2 Peter 2:20
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →If people who escaped the world's pollution through knowing Christ become entangled and overcome again, their final state is worse than the first.
What Does 2 Peter 2:20 Mean?
Peter describes a grievous reversal. People who "have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" — who truly came to know Christ and left the old corruption — can become "again entangled therein, and overcome." For such, "the latter end is worse... than the beginning." To turn back after knowing the way is graver than never having known it.
This is a solemn warning, especially to those swayed by the false teachers. Knowledge of Christ had genuinely lifted these people out of the world's filth; to be dragged back in is a deeper tragedy than their original lostness, because they have spurned the rescue they once received. Peter does not treat the believer's perseverance as automatic; he urges vigilance precisely because returning to corruption is a real and ruinous danger. The escape Christ provides is meant to be held fast, not relinquished. The reader is sobered to guard the freedom won at such cost and not slide back into the entangling world.
In the Original Language
miasma (μίασμα), 'pollutions' — defilements or stains; the moral filth of the world believers had escaped.