The apostle Peter uses the word athesmos twice, and our translators have rendered it as wicked. In the first instance (2 Pet. 2:7), he is treating the subject of Lot, and how he was continually exasperated by the filthy behavior of the inhabitants of Sodom. In the second (3:17), he is warning the recipients of his letter not to be led astray — if they were, they would be falling into “the error of the wicked.”
In the latter instance, the alternative is for them to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus (3:18). One of the things that Christians today have to learn how to do is “keep it simple.” We don’t know the course of rationalization that led to Lot living where he did, but it had to have been complex, akin to what a lot of Christians today are doing on similar subjects. We know that God destroyed Sodom, and we know why. What we don’t is how many long term, committed relationships there were in Sodom. Neither should we care. Growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus is directly related to the avoidance of wickedness. Sad to say, this assertion is now officially controversial in some Christian quarters.