Jude 1:7, commentary and pictures

Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities around them abandoned themselves to sexual immorality and unnatural pursuit contrary to the created order, and they stand exposed as a warning example enduring the retribution of eternal fire, proving that divine judgment is real and follows corruption and ungodly conduct to reveal the terrible outcome of sin. The same evils are reappearing in the present day, with the world walking in the steps of Sodom as it walked in the steps of the world before the flood, until its follies make it a second Sodom. These are truths all who live in the last days must know and keep constantly before them, made prominent and studied earnestly so they may learn their danger and how to escape it. Therefore believers sanctified and preserved in Christ are urged to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered, raising the standard of truth and magnifying God's trampled law to call transgressors back and arouse men and women to prepare to meet God. Only submission to the principles of that law is safety, making Christian precept and practice as salt urgently needed, especially in instructing children to shun the follies of a degenerate age.

Sodom's Sin and Judgment

Sodom and Gomorrah with the cities about them abandoned themselves to fornication and the pursuit of strange flesh, that is to sexual immorality including unnatural desire contrary to the created order. Their destruction for that unnatural sin is held up as the condition to be met and studied in order to meet apostasy.

They are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, proving that divine judgment is real. That judgment follows corruption and ungodly conduct and lays bare the terrible results of sin. Continued sexual sin brings certain destruction, so that those who persist in being unjust and filthy will at last be sentenced to remain so.

No status or privilege secures anyone from that judgment. Corrupt persons pursuing their own desires will be found in every city.

In Jude the verse belongs to the description in verses 1-8 of the pollution of the world. It there exposes the working agencies Satan uses to corrupt the world.

It belongs to Jude's letter addressed to those sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. It stands within his urging to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. That same message guards believers against the seductive influence of false teachers, men having a form of godliness who are not safe leaders.

Prophecy for the Last Days

Jude 1:7 shows conditions that will be met in the present day, including apostasy that workers must study in order to meet it. It holds up the destruction of the immoral cities for unnatural sin as an example of suffering divine vengeance. It is among the truths all who live in these last days should know, to be made prominent in discourses and kept constantly before the people and studied earnestly so they may learn their dangers and how to avoid them.

The very same evils were practiced in the cities of 1907, and the Lord permitted His judgments to fall upon them. San Francisco reveals what many cities are and what their reward will be, and other cities will be destroyed in like manner until God fully reveals that He knows the secret things of men. The present world is following in the steps of Sodom just as it is following in the steps of the Noachian world. The world's follies are making it like a second Sodom.

Call to Contend and Reform

Earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints defines medical missionary work and the work set before Christians. That contending is to bring people back from transgression of God's commandments and to proclaim the gospel of Christ with earnestness and zeal as light upon commandment-breakers, in order to arouse men and women to prepare to meet God. It is to raise the standard of the truth delivered to the saints and to magnify God's law, which is being trampled underfoot by the disloyal, and to make it honorable, since sin is the transgression of the law. Because the present world is following in the steps of Sodom and Gomorrah just as it follows the steps of the Noachian world, Christian precept and practice as salt are greatly needed, and submission to the principles of God's law is the only safety. The world's follies are making it like a second Sodom in a degenerate age, and children need instruction that will help them shun those follies.

Continued sexual sin brings certain destruction, as shown by Sodom set forth as an example of the terrible results of sin. Those who persist in being unjust and filthy will receive the sentence that they remain so. The Sodomites are set forth as an example against forward, flirtatious conduct in which young women make advances to young men and get up a flirtation with them, with common, cheap talk and ways. Those who act in this way are fast becoming like the Sodomites, and their forwardness is offensive to God. Profession of Christianity does not excuse such conduct but makes it a mockery of the Christian name and a perversity of character showing leading and control by Satan, the great adversary of God and man, while the good, gracious Lord bears long with such people.

The verse applies in the last days when false teachers arise and become actively zealous. They present all kinds of theories to divert minds from the very truth that defines the position that can be occupied with safety. This is at a time when Satan is working with power upon religionists, leading them to make a pretense of being righteous while failing to place themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Guarding against their seductive influence requires recognizing that men may have a form of godliness and yet not be safe leaders.