Jude 1:7 and the Meaning of Strange Flesh

Jude 1:7 speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh. In this passage, Jude assures his readers that God punished sin in the past and will do so again in the future. He cites Sodom and Gomorrah as clear evidence of this coming judgment. Translations vary in how they render the Greek text. The King James and New American Standard versions use the phrase strange flesh, while the English Standard Version and New International Version use more interpretive language like unnatural desire or perversion. Regardless of the specific wording, the text points to a form of sexual behavior that stands in direct opposition to God's design. The traditional interpretation identifies this strange flesh as homosexual desire, mirroring the events in Genesis 19. When two angels appeared as men to Lot, the men of Sodom mobbed his home and demanded to have sex with the visitors. The text makes it clear that the city was consumed by these depraved sexual demands. Some modern scholars attempt to redefine this passage to make homosexual desire compatible with biblical teaching. One theory argues that Jude 1:7 refers to human-angel relations rather than human-human activity. Proponents of this view suggest that just as angels in verse 6 had improper desires for humans, the humans in verse 7 had improper desires for angels. This interpretation fails for several reasons. It is not clear that Jude 1:6 refers to the events of Genesis 6, nor is it certain that the sons of God in that passage were angels. Furthermore, Sodom was already under the judgment of God before the angels arrived, and the men of the city did not even know the visitors were anything other than human men. The Greek word translated as strange is hetero, meaning different. While we use this term today to describe opposite-sex attraction, the context here clearly means different from the norm. Romans 1:26-27 defines these actions as unnatural, meaning they deviate from the God-ordained design for humanity. Critics often argue that the sin of Sodom was primarily violence or rape rather than homosexual desire itself. While the actions in Genesis 19 were certainly violent, that does not negate the nature of the sin being described. This incident demonstrated the widespread, rampant immorality that defined those cities. The traditional understanding remains the most consistent with the biblical witness. Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for a host of sexual perversions, including the homosexual activity described as a desire for strange flesh. Jude uses their destruction as a permanent warning of God's willingness to judge those who pursue desires contrary to His design. #MoreJoyMinistries