Jude Jude 1
1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To
those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Jude here identifies himself by name and gives
two additional pieces of information which serve to identify him to
his immediate readership. Jude affirms that he is first a
servant of Jesus Christ, and then secondly a brother to James.
The apostle James was long dead at the writing of this epistle and
the only other person in scripture who was identified as a brother
to Jude or Judas was James the son of Joseph, half brother to Jesus
Christ. Obviously the writer felt this was all the
identification necessary in order to convey the authenticity of the
epistle.
"a bondservant of Jesus Christ"
Before identifying himself as the brother of James, Jude chose
to first proclaim that he was a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
Obviously this distinction carries the greater weight of the two
forms of identification. The application we should take from
this is that even though this man was a brother to Jesus Christ
Himself, the most important distinction any disciple could have
would be that of a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
The word "bondservant" comes from the Greek word "doulos"
which literally means either a slave or a bondservant. A
bondservant is a person bound in servitude to another human being as
an instrument of labor. Sometimes someone who owed a debt they
could not pay would offer themselves as bondservants until such time
as the debt was satisfied. This is the relationship which Jude
claimed to be in towards Jesus Christ. Jude was not the only
inspired writer to assume such a position in regards to Jesus
Christ. Paul claimed this relationship with Jesus Christ in
Romans 1:1 and with God in Titus 1:1. Paul declared "Epaphras"
to be a "bondservant" of Christ in Colossians 4:12. In
James 1:1 he claimed to be a bondservant to both God and Jesus
Christ. And Peter declared himself to be a bondservant and
apostle of Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 1:1. In every case
mentioned, the same Greek word, "doulos" was used.
It is no accident these inspired writers used
this designation. Scripture teaches us that all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and as a
consequence of that are dead in their trespasses
(Colossians 2:12). Paul taught in Ephesians 2:5 that those who
are dead are made alive together with Christ. This was
accomplished through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross when He
shed His blood for the sins of mankind. With His death, Jesus
Christ satisfied the death penalty each and ever accountable
individual owes for their transgressions. There is a penalty
associated with sin. This penalty is death (Romans 6:23).
Jesus paid that penalty at great personal cost and thereby placed us
in the position of owing Him our very lives. While Jesus paid
this sin debt for all, Christians are not free to live their lives
as they see fit.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross for all
mankind, a debt which we can never repay has been paid for us.
We owe our lives to Jesus Christ. This is a debt we can never
repay. Christians are called to offer their bodies a living
sacrifice to God in Romans 12:1. Sacrifices are required to be
of the free will nature. Therefore Christians are called to
offer their lives as bondservants to Christ. Being made free
from the sin which enslaves us and kills us, we willingly offer
ourselves as bondservants to Jesus Christ. This relationship
of a bondservant to Christ is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians
7:22-23, "For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant,
is the Lord's freedman: likewise he that was called being free, is
Christ's bondservant. Ye were bought with a price; become not
bondservants of men."
The immediate context of 1 Corinthians 7:22-23
is for Christians not to strive for social or economic betterment to
the point they would fail to seek first the kingdom of God.
The social status of an individual has no bearing on their standing
with God. The application we can make from this in addition to
the immediate context is that there was a price paid for us and that
we should seek more to be a bondservant of Christ than any other
position on earth.
A bondservant remains in voluntary service
until one of two things occurs. Either the debt is paid or the
bondservant dies during the period of time required to satisfy the
debt owed. Since it is the Christians very life which is to be
offered as a living sacrifice it is understood that the cost of
salvation can never be fully repaid to Jesus by mankind. There
is simply nothing mankind can do, either collectively or
individually that can repay what it cost Jesus to offer us
salvation. There is no way we can take Jesus off the cross or
make it unnecessary for Him to have been there. We cannot
repay what Jesus gave up for us. The only thing we have to
offer in return for Jesus' amazing gift is a lifetime of grateful
and obedient servitude. Such is the bondservant aspect of our
relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are literally to be in voluntary bondage to
Christ Jesus and as such, we are obligated to conduct ourselves as
true bondservants. True bondservants serve their master
obediently and faithfully for the duration of their bondage.
In the case of a Christian, this term of service is for life.
There are many aspects of the
Christians relationship with Jesus Christ. Each one has a
bearing on the attitude with which we should conduct and portray
ourselves both in the sight of God and in the sight of mankind.
Another aspect of a Christian's relationship is one of friendship.
In speaking to His disciples, Christ had this to say about
friendship in John 15:14-15, "Ye are my friends, if ye do the
things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for
the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you
friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made
known unto you." Friendship, like bond service is another
aspect of our relationship with Christ. This aspect of ones
relationship is dependant upon our obedience to Christ. The
faithful Christian must be aware that apart from obedience, there is
no relationship with Christ at all. John wrote that those who
do not obey Christ do not even know Him in 1 John 2:3-4.
A third aspect of our relationship with God is
one of fellowship. John confirms this in 1 John 1:3, where by
inspiration he writes, "...and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ". A fourth
aspect of our relationship with God is one of family, Matthew 12:50,
"For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother
and sister and mother." While
bond service is certainly not the only the aspect of our relationship with
God, it is indeed the foundational one upon which all other forms of
our relationship with God depend.
"to them that are called"
Speaking here of Christians. Christians are:
1) called to be saints (1 Corinthians 1:2)
2) called into the fellowship Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9)
3) called by His grace (Galatians 1:15)
4) called for freedom (Galatians 5:13)
5) called in one hope (Ephesians 4:4-5)
6) called in one body (Colossians 3:15)
7) called into the kingdom of Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:12)
8) called through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14-15)
9) called to life (1 Timothy 6:12)
10) called to glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3)
11) called with a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9)
12) called out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)
13) called to His glory (1 Peter 5:10)
14) and called to be the sons of God (1 John 3:1)
The Greek word for "called" in the
context of Jude's salutation is 'kletos' (klay-tos'), which carries
the meaning of having been invited or appointed. It comes from
the primary word 'kello' which means to 'hail' or to 'urge' or to
persuade by words. Another word we recognize in the Greek
language is the word 'Ekklesia' which is a compound word made up of
'Ek' which is a primary preposition denoting origin or in other
words the point from where action or motion proceeds. An
illustration would be, 'the boy came out from, or out of his hiding
place'. The second Greek word which makes up the word 'Ekklesia'
is the word 'kaleo' which means to 'call forth'. This word has
the same primary root as 'kletos' which was used here in Jude 1.
The word 'Ekklesia' therefore carries the idea of being called or
hailed out from something or somewhere. The Greek word, 'Ekklesia"
is the word which today is translated as church. The church is
then those who have been called out from the darkness, into the
light. Called to be Christians. When Jude address his
letter to "them that are called", he addressed it to
Christians.
Jude wrote his epistle to Christians in the
first century with an immediate application to their circumstances.
But the letter was addressed to Christians in general. While
Jude's epistle may have addressed the urgent need at the time it was
written, the message contained therein most definitely has an
application to all who have been 'called'. When Jude addressed his
epistle to the "called" he addressed it to the body of Christ, also known as the church
(Colossians 1:18;
1:24).
"sanctified by God the Father"
Those who are called are characterized as being sanctified in God the
Father. The Greek word for "sanctified" in this case is "Agapao"
which means to be loved. The ASV renders this phrase as
"Beloved in God the Father" which is probably a more correct
translation. This of course extends only to those who answer God's
call. The call of God goes out to the whole world.
Whosoever is the range of God's calling (John 3:16, Revelation
22:17). While many are called, scripture plainly teaches that
relatively speaking, only few will be be chosen (Matthew 22:14).
Those who are chosen are here said to be "beloved" in God.
This echoes the teaching of Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, "But
we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto
salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"and kept for Jesus Christ"
Kept continually, (so the perfect tense means) for Jesus Christ
until the day of His coming. This speaks to the eternal
security of the Christian. Peter wrote concerning
this in 1 Peter 1:5, "Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:18, "The Lord will deliver me from
every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom
(be) the glory forever and ever. Amen". John wrote about
this security in John 10:28-29, "and I give unto them eternal
life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out
of my hand. My Father, who hath given (them) unto me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to snatch (them) out of the Father's
hand". Paul had some more very comforting and emphatic
words with regard to the security of the Christian in Romans
8:38-39, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord".
These are all comforting words for the
Christian. However, out of these and other such passages has
risen the doctrine of 'Once Saved, Always Saved'. This
doctrine has its roots in Calvinism whose teaching is summed up in
five major points called "TULIP". Each word standing for a
particular element of this doctrine. The five are as follows:
1) Total Depravity which teaches that at
birth everyone is born into slavery to sin and is utterly unable to
choose on their own to follow God and be saved. In other
words, none of us, without direct intervention from God can make the
conscious choice to avail ourselves of God's universal offer of
salvation made available to all. See John 3:16 and Revelation
22:17.
2) Unconditional Election which asserts
that God chose before creation those whom he will bring to Himself.
See 1 Timothy 2:4.
3) Limited Atonement which asserts that
only the sins of those elected before creation are atoned for by the
blood of Jesus. See Hebrews 10:10.
4) Irresistible Grace which teaches that
for those whom God has preselected to
eternal life, grace cannot be resisted. The elected sinner is
compelled by God to come to Christ. See Hebrews 12:15.
5) Perseverance of the Saints which
teaches that because of God's sovereignty, his divine purpose cannot be
frustrated by humans or anything else. Therefore, those whom God has called
into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end.
In other words, once one is saved, they are always saved and God
will not allow them to fall.
This is what happens when men take selected
scriptures and form a manmade doctrine around them without regard to
what the whole of God's word teaches. It is vital when
considering the will of God that we act in accordance with the whole
will of God and not selected portions of it. Calvinism with
its core teachings represents God as a respecter of persons,
teaching that God chose who will be saved and who will not and
nothing man can do will ever change that. In other
words, those inheriting eternal life do so because they were chosen
by God from among the rest of humanity to do so. There is no
free will, and there is no personal volition in regards to one's
salvation. Those in heaven are there because God chose them to
be there and those who are chosen have no choice in the matter,
being saved without regard to whether or not they even desire it.
As for the Perseverance of the Saints, or 'Once
Saved, Always Saved', there are literally hundreds of scriptures
which speak against this doctrine. All it takes is for one of
these passages to be in contradiction with the doctrine of 'Once
Saved, Always Saved' in order to invalidate it. A
contradiction occurs when one of the available choices cannot be
true. The doctrine of 'OSAS' teaches that the Christian is
preserved by the power of God to salvation in opposition to the will
of the individual. In other words, it teaches that a Christian
is incapable of so sinning that the result would be the loss of
salvation. If this is true then James 5:19-20 cannot be true.
"My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one
convert him; let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a
multitude of sins." The doctrine of OSAS teaches one
cannot fall from grace, yet in Galatians 5:4, we see NT Christians
being told they did. The doctrine of OSAS teaches that a
Christian cannot fail of God's grace yet the NT Christians were
exhorted to be diligent lest they would in Hebrews 12:15. If
the possibility of failing from God's grace did not exist, there
would be no reason to warn Christians about it.
Yes, Christians are kept by the power of God. Preserved and
upheld till the day of judgment. This preserving and keeping
is accomplished through the word of God when it is taken to heart
and obeyed. It is through the word of God that we learn how to
respond to the call of God and how to live our lives in such a way
that we will be preserved. We are kept by God, but not
unconditionally. We as Christians have a responsibility in
God's redemptive process. It is our responsibility to respond
to the call of the Lord and to do those things in accordance with
His will. Only through our obedience to His will as revealed
in His word are we kept by God unto salvation. Without that
obedience, there is no preservation of the saints.
Jude 2
Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.
As this study progresses, it becomes apparent
that Jude uses groups of three several times to make his
illustrations. In these first two verses we see three forms of
relationship between Christians and God: servant, Lord (Master), and
brother. Then here we see mercy, peace, and love. In Jude
5-10, we have three examples of apostasy: Israel of the Exodus, the
rebel angels, and the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. There follows
a three-fold portrayal of evil men as walking in the ways of Cain,
Balaam, and Korah.
Grace, mercy, and peace ... This follows
closely the sentiment of Paul's "grace, mercy, and peace" (2 Timothy
1:2).
Jude mentions love and mercy again in Jude 21 where he refers to
the mercy of Jesus which we are to seek. God has many
attributes to His immutable nature. He is Just, merciful,
graceful and loving. With God, all of these attributes are
absolute. Meaning God is absolutely just (Isaiah
45:21), meaning fair and
without partiality. God is love, grace and mercy in totality.
God's love is what compels Him to show mercy and grace.
God would have been well within his rights to just let man die when
he sins, but His love for mankind compelled Him to offer mankind a
way of redemption despite the personal cost to Himself.
Mankind did nothing to deserve God's grace and mercy and can do
nothing to merit or pay for it in any way. Those who are dead
have nothing to offer in return for their lives.
Consider the love it took for a Just God to
send His beloved son down to die at the hands of man, and to allow
the death of His murdered son to be a substitutionary death penalty
for man. To break that down into terms easy to understand,
suppose a man perpetrates a crime against you so serious that he
faces the death penalty. You know that justice demands he pay
the death penalty but you don't want this individual to have to
suffer that. You want to give him a second chance. That
is mercy.
So faced with the demands of justice, you send
your only son, who is completely innocent, to death row where this
man murders your only son and you allow that death at his hands to
be a substitute for the death penalty he owed in the first place.
Forget about the fact that he murdered your son. You aren't
going to hold the murder of your son against him. The reason
you can do this is because your son volunteered to go do this for
him knowing fully well that he was going to die at his hands.
Now, not only is this man who justly owed a death penalty for his
crime against you going to be forgiven by you, he is now extended an
invitation by you to come live with you in your house for all
eternity. Because of your love and mercy, this individual has
been given an opportunity to be in eternal fellowship with you and
your son which he murdered. That is grace.
That is the mercy, peace and love that Jude
wished to be multiplied to his readership. Let us consider
Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His
indescribable gift!"
Jude 3
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our
common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you
to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints.
When Jude was planning this epistle, his first
intention was to write to them about their "common salvation"
meaning uniform and pertaining to all mankind generally. The
salvation pertaining to them is therefore the same one which is
available to us today as well. There have been no changes, no
alterations or deviations from that since it was made available in
the first century. As Christians today, we know that we can be
saved today in the same way Christians were 2000 years ago.
"I was very diligent to write to you"
Because of circumstances which had arisen, Jude
was compelled to change the content of his letter from what he
intended at first to address something of much greater importance.
This letter was written as a matter of urgency and as we will see in
the next verse, its purpose was altered to combat the doctrines of
false teachers. This was such a dire matter that the entire theme
of Jude's epistle centered around false teachers. It was so
urgent, that when Jude finished what he had to say about them, he
chose not to take the time to include anything of his original
intended content, choosing to end the epistle right there.
The application we need to make from this today
is that spreaders of false doctrine are dangerous to the body of
Christ and that there is an urgency necessary in a right response to
it.
"exhorting you to contend earnestly for the
faith which was once for all delivered to the saints"
Jude jumps immediately to the theme of his epistle
following his short and succinct introduction. Let us call to
remembrance that Jude is a man from the working class of Jews.
He is not going to engage in long winded rhetoric, rather he is
going to get right to the point. And he's going to phrase
his words in simple and direct terms, easily understood and to the
point, which is precisely what he did. We're barely past his
greeting when we see his readership being urged to contend earnestly
for the faith.
The words "earnestly contend" is translated
from the Greek word "epagonizomai" which contains the root of our
English word agony. Agonize earnestly and urgently for the
faith. This means the system of faith under which we live and
labor. It is the sum of that which Christians believe." "The
faith" here implies a recognized body of teaching which is
inclusive of what we believe and how we should respond to that
belief. "The Faith" means much more than the faith by which
we believe, rather, it means the system of faith which is believed and
responded to. The system of faith
under which all Christians live is to be contended for as in a
conflict. It means much more than confronting error. It
covers the entire range of the believers response to the calling.
Contending for the faith first means seeking it diligently as we
read in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and
that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".
One cannot contend for something one knows nothing about. An
effective contender is prepared beforehand for the confrontations
ahead. It would be ineffective contender indeed who would
contend for something he knew little about.
The prepared Christian is then to be ready and
willing to earnestly contend for the faith. To strive for, to wrestle
for, to agonize for, to compete for and to defend the faith of Jesus
Christ. Christians cannot just set on the fence of
righteousness, rather they have to make a stand. It is easy to
abstain from evil. Most Christians have no problem at all with
abstaining from drunkeness, murder, robbery and other obvious forms
of sin, but it is more difficult when we are commanded to make a
stand for and defend our faith against those who would slip in
stealthily and try to pervert it.
There are Biblical guidelines associated with
how one contends. Contending does not mean being outwardly
contentious or quarrelsome. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22-23, "But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control".
Paul wrote concerning the conduct of Christians in Titus 3:2, "...to
speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility
to all men." 2 Timothy 2:24-25, "And a servant of the
Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God
perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth".
Contending for the faith does not mean being contentious. Many
well meaning brethren carry this idea to a level which is not
supported by the whole body of teaching in scripture regarding this
matter. While it is important that we contend for the faith,
it is equally important that we contend according to the guidelines
established for Christian conduct. As with anything, there is
a proper way and an improper way of accomplishing this biblical
directive.
This verse of scripture is not to be understood
as the authority to go beyond what is written. There are
guidelines for Christian behavior and it is important that we
observe these guidelines at all times, even when contending for the
faith. This concept of proper Christian behavior is brought up
later in the epistle of Jude. It is clear through
consideration of what the whole letter of Jude teaches that he did
not mean for this to be taken as authority to step outside the
bounds of proper Christian behavior. This is further
expounded on in our study of Jude 9 concerning railing accusations.
"the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints" "once for all"
is translated from the single Greek word "hapax" which is used twice
in Jude's epistle. This word carries the
meaning of "once only and forever." Peter wrote in
2 Peter 1:3, "as His
[Jesus], divine power has given to us all things that pertain to
life and godliness". The gospel was not delivered to
mankind in bits and pieces but as the full message in its entirety
and completeness, delivered through Christ to the apostles. The
gospel was delivered not in part, but as a complete whole.
There is hardly any other message of the New Testament that has
greater relevance for our own times than this. The revelation of
Christ through the apostles is complete, inviolate, sufficient,
eternal, immutable, and not subject to any change whatsoever. People
who desire to know God, walk in the light and inherit eternal life,
should heed such passages as
2 John 9, always remembering that the
truth was "first spoken by the Lord" (Hebrews 2:3), and that
all religious doings which cannot pass the test of having been
"first" spoken by Jesus Christ should be rejected.
Jude
4
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked
out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our
God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus
Christ.
The word "For" used in this manner introduces
an explanation of the previous statement and such is the case here.
Men had crept in unnoticed, meaning to align themselves alongside in
a stealthy manner. The ASV translates this as crept in privily.
" who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation" Their actions had
been prophesied prior to this fulfillment. What is noteworthy
here is that Jude is speaking in the past tense which explains the
urgency of his letter. That which had been prophesied had come
to pass and he was pointing it out to his readership. Jude did
not refer back to the specific prophecy in this case which leads one
to the possible conclusion that his readership already knew of it
and that the urgency of the situation precluded unnecessary
explanations.
Peter prophesied concerning those who would be
teachers of false doctrine among them in 2 Peter 2 which starts out
with some similar wording to how Jude presented their actions, "But
there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also
there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in
destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction". Peter goes on
in chapter 2 to deliver some of the harshest words of condemnation
to be found in regard to false teachers as can be found in
scripture with the exception of what Jude was about to say about
them. Peter prophesied of it and Jude revealed that it had
happened. Peter, a fisherman by trade, like Jude was from the
working class of Jews. Having no formal education, his manner
of expression is going to be direct, simple and to the point and it
certainly was. A reading of 2 Peter 2 concerning false
teachers leaves no doubt the Apostles' disdain for, and the
condemnation awaiting those who would pervert the doctrine of
Christ. We will see that Jude's attitude and condemnation for
false teachers is in no way diminished from that of Peter's.
It should be noted here that Peter was certainly
not the only apostle who forewarned others about the coming of false
teachers. Paul gave instructions to Timothy concerning this in
1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1 as well. And Paul's utter disdain
and condemnation for them is no less direct and pointed than either
Jude or Peter's. False teachers and their doctrines are
thoroughly and adamantly condemned in scripture by all who dealt
with it by inspiration.
