Verse 20-22 Is Peter talking about apostasy? Would an apostate or reprobate not want to repent or would not be able to repent? Any honest truthful help would be most appreciated.
Hi Rich. That's a good question & the answer is found in that chapter. If you read the whole chapter, you'll see from verse 1 that Peter is speaking about the false prophets & false teachers that would enter the Church - they would appear as 'normal' Christians but their objective would be to bring in their false doctrines & teaching & bring the Church to ruin. And Peter highlights some of their many sins & deceptions in several verses, especially verses 13-19.
Now there are always opportunities for apostates or reprobates to repent & turn back to the Lord & follow the true path, but often, these false teachers were so embedded in their false beliefs & sins that issued out from them, that they never found any need to change. And such were these infiltrators that would come into the Church. They certainly had knowledge of Christ & the holy Faith, but that knowledge kept them from salvation, from hearing the warnings of God's Spirit, & entrenched in their sins. So Peter says in verse 21: "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
This chapter harmonizes with Hebrews 6:4-6, where the Hebrews writer also speaks of those who had received light, partaking of the Spirit's benefits & of the good Word, yet they ultimately turned their backs to God. The writer was referring particularly to those Jews (as the Letter title suggests) who after tasting of the good things of Christ, left it all to return back to Judaism. They weren't saved, just as those in Peter's letter, & so the Word is true that says, "By their fruits ye shall know them" ( Matthew 7:20). A person who is not "in Christ" & Christ in them will soon have his true motives & sins exposed & so Peter's warning to the Church to beware of such people who bring teaching inconsistent to what they were taught ( 2 Peter 1:4-8). May you be blessed as you study God's Word further, Rich.
Now there are always opportunities for apostates or reprobates to repent & turn back to the Lord & follow the true path, but often, these false teachers were so embedded in their false beliefs & sins that issued out from them, that they never found any need to change. And such were these infiltrators that would come into the Church. They certainly had knowledge of Christ & the holy Faith, but that knowledge kept them from salvation, from hearing the warnings of God's Spirit, & entrenched in their sins. So Peter says in verse 21: "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
This chapter harmonizes with Hebrews 6:4-6, where the Hebrews writer also speaks of those who had received light, partaking of the Spirit's benefits & of the good Word, yet they ultimately turned their backs to God. The writer was referring particularly to those Jews (as the Letter title suggests) who after tasting of the good things of Christ, left it all to return back to Judaism. They weren't saved, just as those in Peter's letter, & so the Word is true that says, "By their fruits ye shall know them" ( Matthew 7:20). A person who is not "in Christ" & Christ in them will soon have his true motives & sins exposed & so Peter's warning to the Church to beware of such people who bring teaching inconsistent to what they were taught ( 2 Peter 1:4-8). May you be blessed as you study God's Word further, Rich.
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