God Keeps You

2 Peter 2:20-22 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”  and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
 
DO Christians lose their salvation? That seems to be what Peter is saying here. But Jesus says that will never happen: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28) Faith is God’s gift to his elect. He will not take it back.
   Peter is not disputing Jesus, but he is warning against false teachers who had heard of Jesus and his teachings but have rejected him. They have been exposed to the true Way into life everlasting but have gone back to the way of death. It’s as if starving people were invited into a fine restaurant. The chef presented them with a bountiful meal. Instead of enjoying its flavor and nourishment, they claimed, “This food is not real!” And they walked out still hungry, still tantalized by the food’s appearance and aromas.
   There are many today who teach Bible classes in universities and in seminaries who do not believe the Bible is true. Through reading and studying the Bible, these teachers know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ perhaps as a man in history. But they do not know him as the Lord of history. They read what the Bible says about the way of salvation, but they reject even the need for repentance of sins. So they return to – meaning they remain – in the world’s corruption.
   Peter equates such teachers to a dog and a sow. To the Jew, these two animals are the most repulsive. The sow is unclean, and the Jews despised dogs. It is a term to also describe the condemned in Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
    How tragic for those who stand before the Bread of Life and tell him, “I have no appetite for you.”  They will starve for eternity.