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Luke

About this book
Chapter 17

1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8 Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’? 9 He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”⁠ 11 Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, 13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.) 17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.” 20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’⁠ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”⁠ 22 Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.⁠ 23 Then people will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. 24 For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage—right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!⁠ 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.⁠ 35 There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 36 Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Luke 17:32 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 11:2

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In 1 Clement, the author holds up Lot as an example to follow and his wife as a warning, as Jesus does in Luke 17, the oldest case of this outside the New Testament. Clement also gives a reason for her fate, saying she doubted God and turned against Lot.

Passages

Luke 17:32

New Testament
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 11:2

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
1 For his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved from Sodom when all the surrounding country was judged by fire and sulfur. In this way the Master made clear beforehand that He does not abandon those who set their hope on Him, but appoints for punishment and torment those who turn aside. 2 For when his wife had gone out with him, being of a different mind and not in agreement, she was appointed as a sign, so that she became a pillar of salt to this day, in order that it might be known to all men that those who are double-minded and those who doubt the power of God are set for judgment and as a sign to all generations.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

References

“... This use focuses particularly around the dyad of Lot and his wife as positive and negative exemplars, a process identified in the New Testament writings themselves (Lk. 17. 26-32). The oldest such example outside the New Testament is found in 1 Clement 11. Here, a summary of the events of Genesis 19, focusing on Lot as exemplar, occurs amongst a list of exemplary models for Christians from the Old Testament narratives. The list includes Noah, Enoch, Abraham and Rahab. [...] This passage contains two themes that will recur in other texts. Lot is rescued from Sodom ‘for his hospitality and piety’ and is held up as an example of those who place their trust in the deity, while Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt because she ‘changed her mind’ in ‘doubt and distrust of God’s power’. ...”
Michael Carden, Sodomy: A History of a Christian Biblical Myth, BibleWorld (London: Equinox, 2004), 120.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Luke 17:32 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 11:2

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