2 Peter / Question
Peter describes people who escaped the world’s defilements through knowing Jesus Christ but become entangled again and overcome. He says “the last state has become worse for them than the first.” He concludes with proverbs about a dog returning to its vomit and a washed sow returning to the mire. See 2 Peter 2:20–22.
In 2 Peter 2:20–22, the writer describes people who had made a real break from the world’s polluting ways after coming to know Jesus Christ, but then get pulled back in. Their return is pictured as being “caught” and finally “defeated” by what they left. This passage sits inside a longer warning about destructive teachers and the people influenced by them in chapter 2.
These verses describe a real change followed by a real reversal. The people in view had “escaped” the world’s defiling patterns through knowing Jesus Christ, then became entangled again and were “overcome” by what they left (2:20). The author’s explicit comparison is that their “last state” becomes worse than their first.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with 2 Peter 2:20-22, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
20For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first.
21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire."