<p>2:21 <em>For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them</em>- The Jewish converts whom Peter is addressing, those baptized by him at Pentecost, would have heard John the Baptist's message. And that message of preparation for the new covenant is the only teaching described with this same phrase, &quot;the way of righteousness&quot; (Mt. 21:32). &quot;The holy commandment&quot; is a phrase used only elsewhere about the old covenant (Rom. 7:12). To turn away from the covenant was the ultimate sin for Jewish people. Peter is using this language of the old covenant about the new covenant. To have turned from the old covenant to the new, and now to turn away from it... meant that &quot;it were better&quot; not to have been born. The allusion is to Judas (Mt. 26:24), whom Peter sees as the epitome of all that fall; but see on :13.</p>