This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
2 Peter 2:20
20 For [gar] if [ei] after they have escaped [apopheugo] the pollutions [miasma] of the world [kosmos] through [en] the knowledge [epignosis] of the Lord [kurios] and [kai] Saviour [soter] Jesus [Iesous] Christ [Christos], they are [empleko] again [palin] entangled [empleko] therein [toutois], and [de] overcome [ginomai] [hettao], the latter end [eschatos] is worse [cheiron] with them [autos] than the beginning [protos]. KJV-Interlinear
20 For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. NASB
To sin or not to sin? That is the question.
But what of the repercussions of sin, of turning to God, and then back to sin. Here Peter is going to lay out exactly what you can expect when you turn to God, then turn back to sin. Your life, and more specifically your destiny, will be worse off, than if you had not turned to Christ in the first place.
Now that needs some explanation, before you get all upset.
The repercussion study will not come until tomorrows study in the next verse, but for now we need to understand the description of the world, as explained by Peter.
The word for pollutions, ‘miasma,’ refers to the unpleasant fumes, odors, ooze and such that are given off by rotting or infectious disease. This is a reference to the yuk that comes with a badly infected wound, or from a rotten decaying human body.
It is not only disgusting, but contagious. And if anyone gets near such a thing, they too can become ill, disease ridden and die from it.
That is the description of evil. Which, as we already know, is the opposite of good. Good is life and health. Evil is the putrid decay and rot of death. Nothing good ever comes from evil.
Evil comes to us in two forms – sin and human good. These being the weaker and stronger production aspects of the sin nature.
The world here is described as one huge open and putrid wound, in which we all must live.
There is only one way to survive such disease and that is by our intake of the perfect medicine for disease. Bible doctrine and the development of ones spiritual life is that medicine.
Think of taking the medicine as your learning process. You confess your sins, in order to get in the doctors office (fellowship), you take the medicine (you listen to doctrine), your metabolism absorbs this medicine into your body (your learning and understanding of doctrinal principles), and then you exercise right (your application of doctrine to your daily life). Your repetition of all of this (analogy) makes you healthier, stronger, wiser and so forth in your spiritual life.
When you are ill, and then get some medicine such that you recover to some extent, and then get off the medicine, and go back to your illness, then your condition simply gets worse.
That is what awaits anyone who turns to doctrine, and then turns away from doctrine. Their life becomes inconsistent, confusing, disappointing, and certainly disillusioned. All kinds of emotions, from hate to frustration, enter into the picture. Instability simply takes over ones life, and getting back on track with doctrine, gets more and more difficult.
A person who turns to God, gets frustrated, as will happen to new believers, and then turns back to the easy prospects of the world, then turning back to God again, requires greater decisional power, than before. Or, as in most cases, the circumstances of ones life, must necessarily get far worse. This means a more difficult life lay ahead.
With some folks, believing in the instruction from the Bible comes easy. They see it, comprehend it, and are patient.
With some folks, the instruction from the Bible requires more mental energy, so to speak. They need proof. They need documentation. They need credentials. They demand results from their learning.
Their faith is not achieved until they have jumped many more hurdles in their life, before they come to realize its truth. And needless to say, their life is usually filled with many more demonstrations from God, but those demonstrations usually come in the form of suffering. And that is a hard way to learn.
