Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2023 13:53:04 GMT
As A Dog Returns To Its Vomit:
"As a dog returns to its vomit" is how Peter actually likened certain backsliders who return to sin. Sometimes the eternal security teachers will say if that occurs, such a backslider was never saved and is usually how they try to explain away the following clear passage, which states otherwise. Read this carefully:
A Dog Returns To Its Vomit
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. 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. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her swallowing in the mud.”
So, at a past point the unnamed people escaped the corruption of the world by knowing the Lord Jesus (which can only be the language of true salvation in Christianity and receiving eternal life), but now they were entangled and overcome again and even in a worse way than before initial salvation. They backslid as they also turned their back on the sacred command.
In defense of the eternal security position, such proponents say they were always dogs and hogs, but never sheep. In other words, they were never saved. Let’s look at the Scripture from which Peter quotes:
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
It says a fool repeats his folly, but doesn’t say he was always a fool. To come to that conclusion is to read into that passage something which is not there. The truth is, one’s spiritual identity changes, based on his present tense faith and beliefs. For example, King David was a fool, when he backslid into adultery and murder (and became an adulterer and murderer). Before that time, he was a very godly, faith-filled man, but sin changed that! Here is Scripture to prove one becomes a fool by backsliding:
Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
Moreover, the truth is, such a backslider is in a spiritually worse condition than he previously was before salvation! This should make the Christians more guarded than ever, but because dangerous false teachers have distorted Peter’s intended meaning, the warning is hidden from some. Don’t play with sin and don’t let the phrase as a dog returns to its vomit describe you!
Why? Remember that outside of the Kingdom of God will be dogs!
For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 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. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”