Jude 1-25
Key verse: “They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." (Jude 18).
If we can find a biblical figure whose life closely matches that of Jesus, it may be the life of Paul. What caused him to live such an exemplary life, similar to Jesus’? Paul said that the grace of God in him was what worked hard in his life (1 Corinthians 15). Then, what if God’s grace is not in one’s heart, even though he might fully ascribe himself to the truthfulness of the Gospel? What if we feel that one’s life is confidently established in his faith, and yet his life is not overtly in line with godliness? How can we discern whether or not a life of weakened faith is a result of a life lived in unbelief of the Gospel truth?
Jude wrote a letter to a group of Jewish Christians, and it is thought to be one of the earliest letters among all of the canonical epistles. He wrote about a group of leaders who had perverted God’s grace and had committed sexual immorality with flamboyant pride and confidence. They had infiltrated the church and disrupted the morale and godliness of the church members. Jude felt it was urgent to warn the believers against these ungodly leaders by teaching them the true nature of their false beliefs and how God had dealt with such people in the past. Finally, Jude taught believers what they must do in order to prevail against such an ungodly way of life.
Our discussion will be divided into four sections: 1. Contend for the faith (1-4);2. God will judge the defiant ungodly sinners (5-19); 3. Five dictums that believers must follow (20-23); 4. Glory and honor to the One who will present his followers to the LORD, without fault and with great joy (24-25)
1. Contend for the faith
Jude was one of Jesus’ brothers, who came to believe in him after his resurrection (Acts 1:14). Like his brother James, he might have played an important role serving in the first church. Though we do not know exactly to whom he was writing, it is obvious that Jude was well acquainted with the recipients of this letter and their circumstances. Since he said that he was eager to write to them about the salvation that ‘we’ share, we can understand that he had a clear picture of the Gospel truth in his heart and was eager to convey this truth, which leads to salvation, to them. This implies that, even though they knew the essence of the Gospel and had come to believe in Jesus, they had not been taught or were not fully aware of the full scope the salvation message i.e., the salvation from the eternal perspective that Paul wrote about to the Ephesians (AD 60) or the salvation described in the Old Testament Scriptures, such as Paul’s letter to the Romans (AD 57).
In this light, it is likely that Jude’s letter was written very early, and many parts of the Jewish community were not aware of such a comprehensive view of the Gospel as given in these two letters of Paul, because we do not see any Pauline ideas in this letter (even though it is possible that, although the recipients were Jews, they were not exposed to Paul’s writings). Whenever this letter was written, the implication is enormous in understanding this letter, as well as understanding how to deal with an antinomian understanding of the Gospel.
This implies also that the recipients were not well educated in this regard and were therefore vulnerable to false ‘explanations’ of the Gospel, which invariably lacked or were unable present the Gospel message from an ‘eternal perspective’ or as ‘God’s eternal purpose’, as He revealed both in the Old Testament, in Christ, and through the letters to the Romans and Galatians. This disjunction between the proffered Gospel message and its eternal significance invites all kinds of ‘misinterpretations’ of the Gospel message.
The most prominent or most powerful force that drives one to reinterpret the Gospel is rooted in an effort to do away with sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is the most difficult to contain, but it is not impossible. The Jews needed to find a way to justify sexual orgies. If men could be freed from the condemnation passed against all sexual orgies and immorality, then it would be a tremendous ‘discovery’ and great freedom that would exult the spirit of all mankind.
The Law of Moses laid this out clearly; do not commit adultery was the second of the last group of five commandments, next to ‘do not murder ’. The first occurrence of sin after the Fall was murder (Cain and Abel - Genesis 4:8), followed by sexual immorality (Lamech - Genesis 4:19). Sexual immorality also reveals what the chief force driving one’s life is. It is a desire of the flesh, which governs one’s life. If the Gospel can free men from such unending condemnations against sexual immorality, then it would be a dreamy truth that all men would love to welcome, for men are oppressed under the judgment on sins of the flesh, the most volatile of which is the sexual drive. From this perspective, Jude presented them with all of these Scriptures, from Genesis to the Apostles’ teachings, in order to condemn the mis-representors of the Gospel.
