2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Jude 1, Part II

5 Now I want to remind you, though you know all things, that Jesus, having once saved a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

"Though you know all things"
Jude is invoking the same NT prophecy from Jeremiah that Jesus and the Apostles invoke: that God's chosen people are all taught by God directly, that is, the Holy Spirit has converted each and every single one of them. It does not rely on the mediatorial role of priests or neighbors as in the Old Testament. In the words of Jesus, "It is written in the Prophets: they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." John 6:45. In the words of John. "I write these things not because you don't know the truth but because you do know it." 1 John 2:21.

"That Jesus, having once saved a people from the land of Egypt..."
There is a textual variant here. Some manuscripts say 'Lord' but some of the earlier manuscripts say 'Jesus' and the latest Biblical scholarship is reflecting that in the newer translations and updates of the older translations. Jesus saved the Hebrews from Egypt in the Exodus, He is the Lord.

"Subsequently destroyed those who did not believe."
After the Hebrews left Egypt, they began to grumble against God, rebelled against Moses, and were characterized by a spirit of ingratitude and unbelief. The ground opened up and some of them went down to Hell alive, fiery serpents bit them, and that first generation was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, left to die in that desert wilderness. The power of God's Law was active then and it's still active now, hence Jude's warning.

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day

Read Jude verse 6 along with Genesis 6. The fallen angels who came down and had relations with human women, spawning the giants and their demonic spirits, were locked in "Prison" to await their final judgment on the last day. Many of them have been locked up by the Lord, but some of the demons still wander the earth. The Lord encountered some of them who were afraid that He would lock them in the pit during His early ministry.

7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having indulged in the same way as these in gross sexual immorality and having gone after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Notice how it says "in the same way." Sodom and Gomorrah, those bastions of sexual perversity, homosexuality, and all uncleaness, behaved as the fallen angels did. What does that tell you about the filth and degeneracy that we see in our day? It is no exaggeration to say that it is demonic, and it is nothing new. They act like they've discovered some new thing by their filthiness, by their "sexual liberation", but theirs is an old bondage. God made an example of these, indeed, Sodom is consistently referred to throughout Scripture as the prime example of sexual perversity. In the words of Isaiah, picked up by Paul in Romans 9: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a Seed, we would have become like Sodom and we would have resembled Gomorrah. So cling to Jesus and leave the world behind.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Jude 1, Part III

8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones.

Jude is returning his focus to the proto-Gnostics. "Defile the flesh" is a reference to their sexual immorality; they engaged in it just as the Sodomites did and just as the fallen angels did. What's interesting, if you recall, that the themes of angels and Sodom intersect in the narrative of Sodom, the Sodomites themselves lusted after the angels. "By dreaming" refers to the spiritual visions and dreams the Gnostics would claim to have to legitimize their doctrines (something that Islam would borrow). "Blaspheme glorious ones" refers to angels. It could either refer to their worship and veneration of angels, or them cursing angels in a flippant manner. The latter seems more likely given the next passage.

9But Michael the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

In other words, Michael did not curse Satan by his own authority, but invoked the Lord's curse against the devil.

10 But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are adestroyed.

What is peculiar about Jude is how closely it follows 2 Peter. Sometimes, the similarity is even thought for thought.

2 Peter 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, blaspheming where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed

The idea is that the Gnostics will share in the same fate as the fallen angels whom they curse.

11Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

If you know the narratives in Genesis and Numbers, then you'll know that what's being said is that they are characterized by a spirit of murder, cursing, and rebellion.

12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

The Gnostics would've blended in the early Church. They were essentially a shadow church. If you look at the liberal takeover of some of the major church institutions, it happened in very much the same way. "Carried along by winds" is a very apt description for them, there were many forms of Gnosticism. They remind me of the online converts I see today who are blown about by every new doctrine they hear. Like the angels who did not keep their proper domain, these "wandering stars" are reserved for outer darkness.

 

[Gazza]

Jude 1

Who was Jude in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Who was Jude in the Bible? How is understanding the what the Bible says about Jude valuable to our spiritual growth?

www.gotquestions.org

Here's a good article on the author. Jude isn't just some random guy who's letter happens to be before Revelation, he is in the NT literature.


