Jude 1:7

My Notes

What Does Jude 1:7 Mean?

Jude cites Sodom and Gomorrah as a permanent warning: even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them — Jude connects the false teachers he is addressing (v.4) to the most infamous judgment in Scripture. The cities about them — Admah, Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:23) — shared in both the sin and the destruction. The judgment was regional, not isolated.

In like manner (ton homoion tropon toutois — in the same way as these) — the cities sinned in the same manner as the fallen angels of v.6. The pattern connects: angels who abandoned their proper place (v.6) and cities that pursued unnatural desire (v.7) share the same trajectory of boundary-violation.

Giving themselves over to fornication (ekporneuo — to engage in gross sexual immorality, the intensified form of porneuo) — the word is stronger than ordinary fornication. The ek prefix intensifies: utter, complete, unrestrained sexual immorality. The giving themselves over indicates total surrender to the behavior — not occasional sin but lifestyle commitment to sexual excess.

Going after strange flesh (sarkos heteras — different flesh, other flesh) — the pursuit of sexual relations that cross the boundaries God established. The strange (heteras — other, different, of a different kind) flesh indicates relations outside the natural order — the pursuit of what is fundamentally different from what was designed. Genesis 19:4-5 records the men of Sodom demanding the visitors for sexual purposes.

Are set forth for an example (deigma — a specimen, a sample placed on display for observation) — the destruction of Sodom is not just historical. It is exemplary — set forth as a display, a specimen of what divine judgment looks like. The cities are museum exhibits of God's response to unchecked sexual rebellion. The example is permanent: the ruined landscape testifies across millennia.

Suffering the vengeance (dike — justice, the judicial penalty, the righteous punishment) of eternal fire (pur aionion) — the punishment is both temporal (the brimstone that fell on Sodom) and eternal (the fire that does not end). The vengeance is dike — not arbitrary revenge but judicial penalty. The fire is eternal — extending beyond the historical destruction into permanent judgment. The cities that burned in Genesis 19 continue to suffer the consequences in eternity.

The verse connects historical judgment to eternal punishment: the fire that destroyed Sodom was the visible, temporal expression of the eternal fire that continues. The example is both past (the cities burned) and present (they are still suffering the vengeance of eternal fire).

Reflection Questions

• 1.What does Sodom being 'set forth for an example' reveal about the permanent, public, instructional nature of this judgment?
• 2.How does 'giving themselves over' describe total commitment to sin rather than occasional stumbling — and why does the distinction matter?
• 3.What does 'the vengeance of eternal fire' mean — and how does it connect the temporal destruction of Sodom to ongoing eternal judgment?
• 4.How does Jude applying Sodom's example to first-century false teachers demonstrate that the warning is still relevant — and where do you see the same pattern today?

Devotional

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha are set forth for an example. An example. A display. A specimen placed on a shelf for the entire world to observe across every generation. Sodom is not just a story. It is an exhibit — a permanent demonstration of what happens when sexual rebellion reaches its fullest expression and God responds with fire.

Giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh. Giving themselves over — the surrender was total. Not occasional compromise. Complete commitment to sexual immorality of the most extreme kind. The going after strange flesh describes the pursuit of what crosses the boundaries God established — relations fundamentally outside the design. The people of Sodom did not stumble into this. They pursued it.

Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The fire fell in Genesis 19. Brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven. The cities burned. The landscape was permanently altered. The Dead Sea region where Sodom once stood remains a desolate, sulfurous wasteland to this day. But Jude says the suffering is not only past. It is eternal — the vengeance of eternal fire. The temporal destruction was the visible expression of an eternal judgment that continues.

Are set forth for an example. The destruction is intentionally public. God did not destroy Sodom in private. He destroyed it as a display — a specimen for every generation to observe. The ruined landscape is the exhibit hall. The sulfur is the evidence. The absence of life where cities once stood is the testimony: this is what God does when sexual rebellion is given free rein.

The example is still relevant. Jude wrote about Sodom to address false teachers in the first-century church who were following the same trajectory (v.4: turning the grace of God into lasciviousness). The pattern had not changed: unchecked sexual rebellion, justified by perverted theology, heading toward the same fire. The exhibit that was Sodom is still on display. The example has not been retired. And the eternal fire has not been quenched.

The vengeance is not arbitrary. It is dike — justice. The penalty fits the crime. The fire that destroyed the cities that gave themselves over to fornication is the righteous response of a holy God to the wholesale violation of his created order. The example is a warning. And the warning is still speaking.

Commentary

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Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture