2 Peter 2:20-22 – The ultimate end of false teachers

In three verses, Peter dealt with the ultimate doom of these false teachers. He did it to warn his readers of the dire consequence of following their instruction. The pronoun “they” in verse 20 refers to the false teachers, the main target of Peter. He was talking about this group of people whom he was warning the Christians about.

Peter was talking about those false teachers who professed to be Christians. They had once heard the Gospel preached and totally understood the teaching that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior. Because they understood the implication of the Gospel, they had in a sense escaped the defilements of the world. However, they now rejected it. They had chosen not to embrace the deliverance afforded to them. In their first state, they were eternally condemned because they had not heard the Gospel, but now their “last" and backslidden was worst. Why? Because they have heard the Gospel, and could have escaped eternal damnation yet they now chose to reject the Gospel. This rejection hardened their hearts and made it harder for them to respond to God’s grace again.

In verse 21, the word "them" again refers to the false teachers. Peter said that it would have been better for them never to know about the "way of righteousness" than to know it, only to reject it. While ignorance is bad, disobedience is worst.

Finally, in verse 22, Peter compared the false teachers to dogs and swine. He was saying here that a person’s practice betrays his nature. Dogs would often return to their own vomits; so also would pigs return to the filth. Peter’s implication is this: Just as dogs naturally would return to their vomits and pigs to their filth, these false teachers’ natural tendency would be to their flaws and sin.

The impending condemnation of the false teachers serves as a warning for us not to follow in their foot-steps. Let’s bear in mind that to remain ignorant is bad but to disobey is worst. In bringing up the illustrations of the dog and the pig, Peter brings our mind back to what the Lord Himself had said in Matthew 7:6. ‘Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.’ Hence we must be careful not to listen and follow false teachings. We must understand and be firmly rooted in the Word of God which alone can purify and renew the mind.