1. 2 Peter 2:20 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What are the defilements of the world?

2 Peter 2:20 (ESV)

20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

Alternatively translated as corruption (NIV), this refers to acts that cross moral boundaries—vice or criminal offences. Such deeds are characteristic of the pagan world.1