Dear Readers,
I’ve thought at great length on how to respond to the recent use of Jude from the Christian Scriptures. Once again, I am struck by how quickly people pull the Bible out of the context in which it was written to secure their opinions as correct.
Here are three commentaries on Jude:
Pastor John MacArthur, “Even those liberals who don’t believe the truth of the text all acknowledge that Jude and Gen 6 are describing the sinful activity of fallen angels – because that is what the texts plainly say!!” (http://www.gracechurch.org/ministries/Posts.aspx?ID=113&MinistryID=30)
From the Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Jude,
“The second example is of the fallen angels. The most likely reference here is to the angels (“sons of God,” cf. Gen 6:4; Job 1:6; 2:1) who came to earth and mingled with women. This interpretation is expounded in the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch (7; 9.8; 10.11; 12.4), from which Jude quotes in v. 14, and is common in the intertestamental literature and the early church fathers (e.g., Justin Apology 2.5)…
The third example of judgment is that of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah… The key factors are “these” ) toutois-masculine, referring to “angels” (v. 6), not cities (feminine), and the words “different flesh” (sarkos heteras).”
And from Dr. Robert Gagnon, professor at Pittsburg Theological Seminary outspoken in his anti-homosexuality stance,
“6 – Angels, too—those who had not kept their own sphere of influence (or: position of authority, rule, station, domain; archen) but who had left behind (or: deserted, abandoned) their proper dwelling—he (i.e., the Lord) has kept until (or: for) the judgment of the great Day in eternal chains under (or: in) darkness (i.e., of the nether regions),
7 – (just) as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, which, in a manner similar to these (or: in the same way as they; ton homoion tropon toutois), committed sexual immorality (ekporneusasai) and went after ‘other flesh’ (or: strange/alien flesh, another kind of flesh, flesh other than their own, i.e., angelic flesh; kai apelthousai opiso sarkos heteras), are set before us (or: are exhibited) as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
Clearly Jude is NOT TALKING about homosexuality. It is talking about angelic beings. Please first read the text before using it to support a bias.
