Echoes of Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of the Lord: Intertextuality and Tradition in 2 Peter 3:7–13

Abstract

Abstract This study proposes that the writer of 2 Peter has echoed the narrative tradition of Sodom and Gomorrah in 2 Pet 3:7–13. After their destruction in Gen 18–19, these cities were developed in subsequent literature into archetypes of wickedness and judgment and eventually were applied eschatologically to the day of the Lord. The writer signals his use of Sodom and Gomorrah as a prototype for God’s eschatological judgment and salvation of the cosmos in 2:6–8. Numerous corresponding words, phrases, and themes demonstrate the echo and provide fresh insights into many of the vexing questions associated with 2 Pet 3:7–13.