Jude 1:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The inhabitants of Sodom are also brought forward as an example that unquenchable fire will encompass them. By “strange flesh” he means the male nature, since it does not serve such intercourse for begetting. Female flesh is capable of such intercourse, according to the saying of the forefather: “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). But the flesh of a man, as I have said, is alien to such intercourse. Even female flesh, according to the laws, is each one’s own and proper flesh for one man. But when it mingles with many, it becomes strange and alien, and in defilement falls little short of male flesh.

And to assure you that where Egypt, Sodom, and Gomorrah are mentioned together, they signify not places but this world, the Apostle at once gives an example: “As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner committing fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, undergoing the judgment of eternal fire” (v. 7).

By “strange flesh” he means the nature of the male, as incapable of begetting through sexual union. For the flesh capable of sexual intercourse is female, according to the saying of the forefather: “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). Having expressed these hints, he left the rest for the hearer to infer.

“In like manner to them.” The word “them” refers to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Some refer it to the angels mentioned in the preceding verse and think that the Sodomites committed fornication in the same way as the fallen angels, who supposedly mingled with the daughters of men, as certain apocrypha say.

But this is contrary to the spirituality of the angels.

“After other flesh.” “Other flesh here means the male nature, since it does not serve such intercourse as would bring forth offspring.

And according to the Laws, even female flesh is one’s own proper flesh for one man alone. But flesh that mingles with many is other and foreign” (Theophylact).

The third example of divine judgment upon impious men like these false teachers, or deceivers, is the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah with the neighboring cities (cf. the note on 2 Pet 2:6).

“Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities”: among these Scripture names Admah and Zeboiim (Gen 14:2 and following; cf. Deut 29:23). “In like manner to them” means like Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Having gone after other flesh”: this characterizes unnatural carnal corruption (Gen 19:5, 8; Lev 18:22; Rom 1:26-27).

“Having set forth the examples just mentioned, the Apostle left the consequence of them for the hearer himself to infer. What consequence? This inference.

“As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in the same manner as they, that is, as Sodom and Gomorrah, committed fornication and went after strange flesh,” the Apostle hints at unnatural fleshly corruption. “Having undergone the punishment of eternal fire, they are set forth as an example,” that is, as an example of the dread justice of God, which punishes impiety.

The examples are not given in historical order, but in the order that comes closer to Christians. Then the other two examples are presented.

They strikingly prove how the Lord punished even the higher spirits for contempt of their station, and how whole cities and regions were destroyed for sins against nature.

The same fate is threatened to all who corrupt their body by sinful life and who, in proud madness, deny every authority in general and every order of rank in particular.

This denial begins with the authority of the Lord and of the Angels, and ends with human authority in the pastors and teachers of the Church. Diotrephes, for example, slandered them (cf. 2 Pet 2:4; 3 Jn 1:9-10).

The Apostle calls the day of the universal judgment “great” in verse 6 because of the greatness of the events of that day. He also does so because endless eternity will begin with that day (cf. 2 Pet 2:9).

This is a new example of the punishment of the impious and lawless, indicated by the Apostle as a warning to Christians. Sodom and Gomorrah, and also the neighboring or adjacent cities, Admah and Zeboiim, present an instructive example for similar criminals threatened by the punishment of eternal fire. The crime of the inhabitants of these cities, known as the sin of Sodom, consisted in their “committing fornication and going after strange flesh.” This means the unnatural sin of lust, male intercourse with males (Rom 1:24). They had intercourse not with female flesh, but with another kind, not appointed for this by nature (Theophylact).