Jude 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Jude gives another example as a form of warning to the readers of the danger of turning away from Jesus in disobedience, particularly indulging in sexual immorality and unnatural desire. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Genesis 19. These cities became symbols of sexuality immorality and God’s response to it. Two key words occur in this verse. The first is “sexual immorality.” This word has as its root pornos, from which we get the English pornography. The English word refers to the photos or videos of immoral activities. There was much immoral activities in the first century when Jude wrote his book. People could not walk down the street without seeing temples or shrines of religions that glorified such activity. Today, we are saturated with visual temptations that dull our minds to the immorality of our society. The other key word is “unnatural desire,” which literally is “flesh” (sarkos). The flesh in the New Testament describes both the physical aspect of our lives and the desires that drive our fallen instincts to satisfy self. The desires of the flesh can become so distorted that they go beyond God’s plan as described in the creation account of Genesis 1-2. These include “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). In many cultures today, acts of the flesh have not only been accepted but even celebrated. Jude strongly warns to his readers about accepting fleshly lifestyle. God not only destroyed these two cities but the whole valley (Genesis 19:25), which may be to what the “surrounding cities” refers in this verse. Indulgence in sins of the flesh often cause others to fall as well. Sin and temptation must be taken seriously.
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