Normally, faith is used to refer to the trust that you place in Christ but Jude uses it here in a slightly different way; it is a body of doctrine that was handed down once for all to the saints. "The faith" is not a "living, breathing tradition" that goes on forever and changes through the musings of individuals or church councils; by the time of Jude, it was already handed down once for all time. This "faith" would refer to the kerygma, or in other words, the Gospel: that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing you may have salvation in His name.


Jude is very likely referring to the proto-Gnostics, the same people that the Apostle John rebukes in 1 John. These proto-Gnostics would seem to be professing Christians, but would live out a different practice and secretly hold Gnostic beliefs and oral traditions that are contrary to the Scripture. Since they considered the material world to be evil and vain, and only the spiritual world to be good and eternal, they would engage in fornication; and fornication, homosexuality, and pederasty were rampant in the Greek culture, part of which Gnosticism was a syncretistic blend of. They would presume on God's free grace and do these things, that is what Jude means by them "turning the grace of our God into sensuality." Like the Jews who "praise God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him" these Gnostics would profess Jesus but deny "our only Master and Lord" by their actions.

I want to do a word study on the words 'Master' and 'Lord'. 'Lord' functions in the New Testament much in the same way as 'Adonai' and 'Yahweh' do in the Old Testament. In fact, Lord is used as a gloss for Yahweh when the NT cites the OT. This is the Covenant Lord, and for the NT writers to refer to Jesus as Lord shows that they believed Jesus was Yahweh, the God of the covenant of Israel. 'Master' is a translation of the Greek word despotes, which is where we get our word for despot. Despot has taken on negative connotations in our modern context but when the Bible refers to God as Despot or Master, such as in Acts 4, it has to do with God as the Sovereign Lord over everything, creation, times, peoples, events, etc.

I recently met a woman who claims to be a gnostic (she’s the wife of a friend of mine). Appears to be a nice enough type of person but I just get this eerie feeling about her. I wouldn’t want to be left alone in a room with her.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

I recently met a woman who claims to be a gnostic (she’s the wife of a friend of mine). Appears to be a nice enough type of person but I just get this eerie feeling about her. I wouldn’t want to be left alone in a room with her.

I am convinced that every self-professed Gnostic has to have a history of drug use. I am also convinced that many of the elites are Gnostics, not the real kinds such as Marcionism and Valentianism that existed in the early church but the made up prisca theologia kind that came about in the Renaissance. Her favorite movie the Matrix?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Jude 1, Part IV

14 But Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Given all the disagreement over the Biblical Canon, I find it ironic that the only apocryphal work that the Bible quotes is Enoch, the book that virtually nobody considers to be canonical. But I also want to leave open the possibility that Jude is not quoting the book of Enoch so much as the person. The Enochian fragments in the Dead Sea Scrolls are too fragmentary and don't contain this passage, which is a shame, since that would've definitively answered many questions. The Ethiopic text from the 15th century does contain this passage.

16These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of their own benefit.

When the Hebrews were encamped in the wilderness, the text says that they grumbled against God. They find fault with God, not in themselves. These proto-Gnostics are no different. In fact, most people are no different. Our example should be the opposite of this. Don't complain, don't grumble, but count it all joy when you encounter trials. And find the fault in yourself, for there is no fault with God.

 

[Tippy]

Jude 1

Who was Jude in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Who was Jude in the Bible? How is understanding the what the Bible says about Jude valuable to our spiritual growth?

www.gotquestions.org

Here's a good article on the author. Jude isn't just some random guy who's letter happens to be before Revelation, he is in the NT literature.


Normally, faith is used to refer to the trust that you place in Christ but Jude uses it here in a slightly different way; it is a body of doctrine that was handed down once for all to the saints. "The faith" is not a "living, breathing tradition" that goes on forever and changes through the musings of individuals or church councils; by the time of Jude, it was already handed down once for all time. This "faith" would refer to the kerygma, or in other words, the Gospel: that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing you may have salvation in His name.


