Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Peter 2:21

"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 unto them." — 2 Peter 2:21 (ASV)

It had been better for them not to have known.—There are many things regarding which the well-known lines—

“It is better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all,”—

do not hold true. To have loved a great truth, to have loved a high principle, and after all to lose them, is what often causes the shipwreck of a life. To have loved Jesus Christ and lost Him is to make shipwreck of eternal life.

The way of righteousness.—The life of the Christian. What from a doctrinal point of view is the way of truth (2 Peter 2:2), from a moral point of view is the way of righteousness. Similarly, the faith delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3), is the doctrinal equivalent of the holy commandment delivered unto them from this verse.