Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998)
Article: The ‘Trouble’ With Lot In 2 Peter: Locating Peter’s Source For Lot’s Torment
Author: John Makujina

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WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998) p. 255

The ‘Trouble’ With Lot In 2 Peter:
Locating Peter’s Source For Lot’s Torment

John Makujina*

* John Makujina is a Ph.D. candidate in hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary.

I. Introduction

If it is true that 1 Peter is the “exegetical step-child of the NT,”1 then it must be the case that 2 Peter is the orphan. Recent bibliographers of 2 Peter, both in introductory comments and research, affirm that this epistle suffers from a dearth of interest in modern scholarship.2 When it is the target of scholarly discussion attention usually centers on passages such as 1:20–21 (inspiration); 3:10 (eschaton), and of course 2 Peter’s relationship to Jude. Our concern, however, is with 2 Pet 2:7–8, a section too infrequently addressed. Here Abraham’s nephew Lot becomes a counter-example of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorra mentioned in verse 6. Specifically, what is remarkable is Peter’s understanding and use of Lot in this warning passage.3 The very portrait of Lot, painted by Peter, as a moral luminary and thrice-righteous opponent of evil immediately evokes questions of his fidelity to the Genesis narrative. Even a cursory reading of the early chapters of Genesis does not leave one with the impression that Lot would qualify as anyone’s candidate for sainthood. Yet, Peter’s assessment of this less-than-significant character in Israel’s past seems incredibly generous and raised to the extreme of optimism:

and if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment (2 Pet 2:7–9, NASB).

Peter’s understanding and application of Lot as an example of righteousness finds its antecedents in both Jewish and Christian interpretive traditions. Likewise, it is apparent

WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998) p. 256

that Peter was no stranger to the exegetical environment of his time, but was in fact a participant in it—at least in this section. This of course is nothing new to the world of Petrine scholarship. What is new is the idea that Peter’s record of Lot’s m...

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