By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:4
Lust is something you are to escape. Peter tells you and me that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And this escaping is supposed to be permanent. The word in the Greek is apopheúgō, a combination of two words, “away from” and “flee.” It means to escape through flight, and carries the idea of separation, a full breaking away from the previous situation (Wuest). So, you don’t just run away from lust. You escape, and stay away.
You are to escape lust because lust leads to corruption, that is, to depravity, decay, rottenness, and ruin. And notice where this corruption is found—in the world. Corruption is found in the fallen world all about you, the world that is against God, the world that lives in unbelief. Corruption is found in the moral world, where the people and systems are hostile to God.
You cannot love the world, or even be friendly with the world, and love God at the same time. This corrupted world is something you must overcome (1 John 5:4-5). You must deny your worldly passions (Titus 2:12). You must kill anything that belongs to your earthly nature (Colossians 3:5).
Escaping is something that you have done plus something you are to do. When you trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, you were translated out of the world of darkness and into His kingdom. You were born again, and given a new nature. You escaped this corrupt world. But today, since you are still required to live in this wicked world, working, eating, sleeping and more, you are to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. You escape the corruption, the depravity, by escaping the lust. And you escape the lust by giving it no place and no time in your life.
When a lustful thought enters your mind, you kill it. When a provocative image crosses your eyes, you look away. When a memory of a past sexual sin pops up uninvited in your mind, you kill it. Pornography is a lust problem. To escape the corruption that it creates, escape the lust that lures you to look.
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