The apostle Peter wrote of some who were walking after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, saying, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 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” (II Pet. 2:20-21). We often use this passage to show that one can indeed turn away from God’s way after having become a child of God and be lost. However, for this article we wish to focus on the phrase “the pollutions of the world”.
Let us start by defining what pollution is. A pollutant can be defined as “a foreign substance that makes something dirty, or impure, especially waste from human actions”. Somewhere in the years gone by, there was a public service announcement wherein an owl would say, “Give a hoot, don’t pollute”. The pollution spoken of in that commercial and for the most part in the definitions one finds for pollution, it is the environment that is being polluted. There is pollution in our rivers and streams where waste and sometimes chemicals are allowed to enter into these waters and often results in the loss of aquatic life. Pollutants have been released into the air we breath resulting in smog, acid rain and other problems from material to physical. Littering is seen up and down our roads and highways and those who get caught doing so are made to pay a pretty good fine. There are so many of these pollutants that there would be no way to list them all.
But, Peter is not talking about environmental pollution. He is talking about spiritual pollution. The necessity of the child of God maintaining their purity is clearly taught in the word of God. Peter continued with an illustration of the child of God who has again been tainted with the pollutants of the world, saying, “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (II Pet. 2:22). Paul told Timothy to “keep thyself pure” (I Tim. 5:22). In this same epistle where Peter spoke of spiritual pollution, he wrote, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (II Pet. 3:14).
With this in mind, we might ask, just what kind of pollutants are we to guard against in this spiritual realm? A short answer might be to quote I John 2:15-16. John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world”. Paul warned, “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).
But, let us illustrate with a few specific examples of the pollutants of the world that we need to be aware of. Greed, materialism or worldliness might well be the first we would list. Jesus said of the rich young ruler, “…Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24). Paul wrote, “…they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lust, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (I Tim. 6:9-10). Certainly there is an abundance of this pollution in our land today.
Then, taking from John’s list of three, “lust of the flesh” is all around us every day. The marriage relationship ordained by God has been polluted with fornication, divorce, adultery and homosexual relationships, to name of few of the pollutants under this banner. God specified one man and one woman for life (Matt. 19:4-6). The Lord taught that to divorce and remarry for any cause other than fornication on the part on one’s spouse was to be living in adultery (Matt. 19:9). Any and all deviations from God’s plan for marriage is the lust of the flesh.
Let us not overlook the pollutant of self service. By this we mean that all too many try to make God accept what they like and want rather than what God has legislated to be followed. As Solomon said, “there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12). God’s way is the only way to a heavenly home.