Finally, in this page entitled “Jude 5-8: Falsely Interpreted – Ironically Helpful!,” we will discuss what some use as another “clobber passage” against people with same-sex attraction.
The people who use it against people with same-sex attraction use it simply because it makes a passing reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. In their ignorant minds, if it even mentions Sodom and Gomorrah, then it must have to do with gay people! How inane is such thinking!
While not often used, ironically, it is a most helpful passage to debunk the false interpretation of it and all other “clobber passages!”
The Passage
7 “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.” (Jude 1:5-8, NKJV)
This is the Key “Sodom & Gomorrah” Passage to Debunk All Other False Interpretations!
In this passage, we see the following facts:
- The Lord first saved the people who came out of the land of Egypt. (They once knew God. Cf. Romans 1:21 and the expounding on it.)
- But then, whom did the Lord later destroy? “Those who did not believe.”
- Who else did the Lord condemn? “The angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode.” (Cf. Genesis 6; 2 Peter 2:4-10)
- Were Sodom & Gomorrah the only cities? No. Jude describes “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them…”
- What did Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, give themselves over to and what did they do to act upon it? They “gave themselves over to *sexual immorality” and went after *”strange flesh.”
- What else defines their characters and the resulting behaviors?
- They “defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.” (We will exegete these words below.)
NOTE: Ignorant People Falsely Interpret Bible Verses. But True Disciples Accurately Exegete Bible Verses
- On points 1 & 2: God condemned people who were “saved” by Him, and yet later became unbelievers (i.e. those who gave up faith in His promises of salvation).
- On point 3: The “angels,” to which this passage refers, had sexual relations with “the daughters of men” (Cf. Genesis 6; 2 Peter 2:4-10).
- On point 4: “Other cities,” besides Sodom & Gomorrah, are “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” People who claim that “God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality” are left to explain why God brought “vengeance of eternal fire” on these other cities. To understand why, all they need do is to read this verse in its entirety.
- On point 5 & 6: Here is where proper exegesis comes in to play:
Exegesis of the Pertinent Words in Jude verses 7
They Gave Themselves Over to “Sexual Immorality”
As we have repeatedly stressed in other pages referring to the so-called “clobber passages,” there is no word for “sexual” in any of them, including this one. The word “sexual” in this passage is interpolated into the translations by association. As in the other verses, the translators decided (based on context or prejudice) that there is a sexual association, connecting it to the word that usually follows: (πορνεία porneia), translated “immorality.”
However, in this passage, the words translated “sexual” and “immorality” are more specific than in other passages. Rather than using the usual root πορνεία porneia, Jude uses the root compound word ἐκπορνεύω ekporneuō, consisting of “ek” (out from, out of, etc. where we get our word “exit”) and πορνεύω porneuō, which in other parts of scripture refers to prostitution: “to prostitute one’s body to the lust of another” (Strong’s Dictionary) and also, “to be given to idolatry, to worship idols, to permit one’s self to be drawn away by another into idolatry” (ibid).
ἐκπορνεύω ekporneuō, literally translated, means that they were “out-prostitutes,” who were temple cult prostitutes engaged in sexual debauchery associated with idol worship. There is much extant literature to support the fact that this was the socio-religious reality of paganism from recorded ancient times to western civilization in Rome and Corinth.
NOW HERE IS AN EXEGETICAL JACKPOT FOR US. Here, Jude is telling us, quite plainly, what most thinking, learned, exegetes already know: The reference to “sexual immorality” in Sodom & Gomorrah and in Paul’s day, as referred to in 1 Corinthians 6, is prostitution in the context of idol worship.
Celestial & Terrestrial Bodies
They Gave Themselves Over to “Srange Flesh”
Ignorant people who want to believe that this passage condemns people with same-sex attraction have said that those who “have given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh” in this passage are men who have acted in a sexually “strange” manner by “going after” other men as a form of “sexual immorality.”
Now here is a real kicker! The Greek word in this passage for “strange” is ἕτερος heteros, which means “another,” “other,” or “different,” (where we get the word hetero-sexual!), as opposed to homo-sexual, derived from the Greek word ὁμός homos, meaning “same.”
So the literal translation of a verse that people use to condemn people with same-sex attraction actually, literally translates to “other” flesh, or “another” flesh, or “different” sex.
So is you want to put the word “sexual” there, what the verse could actually be condemning is “hetero” sexuality!
A Different King of Flesh
What this verse is actually talking about when it says “strange flesh” is a “different” flesh than is normally human. Reading this passage in context, one sees that the “strange flesh” herein referred to is that of the angels, who were of a different “hetero” type of flesh. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:39-40:
39 “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
40 “There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” (1 Corinthians 15:39-40, NKJV)
The Apostle Paul tells us that there are celestial (heavenly) bodies and terrestrial (earthly) bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. And do you know what Greek word the Apostle used here to describe the fact that there is a difference between the celestial and terrestrial bodies? The word he used is “another.”
“The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” (1 Corinthian 15:30)
Now, do you know what Greek word Paul uses to point out this difference between the terrestrial body — “another” type of body?
Correct! It is ἕτερος heteros (hetero-!)
