What about the perverts of sodom and gommorah, did God love them when He found none of them righteus and burned them to toast ?
Divine Judgment and Divine Love: A Biblical Response to the Case of Sodom and Gomorrah
It is often asked—sometimes with sarcasm—whether God truly loved the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, given that He rained down fire upon them and brought their cities to utter ruin (Genesis 19:24–25). But such a question, when framed irreverently, misrepresents both the justice and the mercy of God as revealed in Scripture. To answer this rightly, we must distinguish emotional caricature from theological clarity.
The Destruction of Sodom Was Not Arbitrary
According to Genesis 18:20, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.” This language conveys not a hasty or impulsive act of divine wrath, but one that responds to sustained, systemic evil. The word "outcry" (צַעֲקָה, tsaʿăqāh) is used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible to describe the cry of victims of oppression and violence (cf. Exodus 3:7; Isaiah 5:7). The judgment, then, was not the product of divine impatience, but the culmination of unchecked corruption and human cruelty.
God Was Willing to Spare the Many for the Righteous Few
In Abraham’s intercession (Genesis 18:22–33), we see God's justice tempered by extraordinary mercy. The Lord agrees to spare the whole city if just ten righteous people can be found within it. This negotiation reveals a divine willingness to withhold judgment even when sin is pervasive—provided there remains a remnant of righteousness. That none were found, apart from Lot and his household (who were subsequently rescued), demonstrates the depth of Sodom's moral collapse, not the absence of God's compassion.
God Takes No Pleasure in Judgment
The God who judged Sodom is the same God who later declared through the prophet Ezekiel:
“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). This divine lament underscores the heart of God: He desires repentance, not destruction.
The consistent scriptural pattern is this—God warns before He judges, and offers mercy before He condemns (cf. Jonah 3:10; Jeremiah 18:7–8).
Lot’s Rescue Proves the Justice of God's Judgment
Far from being indiscriminate, the judgment of Sodom is marked by precision. “[God] rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men” (2 Peter 2:7). This aligns with the principle found in Genesis 18:25: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Indeed, He does. Lot was spared because he did not participate in the pervasive wickedness of his city. His rescue demonstrates that divine wrath does not negate divine discernment.
Divine Love and Justice Are Not Opposed
To say that God judged Sodom does not mean that He ceased to love or that His justice was cruel. Rather, judgment is what love must do when evil destroys what is good. Divine love is not sentimentality—it is holy, moral, and purposeful. It warns, it calls, and when necessary, it acts. In Romans 2:4, Paul reminds us that “the kindness of God leads you to repentance,” but also warns of “storing up wrath” for those who persist in unrepentance (Romans 2:5).
To mock God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah as if it were a contradiction of His love is to miss the moral fabric of the biblical narrative. God did not destroy them in malice, but in holy justice—after long forbearance, clear warnings, and the opportunity for repentance. He loved righteousness, hated wickedness, and extended mercy even to a corrupt city. The message of Sodom is not that God delights in destruction, but that He will not forever tolerate sin that harms others and rebels against His holiness. The God who judged Sodom is also the God who sent His Son—not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17).
J.
