When Jesus talked about the sin of Sodom, what sin did he mean?

Question

Matthew 10:15
I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Matthew 11:23
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Matthew 11:24
But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

Luke 10:12
I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Luke 17:29
But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

If you think sodomy was inhospitality, can you show me any other place in salvation history where God obliterated a city because they were uncharitable to strangers?

Answer 1

Answer: The Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah is recorded in Genesis chapters 18-19. Genesis chapter 18 records the LORD and two angels coming to speak with Abraham. The LORD reiterated His promise to Abraham that he would have a son through Sarah. The LORD also informed Abraham that, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous..." Verses 22-33 record Abraham pleading with the LORD to have mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah because of the fact that Abraham's nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom.

Genesis chapter 19 records the two angels, disguised as human men, visiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot met the angels in the city square and urged them to stay at his house. The angels agreed. The Bible then informs us, "Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." The angels then proceeded to blind all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and urge Lot and his family to flee from the cities to escape the wrath that God was about to deliver. Lot and his family flee the city, and then, "the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities — and also the vegetation in the land."

So, what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? It is abundantly clear the homosexuality was the primary evil. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah, thinking that the angels were men, wanted to have sex with them. Those who attempt to explain away the Biblical condemnations of homosexuality claim that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality. While the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were clearly being inhospitable...that clearly was not all. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah desired to perform homosexual gang rape on the angels. While Sodom and Gomorrah were surely guilty of many other horrendous sins, homosexuality was the reason God poured fiery sulfur on the cities, completely destroying them and all of their inhabitants. To this day, the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were located remains a desolate wasteland. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a powerful example of how God feels about sin in general, and homosexuality specifically.

Answer 2

Hi Bruce,
The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality, but Jesus isn't just homing in on them. The point that He is raising is that rejection of the Gospel will bring the same result.
The residents of Capernaum had witnessed many miracles that Jesus had performed, yet they still rejected Him as the Messiah. Jesus says that if Sodom and Gomorrah had seen those miracles they would have converted and still been around today.
The quotation from Luke 10:12 records the same event but from Luke's Gospel.
Luke 17:29 is talking about the end of the world and the second coming in answer to the Pharisees question, "When would the kingdom of God come?" Notice in V25 Jesus is again talking about rejection. The people of Noah's day didn't believe Noah even though he preached for 120 years. The conditions on earth will be the same when He returns. The destruction of the wicked will be by fire just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
Sin of any sort is capable of keeping you and I from the kingdom.
Jesus has made it possible for the repentant sinner to be born again and be immune from the ultimate destruction that sinners will face.
I hope that this has been of some help to you.
H'chat.

Answer 3

I just read the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorroh just a couple days ago. The story goes that when visitors came to rescue Lot and his family, the men of Sodom wanted to rape this men (who were actually angels). It was more than just a sin that they committed once in a while. they all lived an evil wicked lifestyle. The passage in Matthew isn't condemning Sodom, but is condemning the towns where Jesus had performed miracle after miracle, but still they did not believe that He was the Son of God.

Answer 4

The sins of Sodom are discussed in Genesis Chapter 13, Chapter14, Chapter 18 and Chapter 19.

Sodom is kind of interesting, the sins are described as being inequitable and unrighteous.

In Chapter 19 two angels go to Sodom to try and find 5 righteous men. A crowd gathers outside of Lot's house and tells Lot to send out the men so that they can be "known". The Hebrew word is yaw-dah, which can mean to know a person carnally or be intimate with a person.

But how can we know the intention of the crowd for the times?

In Judges 19 a man stops to spend the night in a city. A crowd gathers and demands that the man be sent out that they can know him, same Hebrew word. The man sends out his concubine. The crowd abuses the woman to death. The word abused is the word aw-lal' meaning "to insert, thrust, thrust in, thrust upon"

We can be fairly certain the crowd that wanted the angels from Lot was not looking for a fourth for Bridge or Canasta.

You may disagree, but, there is a reason that Sodomy is called Sodomy.

PS: "did abominable things"

Leviticus 18:22
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Ezekiel 16:50
And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

There is no doubt that Sodom and Gomorrah committed sins of Pride and Greed. There is also no doubt that they committed many other sins.

Sodomy, in context, essentially means forced sexual penetration other than "normal" penetration. Oral sodomy, etc.

Answer 5

Jewish texts concur that God did *not* destroy Sodom and Gemorrah because their inhabitants were homosexual. Not at all. Rather, the cities were destroyed because the inhabitents were nasty, depraved, and uncompromisingly greedy. Classical Jewish writings affirm that the primary crimes of the Sodomites were, among others, terrible and repeated economic crimes, both against each other and to outsiders. The teaching, "God killed them because they were gay" is, to say the least, not the Jewish teaching on the subject.

What Jesus was saying in the verses you quoted is that because most of His mighty works were done in these cities, like Capernaum, they experienced a greater light - which required a greater accountability. This also goes for us in the Western world, who have a tremendous accountability before God. We have had an access to the gospel that no other society has, yet we are in desperate need of repentance.

Answer 6

Sodom committed a crime that was considered even more heinous in the ancient world than homosexuality.

They were inhospitable to the stranger (hospitality was mandated by ALL ancient religions -- including Judaism). When the 2 strangers came to Sodom, only Lot offered them shelter without demanding some form of payment. The crowd demanded that "payment" be made even after they were in Lot's home.

Lot's actions after that are something I personally do not agree with, but that is another matter... Lot himself was hardly what I would call "righteous" himself

Answer 7

We can't know for sure. Yes, the word Sodomy comes from Sodom, but that doesn't mean that's what happened there. That word didn't originate until after the Bible was written, and long after Sodom was destroyed. I think it was just sin in general, but the Bible is so vague about it.

Answer 8

Everybody will say that he meant homosexuality. Mostly because of the account of Lot refusing to hand over the male strangers he had harbored to the Sodomites, who wanted to "be intimate" with them.

Of course, the "sin" in question is just as easily interpreted as the Sodomites' inhospitality as their "sexual irregularity." In fact, that's the only way the story makes sense - Lot is the "good" example of hospitality and generosity, and the Sodomites are the "bad" example of inhospitality and cruelty. As Jesus said, "What you do unto the least of my brethren, the same you do unto me."

But some people just can't resist interpreting stories like these in a way that justifies their hatred rather than their love. They'd rather read "God hates homosexuals" into it than "Love thy neighbor." Says a lot about those people.

Answer 9

The same sin that is going on in the U.S.A. today, and that is absolute moral decay, and we all know what happened to Sodom & Gomorrah.

Answer 10

The sin of Hedonism (any thing sexual goes) is more tolerable than rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior.