Knowledge is important but not the Key

Scripture Read: 2 Peter 2:20-22 For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

Application: Knowledge = ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis) Used in the NT of the knowledge of things ethical and divine. In the NT, it often refers to knowledge which very powerfully influences the form of religious life, a knowledge laying claim to personal involvement. When used as an obj. (Eph. 1:17; 4:13; Col. 1:9, 10; 2:2; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7; Titus 1:1; Heb. 10:26; 2 Pet. 1:2, 3), it shows the relationship of the learner to the object of his knowledge (2 Pet. 1:8). It increases spiritual blessings upon the believer (Eph. 1:17; 2 Pet. 1:2, 3) and determines the manifestations of the religious life (2 Pet. 2:20).

Is this person saved? Big question is the meaning of Knowledge. If only intellectual then this is someone that can see the sense of Christian living but has not Trusted Christ – therefore has no power and cannot sustain that life. They then return to the old way of living. This verse must be funneled through all the scripture on Salvation – so it cannot refer to a saved person or all the other scriptures are wrong. 1000 to 1! MacArthur states: They professed the Christian experience (the way of righteousness, and even had access to the true teachings of Scripture. But by their lives they demonstrated that they ultimately had chosen to reject Christ  ** Important though is the principle that even applies to believers. If when freed from a vice sin – we return – in some ways we are worse off – not only the shame of dragging Christ through that stuff again after He delivered us, but we must start over and our flesh is embolden by the fact that we returned to it in the first place. Lord make me alert to those things that would attach themselves to me!