Re: Ephesians 2, we were dead, but He made us alive!

Peter 2:20 has always been a difficult scripture to understand for me, but in light of all the more very clear scriptures, it doesn't throw my position in any way. I've heard this scripture explained in quite a few different ways. I found this and this interpretation makes a lot of sense to me:

(If) is a first class conditional clause and assumes that the following statement ("have escaped") is true. Who are "they"? This is variously interpreted as either the false teachers or their victims, but the proximity to the false teachers in (2Pe 2:19) makes them the most natural antecedent of "they".

Furthermore, the teachers are the main subject of the whole chapter. Finally, in (2Pe 2:1- note) we see that the false teachers are described as continually denying their Master, Jesus Christ. It seems therefore most fitting that Peter is referring here to the false teachers who were not far from the kingdom of God but who did not obey the truth they knew and so were still under the wrath of God (Jn 3:36-note).

So clearly they are unbelievers even though they had a clear knowledge of the Way of salvation. They may have for a time "escaped the defilements" but they were never saved and thus this passage is not a proof text that one can use to support the false teaching that a person can lose their salvation. This passage emphasizes the importance of interpreting Scripture in its proper context and not just from a verse in a vacuum. If one looks carefully at the behavior of these men in the preceding description, it is clear that they repeatedly demonstrated a lifestyle diametrically opposed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

http://www.preceptaustin.org/2_peter_220-21.htm#2:20