Article: "Verses with 'Zero-Support' in the Modern Critical Text of the Greek New Testament"

 

Jeffrey T. Riddle, "Verses with 'Zero-Support' in the Modern Critical Text of the Greek New Testament," Quarterly Record, No. 649 (October-December 2024): 21-26.

A PDF of the print version of the article can be found here.

An expanded online version of the article with complete End Notes can also be found here.

JTR

The Vision (11.1.24): Lot: That Righteous Man

 

Image: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 1929-1930, J. J. Haverty Collection.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Genesis 19:23-38.

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt (Genesis 19:29).

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father (Genesis 19:36).

And delivered just Lot… (2 Peter 2:7). For that righteous man…. (2 Peter 2:8).

Genesis 19 is, at one and the same time, one of the greatest chapters in the Bible demonstrating the righteous judgment of God in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and one of the greatest demonstrating his mercy in the salvation of Lot.

Lot had a complicated history. He had pitched his tent toward Sodom (13:12), dwelt in Sodom (14:12), and sat in its gate (19:1). But he had also extended hospitality to the angelic visitors which came to Sodom. He had seemed to obey the angels, but when told to leave the wicked city on the eve of its destruction he had lingered (19:16). Still, the LORD intervened, remembering Abraham’s intercession for his nephew, and brought Lot “out of the overthrow” (v. 29).

The account of what happened later in Genesis 19:30-38 is one of the most disturbing in Scripture, as Lot, in a drunken stupor, commits incest with his daughters and fathers two sons who will be the heads of two nations (Moab and the Ammonites respectively), which will be a snare to the descendants of Abraham in years to come.

Given the sorry state of things, how could be apostle Peter refer to Lot as “just [righteous] Lot” and “that righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7-8)?

We must gather that Lot was a believer. Like Abraham he was saved by grace through faith in Christ. What Genesis 15:6 says of Abraham we can assume for Lot: He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. If saved, he was granted the righteous life of Christ. See:

1 Corinthians 5:2:1  For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us [elect believers], who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That’s how Sodom-dwelling, lingering, and even incestuous Lot could be called righteous and that’s the only way any sinner can be called righteous in the sight of a holy and righteous God.

The Christian looks at Lot and asks not, “How was this man considered righteous?”, but he looks within and asks, “How can I be called righteous?” How could adulterous and murderous David be called righteous? Or church-persecuting Paul?

Do you really think your sin is greater than the righteousness of Christ? It is not. If you think it is, you have made your own sin a false god and worship at a false idol.

Does this mean it does not matter how we live? The apostle Paul raised this question in Romans 6 when he asked, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound” (v. 1)? He answered, “God forbid” (v. 2).

The authentic believer experiences not only salvation through Christ, but also progressive sanctification. This person grows in holiness, but he is made righteous only the way Lot was, by the righteousness of Christ. As one has put it, When God the Father looks at us, the Son (S-o-n) gets in his eyes. Praise be to God!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle