Please see "Clobbering 'Biblical' Gay Rights": Sodom's Behavior: Homosexuality or Gay Rights?, I for the first part of this 2 part blog. This section completes the first part plus references.
The Bible offers numerous references to this occasion and confirms its homosexual application. A brief review of these passages will verify it. Many passages use it as an example of how God detests wickedness and judges it. Sodom provides a vivid illustration.
Isaiah 1.1-9, 3.8-9, 13.19, Jeremiah 23.14, Zephaniah 2.8-11, etc.
From these and other references, the LGBTQ community attempts to interpret them as itemized lists of the sins of Sodom. They attempt to bypass the descriptions that identify homosexuality as the sin of Sodom. However, most of these references simply list the sins of Israel and warn it of impending judgment as God brought to Sodom.
Ezekiel 16.48-56
In particular, the homosexual community uses this verse as their trump verse. It does list the sins of Sodom. The last sin in the list, abomination, does not serve as a summary of the previous list of sins. A singular noun, it identifies a separate sin in addition to those previously listed. The Bible calls homosexual behavior an abomination, describing it as sexually perverse behavior. In this text, abomination describes Sodom’s sin of homosexuality. (18)
2 Peter 2.1-8
Peter refers directly to the wickedness of Sodom and God's judgment upon it. Here he calls the inhabitants “wicked” with “filthy conversation,” and their acts “unlawful deeds.” In verses 1-3, Peter warns his readers about false prophets and teachers. In the next five verses, he identifies three specific examples of God's judgment upon those who followed the sinful ways of false leaders, the last one Sodom and its sister city Gomorrah.
The “filthy conversation” of the people of Sodom does not refer to their speech habits. It means their manner of life. Their behavior lacked moral restraint. They practiced sexual licentiousness. (19)
Peter’s description does not call their lawlessness “lusts for angels.” The men of Sodom did not recognize Lot’s visitors as angels. They called them men. No, the men of Sodom experienced defiling desires and sexual lusts for Lot’s visitors. (20)
Jude 1.7
Jude mentions Sodom in his warning of judgment upon the wicked. He described their sin as “fornication” and going after “strange flesh.” The word “fornication” describes sexual immorality of any type and kind. (21) The phrase “strange flesh” does not refer to the angels from verse 6. It describes the practice of unnatural uses. They did not content themselves with sexual intercourse with their wives and other men’s wives. The men of Sodom sought perverted homosexual sex. (22)
Summary
Contrary to popular error, Sodom exemplifies the sin of homosexuality. When all of the men of Sodom attacked Lot’s house, they demanded that he release his two visitors to them so that they could indulge their homosexual passions. In other texts, the Bible reverberates this same understanding of those events. Sadly, the LGBTQ community and many professing evangelicals have misinterpreted the Bible’s declarations of Sodom’s wickedness. We must reject the homosexual community’s interpretation of their behavior and accept God's explanation of their sinfulness.
Thankfully, God made provision for sinners. He gave his son, Jesus Christ, as a substitute for sinners. Jesus took the punishment that people like you and I deserve. His resurrection completed the task that God sent him to fulfill. As a result, Jesus Christ will reconcile to God every sinner who turns from self-trust and trusts Christ as his/her substitute.
God gives new life to those who come to him through faith in Jesus Christ. He washes away the sin and guilt of their past regardless of its wickedness, forgives their sin, and makes them new creatures. I recall vividly the day that I first trusted Christ. He truly made me a new creature, and I know many others with the same testimony. If you have never trusted Christ in this way, I pray that God by his Holy Spirit will bring you to experience it today.
References
01. Genesis 6.5-12.
02. Wold, Donald J. Out Of Order: Homosexuality In The Bible And The Ancient Near East. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI 49516; 1998; p. 66-76.
03. Genesis 9.20-22.
04. QuickVerse 10 Bible Software. WORDsearch, Corp. “The Genesis Record.”
05. Leupold, H. C. Exposition of Genesis. DeWard Publishing Company, Ltd., Chillicothe, OH 45601; 2010. p. 214-215.
06. QuickVerse. “Wilmington’s Guide To The Bible.”
07. Wold. p. 66-76.
08. Genesis 9.24-27.
09. Genesis 13.7.
10. QuickVerse. “Adam Clarke’s Commentary Upon The Old Testament.”
11. Genesis 18.16-21.
12. Wenham, Gordon. “The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality.” Expository Times 102 (1991):L 259-363.
13. Genesis 19.1-25.
14. Genesis 19.4.
15. Genesis 4.1, 17, 25.
16. Genesis 19.5-8.
17. Wold. p. 77-89.
18. Leviticus 18.22; 20.13; Gagnon, Robert A. J. “Why We Know That The Story Of Sodom Indicts Homosexual Practice Per Se.” Posted online in January 2013.
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