First, the believer must know and accept that the Gospel has been entrusted to them by God, once for all. This means that God handed the Gospel over into their hands, and they were the possessors and keepers of it, having been called upon to be promoters of this truth. God did this once for all; this not only means their one and only chance in history but also that there won’t be any other source of salvation in the coming future. The Gospel is the display of God’s purpose in the entire history of the world, and He finally delivered it to His people, making them the holders and possessors of this precious Gospel of salvation from their Lord.
Therefore, they should not take it lightly or haphazardly, but rather must contend with it. The word ‘contend’ (αγων) is used to denote fighting in a war, and is interpreted as “fight, compete, to make all efforts, struggle.” Simply, Jude was teaching them that they must fight for the Gospel truth, even to the point of death, as if they were fighting for their lives against an enemy. They were to recruit all of their strength and knowledge in order to stand for the truth of the Gospel.
Who or what is the enemy that they were to fight or contend against?
“For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 4).
The word of the phrase ‘a license for immorality’ is a single word, ”ασελγεια”, meaning licentiousness, debauchery, or lewdness. Basically, sexual immoralities were the main idea. They were the people who must take the Gospel as grounds for justifying their sexual immorality; they knew the message of the Gospel and had not rejected or denied it. However, they were taking the freedom that the Gospel provided as a license to enjoy all kinds of sexual activities, according to their fleshly desires. Jude explained that this was a perversion of the grace found in the Gospel and denial of Jesus’ work for their salvation his Sovereign Lordship. In other words, they had demolished the message that Jesus conveyed through his death on the cross for their sins.
To those whose minds were so engrossed with sexual desires and who suffered greatly under the condemnation the Law of Moses passed on such sin, the Gospel message seemed to bring them the liberation that they had sought for so long and finally provided them with a miraculous discovery. In Jesus’ grace, they could enjoy all kinds of sexual behaviors, without guilt or condemnation. Paul asked a similar rhetorical question:
“The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (Romans 5:20-6:1 NIV).
What is the danger of this? How does God view such a life? Jude gives four points of denouncement and condemnation against these people (5-7; 8-10; 11-13; 14-16).
2. They were under God’s judgment
a. What kind of people were they (5-7; 8-10)?
First, they were like those who had perished in the desert after the Exodus. As we review what happened to Israel during this period, there is only one incident when Israel was involved in similar sexual immorality. The Moabites, following Balaam’s advice, seduced Israel to engage in sexual relationships with the Moabite women in their camps (Numbers 25). God abhorred such sin among His holy people, punishing 24,000 of them with death. This was not the first generation of Israelites, but rather the second.
As for the first generation who had died during the forty years of roaming in the wilderness, there was no record of them committing any sexual immorality. Therefore, it is unlikely that Jude was talking particularly about sexual sin. The emphasis he put on the fact that they were delivered from Egypt and yet had not kept their faith; this eventually led to them perishing, because they did not BELIEVE. In other words, their indulgence in sexual immorality was a stark expression of their unbelief in the Lord Jesus.
Even though they were brought out of slavery to sin by Jesus’ grace, they had not kept up with their faith in Jesus and his grace just because of a temporary setback, and would surely face the same fate as those who had perished in the desert. Thus, faith is not a one-time event and then done away with, but instead is the first event of the salvation process, which must be followed by an ongoing commitment to the truth of the Gospel of grace. In this way, Jude condemned the Jews for not continuing to follow the grace that God had imparted to them through Christ. If one does not follow through on their commitment in faith, they must surely perish like those who died in the desert (See 2 Peter 1:5-11).
Second, Jude gives an example of those angels who did not keep their position in heaven and were thrown into eternal judgment. This story is recorded in Enoch. Although this is not part of our Bible, through this story, Enoch points out that, as the angel deserted God and His sphere, these false leaders had also left the sphere of God’s blessing by choosing an ungodly life, perverting Christ’s grace. The final outcome of their lives would be in the dungeon, waiting for eternal judgment. Like these angels, they had left the world of the spiritual realm, trading God’s blessing for the world’s foolishness. Actually, they had deserted the blessed world in order to pursue a perverted life in a dungeon.
