Do you care how things look? The imagery is perfectly clear; you’ve probably witnessed it with your own eyes. Dogs vomit and dogs turn to eat their vomit, often immediately. And pigs always find their way back to the muck and mire, to wallow in a pool of slime, sludge, and filth—to take a mud bath. Both animals are acting from instinct. In other words, dogs will be dogs and pigs will be pigs. Dogs instinctively cannot pass up an opportunity to eat their next meal, even if it forces their doggy intellect to ignore the obvious truth. They perceive their own vomit as a tasty morsel, regardless of the fact that it is the putrefied puked up mess just released from a cauldron of rejected organic matter. Pigs, on the other hand, are somewhat misunderstood. They aren’t actually seeking to be dirty; it’s simply that they can’t resist wallowing in slime and filth as a social behavior. For them, it’s a source of enrichment and enjoyment—a way to explore and engage in a natural, instinctual behavior. It is a return to filth nonetheless. Does that describe your natural behavior and your relationship with sin? Peter refers to dogs as written in the true proverb, “As a dog that returns to his vomit…” However, Peter adds the pig to enhance his metaphor for what the proverb describes as a fool. “…so is a fool who repeats his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” I would argue that this is the true origin of the term pig-headed: someone who is stupidly or unreasonably stubborn—obstinate and unwilling to change his mind, in spite of the obvious truth.
And isn’t that exactly what you are doing when you go back to your sinful ways—your past social behavior? Dogs will be dogs and pigs will be pigs—and sinners will be sinners. Peter locks in on why this happens. It’s written as a clear warning; you are becoming nearsighted, approaching total blindness. It’s because you’ve forgotten you’ve already been completely cleansed from your past sins. This tragic memory loss demands that you address two questions: Why would you forget you’ve been forgiven? And why would you continue to identify yourself as a sinner when God sees you as a saint? It’s because you’ve been fed a steady diet of theological junk food—low quality fast food sermons that brainwash listeners, including those who identify as Christians, with doctrines of demons. “You are a dreadful sinner; you won’t ever be freed from your proclivity to sin—your sin nature.” Essentially, you are powerless over sin. No Bible teacher would actually admit this is precisely what they are saying, yet they steadily promote this pigheaded sentiment. Your future sinful behavior is a forgone conclusion; sin is mandatory because you are still in bondage to it.
I believe this theological misstep has become universal because a predominant number of weekly church services have transformed into evangelical outreaches. Instead of a gathering of Christians who are maturing together as disciples, the purpose of “church” has become an attempt to convince the large number of unbelievers in attendance to make a confession of faith. It really is an absurd premise when you think about it soberly because the Church isn’t a service or building; it’s the Body of Christ. How can an unbeliever be in “the Church”? Evangelism should take place out in the unbelieving world and newly converted Christians should be invited to grow in their faith alongside their Christian brothers and sisters in fellowships, and with sermons, and with mentoring—all intended to disciple Christians. However, when the underlying message is preached to convert pagans, naturally there must be an emphasis on the human proclivity to sin. That truth is health food for a pagan; “You are a dreadful sinner who needs Jesus.” But, that message becomes junk food for the Christian who is blasted week after-week with the same words; “You are a dreadful sinner!”
If you are a Christian, I will leave you with this exercise to ponder. Take a quiet moment and contemplate your most recent sin, and then consider this… was it mandatory or voluntary? Then go backwards one more sin and do the same. The conclusion should be obvious. Needless to say, if you believe your sinful behavior was mandatory, you are exercising dog nature and pig behavior, not the character of a new creation in Christ. Paul writes, “Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator.” Don’t be pigheaded and return to your vomit; don’t sink back into your foolish sinful slime.
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