The situation at hand was occurring in the
latter half of the first century but the practical application for
us today is timeless in the kingdom of Christ. The first
century Christians indeed had their false teachers but they were not
alone in this. There have been 2000 years worth of false
teachers since then and when we look out among those today who claim
Jesus Christ as their savior we see an entire host of denominational
divisions of the body of Christ each believing and practicing a
variant form of the gospel.
Those of us today who seek to serve God
acceptably need to take the warnings in Jude seriously and take a
hard look at themselves to make sure they don't fall into the same
condemnation. False teachers as a whole do not realize they
are false teachers. They don't set out purposing in their
hearts to destroy Christians. For the most part they believe
they are right and that they are doing God's will. They are
often sincere, pleasant to be around and genuine in their
presentation. They have no idea that they are on the road to
destruction and that those they take with them are likewise doomed.
This makes it necessary for us to be knowledgeable in the truth,
competent in its defense and effective in its preservation. We
must first be grounded and rooted in the faith before we can
identify and reject false teaching. It is our responsibility
to see to it that our house is in order concerning the faith (1
Thessalonians 5:18, 1 John 4:1). Hopefully we will be able to
instruct those in error out of darkness and into the light of truth
and certainly we should seek to do this whenever the occasion
permits.
"ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God
into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Ungodly men is translated from the Greek word "asebes"
which means irreverent, impious or wicked. Jesus taught as
recorded in Luke 11:23, "He that is not with me is against me;
and he that gathereth not with me scattereth". The range
of the wicked covers a broad spectrum from those who are unconverted
sinners in the world to those who professing piety and claiming
Christ as their savior go about perverting the truth. It is
easy to spot a murderer or a thief. It is harder to spot
someone who is disguised as a man of God who teaches another gospel.
The fact that Jude indicated that they had "crept in privily"
strongly suggests that these individuals showed up as
representatives of Christ in some fashion but were perverting the
truth instead of teaching correctly. These Christians
would have had no trouble spotting alien sinners and they would not
have been able to creep in stealthily as Jude indicated. This
infiltration of false teachers was much more insidious in nature
meaning they appeared harmless at first but in actually were with
grave and serious effect.
"ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God
into lewdness" Here we have a
clue that might help us connect these false teachers with a known
group in history who did this very thing. The doctrine in view
came to be known later as Antinomianism. The word 'antinomian'
means against law being a compound word, 'anti - against' and 'nomos
- law'. Basically it held the
view that Christians are exempt from the demands of the law of
Christ by reason of their reliance upon divine grace alone for
salvation. Although this doctrine is not found in Scripture,
it is evident that Paul's teachings were perverted to support this
doctrine. Paul was aware of this and he pointedly corrected
this misconception in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 3:8
we see Paul writing, "and why not (as we are slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good
may come? whose condemnation is just." Not only had Paul's
teaching on grace been corrupted, but his teaching on the subject
brought about some slanderous accusations and this is what He was
dealing with and denying here. He was not finished with this
correction to those who misapplied his teachings for in Romans 6:1
he reinforced it by writing, "What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to
sin, how shall we any longer live therein?, and then again in
Romans 6:15, "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under
law, but under grace? God forbid." There was an erroneous
doctrine built around Paul's teachings on grace, law and justification in
the first century which led many to the false conclusion that
Christians are saved by Grace alone apart from any workings of man
whatsoever. This teaching opened the doors for any kind of
behavior one may want to engage in and still feel secure in God's
grace.
This false teaching was so prevalent and gained
such a following that two other inspired writers addressed it.
Peter warned his readership of those who would pervert the teachings
of Paul in 2 Peter 3:15-16, "And account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all
(his) epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some
things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast
wrest, as (they do) also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction."
James, the brother of Jesus Christ in his epistle chose to devote an
entire section to the rebuttal of this false doctrine which had
arisen. Starting in chapter 2 and verse 14, James launched an
entire treatise on justification by faith and works instead of by
faith only. In this we see such phrases as James 2:17, "Even
so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself". And in
2:20-22, James goes on to write, "But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father
justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the
altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect;" And then in 2:24, James deals what
should be the death blow to the doctrine of salvation by grace or
faith alone, "Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not
only by faith" or as translated in KJV and the NKJV as "faith
only". There were at least two
groups who arose directly from the perversion of Paul's teaching in
the first century. The Gnostics and the Nicolaitans both arose
in part from Antinomianism which advocated a return to
sub-Christian morality, hence the words from Jude regarding the
turning of the grace of God into lewdness or lasciviousness as
translated in the KJV and ASV. They were using and corrupting
Paul's teachings on grace and law to justify sexual depravity.
The Gnostics and the Nicolaitans believed that
matter was irredeemably corrupt therefore fleshly passions could be
indulged without inhibition. Not only did they accept sexual
depravity, they actually encouraged it because they felt the
spiritual side of man shined brighter because of it. They felt
that their engaging in sexual sin made God's grace shine ever more
brightly, which prompted the words from Paul in Romans 6:1, "Shall
we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid."
The creed of Gnostic antinomianism was: "Give to the flesh the
things of the flesh and to the spirit the things of the spirit."
They erroneously taught and practiced that the darker their
behavior, the brighter God's grace shows forth.
By the time the book of Romans was written,
Paul already knew his teachings had been mishandled. He went
out of his way in the book of Romans to make sure he was not
misunderstood. As shown earlier, Paul directly mentioned the
fact that he had been accused of teaching that Christians should do
evil so that good could come in Romans 3:8. This is what the
Antinomian Gnostics were teaching and they had crept into the church
with this unholy doctrine and were propagating it. Other
statements of Paul such as Romans 6:1, 6:15 demonstrate further that
Paul was indeed aware of the perversion of his teachings. So
with that in mind, we'll take a look at Paul's teachings on law and
grace right in the book of Romans itself.
Romans 3:20-26, "Therefore by the deeds of
the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. But
now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of
God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the
sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the
present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Paul gives a parallel teaching in Galatians
2:15-16
"We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by
faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that
we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the
law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."
In the first century, one of the biggest problems
facing the Christians was that of Judaizers creeping into the
church. These were Jewish Christians so hung up in the
traditions and ordinances of the Mosaic law that they tried to bind
certain deeds of the old law to Christians living under the new law.
The entire book of Galatians was written in response to Judaizing
Christians who were doing just this thing. This was a problem
within the church which had to be dealt with. In Galatians 5:4
Paul gives us the consequences for appealing to the law of Moses for
justification, "You have become estranged from Christ, you who
attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."
Where the Antinomian Gnostics were going wrong
was to interpret Paul's references to the abrogated and abolished
law of Moses as applying to all of God's laws under the Christian
dispensation. What they were doing was to claim that Paul's
teaching on law and grace abrogated not only the law of Moses but
all of God's law in general. This is accomplished by pulling
Paul's teachings on law and grace out of the entire body of his
teachings and building a doctrine around a fragment of what he
taught. Now the Antinomians took this one step further than
many do today in that they actually taught that the more debased a
Christian acted, the more it caused God's grace to abound.
Even with all the scriptural evidence at hand,
when we look out into the denominational world today, we still see
the doctrine of salvation by faith alone on the merits of God's
grace. This doctrine is
almost as old as Christianity itself realizing its origins in the
first century and continuing on until today. People still take
Paul's teachings on grace and faith and twist them to mean something
they do not. The overwhelming majority of those today claiming
Jesus Christ as their savior adhere to this belief. They
believe that Christians are justified by faith alone and that works
of righteousness are simply evidence of their faith or a result of
their faith. They believe Paul taught that one is justified by
grace alone through faith alone. If this were true, then what
on earth did Paul mean in Romans 2:5-11, "But in accordance with
your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for
yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, 6 who will render to each one according to his
deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing
good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are
self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness —
indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of
man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but
glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek". And also in light of
this perverted doctrine, what could Paul have possibly meant when he
wrote "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12-13).
When considering the teaching of any inspired
writer it is vital to consider all of what they taught regarding any
topic. Picking verses out of the overall teaching and building
a doctrine around it is a good way to end up on the wrong side of
God's truth.
Jude 5
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
destroyed those who did not believe.
Here we see another usage of the Greek word "hapax"
which means once for all time and never requiring anything in
addition. The ASV provides a better translation of this phrase, "Now
I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once
for all". These Christians knew everything they needed to
live their lives in accordance with God's will. The faith, as
Jude referred to it was not for them in any way fragmentary or
incomplete. Those who had crept in stealthily had worked to
assimilate themselves and their beliefs into the system of faith
that Jude's readers were completely aware of beforehand. Jude
was telling them here that they should go back to the basics and
remember the things they had been taught. There's no new
revelation, these people coming in did not have anything new to add
to what was already delivered. Nothing has changed, everything
concerning the faith of Jesus Christ had been delivered and sealed
up for all of time.
The application for us today is the same.
There has been no new revelation since "the faith" was delivered.
It was delivered in its entirety, once for all time, leaving nothing
whatsoever out that is needful for the Christian life.
Christians today can take comfort from the fact that they can follow
the doctrine of the NT exactly and have full confidence that they
are living in accordance with the whole will of God. Jude
communicated this to them in this letter and the message to them
applies to "the faith" as it pertains to every generation of
Christians that lived since that time.
"the Lord, having saved the people out of
the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
" This is in reference to the
well known accounts of the Israelites delivery from Egyptian bondage
amid the plagues and the institution of the Passover feast.
The Israelites were destroyed for idolatry in worshipping the golden
calf, their fornication with the Midianites, their murmuring and
complaining and their lack of faith when it came time to enter
Canaan. Their destruction had nothing whatsoever to do with
whether or not they had a mental acknowledgement of the facts.
In scripture it is often the case that the word
"believe" in various forms is used to represent the sum or
the whole of the thoughts being conveyed. This is a form
of speech known as a synecdoche where a part of something is used to
represent the whole. Jude used the word "believe" as a
synecdoche to cover a whole family of related things, in this case
the rebellion and disobedience of the Israelites.
This was the first of three examples Jude would
use to put his readership into remembrance of what fate befell those
of their predecessors who rebelled against the will of God.
The warning is clear enough. The punishment inflicted upon
them for rebellion should serve as a grim example of what would
happen to any in that time who would similarly turn the grace of God
into something it was not.
