The Righteous Sinner
The Righteous Sinner
If He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard). (2 Pet. 2:7–8)
Evil Twin
Second Peter 2:7–8 tells us that Lot was a “righteous man.” But the historical record of Lot in Genesis 13, 14, and 19 show little in the way of behavioral righteousness. In fact, the story of Lot is about as close to an R-rated story as you can find in the Bible. Lot was far from perfect.
Here’s a short list of what we learn about Lot in the book of Genesis: he is greedy and materialistic; he compromises with evil; he is unwilling to protect the virtue of his daughters; he gets drunk to the point that he doesn’t even realize his own complicity in incestuous behavior.
Righteous? Really?
Lot’s willingness to receive the angels in Genesis 19 and his willingness to leave Sodom show his faith. But his behavior leaves much to be desired in terms of righteousness. This means his righteousness had to come from somewhere else—and that “somewhere else” is the graciousness of God—the same “somewhere else” that our own righteousness comes from.
This is about the best news we can possibly receive, but it is also difficult to understand. Our natural tendency is to revert to looking at our own performance as the basis for God’s blessing. But grace alone is our only security.
Bottom Line
On your best day you are never good enough to be considered righteous; on your worst day you are never so sinful as to be beyond the reach of grace and the imputed righteousness of Christ.