Proverbs 26 · a question people ask
Peter quotes the saying about the dog (2 Peter 2:22). Is it about people who fall away?
In Proverbs the saying is about a fool: "As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly" (Proverbs 26:11) (tap dog, returns). His folly there is the word of "a fool according to his folly" (Proverbs 26:4, 26:5). Peter (2 Peter 1:1) calls the saying "the true proverb" (2 Peter 2:22), in a chapter that warns of "false teachers" (2 Peter 2:1). He says it of those who, "after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ", are "again entangled in it and overcome" (2 Peter 2:20). Whether someone who has known the Lord can finally fall away is a question Christians genuinely differ over, and they read 2 Peter 2:20-22 in more than one way. The honest question on 1 Chronicles 28:9 sets out the main views, each resting on its verses, and chooses none. These notes don't choose either, and they don't apply the saying to anyone today.
The verses
“Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”
“As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.”
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
“But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.”