Genesis 19 · a question people ask
Why does the New Testament call Lot righteous?
In Genesis, Lot welcomes and protects his guests (19:1-3, 6-7), but he also offers his daughters to the crowd (19:8), lingers when told to leave (19:16) and argues for a nearer city (19:18-20). Peter calls him "righteous Lot" and "that righteous man" (2 Peter 2:7-8). Protestants explain this in two main ways, and the two can also be held together.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Counted righteous by God
Those who stress this point to how Scripture uses the word of Abraham: "He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6), and Paul's words, "to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5). On this reading, Lot is called righteous the way believers are, not because his record was good.
Genesis 15:6 · Romans 4:5
Righteous compared with Sodom
Those who stress this point to what Peter says about him: he "was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked" and "was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds" (2 Peter 2:7-8). In Genesis he takes in the strangers, tells the crowd "don’t act so wickedly" (19:7) and warns his sons-in-law (19:14).
2 Peter 2:7-8 · Genesis 19:7 · Genesis 19:14
The verses
“and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),”