knowing that his loved ones will follow him there. And once there, he can’t do anything to stop them from being damned right along with him (Luke 15:28). The author of Beowulf had such men in mind:

Such was their custom,
Hope of the heathen, hell bore in spirit,
Knew not the Creator, the Judge of deeds,
Hoping not for God, Nor knowing indeed
How to praise Heaven’s Protector,
King of Glory. (Beowulf, lines 179-183)

God’s will is not that such unbelievers would be ignored and left behind in this lifetime. God has revealed his will, which is both gracious and holy:

1, He wants all people to be received by his grace into his kingdom. “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He wants those who are called through his Son to be saved.

2, His will is also that he will punish those who deliberately turn away from faith (“the holy commandment”), and involve themselves again in the filth of this world (2 Peter 2:20, our verse today). Those who do not repent but remain in their sins shall certainly die (eternally).

Those who turn from Christ prepare their hearts for Satan to rule there (Luke 11:24-26), they outrage the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:29), and the result is that they have embraced the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29), inviting God to harden their hearts, blind them to the truth, and forever damn them if they continue this way to their dying breath (Formula of Concord, Art. XI:83).

Pray for the faith of the people you love, that they would treasure their faith as the dearest possession of all. I knew a homeless boy once who was driven out by his father’s cruel and selfish girlfriend. He went and lived penniless for a time in the woods by a little creek, “Not,” he said, “like a refugee with no hope, but like Adam, like Elijah, like John, because I had faith in my Savior.”

Teach the people you love about their Lord. “Children who do not know this word must hear it and learn to fear and love the Lord their God” (Deuteronomy 31:13). Thank the Lord that you were loved and were taught by your parents, or by your spiritual parents. “Consider the generations past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will explain it to you” (Deuteronomy 32:7). Not everyone has a man like my own Dad, who got us into the car to drive us to church, to youth meetings (Lutheran Pioneers), choir practice, Catechism classes, and more—three, four, and even five days each week, happily driving many miles just to get there. Not everyone had that experience, but we can give it to our kids, or to our grandkids. We can love them and urge them and spur them on to grow in their faith: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

God tells us: “Declare his glory among the nations” (Psalm 96:3). No one person can get to every nation. But you can tell your kids, your parents, your husband, your wife. Tell the guy who delivers your pizza, or the boys and girls selling lemonade down on the corner. You might not make a big splash in their life then and there, but your words will remain with them, and who knows but that you have been put in your position for such a time as this?

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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