2 Peter 2:21

2 Peter 2:21. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. The ‘better' here, as in 1 Peter 3:17 (see note there), means more to their advantage. The ‘way of righteousness' is not quite the same as ‘the Gospel' or ‘the way of salvation.' It is a term for Christianity specifically on its ethical side, as a new moral life. Other phrases, such as ‘the way of truth,' describe it more definitely on its doctrinal side. The ‘holy commandment' is not to be limited either to the commandment known as the ‘new commandment' (John 13:34), or to the Sermon on the Mount. It is the ethical requirement of the Gospel as a whole, the law of life which Christ has left. Here, too, the description moves entirely within the sphere of character, and resembles the picture given by Christ Himself of two moral states, in His parable of the unclean spirit and the seven more wicked spirits (Matthew 12:43-45).