2:20–22

It is not clear about whom Peter was speaking in these verses.

(1) He may have been referring to the false teachers. This is the most natural way to understand the Greek. Some English versions use the pronoun “they” here. As the false teachers have been the main subject of the verses which precede this verse, it seems that these versions follow this interpretation.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version)

(2) Some scholars say that Peter was referring to the people who had recently become Christians. Peter used the same verb (Berean Standard Bible “escaped”) in this verse as he had used in verse 18 when speaking of those who had recently become Christians.

(3) Or perhaps he was stating generally that if any person who had become a Christian returned to pagan ways, the result for him would be worse than if he had remained a pagan and had never become a Christian in the first place. Some versions translate the subject as referring to people in general. For example:

anyone (The Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
men (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(The Jerusalem Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Good News Translation)

This whole chapter has described the false teachers, and they are the subject of verses 18 and 19, so it seems most likely that verse 20 also refers to these teachers, though Peter’s words are also true about anyone who has turned away from following Christ. The Notes follow this interpretation. According to this interpretation, “If” at the beginning of the verse is stating a fact (as in 2:4). It is not referring to something that may or may not have happened. (See the last paragraph of the note in the introduction to 2:4–10a).

2:20

In the Greek, and in Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), and Good News Translation, this verse is one sentence, but you will probably need to break it into two or more sentences.

In the Greek text the word gar, which some versions translate as “for,” shows how Peter linked this verse to the verses which preceded it. Other versions like Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version leave the relationship implicit.

2:20a

corruption: Literally “defilement, pollution.” The Greek word that Peter used here is not the same as the one he used in 1:4b, but the underlying meaning is almost the same.

the world: This does not refer to the physical world which God created, but to the non-Christians among whom the people to whom Peter was writing lived. These people practiced many immoral customs which ruined people spiritually. When Peter wrote about the “corruption of the world” in this verse he was referring to such immoral customs. See also note on 1:4b.

2:20b

through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Peter has already used the expression the knowledge of several times in this letter (see 1:2, 1:8 and the notes on those verses). It is by means of coming to know Christ that a person is able to escape from living in the wicked way the non-Christians live.

2:20c

entangled: When used literally the Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates entangled means “entwined.” It is the word used when a woman plaits her hair. Here Peter used it figuratively and it means “to be involved in, mixed up with.” This part of the verse says that the false teachers have once more got involved in the wicked way of living from which they had escaped when they came to know Christ.

overcome by it again: This is the same Greek verb as Peter used in 19c, where Berean Standard Bible translates it “mastered.” Here again Peter was saying that the false teachers, despite having once become free from the wicked things which non-Christians do, once more were allowing those things to control them.

2:20d

their final condition: This phrase refers to the time when Peter was writing, the time after the false teachers had turned away from the true Christian teaching which they once followed.

it was at first: This phrase refers to the time before they became Christians.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.