Jude 6
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their
own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for
the judgment of the great day;
These angels mentioned here are the same angels
of Satan mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:41. These angels of the
devil rebelled against the directions of God and were cast out of
heaven. It is a well known fact that there are spiritual
forces that operated in opposition to God. If there had not
been such forces, there would have never been temptation the garden
and man would have never fallen. Satan most definitely set
himself up in opposition to God and he was not alone in his
rebellion.
The angels bound in everlasting chains of
darkness has a parallel mention in 2 Peter 2:4-5 where we read, "For
if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to
hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for
judgment". In this verse, we see Peter use the Greek word
"tartaroo" which is transliterated into the English word "Tartarus"
which is a reference to the deepest abyss of Hades, the realm of the
dead where all who die await the final day of Judgment.
From the teaching of the rich man and Lazarus, we learn that this
Hadean realm has two areas separated by an impassable gulf or void
of some sort. On the one side we see the rich man in Jesus'
illustration being in a place of extreme torment and being able to
see across to those on the other side but unable to pass.
Those to whom the rich man appealed were in another area altogether
which is described in scripture as "Abraham's bosom" (Luke
16:22).
We know this a place of rest and paradise
because in Acts 2:27, we find these words in regard to an ancient
prophecy of David concerning the Messiah, "For You will not leave
my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption".
From this passage we learn that after Jesus died, he his spirit was
sent to the Hades. We know that He was not sent to Tartarus
because of what He said to the thief while dying on the cross as
recorded in Luke 23:43, "And Jesus said to him, Assuredly,
I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise". From
these handful scriptures we draw the conclusion that there is a
place, called Hades in scripture, where those who die go to await
judgment. This place has two areas, one for the righteous dead
who "have fallen asleep in Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:18-19),
and abide in a place of comfort and rest while the unrighteous dead
share the fate of the angels who sinned and are kept in chains of
darkness and torment until the judgment of the great day of the
Lord.
In this context of Jude, we see the second of three groups of those
who align themselves in opposition of God's righteousness.
None of these groups of people fared well as a result of their
rebellion. And in the following verse we see yet another group
of the unrighteous and in this example we learn of the eternal fate
awaiting all of them at the coming of the great day of the Lord and
the final judgment.
"the great day" Jesus spoke of
that day in His teachings as recorded for us in John 5:28-30, "for
the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His
voice 29 and come forth — those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of condemnation". It should be here noted
that in the words of our savior, the determining factor as to the
final destiny of man is over whether they did good or did evil.
There is nothing here mentioned from the teachings of our Lord
concerning one's faith or belief. The decision over one's
destiny is based on how they lived their life and not in just what
they believed. The Hebrew writer made it clear that faith and
belief are an inseparable element from the acceptable Christian
walk. Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".
While faith and belief are essential components, so also is doing
good in the kingdom of Christ. None of these things in and of
themselves will ever result in eternal life, rather all of them
coupled with the mercy and grace of God will.
Jude 7
"as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar
manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality
and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire."
The third and final example of those who rebelled against God's
righteousness are presented here in the example of Sodom and
Gomorrah. These two cities and the surrounding ones had given
themselves over to homosexuality. A study of these cities
reveals that they were so corrupted and carried over by this
abomination that the men of the Sodom surrounded the house of Lot
where two angels sent from God lodged for the night with the intent
of forcing homosexual rape on them. These were the very angels
sent by God to destroy Sodom if at least ten righteous souls could
not be found. Only four were found and only three escaped, Lot
and his two daughters (Genesis 19). In chapter 19, verses
24-25, we read of the fate that befell these corrupt cities, "Then
the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the
Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the
plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the
ground."
It is interesting that the scriptures mentioned
that what grew on the ground was likewise burned up. It is
believed that the ancient site of Sodom and Gomorrah has been found.
The evidence of the destruction is consistent with the Biblical
account. Of great interest is that scripture describes this
place as a fertile location in Genesis 13:10-10, "And Lot lifted
his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered
everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar".
The plains on which Sodom and Gomorrah were built were like a garden
paradise. It's not like that now. The plains of Jordan
are a sun baked wasteland. The destruction of these cities was
such that the region never recovered from the desolation.
Looking at the present appearance of the area, it is hard to imagine
it was ever a well watered area that was described as being like the
garden of the Lord.
" are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire." All three of the examples
given here by Jude served as a warning to those who would pervert
the doctrine of Christ. The effect was to illustrate in the
minds of the readers an association between rebellion to God and the
fate of real life examples of those who did. The earthly
suffering they endured was but the beginning of their woes.
The vengeance they suffered on earth was temporary. The
vengeance they are to suffer beyond this world is eternal and
without end. These people are doubtless counted among those
who are incarcerated in Tartarus, suffering in chains of darkness,
awaiting the final judgment of God, to be cast into the lake of fire
for all eternity. Their fate, like that of the angels that
sinned is set and certain. They are without hope and doomed to
spend an eternity in hell fire from which there is no escape.
Their situation now is dire indeed, but all they have to look
forward to is worse.
These unfortunate and unwise souls though dead,
speak to us today as examples of the seriousness about which God
views apostasy and false teaching. Having it compared to the
illustrations Jude chose, could not speak more clearly. In all
of scripture it is hard to find a more graphic example of God's
wrath being poured out on people and to have this imagery associated
with the activities of false teachers is intended to send a clear
message to the readership. One's approach to the truth of
God's word needs to be sure and serious. Failure to correctly
believe and teach God's will is going to have disastrous results.
The application for us today is the same. Nothing has changed.
God's grace is wonderful and His mercy is incomparable, but none of
these qualities in the nature of God will help those who pervert the
teachings of Christ which being recorded by inspiration,
collectively make up what is referred to by Jude as "the faith".
Jude 8
Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and
speak evil of dignitaries.
The ASV renders the first of this verse as "In
like manner". We are here told that the depravity of the
false teachers who had privily come into their midst were guilty of
the same sorts of sin that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were.
Their sin was rooted in sexual misconduct. This aligns
perfectly with teachings of the Gnostics and later the Nicolaitans.
There can be little doubt that Jude's urgency in writing this
epistle was for the purpose of refuting their influence in the
church. In like manner to those of Sodom and Gomorrah, these
dreamers defile the flesh.
Jude referred to them as dreamers. This
means they were either living in a dreamy world of impurity or they
were claiming to have access to divine revelation through their
dreams. The latter seems to make the most sense in view that
Jude twice used a word that carries the meaning that the faith had
been once for all time delivered and that the Christians knew God's
revealed truth once for all time. Jude seemed to be making it
a point to demonstrate that there was no more divine revelation in
regards to the doctrine of Christ and that they had already received
all they needed and there was not going to be any more. They
had all they were going to get, they knew what they needed to know
and anything additional to the body of knowledge they had regarding
Christianity was to be rejected utterly.
"reject authority"
Similar to the angels who sinned, these false teachers had no respect for
authority of God. And this is amply demonstrated in their mistreatment of
the word of God in favor of their own lusts. They were
perverting the word of God, the writing of Paul in particular, to
set forth the doctrine of salvation on the merits of God's grace
alone, thus opening the door to all kinds of sexual misconduct which
brought about their comparison with Sodom and Gomorrah.
"speak evil of dignitaries"
This is their comparison with the Israelites who
had been freed from Egyptian bondage. We see examples of their
unbelief, grumbling and complaining in Exodus 14:12; 16:3; 17:2-3,
Numbers 20:2-5. In Exodus 32:1, Moses having been gone for a
period of time on Mt. Sinai, we read of the Israelites rebellion
against Moses and God and their worship of the golden calf.
Jude compared these apostates to the Israelites
who rebelled against Moses' authority. This is another way of identifying them and is in
direct conflict with clear and concise apostolic teaching on the
regard with which the Christian is to have for authorities.
Romans 13:1-3, "Let every soul be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the
authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever
resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who
resist will bring judgment on themselves". The only
time a Christian ever to resist the commands of the authorities in
power over him is when to do so results in a transgression of God's
will as evidenced in Acts 5:29 when the Jewish high council ordered
the apostles to stop preaching Jesus and they refused.
Jude 9
Yet Michael the
archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the
body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation,
but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
Michael is mentioned in scriptures in a number
of places. Here we learn that He is an archangel which means
he is chief among other angels. From this we can deduce that
there is a hierarchy of some fashion among the heavenly beings.
Biblical references to Michael begin in the book of Daniel in 10:21
and 12:1 where we learn that he was a prince or guardian angel
seeing over the affairs of the Jewish people. He is again
mentioned by name in Revelation 12:7-9 where we learn that he
personally led a war on the side of God between the unfallen angels
and those who unwisely chose to follow after Satan. The
outcome of this heavenly revolt ended with Satan and his angels
being cast permanently out of heaven to earth where after a brief
period of time were sent on to their incarceration in chains of
darkness in Tartarus where they await the final judgment as we saw
in Jude 6.
Many are the varied deductions drawn from this
verse. These are all at best speculation. There is
nothing in scripture anywhere else which expounds on what we see
here from this immediate context. What is immediately evident
is that Michael and Satan had a confrontation over the body of
Moses. Evidently Satan had some kind of diabolical use for his
dead body. All we really can deduce in regards to why Satan
would desire the body of Moses stems from our knowledge of his
continual efforts at the deception and destruction of mankind.
It is a safe assumption indeed that Satan was up to no good and had
grand designs of using Moses' body as an instrument of harm.
Michael stood opposed to Satan and whatever
designs he had for the body of Moses. Instead of railing on
Satan over the issue, Michael calmly confronted Satan with the
words, "The Lord Rebuke You". From this we learn
that speaking in opposition to those in authority is not the same as
speaking evil of them. There is a proper way to do anything
and those who would oppose the authorities dare not bring against
them railing accusation, rather a calm presentation of the facts
with a cool head and a quiet spirited demeanor. This speaks to
the conduct expected of one who would represent God even in times of
emotionally charged circumstances.
Evidently the apostates to whom Jude was
referring were in the habit of significantly harsh demonstrations of
verbal abuse directed at those in authority. such behavior is
not only unchristian like behavior it also served as a signature
mannerism by which these false teachers could be identified.
So we now have licentiousness, immorality, lack of respect for
authority and railers which were the identifying characteristics of
those who had crept in privily.