Jude is very likely referring to the proto-Gnostics, the same people that the Apostle John rebukes in 1 John. These proto-Gnostics would seem to be professing Christians, but would live out a different practice and secretly hold Gnostic beliefs and oral traditions that are contrary to the Scripture. Since they considered the material world to be evil and vain, and only the spiritual world to be good and eternal, they would engage in fornication; and fornication, homosexuality, and pederasty were rampant in the Greek culture, part of which Gnosticism was a syncretistic blend of. They would presume on God's free grace and do these things, that is what Jude means by them "turning the grace of our God into sensuality." Like the Jews who "praise God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him" these Gnostics would profess Jesus but deny "our only Master and Lord" by their actions.

I want to do a word study on the words 'Master' and 'Lord'. 'Lord' functions in the New Testament much in the same way as 'Adonai' and 'Yahweh' do in the Old Testament. In fact, Lord is used as a gloss for Yahweh when the NT cites the OT. This is the Covenant Lord, and for the NT writers to refer to Jesus as Lord shows that they believed Jesus was Yahweh, the God of the covenant of Israel. 'Master' is a translation of the Greek word despotes, which is where we get our word for despot. Despot has taken on negative connotations in our modern context but when the Bible refers to God as Despot or Master, such as in Acts 4, it has to do with God as the Sovereign Lord over everything, creation, times, peoples, events, etc.

Jude PART 1

I was very curious about this part:

';For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.'

Which you have identified as the gnostics. Is gnosticism evil? I'm thinking about Jung or people interpreting The Matrix as a gnostic movie but with biblical parallels. Does the fact that it's not directly saying Christ is real negate the power of the message? Sometimes I feel it's a bit like Hamlet the play within the play. It's just putting the story in new clothes and not necessarily anti-christ if looked at or interpreted with a Christian mindset.

I suppose the real issue with THE MATRIX or such parallelism is that they ULTIMATELY are liberal ideas with the message of self-liberation through understanding the truth. Think Al Pacino walking away in slow motion at the end of THE INSIDER with the coolest music imaginable playing in the background. THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. They got that part right. But NOT THE TRUTH WILL BRING YOU TO CHRIST.

I actually know nothing about gnosticism was it was in Jude's time. Were all these gnostics really such sensual people? Weren't gnostics also ascetic as well?

 

[Tippy]

Jude 1, Part II


"Though you know all things"
Jude is invoking the same NT prophecy from Jeremiah that Jesus and the Apostles invoke: that God's chosen people are all taught by God directly, that is, the Holy Spirit has converted each and every single one of them. It does not rely on the mediatorial role of priests or neighbors as in the Old Testament. In the words of Jesus, "It is written in the Prophets: they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." John 6:45. In the words of John. "I write these things not because you don't know the truth but because you do know it." 1 John 2:21.

"That Jesus, having once saved a people from the land of Egypt..."
There is a textual variant here. Some manuscripts say 'Lord' but some of the earlier manuscripts say 'Jesus' and the latest Biblical scholarship is reflecting that in the newer translations and updates of the older translations. Jesus saved the Hebrews from Egypt in the Exodus, He is the Lord.

"Subsequently destroyed those who did not believe."
After the Hebrews left Egypt, they began to grumble against God, rebelled against Moses, and were characterized by a spirit of ingratitude and unbelief. The ground opened up and some of them went down to Hell alive, fiery serpents bit them, and that first generation was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, left to die in that desert wilderness. The power of God's Law was active then and it's still active now, hence Jude's warning.


Read Jude verse 6 along with Genesis 6. The fallen angels who came down and had relations with human women, spawning the giants and their demonic spirits, were locked in "Prison" to await their final judgment on the last day. Many of them have been locked up by the Lord, but some of the demons still wander the earth. The Lord encountered some of them who were afraid that He would lock them in the pit during His early ministry.


Notice how it says "in the same way." Sodom and Gomorrah, those bastions of sexual perversity, homosexuality, and all uncleaness, behaved as the fallen angels did. What does that tell you about the filth and degeneracy that we see in our day? It is no exaggeration to say that it is demonic, and it is nothing new. They act like they've discovered some new thing by their filthiness, by their "sexual liberation", but theirs is an old bondage. God made an example of these, indeed, Sodom is consistently referred to throughout Scripture as the prime example of sexual perversity. In the words of Isaiah, picked up by Paul in Romans 9: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a Seed, we would have become like Sodom and we would have resembled Gomorrah. So cling to Jesus and leave the world behind.

jude 1 part 2 and 3

Can you elabroate on what the fallen angels are referring to?

Edit: apprently a non-canonical text called 'the book of enoch' says more about them but angels who came and had sex with humans?

Let me now go back and peruse Genesis 6:
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.'

Does not really go on a deep dive of what they actually did? It says they did not keep their authority in Jude but they were heroes on genesis? So were they good or bad?

Sodom and Gomorrah as the land of sexual sin is interesting but what of David or Solomon who did some cheeky fornication and kept concubines?

'Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.'

Makes me think of the new atheist movement, many of such men whom had major personal issues and died relatively young.

'the very things they do understand by instinct' - is this supposed to be sexual immorality? Makes me think of these modern times - greed and lust prevail.

what's this part referring to?

'They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.'

Great, I have to go and research this more:

Cain: Cain hated Abel cos he got God's offering. A bit like modernity I guess where trangressive groups hate God cos they cannot will themselves to be in his graces to fulfil their sick habits.

Balaam: Balaal appears in numbers as a false prophet who tried to curse Israel for money. So this reference is anti using God's message for money.

Korah: Challenged Moses and Aaron in Number so this is referring to people who challenge Christ's authority.

 

[Tippy]

Jude 1, Part IV


Given all the disagreement over the Biblical Canon, I find it ironic that the only apocryphal work that the Bible quotes is Enoch, the book that virtually nobody considers to be canonical. But I also want to leave open the possibility that Jude is not quoting the book of Enoch so much as the person. The Enochian fragments in the Dead Sea Scrolls are too fragmentary and don't contain this passage, which is a shame, since that would've definitively answered many questions. The Ethiopic text from the 15th century does contain this passage.


When the Hebrews were encamped in the wilderness, the text says that they grumbled against God. They find fault with God, not in themselves. These proto-Gnostics are no different. In fact, most people are no different. Our example should be the opposite of this. Don't complain, don't grumble, but count it all joy when you encounter trials. And find the fault in yourself, for there is no fault with God.

Jude 1, Part IV

Book of Enoch is referenced again:

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

This appears to be a precursor to the second coming expanded upon in the next book

'They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”'

Makes me thnk of all the doubters today as well as those obsessed with their own sexual sinful lives


'22Be merciful to those who doubt;save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh'

This is a powerful section suggesting the human is not tainted but in some way the power of evil is so strong it contaminates the clothing. We can't assume these people are safe just because they're done with evil. In some way it's part of them, the scent of it or the remnants of it in a way and that's where the fear comes in. They deserve mercy but it's not so simple that they're evil is done with them just because they're done with it.

 

[Tippy]

Well that was another intense and incredibly heavy read. Are we gonna do something a bit less extreme next or just keep going in hard on intense depictions of the damage of sin and evil?

 

[Tippy]

Books read so far in this group:

Old Testament

Genesis
Job
Jonah
Judges
Hosea

New Testament

Romans
John
James
1 John
Titus
Jude

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Does not really go on a deep dive of what they actually did? It says they did not keep their authority in Jude but they were heroes on genesis? So were they good or bad?

The Nephilim were the offspring of the fallen angels, and whether they were good or bad depends on your perspective. From God's perspective, they were bad. From the perspective of those cultures, they were good, heroes.

 

[Iakobos]

Which you have identified as the gnostics. Is gnosticism evil? I'm thinking about Jung or people interpreting The Matrix as a gnostic movie but with biblical parallels. Does the fact that it's not directly saying Christ is real negate the power of the message? Sometimes I feel it's a bit like Hamlet the play within the play. It's just putting the story in new clothes and not necessarily anti-christ if looked at or interpreted with a Christian mindset.

