Lot’s Angels and Jesus as a Great Angel in Paul
Previously:
Announcing A New Blog Series: THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL PAUL
Paul and the Churches: From Corinth to Rome
The Jews believed that God actively governed history, using tragedies to discipline and restore His people. With the destruction of the temple in 70 CE and the loss of their homeland after Bar Kokhba, it was ‘as though’ God was punishing them for a horrific crime like torturing and killing God’s beloved innocent Son. Jesus was thus analogous to the 2 angels’ visit to Lot in Genesis 19 which serves as both an investigation and a catalyst/test for the people’s vileness to become conspicuous. The angels’ presence exposes the depth of Sodom’s sin through the inhabitants’ desire to rape the angels, confirming the need for divine judgment. Jesus uses the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of divine judgment on sin, emphasizing its suddenness and severity. Jesus suggests that rejecting the gospel is a greater offense than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating the high stakes of accepting or rejecting him or his message.
Many Targums and non-biblical sources imply that the angels presence acted as a catalyst to reveal Sodom’s sinfulness. The Sodomites’ aggressive and immoral reaction to the angels—especially their demand to “know/rape” them—serves to make their wickedness conspicuous, justifying God’s judgment. Rabbinic sources like Genesis Rabbah and the Talmud lean heavily on this idea by contrasting the Sodomites’ behavior with Lot’s hospitality. Hellenistic and early Christian sources, like Philo and Josephus, further suggest that the angels’ human appearance provoked the Sodomites’ sinful response, effectively exposing their moral failure – just as Jesus’ exceptionality brought the wrath of the Jewish elite. This would explain Paul using the category of “angel” to describe Christ. Ehrman notes:
In the context of the verse Paul is reminding the Galatians of how they first received him when he was ill in their midst, and they helped restore him to health. This is what the verse in question says: “Even though my bodily condition was a test for you, you did not mock or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God, as Jesus Christ (Gal 4:14).” I had always simply read the verse to say that the Galatians had received Paul in his infirm state the way they would have received an angelic visitor, or even Christ himself. In fact the grammar of the Greek suggests something quite different. As the aforementioned Gieschen has argued, and has now been affirmed in a book on Christ as an angel by New Testament specialist Susan Garrett, the verse is not saying that the Galatians received Paul as an angel or as Christ; it is saying that they received him as they would an angel, such as Christ. By clear implication, then, Christ is an angel.
Paul seems clearly to be alluding to and contrasting the way the angels were received by Sodom with how exemplifying hospitality the church received Christ and how Paul was received. In the Old Testament, God repeatedly commands His people to receive and care for widows, orphans, and aliens, reflecting His concern for the marginalized. Jesus in this way is the Word incarnate because he extends this concept to include love of enemy in Q (Luke 6:27-28; Matthew 5:44): “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Paul too expresses this love of enemy sentiment (Romans 12:14, 17-21) which may suggest Paul knew Q because the notion is more thought through in Paul, drawing on Old Testament wisdom (Proverbs 25:21-22), whereas Matthew and Luke portray Jesus as the innovator: “You have heard it said …, but I say to you.” Q and Paul are thus fulfilling the meaning of the Law to love God with all your heart by loving the other person as yourself, Jesus thus being the Law incarnate. I will compare Paul, Q, and the Gospel of John in the next 2 essays.
Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, interprets the angels’ visit allegorically. He suggests their human form was meant to engage with Sodom’s inhabitants, revealing their moral state. While Philo doesn’t use the term “test,” he implies that the angels’ presence exposed the Sodomites’ depravity, particularly their lust and inhospitality, as a prelude to divine judgment. The Jewish historian Josephus (1st century CE) describes the angels as appearing as “young men” of extraordinary beauty, which incited the Sodomites’ lustful behavior. He frames their visit as part of God’s investigation into Sodom’s sins, with the Sodomites’ reaction serving to confirm their guilt. The angels’ attractiveness could be seen as a catalyst that provoked the city’s sinful response.