Railing is described
as violent or slanderous denunciation or condemnation. And
this behavior is soundly condemned in scripture (1 Peter 3:9, 2
Timothy 3:2). Interestingly, we have a similar passage of
scripture written by Peter in 2 Peter 2:10-11 where he specifically
mentions a class of people who's characteristics match the apostates
in Jude perfectly, "and especially those who walk according to
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are
presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of
dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might,
do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord."
Here Peter was prophesying of these heretics to come in the future.
By the time Jude wrote his epistle this class of heretic had come
and had manifested themselves in the Lord's church and were
spreading their heresy. And it should be noted that even
though these heretics are going to suffer the condemnation of Hell,
it is still entirely improper to rail against them, even if one is
an angel and it is before the Lord Himself.
The proper conduct of the faithful Christian is
given in scripture as we read in 1 Peter 3:4-5 "...let it be the
hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God".
2 Timothy 2:24-26, "a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be
gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting
those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them
repentance, so that they may know the truth." Verses such
as these makes one wonder what the leaders of the religious wars of
the crusades were thinking when they sent their armies out to
convert the masses to Christianity by force.
Jude 10
But these speak evil of whatever
they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute
beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
"But these" Jude is still referring to
the false teachers which are the primary subject of his epistle.
"speak evil of whatever they do not know"
The ASV renders this, "But these rail at whatsoever things
they know not". The Greek word used for "speak evil"
or "rail" is "blasphemo" which is where we get the
English word 'Blaspheme'. It means to defame, revile, vilify
or speak impiously. These false teachers have no idea what the
facts are of who they are defaming. They are simply engaging
in this behavior for whatever reasons, none of them good and making
things up to substantiate their claims.
"and whatever they know naturally"
What genuine information they do possess about the facts is likewise
spoken evil of. These false teachers have nothing good to say
about those who fall under their scrutiny whether based in fact or
simply made up for the purpose of adding reinforcement to their
accusations.
"like brute beasts, in these things they
corrupt themselves"
These individuals were set as a contrast to Michael, not hesitating
to speak evil of matters they know nothing about. Their only
knowledge being their passions, the instincts and impulses that
mankind shares with the animal creation. In this behavior,
they are only corrupting themselves. Paul wrote of a similar
behavior in Colossians 2:18, where he condemned those who would
intrude "into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind". Those who surrender themselves to
their fleshly appetites descend to the level of brutes and forfeit
their spiritual standing and any hope of an eternal destiny
associated with God.
These people had already demonstrated their
inability or unwillingness to suppress their fleshly appetites.
Their entire theology was twisted around what they wanted in so far
as that was concerned. Their unsuppressed railing on others is
merely another facet of their evil persona. Speaking evil and
reviling others was merely another outlet for their already
unrestrained behavior patterns. They are wholly governed by
their passions, exercising no restraint or inhibition whatsoever.
Jude 11
Woe to them! For
they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of
Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Apostates Depraved and Doomed. A
simple statement of the misery that will descend upon them, both in
this life and the one to come. Jude drew on three old
testament characters whose examples served to illustrate his point.
"For they have gone in the way of Cain"
Cain followed his own instincts and passion in determining the
nature of his offering to the Lord. He thought an offering of
the fruit of the ground would be more appropriate so he offered it
to the Lord. Cain's offering was rejected and he allowed his
passion to govern him to the extent that he slew his own brother.
Cain was a slave to his own passions.
"have run greedily in the error of Balaam
for profit" Balaam was a gentile
prophet who lived at the time when Balak the king of Moab was facing
his overthrow by the children of Israel as they conquered
Balaam, a gentile and the son of Bosor, was a
man of stature among the Midianites (Numbers 31:8). He lived at
Pethor (Deuteronomy 23:4), in Mesopotamia (Numbers 23:7). It is
evident that though dwelling among idolaters he had knowledge of the
true God, and was held in such reputation that it was believed that
those whom he blessed were blessed, and those whom he cursed were
cursed (Numbers 22:6). When the Israelites were encamped on the
plains of Moab, on the east of Jordan, by Jericho, Balak, concerned
that he would be overthrown by Israel (Numbers 22:4), sent for
Balaam "from Aram, out of the mountains of the east," to curse them
(Numbers 22:6), but because of God's intervention he was unable to
fulfill Balak's wish. The apostle Peter refers to Balaam in 2
Peter 2:15-16 as he who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
Though Balaam could not curse Israel, he did
counsel Balak during the time he was with him on Peor to entice the
children of Israel to "commit trespass against the Lord"
(Numbers 31:16). Revelation 2:14 gives us more detail
concerning this, "Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a
stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication". Balaam
couldn't curse the children of Israel directly but he did reveal to
Balak a way to cause the Israelites to fall from favor and incur the
wrath of God as a consequence. If the Israelites could be
tempted to commit fornication with the women of Moab, God would
withdraw His support from them. In Numbers
24:25-25:1, we learn that when Balaam and Balak concluded their
discussions over Israel, "Balaam rose up, and went and returned
to his place: and Balak also went his way. And Israel abode in
Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters
of Moab". Balaam's counsel to Balak concerning the
Israelites was successful. This resulted in the wrath of God
being poured out on Israel which ended with the deaths of twenty
four thousand (Numbers 25:4). After this, God sent Israel to
destroy Moab during which the kings of Midian and Balaam were
killed.
Balaam was mentioned by Jude because he
counseled Balak to have the Moabitish women seduce the men of Israel
into illicit sexual relations. This lasciviousness was what
the Antinomian Gnostics were promoting in the Lord's church. Jude's
intent here was to illustrate the similarities and to associate
these depraved activities with the fate that befell Balaam and Balak.
"and perished in the rebellion of Korah"
Kohath was the son of Levi (Genesis 46:11).
Kohath had four sons, two of which are of interest here; Izhar and
Amram (Exodus 6:18). Izhar was father of Korah (Exodus 6:21)
and Amram, his brother was the father of Moses (Exodus 6:20).
Korah and Moses were first cousins which is interesting in that
Korah was the ringleader in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron
(Numbers 16:1-3), "Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath,
the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On
the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up
before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and
fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the
congregation, men of renown. 3 They gathered together against Moses
and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for
all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is
among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of
the Lord?"
This did not work out well for them at all.
In the end Dathan and Abiram, along with their families were
swallowed up by the earth and Korah along with the two hundred and
fifty leaders of the congregation perished by fire from the Lord.
Korah himself perished while standing before the door of the
tabernacle of meeting where he had gathered the opposing leaders of
the Israelites against Moses and Aaron.
Korah's sin by rebelling against Moses and inciting the Israelites
to rise up against him was "Despising dominion and speaking evil
of dignities" as mentioned by Jude in verse 8. The
application for us today is of a warning against those who would
rise up in opposition to the civil or spiritual authorities under
which a Christian lives and serves. Our instructions
concerning the civil authorities is found in 1 Peter 2:13-14 and
Romans 13:1-3. Our instructions concerning our conduct in
respect to spiritual authorities is found in Hebrews 13:17 and 1
Thessalonians 5:12-13.
In all we have:
1) Cain who insisted on his own
righteousness instead of God's and failed to govern his own
passions.
2) Balaam who taught Balak to lead God's children astay with
the pleasures of the flesh.
3) and Korah who did not respect the authorities above him and
rose up against them.
These three examples cover very well the
characteristics of the false teachers that Jude was opposing.
It is well known fact that the Gnostics approached God with their
own righteousness, allowing their lusts and passions to govern their
behavior. They promoted sexual promiscuity and had no respect
whatsoever for authority, whether it be physical or spiritual.
The Gnostics had all three, but it is apparent that to possess any
one of these characteristics would bear the same consequences.
The application for us today is that we, like
the Christians to whom Jude wrote, need to seek after God's
righteousness (Romans 10:3), refrain from the pleasures of the flesh
and respect the authorities under which we live (2 Peter 2:10), and
do not engage in the acceptance or the practice of false teaching.
Jude 12
These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you
without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without
water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit,
twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
The Greek word for "spots" here means a reef
under the sea, which carries the meaning of a hidden menace.
The ASV renders this phrase as, "These are they who are hidden
rocks in your love-feasts". The NASB simply renders the
word for its literal meaning, a "hidden reef". The idea
here is of a threat that is hard to see but carries an imminent
threat of disaster. Like sunken reefs which could not be seen
from the surface of the water, but would destroy any ship that hit
them, so the apostates in Jude's consideration had hidden themselves
among them, giving no evidence of the threat they posed. Peter
used this word when prophesying about these very people in 2 Peter
2:13, "They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own
deceptions while they feast with you".
The "love-feasts" is a reference to the
well known feasts of charity which was a customary practice of the
New Testament church associated with their assemblies. These
love feasts were not intended to be a part of their worship but the
Corinthian Christians combined them with the Lord's supper and
brought about the condemnation of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22.
The Corinthian Christians were not the only group of Christians who
associated the Lord's supper with a common meal, but it was the
Corinthians who abused it and received Paul's inspired teachings on
the matter. Several congregations of the Lord's church still
observe the feasts of charity today as a custom, not as a part of
the biblical pattern. These feasts are more modernly referred
to as 'potlucks' or 'fellowship meals'.
One of the purposes, aside from building and
maintaining a bond of fellowship among brethren, was to make sure
all the Christians received a good meal. At this time in
history, Christian persecution had arisen to the point that it was
difficult for many Christians to find work to support their
families. There were times when the love-feast was the only
decent meal a Christian could count on receiving. That the
saints were accustomed to meeting together for common meals is
evident from this verse and also from 2 Peter 2:13. There are
also numerous extra-biblical references to these love feasts by the
early ecclesiastical writers of the church. By the 4th century
they were suspended because men of the type prophesied by Peter and
described by Jude had turned the feasts into banquetings and
drinking parties as condemned in 1 Peter 4:3. Anything can be
abused to the point that something innocent can be corrupted into
something ungodly.
There were other public feasts which were
available at the time but Christians were forbidden to partake in
them because they involved eating meat that had been sacrificed to
idols. Paganism was at its height in Roman society in the
first century. Their religion was replete with all kinds of
mythological pagan gods such as Zeus, Hercules, Athena, Diana and
literally hundreds of others. These gods were actively
worshipped in temples constructed in their honor. Animal
sacrifices were sometimes a regular part of their worship and the
meat which had been sacrificed to these pagan gods would be used to
feed the citizens of the Roman Empire in the cities where this took
place. These public feasts, well intentioned at the
first, turned into wild orgiastic festivals in the streets where
drunkeness and gluttony ran wild along with every depraved form of
sexual depravity imaginable. These gluttonous feasts were
alluded to in Revelation 2:20 where John quoted Jesus words
concerning the church at Thyatira, "I have a few things against
you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual
immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." Paul
likewise had this to say concerning the eating of things sacrificed
to idols in 1 Corinthians 10:18-22, "Observe Israel after the
flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the
altar? 19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what
is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which
the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and
I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot
drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake
of the Lord's table and of the table of demons".
