For Christians who believe in eternal Security-what does 2 Peter 2:20 mean?

Question

I have been raised up in grace orientated Christianity and have aksed at church and read commentaries, but no one I know answers my question in a way that satisfies my spirit.

Answer 1

This verse refers to people who were never saved. They heard the word of God and understood it but the holy spirit did not indwell them and change their heart.

The evidence that their hearts were not changed is that there is no change in their inner nature. As dogs they return to their vomit. There hearts do not begin detest sin. They repent only at a head level not at a heart level.

If I can help you with this, if you have real questions on your eternal security email me [e-mail]

They are worse off now because they know of the saving grace of God and are not partakers of it. This is pure sorrow.

Answer 2

I believe it is referring to a believer who gets caught up in sin. Have you ever known someone like that? Have you ever tried to talk to them? They already know what you are going to say. They already know all the verses you are going to quote. If they don't want to listen, if they continue rejecting the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they often times can find themselves caught up in deeper sin than before they were saved. Of course, I am answering this question just a few minutes after I woke up. So I may not be making much sense. LOL
I strongly recomnmend you get the book "Eternal Security" by Charles Stanley. Best book on the subject!

Answer 3

Everything is complicated....lets first say that. What I take from this is that a person who is ignorant to the law and breaks it is better then a person who knows and has been taught the law and breaks the law anyway. The complication arises when you ask yourself the question what about sins all being equal? A sin is a sin. Rather then in the context of sin remind yourself of this. Jesus and your relationship with him is more important then it all. So basically if you commit one sin it may be bad but if it is easy to return to God, then is it as bad a sin if you commit a sin that makes it harder to return to God? I would say yes. I think that is how you should take that passage, When you return to something you did and knew you shouldnt do, then it will be twice as hard to turn to God, because you will have already made your decision between you and God. If you need help with me explaining this further, cause I tend to not make sense , e-mail me at [e-mail]

Answer 4

Verse 18) They ensnare in the desires of the flesh - Allowing them to gratify some unholy desire. Those who were before entirely escaped from the spirit, custom, and company of them that live in error - In sin.

Verse 19) While they promise them liberty - From needless restraints and scruples; from the bondage of the law. Themselves are slaves of corruption - Even sin, the vilest of all bondage.

Verse 20) For if after they - Who are thus ensnared. Have escaped the pollutions of the world - The sins which pollute all who know not God. Through the knowledge of Christ - That is, through faith in him, chap. i, 3. They are again entangled therein, and overcome, their last state is worse than the first - More inexcusable, and causing a greater damnation.

Verse 21) The commandment - The whole law of God, once not only delivered to their ears, but written in their hearts.

Verse 22) The dog, the sow - Such are all men in the sight of God before they receive his grace, and after they have made shipwreck of the faith. Prov. xxvi, 11.

That which would characterise this class of evildoers would be the unbridled license of their conduct. They would indulge their carnal lusts, and despise all authority in a way that angels would not dare to do. Still they would call themselves Christians and associate with Christians in their love-feasts, deceiving their own hearts, addicting themselves continually to evil, promising liberty to others, but themselves the slaves of corruption.

Now, to be thus re-entangled in evil, after having escaped it through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, was worse than if they had never known any thing of the way of truth. But it was according to the true proverb-The dog had returned to his own vomit, and the sow that had been washed, to her wallowing in the mire. They were apostates therefore, but here the Spirit of God does not so much point out the apostacy as the evil, because the government of God is still in view. In Jude the apostacy is the prominent thing. Peter tells us that the angels sinned; Jude, that they kept not their first estate. But God will judge the wicked.

Good Q*.
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Answer 5

2 peter 2
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 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.

It means in the last days that many who think they are Christians do not know the truth and it may have been better for them never having been born!

They turn to the Lord, and in the last days think they see a better way and turn (literally) to Satan, only to find they have lost the souls!

This is the Liberal churches!

Answer 6

I was also in a church that believes in eternal security, and I think everybody would prefer to believe that, but I don't see that God's Word supports it. The church I currently attend with my husband teaches otherwise. There's a difference between committing a sin once you're a Christian, and completely turning your back on righteousness (as described in that verse). If someone decides that doing their own will and living in sin is more important to them than striving to be like Christ, after having had a relationship with God, it will indeed be more difficult for them to make a turnaround than it was when they first repented.

Answer 7

UN Less You Are One Of The 144000 You Are Going To Die Like
Your Kindred To Be Raised In Your Faith For Judgment Here After If Your Faith Is False So Shall Your Entity Be And It Be Worse Off Than The Rest Left Here Of AMen Aaron's Men

Answer 8

It's worse to have know Jesus and fallen back to sin than to never have known Jesus and always been a sinner.

Answer 9

one thing i have learned is u can't take one verse out of the bible and expect it to have meaning,u have to read what comes before and after the verse and to me seems pretty self explanatory