Third, Jude mentions the judgment on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Obviously, he was pointing out that their overt expression of godless living, i.e. sexual immorality, would result in the same destruction as fell on those people. His statement is clear; just as God judged the people of Sodom and Gomorrah by raining down fire on them from heaven, surely they too would bear similar judgment, no matter what form or in what context sexual immorality occurred.
In three dimensions, Jude revealed the true reality of those who mocked the grace of Christ. First was the journey they had begun and since dropped out of before they had reached the final destination of blessing, just as their forefathers had done in the desert. Second, they had left the sphere of God’s blessing and were currently in a dungeon, waiting for His final judgment. Third, their perversion of God’s grace, as expressed through their sexual immorality, shall surely result in an awful judgment and eternal fire as the final outcome for such ungodly living.
If these three were invisible realities of their standing before the Lord, then what was the visible, current reality of these people? Jude spoke three things to this affect:
“In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their own bodies.” (Jude 8a).
The first reality was that they were polluting their bodies. Here, “pollute” also means ‘to corrupt’ or ‘defile’. In the Septuagint (LXX), this word is a translation of the word used to denote ‘one becoming ceremonially unclean’. They had lost the purity of their bodies and were in a state of defilement. It was similar to how someone would become unclean after contact with a dead body. These people were now unacceptable to the Lord and could not come before Him unless their defiled status was remedied. Also, as they were, they would also pollute others and make them unclean as well. This was their present reality: corrupted and disconnected from the Lord because of their defiled status.
Where does the motivation or strength for this come from? It is from fleshly desires (this is stated in the passive or middle voice, indicating that the source of these desires was not from outside, but rather from within oneself). Nowadays, so many are caught up in pornography and cannot overcome the power of sexual seduction. Under such addiction, they yearn for a particular fantasy or dream. This dream perpetuates a corrupted lifestyle. In other words, sexual relationships are nothing but a dream, and there is no sign of genuine, life-giving love in this relationship.
“reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"” (Jude 8b-9).
The second reality in their lives was the open rejection and abuse of the authority of heavenly beings. This can be seen in their language; their disdain and contempt for heavenly beings was evident in what they said out of their inner heart’s hatred and disbelief toward spiritual authorities.
“Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct-- as irrational animals do-- will destroy them.” (Jude 10).
The third reality for them was their inability to understand spiritual things because of their unbelief. For this reason, they were left with only an understanding of the physical world, which would eventually be totally destroyed.
So far, Jude had put them under the category of people whom God would judge for destruction and what this reality meant for their life. In the next paragraph, he condemns them for their false leadership, which was leading other people into destruction as well.
b. They are false teachers, leading people to destruction (11-13)
Their leadership was characterized by three examples. First, Cain’s jealousy, which led him to kill Abel. When one cannot please God or is not accepted by God, he becomes jealous of those who are accepted. Their belligerent leadership is an expression of their jealousy of genuine leaders, who faithfully follow the way of Jesus’ crucifixion. Second, Israel followed Balaam, seeking material and financial gain. Balaam persuaded the Moabites to lure Israel into sexual immorality. Underneath this was his own desire for material gain. Even though these men’s present leadership seemed to be fresh and different, in reality, their leadership was exactly like Balaam’s. Korah spoke on behalf of his people, saying this:
“They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" (Numbers 16:3 NIV).
Korah was actually rebelling against the Lord, which resulted in the total destruction of his entire family. They acted as genuine sympathizers for the weak, but they were not willing to live according to the power of the cross and were actually nullifying it.
c. As they were, their judgment at the Lord’s coming was set in stone (14-16).
“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14-15).
By indirectly quoting the book of Enoch, Jude asserted that the Lord Jesus would one day come with a multitude of the holy ones to judge and convict all those who are ungodly. When he comes, he will judge everyone, not leaving or exempting even one. Everyone will face Jesus’ judgment, and all ungodly acts and defiant words will receive the Lord’s eternal punishment and judgment. The implication of this is clear; no one can get by with even small acts committed in ungodliness, and no one can escape judgment after speaking defiant words against the Lord. What are some practical examples of this?
