Albert Barnes Commentary Jude 1:7

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire." — Jude 1:7 (ASV)

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah. (See Barnes on 2 Peter 2:6).

And the cities about them. Admah and Zeboim (Genesis 14:2; Deuteronomy 29:23; Hosea 11:8). There may have been other towns, also, that perished at the same time, but these are particularly mentioned. They seem to have shared the same general characteristics, as neighboring towns and cities generally do.

In like manner. "In a manner like to these" (ton homoion toutois tropon). The Greek word these is in the plural number. There has been much diversity in interpreting this clause.

Some refer it to the angels, as if it meant that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah committed sin in a way similar to the angels. Some suppose that it refers to the wicked teachers about whom Jude was discoursing, meaning that Sodom and Gomorrah committed the same kind of sins which they did. Some believe the meaning is that "the cities round about Sodom and Gomorrah" sinned in the same way as those cities; and some that they were punished in the same manner and were set forth like them as an example.

I see no evidence that it refers to the angels. Even if it did, it would not prove, as some have supposed, that their sin was of the same kind as that of Sodom, since there might have been a resemblance in some respects, though not in all. I see no reason to believe, as Macknight holds, that it refers to false teachers, since that would be to suppose that the inhabitants of Sodom copied their example long before the example was set. It seems to me, therefore, that the reference is to the cities round about Sodom. The sense is that they committed iniquity in the same manner as the inhabitants of Sodom did and were set forth in the same way as an example.

Going after strange flesh (marginal reading: other). The reference seems to be to the peculiar sin which, from the name Sodom, has been called sodomy . The meaning of the phrase "going after" is that they were greatly addicted to this vice. The word strange, or other, refers to that which is contrary to nature. Doddridge, however, explains it as "going after strange and detestable gratifications of their pampered and indulged flesh."

Are set forth for an example. They furnish a warning against all such conduct and a demonstration that punishment will come upon the ungodly. The condemnation of any sinner, or of any class of sinners, always furnishes such a warning (See Barnes on 2 Peter 2:6).

Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The word translated suffering (hypechousai) properly means holding under—as, for example, the hand. Then, it means to hold towards anyone, like the ear—to give attention. Then it is used as denoting to hold a discourse towards or with anyone, or to hold satisfaction to anyone, to make atonement. Finally, it means undergoing, paying, or suffering punishment, when combined, as it is here, with the word diken (punishment or vengeance). (See Robinson's Lexicon).

Here it expresses the idea of undergoing punishment. The word properly agrees in the construction with cities (poleis), referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them; but the things affirmed relate to the inhabitants of those cities. The word vengeance means punishment; that is, such vengeance as the Lord takes on the guilty—not vengeance for the gratification of private and personal feeling, but like that which a magistrate appoints for the maintenance of the laws, such as justice demands. The phrase "eternal fire" is one that is often used to denote future punishment, expressing the severity and intensity of the suffering (See Barnes on Matthew 25:41).

As used here, it cannot mean that the fires which consumed Sodom and Gomorrah were literally eternal or were kept always burning, for that was not true. The expression seems to denote, in this connection, two things:

1. That the destruction of the cities of the plain, with their inhabitants, was as entire and perpetual as if the fires had been always burning—the consumption was absolute and enduring, the sinners were wholly cut off, and the cities forever rendered desolate; and
2. That, in its nature and duration, this was a striking emblem of the destruction which will come upon the ungodly.

I do not see that the apostle here means to affirm that those particular sinners who lived in Sodom would be punished forever, for his expressions do not directly affirm that, and his argument does not demand it. However, the image in his mind, in the destruction of those cities, was clearly that of the utter desolation and ruin of which this was the emblem—of the perpetual destruction of the wicked, like that of the cities of the plain.

If this had not been the case, there was no reason why he should have used the word eternal—meaning here perpetual—since, if in his mind there was no image of future punishment, all that the argument would have demanded was the simple statement that they were cut off by fire.

The passage, then, cannot be used to prove that the particular dwellers in Sodom will be punished forever—whatever may be the truth on that point—but rather that there is a place of eternal punishment, of which that destruction was a striking emblem. The meaning is that the case was one which furnished a demonstration of the fact that God will punish sin; that this was an example of the punishment which God sometimes inflicts on sinners in this world, and a type of that eternal punishment which will be inflicted in the next.