<p>2:20 <em>For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning</em>- See on :19. The having &quot;escaped&quot; suggests a one off point when they escaped; see on 1:4. That point was surely baptism. It is through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus that we &quot;escaped&quot; the world; but theoretical knowledge of doctrine is surely not in view, for one can be aware of all that but still be entangled in the things of the world. Indeed, Peter in his letters doesn't appear to need to tackle any major theological errors (unlike Paul to the Corinthians). &quot;Knowledge&quot; is being used in the Hebraic sense of 'having a relationship with'. It is living, two-way relationship with the Lord Jesus which means we find the attractions of the world and flesh far less attractive. &quot;Entangled&quot; is a word only elsewhere used in 2 Tim. 2:4 about the spiritual soldier not entangling himself with the affairs of this life. The obsessive, entangling nature of the things of secular life are just as much a source of entangling as the defilements of the world in its worst sense. For those who have once escaped these things and return to them, their latter end is worse than at their beginning, when they were ignorant of the Gospel. For such people are not responsible to judgment. But having known the Gospel and then returning to the world, the fate will be resurrection to judgment, seeing the future that has been missed, and then having to die eternally, &quot;the second death&quot;.</p>