“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

escaped the corruption

The word “escaped” occurs three times in this epistle, and Peter uses it primarily about religion. Note how he uses “escaped” in the second chapter: 

2 Pe 2:18-20, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. ²⁰For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.”

“Corruption” means ruin, destruction, dissolution, and deterioration. “Corruption” brings things to a worse state. Here corruption is the depravity of the sin capacity. Peter uses this term for the effect of the depravity of lust. One of the great benefits of being born again is that God delivers us from sensuality, smut, vulgarity, blasphemy, and profanity that characterize the world.

Later in 2 Peter 2:12, Peter uses “corruption” of beasts’ death and decay (religionists). Religion causes corruption when they try to appease God through what they do. There is a destruction that comes with religion. If people try to change their sin capacity through religion, they only exacerbate the problem because religion does not change the disposition. Religion is man’s attempt to appease God, which can only bring a person to a worse condition.

PRINCIPLE:

A by-product of being born again is that God delivers us from the power of religion and sin.

APPLICATION:

The non-Christian loves smut, as a pig loves mud. The dirtier the story, the better someone likes it. The racier or suggestive, the sexier, the more vulgar the movie, the more the public wants it, and the more money it grosses. That is what the public wants, and that is what the movie industry gives because the movie industry is driven by money. God’s people are different because He has delivered them from this present evil world.

Ga 1:4, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”

Many Christians rationalize sin by saying, “I do not see anything wrong with….” Some Christians see nothing wrong in anything short of murder because they do not read the Bible. That is their problem; they do not study the Bible. They live on their experience and feeling. They are maudlin and sentimental in their thinking but not biblical. Sometimes the pollutions of the world are not course but refined and inviting. Some sin is cultured and religious. They do not seem to realize that sin took their Savior to the cross. He went to the cross to save us from the corruption that is in the world.

We hear much today that people cannot get out from under obsessions and compulsions. The Bible says that we can. We can escape those nasty habits we accumulated over the years. It is impossible to escape the world’s pollution unless you are born again with a divine capacity to orient to God’s values. When God gives us His divine power, we can gain victory over them if we appropriate the principle to experience.