Free Bible Commentary
“Jude 1:5-7”
Categories: Jude“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
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Like Peter did in his letter (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1), the Lord’s brother desired to stir up the memories of the people that he wrote to (verse 5). Jude reminded his brethren that there are ample inspired, historical accounts of God punishing people for the sins of rebellion and “gross immorality” (verse 7). The selected examples of sinfulness and God’s subsequent punishment served two important purposes. They demonstrated that the “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness” (verse 4) would not get away with their wickedness, and also that Jude’s audience would not escape God’s judgement should they go after the appalling example of the false teachers.
As the Apostle Paul had done in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Jude cited the example of Israel’s dissatisfaction, dissension and disbelief after God liberated them from Egyptian slavery, and then “subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Verse 5 seems to imply that the false teachers had truly become obedient, converted disciples of Christ at some point in time, but had fallen away from the faith having become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and a heart of disbelief. If God “laid” His disobedient children “low in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:5) after having saved them from captivity, His consistency dictates that He will punish all His rebellious people who live in any era of time.
God even judged His “angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode” (verse 6). As Peter did 2 Peter 2:4, Jude treated the “eternal” punishment of God’s rebellious angels as common knowledge among his readers, even though there is no specific example of this incident in the biblical cannon. What is important to note is that even beings as near unto God as His “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14) suffered eternal condemnation for rebelling against His holy sovereignty. And “if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,” how much more will he “keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:4, 9-10).
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is set in the Bible as the primary example of God’s fiery judgment against the wickedness of man (Genesis 19:1-29). That they “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh” (verse 7) is a transparent condemnation of the sin of homosexuality. The men of Sodom wanted to “have relations” with the angels that they perceived to be other “men” (Genesis 19:5), even if they had to do so forcibly with violence. God condemns the sin of homosexuality repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9), as he does all other forms of a sexual sin. All who engage in such immoral acts without remorse or repentance will be met with “the punishment of eternal fire” of Hell come Judgment Day.
It is critical to note that in these three examples of God’s judgment against rebellion and sinfulness that the first was against God’s covenant people, Israel, the second against His non-human, angelic spiritual beings, and the last was against basely wicked people who gave no consideration to God at all. The Lord will condemn every and all living beings that refuse to humble themselves before Him, and comply with His perfect will and sovereignty regardless of their status before Him.
Please read Jude 1:8-10 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
-Louie Taylor