"while they feast with you without
fear, serving only themselves."
The ASV renders more correctly renders this passage as, "shepherds
that without fear feed themselves". Jude drew this imagery from
Ezekiel 34:2 and following, "Thus saith the Lord God unto the
shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed
themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" The
apostates in Jude's consideration care nothing about the sheep,
instead all they care about is serving their own interests.
They care not one whit for the damage they are inflicting on others.
All they care about is serving themselves.
Apostates never seem to be content with just
being apostates. They almost always yield to some inner drive
to win others over to their way of thinking. It's as if they
feel their point of view is somehow validated through acceptance of
others. The apostates in view of Jude were no different.
They were not content to just partake of their fleshly desires
themselves, they wanted others to as well. That they were in
some way associated with Christianity is apparent in that they had
"crept in" to the church. These people were obviously coming
into the fellowship in the guise of Christians, or else it would not
have been possible. And, true to the nature of apostates, they
were trying to influence others to their perverted understandings of
scripture, thereby dragging the souls of the innocent with them to
destruction. They wanted Jesus and the hope He represented,
but they also wanted to be free to satiate their fleshly desires
without the fear of losing the hope they had in Christ. So
instead of just surrendering to their lusts and leaving the faithful
Christians to worship God correctly, they chose to come in
stealthily and try to win then over to their way of thinking.
They were shepherds that without fear, feeding their own desires and
trying to lead the sheep down their path.
"They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds"
This is the first of four comparisons Jude makes
from nature regarding the apostates. Compare the clouds
without water to Peter's prophesy regarding apostates in 2 Peter
2:17, "These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest".
Clouds promise rain and relief from the dry and the heat. The
expectation of those who depend entirely on their environment for
survival is expectant that the thirsty earth is to be refreshed with
needful showers. Instead of this, however, the clouds follow the
wind's direction, and no rain is received. The clouds which
promise water are only carried about by the whim of whatever drives
it, with no consistent direction, no defined purpose. So this
is of false religious teachers. Instruction in regards to the
way of salvation was expected from them; but, instead, they
disappointed the anticipations of those who were desirous of knowing
the way of life, but were disappointed.
"late autumn trees without fruit"
Similar to a cloud with no water, the tree without fruit cannot
bring the sustenance required for life. The imagery here is of
expected spiritual nourishment with none available. The tree
is there, but there is nothing produced from it of any value.
"twice dead"
These apostates, here described as being like
clouds without water and trees without fruit are now declared "twice
dead". Christians are characterized in scripture as those who
were formerly dead but live again, (Ephesians 2:1-2, Ephesians 2:5,
1 John 3:14). Scripture also refers to this second life and
being born again, (John 3:3-5, 1 Peter 1:23). Those who are
twice dead, would be in the same condition they were before they
became alive in Christ, dead twice. In writing to Timothy
concerning widows in the church who live after the flesh, Paul said
in 1 Timothy 5:6-7, "But she who lives in pleasure is dead while
she lives". Like the living dead widows who seek the
pleasures of the flesh, so also are the apostates who fell under the
scrutiny of Judas, and so will be the spiritual state of any who
follow after their evil teachings.
pulled up by the roots;
Ezekiel wrote by the commandment of god
concerning the rebellious house of Israel in, Ezekiel 17:9, "It
was planted in good soil by many waters, To bring forth branches,
bear fruit, And become a majestic vine. 9 Say, 'Thus
says the Lord God: Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots,
Cut off its fruit, And leave it to wither? All of its spring leaves
will wither, And no great power or many people Will be needed to
pluck it up by its roots" And such is the fate of
these apostates in the end. They are dead while they live, and will
be plucked up and disposed of.
Jude 13
raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame;
Isaiah 57:20-21, "But the wicked are like the
troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and
dirt. "There is no peace,"
Says my God, "for the wicked." These apostates are
compared to the raging waves of troubled seas who appear powerful
but produce only mire, dirt and refuse on the shores in their wake.
All that is produced by them is a lot of show, leaving behind only
trash, mire and filth.
"wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever." Jude is most likely
referring to what we today refer to as 'falling or shooting stars'.
They appear for a moment in the night sky and then fall into the
darkness. Jude's use of the Greek here means a "stars which
follow no orbit", or "stars which have wandered off course".
Jude is using familiar imagery to characterize these apostates.
Trees cannot be literally "twice dead"; oceans do not foam up
"shame"; and real stars do not 'wander off course.' Jude was
not referring to stars in a technical sense, rather he was using the
imagery to illustrate a likeness which his readers could identify
with.
The application of the imagery here, both for
Jude's immediate readership and for us today as well, is that the
blackness of darkness forever is what is in store for the apostates.
Here is their pronouncement of eternal doom and damnation.
They will share the same fate as the angels who sinned as mentioned
by Jude in verse 6.
There is an apparent resembles between this
entire section of Jude and the words of 2 Peter 2 concerning future
apostates. 2 Peter 2 prophecies their coming and
Jude describes them in fulfillment of Peter's prediction. The
imagery used to illustrate and characterize them is both similar and
striking. The harsh terms used by both writers are indicative
of the seriousness of their spiritual situation and that of those
who would follow after their ways. Neither writer leaves any
doubt as to the fate that lays in store for them.
Jude 14
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men
also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His
saints, Enoch was the son of
Jared and the father of Methuselah (Genesis 5:21; Luke 3:37). His
father was one hundred and sixty-two years old when he was born.
After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch "walked with God three
hundred years" (Genesis 5:22-24), when he was translated without
experiencing death. His life on earth was for three hundred and
sixty-five years. He was the "seventh from Adam" as
distinguished from Enoch, the son of Cain who was the third from
Adam. He is spoken of in the record of biblical heroes in Hebrews
11:5. Mention is made of Enoch's prophesying only in this
verse of scripture in Jude. "These
men" are the false teachers about whom Jude is writing. In
addition to the examples of the Israelites, the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah, and in the punishments which befell Cain, Balaam and
Korah, Jude now draws on a prophecy of judgment on their heads.
This is the only reference to him in this
letter. Jude's mention of Enoch's prophecy authenticates it as
inspired truth. However, it does not authenticate the book of
Enoch itself. This book was widely known in apostolic times
and a reading of it reveals that it is at best ridiculous and often
bizarre. It is rightfully rejected as an authentic work of
this ancient old testament figure. When considering the
possibility of the book of Enoch as an authentic, inspired wholly
complete work of scripture, one needs to keep in mind that if Enoch
had indeed written the book, it would have been centuries before the
great flood. The earliest book in scripture was written by
Moses many centuries removed from the flood. Moses wrote
wholly by inspiration of the events which occurred before the flood.
Moses never met Abraham but he wrote extensively of his life and the
lives of all the Biblical figures by inspiration.
Enoch lived on earth from about 3468 BC to
about 3102 BC. This was roughly six and half centuries before
the flood which occurred about 2434 BC given a hundred year margin
either way. Anything written by Enoch would have had to either
survive the flood to be unearthed some time afterwards, or would
have had to have been in Noah's possession on the Ark and then
passed down from generation to generation until it could be buried
to be found at a later date. In all, any such manuscript would
have had to survive, unchanged for roughly forty four centuries.
No doubt Jude identified the prophecy of Enoch
and forever sealed the fact that Enoch did indeed utter this
prophecy. The fact that this prophecy is recorded in a book
with Enoch's name on it does not mean that Jude authenticated the
entire work. It took much more than that to qualify a book for
inclusion in the Bible as an inspired text. While such a thing
was taken into account, it was certainly not the only test a
document had to pass in order to be counted as scripture.
Paul quoted a pagan prophet in Titus 1:12-13, "One
of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars,
evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true..."
Biblical scholars hold that this prophet's name was a man named
Epimenides. Paul quoted something out of the word of this
pagan writer that was indeed true, but it does not follow that
everything Epimenides or whoever may have written what Paul quoted
was infallible, inspired scripture. Paul also quoted heathen
poets and an inscription from a pagan monument to the unknown god in
the city of Athens (Acts 17), approving of neither by so doing.
We know from inspiration that Enoch "walked
with God" (Genesis 5:22), in a very special way, that he
was translated (Hebrews 11:5), being one of only two people in
history to pass from earth in this manner, the other being that
great prophet, Elijah, who rode to heaven in a chariot of fire (2
Kings 2:9-11). Therefore, we may surely believe Jude's account
of God's using Enoch to utter a prophecy of the destruction of evil
men. It is quite possible and entirely likely that Jude's
knowledge of Enoch's prophecy came to him in the same fashion that
Moses knowledge of all the historical facts he wrote about was
delivered to him, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jude 15
to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which
ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
Enoch lived in the post flood era when the
moral fiber of humanity was degrading to what would soon be cause
for the God's utter destruction of the earth by water. We know
that Enoch was a righteous man amid a world of corruption and we
know that God thought enough of him that He translated Him instead
of allowing him to die a natural death. There can be no doubt
that Enoch was an extraordinary man of God. And as such, he
would be an outspoken proponent of good and a staunch and powerful
opponent of evil. There can be no doubt that Enoch spoke of
God's coming judgment on the ungodly. Enoch was an eyewitness to
plenty of this and no doubt condemned it, preaching to those of the
earth at that time of God's impending wrath for their evil ways.
Jude's use of Enoch's prophecy does not mean that Enoch was
prophesying specifically about the apostates which were the subject
of Jude's letter. Rather, it means that Enoch's prophecy of
God's coming judgment on ungodly and evil men in his time applied
equally to the apostates in Jude's consideration. The
condemnation of the ungodly, prophesied by Enoch applied to not only
the ungodly activities of the apostates written about in Jude but
upon all who would do the same.
The application of Enoch's prophecy by Jude to
the ungodly of his time has an application for us today. We
serve the same God that destroyed the earth by water in fulfillment
of Enoch's prophecy. We serve the same God that destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah for their fleshly perversions. We serve the
same God that rejected Cain's sacrifice and withstood Balaam and
destroyed Korah. The same God that executed judgment on all
these ungodly people will do the same against those living today.
