2 Peter 2:22

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. BUT. You need not wonder; for dogs and swine they were before, and dogs and swine they will continue (). They 'scarcely' () have escaped from their filthy folly, when they again are entangled in it. Then they seduce others who have in like manner 'for a little time escaped from them that live in error' (). Peter quoted Proverbs in his first letter (; ; 4:8,18 ): another proof that both letters come from the same write...

22._But it has happened unto them. _As the example disturbs many, when men who had submitted to the obedience of Christ, rush headlong into vices without fear or shame, the Apostle, in order to remove the offense, says that this happens through their own fault, and that because they are pigs and dogs. It hence follows that no part of the sin can be ascribed to the gospel. For this purpose he quotes two ancient proverbs, the first of which is found as the saying of Solomon in Proverbs 26:11. But what Peter meant is briefly this, that the gospel is a medicine which purges us by wholesome vomiting, but that there are many dogs who swallow again what they have vomited to their own ruin; and that the gospel is also a laver which cleanses all our uncleanness, but that there are many swine who, immediately after washing, roll themselves again in the mud. At the same time the godly are

17-22 The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the light of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is no truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist ofdarkness should be their portion in the next. In the midst of their talk of liberty, these men are the vilest slaves; their own lusts gain a complete victory over them, and they are actually in bondage. When men are entangled, they are easily overcome; therefore Christians should keep close to the word of God, and watch against all who seek to bewilder them. A state of apostacy is worse than a state of ignorance. To bring an evil report upon the good way of God, and a false charge against the way of truth, must e...

Verse 2 Peter 2:22. _ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB_] This seems to be a reference to Proverbs 26:11: קאו אל שב ככלב kekeleb shab al keo; as the dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool _repeateth his folly_. In substance this proverb is found among the rabbins; so Midrash Ruth, in Sohar Chadash, fol. 62: _Orphah is_ _returned to her mire, Ruth persevered in spirit_; and again, Ibid. fol. 64: "Orphah, which is הבהמית נפש _nephesh habbehemith_, the bestial soul, is returned to her mire." The Greeks have something like it; so _Arrian_, Dissert. Epict. l. iv. c. 11, says: Απελθε και χοιρῳ διαλεγου, ἱν 'εν βορβορῳ μη κυλιηται, "Go and reason with the swine, lest he be rolled in the mire." This is called a _true proverb_: for it is a _fact_ that a dog

BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB - The meaning of the proverbs here quoted is, that they have returned to their former vile manner of life. Under all the appearances of reformation, still their evil nature remained, as really as that of the dog or the swine, and that nature finally prevailed. There was no thorough internal change, any more than there is in the swine when it is washed, or in the dog. This passage, therefore, would seem to demonstrate that there never had been any real change of heart, and of course there had been no falling away from true religion. It should not, therefore, he quoted to prove that true Chrisfinns may fall from grace and perish. The dog and the swine had never been anything else than the dog and the swine, and these persons had never been anything else than sinners. THE DOG IS TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN - That is, to eat it up....

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 2:1 BUT THERE WERE FALSE PROPHETS ALSO AMONG THE PEOPLE; rather, as in the Revised Version, _but there arose false prophets also among the people. _The transition is simple and natural. Besides the true prophets mentioned in the last chapter, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, there arose false prophets, men who wore "a rough garment to deceive" (Zechariah 13:4), and assumed without warrant the prophetic character. Such pretenders would commonly prophesy false things; but the word ψευδοπροφῆται_ _seems principally to imply the absence of a Divine mission. By "the people" (λαός) is meant the people of Israel, as in Romans 15:

BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM, ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB,.... Which is true, both in fact and in the application of it, and which lies in the Scriptures of truth, at least the first part of it, Proverbs 26:11. THE DOG [IS] TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN, AND THE SOW THAT WAS WASHED TO HER WALLOWING IN THE MIRE; which expresses the filthy nature of sin, signified by vomit, mire, and dirt, than which nothing is more abominable and defiling; and also the just characters of these apostates, who are filly compared to dogs and swine and likewise their irreclaimable and irrecoverable state and condition, it being impossible they should be otherwise, unless their natures were changed and altered. In the Hebrew language, a "sow" is called חזיר, from the root חזר, which signifies to "return", because that creature, as soon as it is out of the mire and dirt, and is washed from

II. THE EVIL TO COME THROUGH FALSE TEACHERS CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The source of the evil (2 Peter 2:1)_ 2. The lessons from the past. (2 Peter 2:4) 3. The description of the apostates (2 Peter 2:11) 2 Peter 2:1 The Apostle Peter is now being used by the Spirit of God to prophesy. He predicts the coming evil for the professing church, that apostate teachers would do their vicious work. As pointed out in the introduction every other writer of the Epistles bears the same witness and that witness is mostly found in the second Epistles and in the Epistle of Jude. (See...

Uttering vain words they snare in the lusts of the flesh those who were just escaping (or, had actually escaped) from heathen vices, promising them liberty, while all the time they are themselves the slaves of sin. Having once been rescued from the defilements of the world, they have again become enslaved, and their last state is worse than their first; better to remain a heathen than become an apostate. 2 PETER 2:22. The first proverb is found in Proverbs 26:11; the second is, apparently, not derived from a Heb. source, and its interpretation is difficult. The sense is, not that the creature has washed itself clean in water (so apparently RV), still less that it has been washed clean (as AV), and then returns to the mud, but that, having once bathed in filth, it never ceases to delight in it (Big

FALSE PROPHETS (2 Peter 2:1) _ 2:1 There were times when false prophets arose among the people, even as amongst you too there will be false teachers, men who will insidiously introduce destructive heresies and deny the Lord who bought them; and by so doing they will bring swift destruction on themselves._ That there should arise false prophets within the Church was something only to be expected, for in every generation false prophets had been responsible for leading God's people astray and for bringing disaster on the nation. It is worth while looking at the false prophets in the Old Testament story for their characteristics were recurring in the time of Peter and are still recurring today. (i) The false prophets were more interested in gaining popularity than in telling the truth. Their policy was to tell people what they wanted to hear. The false prophets said, "P