What does 2 Peter 2:8 mean?
In the previous verse, Peter said that God rescued Lot, a "righteous man," from the destruction of Sodom. He mentioned in that verse that Lot was "distressed" or "oppressed" by the depraved conduct of his neighbors. Now in this verse, Peter writes that Lot was "tormented" or "tortured" in his soul by all the sinful deeds he witnessed and heard about. This Greek term is ebasanizen, which means to torture, test, or bring pain. The word is sometimes used to describe a ship trying to sail into a headwind.Also, according to verse 7, Lot was considered a "righteous" man. Clearly, this was not because of his own choices, or his own ability. Lot was considered "righteous" because he had been justified by God. As Abraham's nephew and a believer in the Lord, Lot could be declared righteous by God. God's declaration of righteousness is all that matters when it comes to our eternal salvation, not our personal choices. For Christians, God declares us righteous based on Christ's sinless life and death for our sins.
Like it or not, those who belong to God will not be sinlessly perfect on this side of eternity. However, we should be burdened by the blatant and rebellious acts of sinfulness in the world around us. Lot felt "tortured" by those actions, though clearly not enough to leave town without being dragged out by angels!
Any discussion of Sodom and Gomorrah needs to be clear: the "lawless deeds" which had become normal there were truly heinous. Homosexuality was only the most flagrant and well-known sin. The deeds of Lot's neighbors also included group rape. In their final moments, the men of Sodom demanded that Lot release to them his visitors so they could rape them (Genesis 19:4–7). They became incensed by Lot's judgment of them when he refused.
Lot did not make all the right choices, but he knew in his soul that the violent actions of his "lawless" neighbors were evil. That awareness tortured him. It's essential that God's imperfect-yet-righteous people today remain sensitive enough to the reality of sin to be "tormented" by its impact on the culture around us.