I suppose the real issue with THE MATRIX or such parallelism is that they ULTIMATELY are liberal ideas with the message of self-liberation through understanding the truth. Think Al Pacino walking away in slow motion at the end of THE INSIDER with the coolest music imaginable playing in the background. THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. They got that part right. But NOT THE TRUTH WILL BRING YOU TO CHRIST.

I actually know nothing about gnosticism was it was in Jude's time. Were all these gnostics really such sensual people? Weren't gnostics also ascetic as well?

There were/are many different gnostic sects which held different albeit often related beliefs. In general a commonality is they teach that 'reality' as we experience it is an evil, illusory deception and must be escaped from to experience 'true' reality. And that this can only be achieved through accessing secret, hidden teachings. In contrast to Christians, who know that God's creation is real and good, they will often say that Creation itself is evil and the act of some kind of demonic force hiding the "true" deity. They go so far as to directly invert the OT and say that the God of Abraham is this evil force sustaining creation through deception.

Regarding sensual gnostics this is a well-documented medieval example of a gnostic Jewish cult: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankism

I imagine the earlier sensual gnostic cults practiced along similar lines.

Can you elabroate on what the fallen angels are referring to?

Edit: apprently a non-canonical text called 'the book of enoch' says more about them but angels who came and had sex with humans?

Let me now go back and peruse Genesis 6:
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.'

Does not really go on a deep dive of what they actually did? It says they did not keep their authority in Jude but they were heroes on genesis? So were they good or bad?

Angels were set over the nations originally to protect them but many of them fell to pride, desiring their own worship as Satan does, and rebelled against God by revealing to mankind technology and techniques of metalcraft, warfare, seduction, magic, astrology, perverse bloody and cannibalistic rituals and so forth. Through this the pre-Flood civilization of Cain's descendants became very powerful but very evil. Note similarities to other myths such as Prometheus, where the one bringing the dark arts is inverted into a hero.

1 Enoch text:

1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto 2 them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men 3 and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not 4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations 5 not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves 6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn 7 and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, 8 Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.​

[Chapter 7]​

1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.​

[Chapter 8]​

1 And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all 2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they 3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .​

As I understand it there is some controversy over whether angels/demons can actually directly procreate with humans, but this is the gist of the details.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

I actually know nothing about gnosticism was it was in Jude's time. Were all these gnostics really such sensual people? Weren't gnostics also ascetic as well?

There were different sects of Gnosticism. Some would be given over to sensuality, some to asceticism. What was held in common among the Gnostics was the Greek Dualism that the material world is evil and the spiritual world was good, which actually comes from Plato. Since it is a false religion, yes, it was evil. What was also held in common among the Gnostics was that Jesus is not really God, but a highly glorified being. Kabbalah seems to intersect with Gnosticism in major ways.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Jude 1, Part V

17 But you, beloved, must remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”

Notice how Jude speaks about the Apostles, even quoting Peter. He speaks about them, not including himself as being one of them. This is a contextual clue for his identity. This same thing happens in Hebrews. Many people want to assert that Paul is the author of Hebrews but everything in the text would indicate otherwise.

22And on some, who are doubting, have mercy; 23and for others, save, snatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy with fear, hating even the tunic polluted by the flesh.

When you see a brother who's weak in the faith, they're not sure about the Bible, they don't know if they trust in Christ, you needn't bludgeon them. Be gentle and patient towards them, trusting that the Lord will do His will one way or the other. For others who are given over to extreme sin, call them to repentance as if by snatching them out of the fire. And for others, something in between these. The "tunic spotted by the flesh" is another expression of that biblical theme of covering, of righteousness. We all must put on that white robe of Christ's imputed righteousness.

Sodom and Gomorrah as the land of sexual sin is interesting but what of David or Solomon who did some cheeky fornication and kept concubines?

They were not perfect but were saved on account of God interceding for them.

Well that was another intense and incredibly heavy read. Are we gonna do something a bit less extreme next or just keep going in hard on intense depictions of the damage of sin and evil?

We're reading Micah next so expect to see more about God's righteous anger towards sin but also His unconditional love and mercy towards His covenant people.