2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

LWB 2 Peter 2:6 Likewise, by reducing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes,
He condemned them [judged by divine norms and standards] by means of
catastrophic destruction [capital punishment], appointing them as permanent
examples to the ungodly who would come in the future.
KW 2 Peter 2:6 And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah having reduced to ashes, He
condemned them to destruction, having constituted them a permanent example to the
ungodly of things about to come;
KJV 2 Peter 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
TRANSLATION HIGHLIGHTS
Peter’s third example regarding how God does not wink at sin was His reducing (Latin:
incinerating) the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes (Dramatic Aorist tense). He
judged the sexually illicit behavior of its inhabitants by divine norms and standards and
condemned them (Culminative Aorist tense) by means of catastrophic destruction (Latin:
damned). God set up capital punishment to preserve the earth from homosexuality. When
human law fails to condemn such sin, He steps in and remedies the situation. He
appointed the destruction of these cities of sexual immorality as permanent memorials
(Dramatic Perfect tense) to all the ungodly who would come in the future (Futuristic
Present tense). God created man and woman to be a pair. He did not create them man and
man, woman and woman, or man and animal. Homosexuality is a sin; God hates this sin.
The southern tip of the Dead Sea is a permanent geographical marker to all future
generations that “men were not born this way,” but rather chose to embrace this sin in
spite of all warnings.
RELEVANT OPINIONS
Peter mentions only the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as representative places. The
other cities were Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, also known as Zoar (Gen. 14:2). Even in
those days Sodom and Gomorrah were chief cities known for the wickedness and
especially for the homosexuality of their inhabitants (Gen. 19:4-5). The sin of these
people was so grievous that God determined to destroy the entire plain of the Jordan. (S.
Kistemaker) In the present day homosexuality, which is scarring so much of Western
culture, recalls the same shameful conduct in those two ancient cities. (K. Gangel) The
Bible states that homosexuality and lesbianism are not only carnality but a blight on the
soul – a trap of frustration, unhappiness, and torment that can lead to neurosis and
psychosis. They are also a cancer on society. Sodom and Gomorrah are the prototype of
the special judgment and cursing God executes on this evil (Lev. 18:22-30).
Homsexuality attacks human freedom, corrupts marriage and family, and ultimately
defiles the entire nation. When such abject decadence is sufficiently widespread and
becomes culturally acceptable (Gen. 19:4-5, 24-25), society degenerates and the nation
eventually self-destructs. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.)