Jude Series: Jude 7-The Emphasis of Jude 5-7

Jude 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (NIV)

It is extremely important for us to remember as I pointed in detail in our introduction to the epistle of Jude that the opponents were not false teachers but rather unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

These Zealots erroneously believed that they could bring in the kingdom of God by their own efforts, which in their view required that they fight Rome and remove her from Judaea.

This contradicted the teaching of Jesus and His apostles since Jesus Christ Himself taught that He personally would bring in the kingdom at His Second Advent (Matt. 24-25; Rev. 19-20).

He would in fact destroy the final stage of the Roman Empire at that time (Dan. 2:33-35; 7:23-27; 9:27; 11:36-45).

If the Christian community in Judaea did not continue to adhere to the teaching of Jesus and His apostles, then they like the unrepentant apostate members of the Exodus generation would be disciplined by God and if they refused to repent after being disciplined, they eventually they would suffer the sin unto to death like these members of the Exodus generation did.

Therefore, these three examples which are presented in Jude 5-7 serve as a warning to the Christian community in Judaea that they must continue to adhere to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles and reject the attempts of these Zealots to join them in their rebellion against Rome.

Now, we also remember that like the Exodus generation, the Christian community in Judaea need not worry about experiencing eternal condemnation in the eternal lake of fire because both groups were declared justified through faith in the Lord.

Rather, they should fear facing the Lord’s discipline and loss of rewards at the Bema Seat if they are seduced into following the Zealots in their rebellion against Rome, which was ultimately, against the Lord Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, it is extremely important that the reader also understand that these three examples which appear in Jude 5-7 are designed to emphasize with the Christian community in Judaea the dire and terrible consequences of rebelling against the Lord.

Each of these three examples are by no means designed to show them how the sins of the Exodus generation, the fallen angels of antediluvian period and the citizens of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim correspond to the sins of the Zealots.

In other words, the emphasis is not upon the type of sins these individuals committed unrepentantly, which led to the Lord judging them.

But rather, the emphasis is upon the fact that they all rebelled against the Lord and not the manner in which they rebelled.

Jude 5 asserts that the sin of the Exodus generation which was unrepentant unbelief after their justification by faith.

Jude 6 asserts that the sins of the fallen angels during the antediluvian period was possessing the bodies of unregenerate men in order to have sex and procreate with unregenerate women in order to prevent the incarnation of the Son of God.

Jude 7 asserts that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as the cities around them were engaged in homosexual activity.

Two of the examples are related to sexual sins but the Exodus generation is unrepentant unbelief.

However, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around was homosexuality, which was not the sin of the fallen angels.

Their sin was leaving the realm which God ordained for the angelic race in order to cohabitate with the female members of the human race.

All the sins in which each of these three groups committed unrepentantly did in fact manifest their rebellion against the Lord.

Thus, it is better to understand Jude 5-7 as examples of the consequences of rebelling against the Lord, which these unregenerate Jewish Zealots were doing by attempting to bring in the kingdom of God independently of the Lord Jesus Christ.