“These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.” (Jude 16).
While roaming in the desert, Israel grumbled against the Lord (Numbers 14:2-3). This is the hallmark of one’s disbelief. Behind one’s grumbling is the thought that God’s wrong and they are right. Even if God takes away our life tonight, He is not wrong. Taking God’s laws, which limit such ungodly activities, as being unjust and wrong, instead of following His will, leads to men following their own desires. Behind such actions is the boast in what they have and know, setting these things against God’s law. Ultimately, all that they do is for their own advantage, rather than for God’s, His will, and His glory.
So far, Jude has taught us what kind of people these were, what their fate was, in regards to salvation, and their current reality, which matched with and confirmed their fate, both as individuals and as leaders. Finally, Jude is saying that they will be eternally judged when the Lord Jesus comes in power and glory, which is the final outcome of such a life. What must believers do when facing such false and ungodly leaders, who pervert Jesus’ grace for their own benefit?
3. Six things that believers must do in their efforts against the false teachers (20-23)
The first three are the things that they must do within themselves. First, they must build themselves up in their holiest faith. When we came to have faith, we were not much different from the people of the world, in terms of lifestyle, character, knowledge, and behaviors, following the same worldly desires. Their life’s entirety must be rebuilt or built up toward the kind of holiness that fully represents Jesus. This must begin with the faith that God has given when He counted us to be His children through salvation in Christ; in this divine love and confidence, we are to reshape our entire being in order to be in line with the Lord. This includes broadening and deepening our knowledge of God’s word, and purifying our inner being through godly truth and with the Holy Spirit’s help. At the beginning of our reception of faith, there is only one anchor for that faith — a particular event, or a particular word that connects us to the Lord in real time, establishing and solidifying our relationship with Him. However, this relationship will be weakened as time goes on, unless we continually build it up. This faith will be constantly challenged by many untoward events and hardships, which will put a believer in a context that they had never thought of or could not previously comprehend. This is why it is so important to have current knowledge of God’s word. God gave us sixty-six books containing His word, each voluminous and complex. This was not to make the truth complicated or beyond the reach of the ordinary reader, but rather because the faithful must be able to explain, answer, and be able to handle all different kinds of human problems in life. Therefore, this should also be, because the faith that God wants a man to have must include the entire sphere of His world. The result of this is most astounding — it goes deep into human hearts and into the depth of all of the devil’s cunning schemes, while at the same time, it unveils the glory and holiness of the Lord of heaven and earth. It is wide enough to cover history in its entirety, from the beginning of creation to the time of recreation.
Faith is or can be as simple as the bond between a newborn baby and his mother — all the trust and confidence is conveyed through the comfort in the baby receives at his mother’s bosom, sucking happily on her milk. However, a sixty year-old son’s faith in his ninety-year-old father is totally different.; the depth, width, and height of faith in this relationship is not so much about physical security, and more so about confidence in each other’s love, encompassing and transcending the entire sphere of human existence. Likewise, God wants all of His children to grow up to be like Him in knowledge, wisdom, and love, the very essence of His being.
This process begins with an attitude to learn from the Lord. This is the same as choosing what is good, God’s word (2 Peter 1:5), and the truth or essence of good over all other choices in life. Before we come to know Christ, we deliberately chose what we liked, which more often than not were not good or not of God. Faith must work along with an effort to choose what is good, deliberately reject the things of our old nature, and pursue what is good and from God. The best and most important thing is to choose His WORD in order to know more and broaden the sphere of our experience in His world. If we do so, then we will broaden and deepen the footing of our faith.
In between now and then, there is many struggles against all the ungodliness, within and without. Here, we need the kind of faith that believes in God’s love and is certain of His grace that saves us and guarantees us a place in God’s kingdom. Next, we must build up our ability to endure and cope with all of life’s hardships, through which our inner being is purified to become holy (2 Peter 1:6). Being holy is often taken to only mean purity, sinless, or godliness. However, the essence of holiness is to be conformed to God’s will for mankind — that they would be pure and love one another.
