What Jesus' Brother Jude Wanted Us to Know | Verse 7 | The Historical Example of Sodom and Gomor
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” –Jude 7
In verse seven of Jude’s little letter, we come to his third historical example of what happens to those who have no sound faith in God—shown in their unbelief—and, rather, rebel against God. Each illustration serves to deliver a comprehensive and irrefutable argument that unbelief and rebellion against God will always end in judgement, whether you are in the visible church (v. 5), whether you are an invisible spirit (v. 6), or whether you are outside of the church (v. 7). All souls and spirits will be held accountable to God the Father as to whether or not they have truly repented of sin and believed in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that in so doing, live lives that are characteristic of that belief, i.e. godliness.
True faith will be identifiable by a truly transformed life, hence the ones who pervert the grace of God into an opportunity for the flesh are called ungodly and are thrice condemned, here, along with those who have long ago rebelled as well. Do not believe the unbelievers, Jude says. Their false teaching and erroneous subtleties are damning.
Here in verse seven, the third example of God’s judgement that Jude uses is none other than the infamous account of the hostile and sexually immoral towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Contrary to modern day reinterpretations that claim Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for being unhospitable, these cities are clearly stated as having “likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” (v. 7).
The passage in 2 Peter 2 that Jude continues to parallel says it this way: "if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly . . . then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority" (vv. 6, 9–10).
What is significant about the way that Jude constructs his argument is that verse seven confirms verse six, which confirms verse five. Put another way, the “punishment of eternal fire” (v. 7) is the “judgement of the great day” (v. 6) on all “those who [do] not believe” (v. 5). This is the outcome of unbelief and rebellion. Each example builds to the next one.
Additionally, the nature of Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin should not escape us. First, we must humbly recognize that unbelief is due to a hardness of heart, which is a condition that gets worse and worse over time. Unbelief will be identifiable by a truly corrupt life because the Holy Spirit will be proven not to dwell there. Otherwise an individual would be able “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). Left to our own devices, however, our stubborn unbelief will, generally, always reveal itself in sexual immorality.
With no moral restraints, men and women will apply their natural, God-given sexual inclinations to “the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” (Rom 1:24). This, because they rejected God as their Creator (vv. 19–23, 25).
The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah did not stop there, however. They have become the showcase example in Scripture for the clear condemnation of even more perverse forms of sexual immorality, namely homosexuality. As the hearts of sinners become more and more impervious to the truth of God’s Word, the desire for sinful outlets increases and becomes even more twisted. Paul explains this in Romans 1 again where God gave them up even further to their own wickedness, seen in men and women who “exchanged” and “gave up natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” (26–27). Women were seeking women and men were seeking men.
The Genesis account of the final hours of Sodom and Gomorrah is seen in an uncontrollable, passionate lust for this very immorality. It details what takes place when the men of the city see the two male messengers—actually angels—of God enter the city and stay at Lot's house:
"The men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (Gen 19:4–5).
To know in this sense is a euphemism for sexual relations, much like we read of Adam, who, "knew Eve his wife, and she conceived" (Gen 4:1). Then later, "And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son" (v. 25), or, likewise, when "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch" (v. 17).
When Lot pleaded with the men of Sodom not to be so wicked, their uncontrollable lust incited violent hostility. The angels rescued Lot by pulling him back through the front door of his house and then struck all of the men of Sodom blind. The insatiable appetite of sin is painfully clear in these men: "they wore themselves out groping for the door" (19:11).
The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jude says, is likened to that of the angels in verse six in that they sought unnatural sin. Angels, not being sexual creatures by nature, pursued unnatural ways to indulge in the act anyway—something we discovered in our previous post. Likewise, Jude says, men and women’s unnatural desire and pursuit of sexual conduct is the outworking of unbelief and is, in itself, an abomination.
Jude is reminding his readers that like the unbelieving Israelites, the rebellious angels, and the wicked Sodomites, the “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4) will undergo “a punishment of eternal fire” (v. 7). They will be cast into Hell—the unquenchable lake of fire.
Is there any wonder that he appeals to them and urges them “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3)? This is the only source of truth that we can count on and by it alone can we “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1).
Contrary to the false teachers’ perverted—that is, twisted—teachings, namely that God’s grace does not actually prohibit sin, the appeal from Scripture is to bear fruit—deeds—in keeping with repentance (Matt 3:8), so there is obviously a dividing line between sinful activity and righteous activity. We must not forget that “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” (Gal 5:17), so it goes without saying that all deeds and all fruit will fall into one of these two categories. For anyone to teach in a way that confuses these two categories and attempts to move certain activities from one to the other, under the pretense of God’s grace, is a false teacher that will be anathematized. This is Jude’s warning.
Jude has shown us the varied contexts of unbelief and rebellion, as well as the different levels of depravity that is manifested because of it and the judgement that is resultant. It has happened all throughout history and serves as an example for what holy, consistent, unchanging God will do to those who continue to promulgate false teaching today.
We ought to be motivated to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 who were “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” in order to not be carried away by “every wind of doctrine” that blows through the visible church (Eph 4), or to be deluded by “plausible arguments” (Col 2:4), or to be sucked into the “irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” (1 Tim 6:20).
The warning in Scripture is clear: “I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Lk 12:5).
The promise in Scripture is equally clear: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame’” (Rom 10:9–11).
It is only with this repentance of sin and faith in Christ’s work on the cross “that we may have confidence for the day of judgment” by not fearing the punishment that is meant only for unbelief and rebellion because “perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment” (1 Jn 4:17–18).
Paul encouraged the Ephesians in this way: “You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (1:13–14).
Contend for the faith, dear Christian, and do not be yoked to any man or woman who would try to convince you that God’s grace lightens His command to be holy as He is holy.
In Christ Alone,
Ben