We can expect God, who has never been tolerant of this sort of
activity to be just as severe and harsh on the ungodly today as he
was in past ages. The warning words of Paul concerning those
who would apostatize are especially relevant here in Romans
11:20-23, "...Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not
spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who
fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His
goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. "
God's judgment prophesied by Enoch and here
referred to by Jude is going to be executed on all, meaning
everybody. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, "Wherefore we labour,
that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one
may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad".
Those who will be convicted are:
1) All who are ungodly
2) Those who commit ungodly deeds
3) Those who commit deeds in an ungodly way
4) The harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against
God.
God is going to execute judgment on the
ungodly, what they do, how they do it and how they speak. This
completely covers the actions of the apostates in Jude's view.
They were guilty of all these things and Jude invoked the
condemnation prophesied by a man of God living roughly thirty four
centuries prior to that. The intent of Jude by invoking such
an ancient prophecy is to demonstrate God's unchanging behavior
concerning this. In effect, Jude was telling them that God has
been doing this for a very long time and He's certainly not going to
change now. Jude first called to mind the actions of Sodom and
Gomorrah, the rebellious Israelites, then Cain, Balaam, Korah and
the consequences for ungodliness were consistently the same for all
of them. Now he goes all the way back to a prophecy that at
that time was made thirty four hundred years prior. Could a
better case for the consistency of God's judgment on the ungodly be
made? Those who would similarly pervert the truth today need
to consider the warnings given here by Jude and be warned. Let
us all take a hard look at the myriad array of denominations so
prevalent in the world today. Let us consider all the
religious division with its diverse teachings on God's truth and
reflect seriously on the warnings given by Jude. And then, let
us take those steps necessary to assure ourselves that we are of the
faith lest we fall into the same condemnation. The words of Paul in
2 Timothy 2:15 are especially relevant here, "Study to shew
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth".
Jude 16
These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own
lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to
gain advantage.
In addition to the characteristics of
ungodliness that Enoch pronounced, Jude is supplying more
descriptions of their behavior, both to help identify them and then
to associate them with those who would receive the judgment of God,
prophesied by Enoch.
"These are grumblers, complainers"
These apostates were unhappy with their station in
life and argued that they deserved better. God's providence
wasn't good enough for them so they complained about it. Paul
addressed this in Philippians 4:11-12, "Not that I speak in
regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be
content". God never promised Christians their lives would
be easy and trouble free. Keep in mind that Jude's immediate
readership was living in a time of extreme persecution towards
Christianity. It's easy to be content when one is living a
life of ease, but add a little persecution to the mix and many
people start thinking God is mad at them or isn't doing His job.
The grumblers and complainers think that God should take care of
them better than He does.
"walking according to their own lusts"
They had given themselves over to fleshly
immorality. Their desires were the basis for their actions.
"and they mouth great swelling words"
These great swelling words and licentious behavior
was directly mentioned in 2 Peter 2:18-19, "For when they speak
great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the
flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from
them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they
themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is
overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."
This behavior is again arising out of
Antinomianism which held the view that Christians are exempt from
the demands of the moral law by reason of their reliance upon divine
grace alone for salvation.
Jude 17
But you, beloved, remember the words which were
spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
This verse gives us strong evidence leading to
the conclusion that Jude was written much later than most of the
other books of the New Testament. It encourages the readership
to look back on teachings of an earlier time. This verse also
excludes the apostle Judas from consideration as the possible author
of this work. The language here is that of someone who is
referring his readers to a group of individuals which he is not a
member of.
Jude is telling them to disregard what the
apostates were teaching and go back to the source. Remember
the words of the apostles which came before the words of the
apostates. Jude told them to remember the words of all the
apostles, not just one. As we learned from our study of
Antinomianism from Jude 4, the teaching these apostates were
advocating came from a perversion of Paul's teachings regarding
grace. Jude's readership was encouraged to go back to the
source and consider all of what had been spoken not by one apostle,
but by all of them.
The application for us today is that when
confronted with a false doctrine we too can do the same thing.
We can go back and examine and study what the apostles spoke through
the inspired record. We, like the readership of Jude can
bypass all the conjecture and teaching of men and go all the way
back to the source. That is what is authoritative, that is
where we all must look to find the truth and that is where we must
go to find the information we need to contend for the faith that was
once for all time delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
Jude 18
how they
told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk
according to their own ungodly lusts.
Jude's readership was reminded that what they
were experiencing with the apostates is what the Apostles warned
them about. Some of these warnings can be found in 1 Timothy
4:1, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 1 John 4:1, 2 Peter chapter 2.
Everything these enemies of god were doing had been foretold.
Now that it had become a reality, Jude was exhorting them to go back
to their predictions of these people and heed their warnings.
Jude 19
These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the
Spirit.
The usage of the word sensual here is
associated with those who have not the Spirit. Thus the
meaning here is of those who have a manner of life which is inferior
to that which is described as spiritual. There are two
types of people in the world, those who live after the Spirit,
guided by the word of God with the correct attitude and those who
live after the flesh being guided by their worldly desires and
wishes.
"who cause divisions"
The Greek word for "cause divisions" is "apodiorizo"
which is a compound word in this case meaning one who draws a line
through the church and sets one part over against another. It
is a vivid description of those who would cause division among the
people of the church. This is what the apostates were engaged
in. They were drawing a line through the Lord's church and
setting the two sides against one another.
Jesus taught in Matthew 12:25-26, "Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every
city or house divided against itself will not stand".
Satan knows that if he can divide the church, he has a better chance
of destroying it. This division is exactly the means by which
Satan is at work today. And when we look out at the religious
diversity among those claiming Christ as savior it is easy to see
that Satan has not been lax in his efforts. The scriptures
teach one faith, one body (Ephesians 4:4). The world presents
many bodies and many faiths and this division is destructive to the
efforts of the Lord's church. Through the division we have
today, Satan has managed to successfully set out an impressive array
of decoys. Well meaning people seeking God's righteousness may
and doubtless are deceived into condemnation by following after one
of Satan's decoys. Division is one of Satan's most powerful
attacks and deception is how he works. Everyone who is
lost is in some way a victim of Satan's deceptions.
"not having the Spirit"
There is no shortage of disagreement over what
these four words mean among the religious writers and commentators
used for aid in the preparation of this study. Many contend
that this means the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is promised
to all Christians and many are the various beliefs associated with
that. Some hold to a literal personal indwelling of God within
us. Some hold to a strictly representative indwelling through
the word of God. Personally, this Bible student sees
compelling evidence to support either position and it has been my
belief for some time now that the indwelling is a measure of both
rather than either/or. I do not believe the use of Jude here
is in any way connected to the indwelling of the Spirit in the
believer today so we are not even going to look into that aspect of
our faith with this study.
Jude wrote by inspiration, which means he was
writing to Christians during the period of time when the Holy Spirit
was working directly to reveal and to confirm God's word. The
apostates coming into the church were trying to pervert the word of
God from what was once delivered. These apostates had to be
claiming divine direction in some fashion in order to be taken
seriously. By telling his readership these apostates did
not have the Spirit, he was telling them they were not operating
under any direct guidance of the Holy Sprit, therefore what they
were trying to teach did not have the authentication or approval of
the Holy Spirit and should therefore be utterly rejected.
Jude 20
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude had used a lot of stern language in
identification, characterizing and condemnation of the apostates in
his epistle. Yet here he displays his evident love for the
brethren. Jude was every bit as loving for the brethren as he
was stern with the apostates. He referred to his readership as
"beloved" no less than three times in his letter, (3, 17 and 20).
There can be no doubt concerning the love and concern Jude had for
his brethren.
"building yourselves up"
Christians are here commanded to build themselves
up on their most holy faith! Jude like all the other inspired
writers failed to stress what believers must themselves do if they
hope to receive salvation. On Pentecost, Peter said, "Save
yourselves from this crooked generation." Paul wrote that people
should "work out their own salvation." All such teachings, including
Jude 20 stress the importance of things people are commanded to do,
with the undeniable implication, that if they refuse or fail to
comply with the conditions upon which God's grace is to be
appropriated, they will either fall from or fail of God's grace.
The need on the part of mankind to obey God's
teaching is not incompatible with the conception that no man can
earn salvation. Mankind cannot repay God what it cost to offer
salvation therefore all the works of righteousness in the world will
still leave one short of earning salvation. But the fact that
we can never earn our salvation does not excuse mankind from the
obligation to obey God. The necessity of obedience to God is
interwoven throughout Biblical history starting with Adam and
continuing unbroken until the great day of the Lord some time in the
future.
"on your most holy faith"
Whether one understands this to be the personal
faith of the individual or the system of faith to which Christians
are bound, there is a necessary human response associated with
building oneself up.
"Praying in the Holy Spirit"
Prayer is a vital means of spiritual growth and
security for the Christian. It cannot be stressed enough how
important prayer is. Through Christ, we have a direct line of
communication and fellowship with God the Father (1 John 1:3).
As for praying in the Holy Spirit, this was something very much
different then, than what it is today. As mentioned earlier,
this epistle was written during the age when the Holy Spirit was
working directly with believers in revealing and confirming the word
of God. There was without a doubt some in Jude's readership
who had the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit and could do this.
Today when we pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ, our prayers
are in line with biblical teaching relevant to the age we live in
now. Being in accordance with the will of God as revealed by
the Holy Spirit, we are in effect praying in the Holy Spirit.
But the ability to do that like they could during the miraculous age
in the infancy of the church is not possible for us today.
There is an apostolic example of just such a
thing in Revelation 1:10, written by John, "I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet". John's being "in the Spirit" that day is
not possible for us to accomplish today.
Jude 21
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Here we have Jude exhorting his Christian
readers to keep themselves in the love of God. This is
significant in that Calvinism teaches that the elect are incapable
of leaving the love of God. Jude here puts the responsibility
of remaining in the love of God squarely on the Christians to whom
he was writing. John tells us exactly how to abide in God's
love in John 15:10, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide
in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide
in His love." The use of the word "if" makes this
an optional thing. Those who wish to remain in the love of God
must be obedient to God's will in order to accomplish this.
Faithful followers of God have always had a role to fulfill in God's
plans and that role has always been obedience.