Second, the Jews were to pray in the Holy Spirit; an active search for the Holy Spirit’s guidance will lead the believer toward God’s will for them to ask, seek, and find answers in the Lord. The answer is not like a set recipe, but is a very fluid situation that necessitates the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Thirdly, they must remain in God’s love until Jesus brings them into eternal life; the most troubled heart always remembers its most comfortable time, when one felt God’s deep love. In other words, when one feels and becomes confident of God’s love, he or she can better make godly decisions.
Even after giving such a long analysis of these false teachers, Jude did not provide a prescription for the problem that the Jews were facing. Instead, he asked the believers to build their inner beings first, before taking any action. He knew that believers were as vulnerable to the pagan ideas into which these false teachers had fallen. Therefore, instead of taking a cavalier attitude toward such ungodly men, they were told to build up themselves through faith, prayer, and in God’s love. Only then could they make decisions and take action to tackle the matter. Such a cautious approach is also found in Jude’s instructions on how to handle this issue.
First, they needed to discern between three different groups of people who were one way or another involved in spreading such false teaching. They were the doubters, those who willingly followed such a false lifestyle as their teachers, and those who were wavering in and out of such ungodly living. The believers were to be merciful to the doubters. Being merciful to someone is different from loving them. When we have mercy on others, we have already discerned that they are in the wrong, and yet we show grace beyond what they deserve; this is being merciful. Loving others is to love as Jesus loved us, for we are not dealing with unfaithfulness or ungodliness, but weaknesses in the flesh.
Such discernment is also found in Leviticus. For those who fall into sin because of ignorance or weakness, they were given chances to redeem themselves by sin or guilt offerings. However, for those who openly went against the Lord, no provision for forgiveness was given; God commanded that they should be stoned to death. Even though God is patient with all, even those who are walking in evil (as in the case of these false teachers), we must discern their condition and show them mercy.
Second, for those who had already gone over to such unbelief, they were told to snatch them away from the fire. How or in what way? Jude did not say how they needed to approach this, but instead gave a clear decision on what they should do: in order to snatch the lost ones away from the fire. Clearly, their judgment was foreseen, and they needed to take decisive action in order to rescue themselves from destruction by fire. It seems that the others were those who lived a life somewhere in between the doubters and those who are overtly committed to such disbelief. To these people, Jude taught them to show mercy. It is not clear if there is a difference between being merciful (v22) and showing mercy; in any case, believers were to remain engaged with such people by showing mercy. However, they had to be careful, because such ungodly influences might come upon them as well. In this regard, they were told to show mercy, mixed with the fear that they themselves might be entangled by such sin. Jude gave them some very cautious advice. He placed the emphasis more on building up the believers than on teaching them how to deal or what to do with unbelievers.
4. All for the glory and honor to the one who… (24-25)
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 24-25).
In this doxological praise, Jude sums up the essentials of the work of Jesus and God the Father. First, Jesus’ work is that he is able to keep his followers from stumbling and eventually will present them before God Almighty, without fault; second, it is the Father God who saves us through Christ.
These false teachers themselves were not only destined for destruction before the Lord’s glory but would also lead those who followed them into destruction at Jesus’ coming in his glory. On the other hand, those who persevered through hardships, remaining in Christ’s grace, were assured to receive his blessing at the time of his coming in glory. In His grace, Jesus would surely lead all those who followed His way into his Father’s kingdom, according to God’s will. All honor and glory are given to Jesus and to the Father.
Therefore, this doxology is the certainty of our victory over all ungodly influences and hardships and of our salvation in Christ. Out of this certainty, we can look forward to the time of God’s glory coming in power and stand before Him without shame.
Having said and done all of this, the real test comes when humanity comes to stand before the Lord of holiness and glory. Can the abusers of God’s grace as revealed in Christ, stand before His glory? Who is able to stand before the God of holiness and glory? The abusers of God’s grace fill themselves with so much ungodliness that they have no chance to stand before Him. However, Jesus will enable those who live by grace to stand tall through all hardships, enduring by His grace and the hope it gives. He is the only one who is able to empower His followers to partake in the glory of the Lord.
This reminds us of the following two passages:
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7).
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9).
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