The Bible contains several instances where sin is exposed, made conspicuous or tested, often to reveal the moral state of individuals or communities, sometimes with divine intervention or judgment. After the Israelites escaped Egypt, they grew impatient waiting for Moses to descend from Mount Sinai. They crafted a golden calf to worship, revealing their idolatry and lack of faith in God. This sin was made conspicuous when Moses returned, saw their revelry, and shattered the tablets of the Law. God’s judgment followed, with about 3,000 people killed by the Levites, and a plague struck the people, exposing their rebellion.
After the fall of Jericho, Achan secretly took forbidden items (gold, silver, and a garment) from the spoils, violating God’s command to destroy everything. Israel’s subsequent defeat at Ai revealed that sin was present. Through divine guidance, Achan’s act was exposed publicly when he was singled out by lot, and he confessed. His sin brought judgment on himself and his family, who were stoned, highlighting the consequences of hidden disobedience.
In the early Christian community, Ananias and Sapphira sold property but lied about giving the full proceeds to the church, keeping some for themselves. Their sin was exposed when Peter, through divine insight, confronted them. Both fell dead instantly, revealing the seriousness of deceit and hypocrisy in the church. This event made their sin conspicuous and instilled fear among the believers.
While camped near Moab, the Israelites were lured into sexual immorality and idolatry with Moabite women, influenced by Balaam’s counsel (Numbers 31:16). Their sin was openly displayed through their participation in pagan worship. God sent a plague, killing 24,000, and Phinehas’ zeal in stopping the sin (by killing an offending couple) highlighted the public exposure of their rebellion.
These examples show a pattern where sin is either revealed through divine testing, human failure, or direct confrontation, often leading to judgment or correction. Unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, where angels tested the city’s hospitality and morality, these cases vary in method—some involve divine insight (Ananias and Sapphira), others public failure (Golden Calf) or hidden sin exposed through consequences (Achan). Each underscores the Bible’s theme that sin, whether overt or concealed, will ultimately be brought to light.
In Genesis 19, angels visit Sodom to assess its moral state, confirming its sinfulness through the inhabitants’ actions. This motif of divine or supernatural beings investigating human morality, often leading to judgment, appears in Greek and Roman mythology as well. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book VIII), Zeus and Hermes, disguised as mortals, visit Phrygia to test human hospitality. They are refused by many but welcomed by the humble Baucis and Philemon. The gods reward the couple’s kindness by sparing them from a flood that destroys the inhospitable region. This mirrors the Genesis 19 theme of divine beings assessing human behavior, with hospitality (or lack thereof) as a key moral criterion.
The story of Paris of Troy being tasked by Zeus to judge the beauty of Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite indirectly involves divine scrutiny of human (or semi-divine) actions. The gods observe Paris’s decision, which leads to catastrophic consequences (the Trojan War), reflecting a divine evaluation of human choices, akin to the angels’ assessment in Sodom.
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book I), Jupiter (Zeus’s Roman counterpart) descends to earth to investigate rumors of human wickedness. He visits the impious King Lycaon, who attempts to deceive and kill him. Jupiter’s test confirms humanity’s depravity, leading to a flood to wipe out mankind, except for the righteous Deucalion and Pyrrha. This closely resembles the Genesis narrative, with a divine figure directly evaluating human sinfulness and enacting judgment.
These myths share the theme of divine beings testing or observing human morality, often resulting in reward for the virtuous or punishment for the wicked, much like the angels’ visit to Sodom. The emphasis on hospitality, justice, or piety as measures of worthiness is a recurring element across these traditions. God sent Jesus to the world for a reason analogous as to why he sent the angels to Lot: a test. It is seeing ourselves in those that wrongfully killed Jesus that breaks Satan’s spell and circumcises the fleshly from the heart to reveal the law written on it.
Next Time: