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CHRISTIAN PIGS AND DOGS? "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (II Peter 2:20-22) The passage is considered a hard saying because it appears to suggest that a Christian can lose his salvation. The so-called believers in the text had escaped the world’s pollutions, had knowledge of Jesus the Saviour, had come to know the way of righteousness, and were washed, yet they turned back and ended-up worse than they started. It seems to be a pretty open and shut case: they got saved and lost it. But not so fast. The full context here is not limited to a mere three verses. Peter begins his comments on these people clear back in verse one when he introduced the subject of “false prophets,” “false teachers,” “damnable heresies” and “denying the Lord.” Does that sound like a group of true believers? Yes, it says that the Lord “bought them,” but it doesn’t say that He REDEEMED them. That is, Jesus paid (“bought”) the price for their redemption, but they never truly forsook their own ways and received His gift of salvation, so they were never really born again. We know this because of how Peter describes them throughout the chapter. Please note: false prophets, vs. 1false teachers, vs. 1damnable heresies, vs. 1denying the Lord that bought them, vs. 1swift destruction, vs. 2pernicious ways, vs. 2truth shall be evil spoken of, vs. 2covetousness, vs. 3feigned words, vs. 3their damnation slumbereth not, vs. 3unjust, vs. 9walk after the flesh, vs. 10lust of uncleanness, vs. 10despise government, vs. 10presumptuous, vs. 10selfwilled, vs. 10not afraid to speak evil of dignities, vs. 10brute beasts, vs. 12made to be taken and destroyed, vs. 12perish in their own corruption, vs. 12unrighteousness, vs. 13riot in the day time, vs. 13blemishes, vs. 13deceivings, vs. 13eyes full of adultery, vs. 14cannot cease from sin, vs. 14beguiling unstable souls, vs. 14covetous practices, vs. 14cursed children, vs. 14forsaken the right way, vs. 15gone astray, vs. 15following the way of Balaam, vs. 15loved the wages of unrighteousness, vs. 15wells without water, vs. 17clouds that are carried with a tempest, vs. 17darkness is reserved for ever, vs. 17great swelling words of vanity, vs. 18lusts of the flesh, vs. 18much wantonness, vs. 18live in error, vs. 18servants of corruption, vs. 19bondage, vs. 19latter end is worse, vs. 20better for them not to have known, vs. 21dog eating vomit, vs. 22sow wallowing in mire, vs. 22 Now, does anyone seriously believe that Peter is describing saved people? Are you going to throw out over forty descriptions of LOST people just so you can emphasize wording in three verses that seem to indicate they were saved? Their “knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (vs. 20) was obviously only a head knowledge, not a true belief of the heart, otherwise Peter would have provided a list of spiritual fruit that they had once produced. Yet, the only fruit mentioned is their EVIL fruit from their evil and corrupt tree of unbelief. The fact that they had “known the way of righteousness” (vs. 21) obviously doesn’t mean that they practiced it, only that they knew about it mentally without ever embracing it as a holy way of life. They turned from the holy commandment that had been “delivered unto them” (vs. 21), not from the holy commandment that they had been obeying as new believers in Christ. As for being like the “washed” sow and the reformed dog (vs. 22), they were washed and reformed in much the same manner as the whitewashed Pharisees (Mat. 23:27) who were washed only in outward appearances by their own self-righteous, religious traditions. Pigs and dogs are pigs and dogs, not sheep, and this is evidenced by their returning to their old ways. Sheep don't eat vomit and wallow in mire. Peter knows how to write about Christians as sheep (I Pet. 2:25; 5:2-4), but here he is writing about pigs and dogs, because he’s referring to LOST people, not true Christians.