Not only can one not keep themselves in the
love of God if they are not obedient, they cannot even claim to know
God. John provided us with the test for whether or not we are
in the love of God in 1 John 2:3-5, "Now by this we know that we
know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, "I know Him,"
and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is
perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him."
Obedience to God is the key to our salvation
(Hebrews 5:9), and under no circumstances does the necessity for
obedience militate against our being saved by God's grace. It
was God's grace which provided man a way of reconciliation with God
in the first place. God didn't owe mankind a second chance
under any circumstances and would have been well within His rights
to have allowed mankind to perish in His sin, suffering eternal
condemnation. Jude was making sure his readers knew that they
had a role to fulfill in God's plan.
"looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life" The
Christian does indeed have a role to play in God's plan, but it is
also a fact that without God's mercy, it is all for nothing.
Jesus gave His life for mankind and in so doing paid a debt we
couldn't pay and be in fellowship with God. By paying that
debt for us, He put us in the position of owing Him our lives.
Scripture says that we were bought for a price (1 Corinthians 6:20).
We cannot repay that fully so what we do is offer our lives back to
Jesus in service. In the end, it won't be our works that save
us, because our works can never fully repay what it cost God to save
us. In the end it will be God's grace and mercy that bridges
the gap between the insufficiency of our works and the debt paid by
Jesus Christ on our behalf.
Jude 22
And on some have compassion, making a distinction
Here we have some of the most extraordinary words
in all of scripture in regards of how to deal with erring brethren.
As uncompromising and stern as Jude was in his condemnation of the
apostates, he allows that there is some diversity in the class of
those in error and here gives instruction to make a distinction
between them. On the one hand, you have those who are honestly
in error and will take the steps to correct their actions. A
compassionate approach may in some cases be the most appropriate
method. And on the other hand, the approach Jude mentions in
verse 23 may be the more effective method.
Jude 23
but others
save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the
garment defiled by the flesh.
It may be the case where the erring brother may
require a somewhat stronger approach. Perhaps the warning of
condemnation which Jude certainly excelled in. One can hardly
read this epistle and considering it honestly not lend themselves to
a healthy measure of self examination.
The application for us today is that there are
diverse ways of dealing with those in error. There is room for
judgment regarding this. The important thing to keep in mind
is that we must always show compassion when dealing with such
things. A haughty and judgmental attitude is not going to be
an effective means under any circumstances. 2 Timothy 2:24-26,
"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all,
able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in
opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they
may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and
escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to
do his will."
"hating even the garment defiled by the flesh"
Garments are used symbolically to represent one's
spiritual state. In Isaiah 61:10, we read, "My soul shall
be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of
salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness".
Garments which are white represent purity and righteousness
(Revelation 7:9) while unrighteousness is characterized by filthy
garments (Zechariah 3:3-4), "Now Joshua [speaking here of the
nation of Israel] was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing
before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood
before Him, saying, "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to
him He said, "See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will
clothe you with rich robes." And finally, Christians are
represented in scripture as those who have washed their garments
white in the blood of Jesus (Revelation 7:14-15), "...These are the
ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb".
All sin defiles the garments of righteousness but
the particular sin in view here is that of sins of the flesh.
The temptation of the flesh is a powerful force and one that is
responsible for the downfall of many. Christians are to hate
the garments of all sin meaning they are to remove themselves from
it as far as possible. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:3-7, "But
fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be
named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but
rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator,
unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive
you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God
comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers
with them". Christians are to be
careful at all times, avoiding sin, not putting themselves in
situations where they would be tempted (Romans 13:14). It is a
fact that we must live and serve in a sinful world. We'll
never know what it is like to live without sin this side of
eternity, but we must never allow ourselves to look favorably upon
it. We are exhorted to hate the filthy garments of
unrighteousness, choosing to look with disfavor upon them, shunning
them and avoiding what they represent. 1 Timothy 5:14,
"give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully", (1
Thessalonians 5:22), "Abstain from every form of evil".
Jude
24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present
you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
If Christians heed the instructions of their
Lord and walk in the light as he is in the light, they will not
stumble; and, for those who thus walk, the Lord indeed can and does
guard them from stumbling. Romans 14:4 "... Indeed,
he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
There is a role to play for man in this regard
as well. God will not uphold the unrepentant, impenitent
sinner. Paul makes this perfectly clear in Ephesians 6:13-18
where he gives instructions on how to stand, "Therefore take up
the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having
girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of
the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with
which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints".
Standing without stumbling and falling requires a
diligent effort on the part of the child of God. God helps to
keep us from stumbling by giving us what we need in order to do it.
According to Paul, we need truth, righteousness, preparation in the
gospel, faith, the word of God, prayer, watchfulness, perseverance
and supplication. And it should not go unnoticed or
unmentioned that the adornment of oneself with those things which
keep us from stumbling is given by Paul as something we are to do
ourselves.
God provided truth, we have to gird our waists
with it.
God provided righteousness, we have to put it on like a breastplate.
God gave us the gospel of peace, it is our responsibility to have
our feet shod with it.
God gave us the system of faith we live under, it is our duty to
shield ourselves with it.
God gave us the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, it is
our job to wield it.
God provides us with all that we need to keep
from stumbling. God does His part and upholds His role in our
salvation, but we as His children have a role to fulfill as well.
Our faith has never been passive, rather it is proactive. God
reaches down to us in love with His grace, we reach back up to Him
in love by faith.
And to present
you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
While giving instruction to husbands concerning
their wives, Paul compared the relationship they should have to the
relationship Jesus has with His church in Ephesians 5:25-28,
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with
the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish".
It has ever been God's goal to provide a way of
redemption for mankind. Man sinned and forfeited fellowship
with God. God went to great lengths and personal sacrifice in
order to achieve this. God displayed an enormous amount of
intent and desire in His efforts to provide man with a way back into
fellowship with Him. Those who have such intent and purpose
and go to such lengths have a goal in site. God's goal is to
present to Himself a people who having sinned and lost that
fellowship, chose of their own free will to seek to regain that
fellowship and do what it takes to avail themselves of His mercy and
grace. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.
Jude 25
To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion
and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
"To God our Savior." The KJV and the ASV render this verse more
properly as, "to the only God our Saviour...". This
reference here to the singleness and unity of God speaks directly
against the beliefs of the antinomian Gnostics who, having crept
into the church, were infected with polytheism, especially later on
as they moved ever further from the truth of God's word. Jude
here reaffirmed what Paul taught in Ephesians 4:4-6, "There is
one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your
calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of
all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all".
Even in the closing of His epistle, Jude made sure his readership
was fully informed with all the facts they needed, closing with a
direct statement affirming the fact that there is only one God.
"Who alone is wise"
The apostates who had crept into the church came
under the guise of possessing knowledge they alone had access to.
They were like those to whom Paul referred in Romans 1:22-23, "Professing
to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man".
The apostates about whom Jude wrote were doing this very thing.
They came in professing to be the bearers of wisdom but Jude here
affirms that is it God alone who is wise. Christians should
not be persuaded by the wisdom of men, but should seek the wisdom
which comes from he alone who is wise. Paul had this to say
regarding the rejection of human wisdom in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, "And
my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your
faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God".
Jude is closing His epistle with words which
strike at the heart of the issue at hand. He has declared,
identified, characterized and condemned the apostates. Now in
the final words of His letter he has reminded his readership of that
which they already knew and should not forget. Our God is the
only God. Do not be led away by the persuasive wisdom of man
because it's a deception for God alone is wise.
Be glory and majesty, Dominion
and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
Jude ends his letter finally with putting the
glory where it belongs. There is nothing in this letter
speaking to the wisdom of men, rather it has all been about God from
the beginning to the end. Jude never credited anything to
himself, rather pointing his readership consistently towards God and
God alone.
"glory"
1 Corinthians 10:31-32, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Jude is
attributing the glory of God to where it rightfully belongs.
"majesty"
Pertaining to God's supreme greatness or
authority or sovereignty as the ruler of the universe,
(Micah 5:4), "And He shall stand and feed His flock In
the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the
Lord His God".
"Dominion"
Meaning sovereign
authority over that which one rules.
Daniel 7:14, "Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion".
"power"
Ephesians 1:19-23, "and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to
the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He
raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the
heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but
also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is
His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
God has all power, all authority, all dominion
and all Glory. Man has nothing substantive to offer in this
regard, therefore the duty of man is to recognize and affirm these
attributes in God. It is ever the duty of man to point the way
to the light.
"Both now and forever"
Jude speaks here to the present reality of
God's "glory and majesty, Dominion and power" and then to the
everlasting aspect of it. There is never going to be a time
when God will not be sovereign and all powerful. There is
never going to be a time when the truth of God can be set aside in
favor of man. There is never going to be a time when man's
wisdom can supersede God's. There's never going to be a time
when man should seek the light of God's truth and the way of
salvation from any source other than God. God's nature,
attributes and character are immutable, meaning never ever changing.
Malachi wrote in 3:6 concerning God, "For I
am the Lord, I change not"
The Hebrew writer wrote a fitting commentary on
the closing words of Jude which apply directly to the entire theme
of his letter:
Hebrews 13:5-9
For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake
you." 6 So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not
fear. What can man do to me? Remember those who rule over you,
who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow,
considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
And then the Hebrew writer continued with words
which ring loud and clear in view of the warnings of Jude, the
bondservant of Christ and brother to James.
"Do not be carried about with various and
strange doctrines."
Let us heed the warnings here of Jude and so
many other inspired writers. Let us do those things which we
know are of the faith. Let us conduct ourselves in a manner
befitting bondservants of Jesus Christ. Let us seek after
God's righteousness alone. Let us shun and reject the
teachings of men. Let us contend earnestly for the faith that
was once delivered to the saints. Let us consider the biblical
examples of those who rebelled against God's authority and let us
learn from the consequences of their errors. Let us beware of
the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let us learn from the mistakes
of Cain and of Balaam and of Korah. Let us heed the warnings
of the prophets. Let us seek the wisdom of God alone.
And let us always point the way to God's glory
and majesty. Let us always hold God up to the world as the
light of truth and let us always follow after His ways, His truth,
His righteousness. And by so doing, let us all share in the
blessed hope we have in Christ and never ever forget to be thankful
for Him and to Him, always giving Him the glory in all things.
Amen. |