The Narrow Path Ministries

Steve has said that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were more wicked than those who witnessed Jesus' miracles, and that God would give them less severe judgment because Sodom and Gomorrah didn't have the same light. But if the people of Jesus' day had more light and still rejected it, wouldn't that make them more wicked?

Wickedness can mean different things. It is too ambiguous to say that one evil person is more wicked than another. I should have said that their behavior was more perverted than that of the people of Capernaum.

Steve,
Okay, that helps, thanks. As I was meditating on this today, another question came up. If God knew that Sodom and Gomorrah would have repented if they had seen the miracles done in Capernaum, why didn't He allow them to see such miracles?

Dwight

Steve,
On second thought, I guess I don't find your answer to be satisfying. I had thought that the Bible teaches there are varying degrees of wickedness or sin. In fact, the very passage in question was a proof text for this. Isn't a man who murders one person less wicked than a man who murders 100 people? If God's judgment on one group of people (Sodom and Gomorrah) is more tolerant than on another group of people (Capernaum), then it follows that the 2nd group has more guilt, and thus more sin, or more wickedness than the 1st group. So it appears to me that the people of Capernaum were more wicked than the people of S and G. That seems to be what Jesus is saying.

Dwight

I always took Jesus to mean that the people of Capernaum, having seen the works of Jesus and still not believing, were suppressing the truth. For some reason they refused to believe, despite very good reason for doing so. The Pharisees were the same way. I believe they absolutely knew who Jesus was and that they even believed what he was saying was true. But, for their own purposes, they chose not to follow him out of self-interest.

The people of S & G, per Jesus, would not have had this attitude had they seen his works.

Of course, Jesus may have been using a rhetorical device (hyperbole) but not sure this was the case.

As to why he did not do what was necessary to bring S & G to repentance, it may be best not to think too much on such things.