Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

The third example of judgment is Sodom and Gomorrah. In v.7 the NIV is so concise that it slides over a particular nuance that is apparent in a more literal translation: “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which practiced immorality in the same way as these and lusted after different flesh, stand out as an example, undergoing as they do a punishment of everlasting fire.” The key factors are “these” (referring to the “angels” in v.6) and the words "different flesh.” Thus the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was seeking union with “different flesh” in a way similar to what the “sons of God” did in Ge 6:2 when they mingled with “the daughters of men.” Normally angels do not marry, nor do they have substantial bodies, though at times they have assumed bodies or appeared in a bodily form as divine messengers (Genesis 19:1ff.; Zechariah 1:9ff.; Matthew 28:2ff.; Acts 1:10–11; et al.). In Ge 19 angelic messengers in the form of men visited Sodom, and the men of the city, motivated by their homosexuality and supposing the messengers to be men, desired them. Thus they “went after different flesh.” God destroyed the cities of the plain by raining fire and burning sulfur from heaven on the cities (Genesis 19:24).