- Jude uses this Greek word ἕτερος heteros to say that depraved men “went after strange (heteros) flesh.
- Paul uses this same Greek word ἕτερος heteros to tell us that the bodies of celestial (heavenly) beings are ἕτερος heteros (i.e. different, strange to the other) than terrestrial (earthly) beings. The same Greek word!
So, when Jude tells us that those people in Sodom, Gomorrah, and “other cities” “went after strange flesh,” he is telling us that those fallen angels wanted to have sex with earthly bodies, and debauched people with earthy bodies wanted to have sex with beings who possessed heavenly bodies.
Who, then, did “the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house” (Genesis 19:4b) go after?
Correct! They went after… ANGELS! The two men that all those “men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young…surrounded the house” to gang-rape ANGELS.
“Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Genesis 19:1 (NKJV) When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.” (Genesis 19:1)
The two men that those “Sodomites” “went after” had CELESTIAL BODIES. They were ANGELS.
- They were NOT men who were looking for a life partner as all gay people, deep in their hearts, are hoping to find.
- They were NOT two men or two women who have lived together for decades, have joint bank accounts, have built a home together with a picket fence, a flower bed, and two dogs in the yard.
- They were NOT two men who have stayed at each other’s bedsides in the hospital when one or the other was ill or dying.
Just as the angels left their “own position” (NKJV: “proper domain”, Cf Genesis 6:14) and performed sexual acts with humans, “in the SAME MANNER,” humans in Sodom perversely left their “own position” to forcefully perform sexual acts upon heavenly angels.
The “Sodomites” whom Paul and Jude were referring to were gangs of sexually perverted, spiritually backslidden, apostates who, “although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God” (Romans 1:21).
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32).
“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself” (Romans 2:1)
Exegesis of “They Defile the Flesh, Reject Authority, and Speak Evil of Dignitaries” (Jude 8)
Let me begin by saying that I am one who prefers the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Holy Bible. There are several reasons, for which I will not go into detail at this time. However, in the case of Jude verse 8, other translations are a bit more helpful.
- “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.” (New King James Version, NKJV)
- “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.” (English Standard Version, ESV)
- “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.” (New American Standard Bible, NASB)
- “Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones.” (New Revised Standard Version, NRSV)
- “In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.” (New International Version (NIV)
Exegesis of Important Words
- *”defile the *flesh, (Greek: “defile” = μιαίνω miainō: to dye a fabric or to stain; Greek “flesh” σάρξ sarx: the literal flesh of a person’s body, or symbolically, the sensuous nature of a human being, with and without reference to sin and depravity.)
- reject *authority, (Greek: κυριότης kyriotēs: lordship or government)
- speak *evil of *dignitaries, (Greek “evil” = βλασφημέω blasphēmeō: to blaspheme; “dignitaries” (Greek: δόξα doxa: “glories’ or “glorious ones”)
So, the people whom Jude is describing — the ones of Sodom and other cities surrounding them — defiled their flesh within the context of “speaking evil of dignitaries” (NKJV); “blaspheming the glorious ones” (ESV); “reviling angelic majesties” (NASB); “slandering the glorious ones” (NRSV); “heaping abuse on celestial beings” (NIV)
In no way whatsoever is Jude referring to people with same-sex attraction who love the Lord and would not dare to blaspheme any heavenly being.
For My Friends with Opposite-Sex Attraction Who Have Condemned People with Sam-Sex Attraction:
“Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge” the eternal souls of people with same-sex attraction, including those who are in loving, caring, relationships.
If you did it before when you were ignorant, you are excused. But now, having read this page, you have no more cloak for your sin of judging others. Now you know that Sodom & Gomorrah and any other references to it, have absolutely NOTHING to do with gays under grace!
And For My Friends With Same-Sex Attraction Who Find it Hard to Forgive Those with Opposite-Sex Attraction Who’ve Hurt Them:
Now that you have read this page, and the pages that accompany it, neither do you have an excuse to continue living without making Jesus the LORD of your life.
- If you have never known the Lord Jesus, I encourage you to seek His unconditional love for you.
- If you did at one time serve the Lord Jesus, but have allowed people to stand in the way of your personal relationship with Him, now is the time to reject what has been said and come back to Jesus, who does not condemn you.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2, NKJV)
Walking in the Flesh vs. Walking in the Spirit
While you are longing for the same romantic and sexual relations as every other human being, that does not mean that you “walk according to the flesh” any more than our friends with opposite-sex attraction. When you have come to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and you daily seek to serve Him, you are walking “according to the Spirit,” for, “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)
Finally, whoever you are, Jesus cheerfully forgives you, and you must forgive those who’ve hurt you for being who you are.
To all my friends, with same-sex attraction or opposite-sex attraction, it’s time to move onward and upward. It’s time to forgive others and yourself. It’s time to seek the Lord’s will for your life from this point on. The way to do that is to pray, read His Word, and fellowship in an open & accepting church that will love you, encourage you, and teach you more deeply in the Word of God.
Thank you, brother Jude! Where people use your words to condemn, ironically, you gave us enough information in the very same verses to refute them!
May God richly bless you for reading these pages, as you seek His will for your life!