The image behind the proverb is very striking. Very unusually, here is a pig that has had a beautiful gold ring placed in its snout – the ring could not be placed in a more inappropriate place.
It could be that somebody professes Christ and yet has no Christian character, somebody says they believe the right things but lives for the world. There are a lot of people like this around these days. There are some who are in the world of entertainment and they profess to be Christians but their life has not really changed at all.
What about believers? Are there any believers who look like this? You are true believers, you have been converted, you have felt the power of God, but you are half a pig. Still you look like a worldling, your resources and your energies are still for you. Those gifts that God has given you, natural and spiritual, must now be put to a nobler use. We have been set free from sin and we must not take our bodily members and go straight back to our old master again.