The Epistle of
Jude
The Author:
The name Jude is from the Greek ee-oo-das' and is interchangeable with Judas.
Brother of James:
The author of this brief but evocative epistle acknowledges himself to
be a servant of Jesus Christ and identifies himself
as the brother of James. The fact that he used such a
means of identification makes it obvious that this James was well known to the brethren, and almost certainly one of the
apostles or church leaders.
There are four James’ mentioned in the New Testament, with
only two being of any great importance in the Biblical narrative; the apostle
James the son of Zebedee and brother of the beloved apostle John, and James the
Lord’s brother, leader of the Jerusalem church.
The others were James the son of Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark
3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), who as James Glaze says, is
‘not distinguished by name in any occasion reported in the Gospels or
Acts.’ Holman Bib. Dict. This James was probably ‘James the less’
(Mark 15:40), a term used to distinguish between the apostles, as we do today
in ‘big John’ as against ‘little John’.
The fact that this James is not distinguished in the Biblical narrative
makes it unlikely that Jude would have used him as a means of
self-identification.
The other is associated with the apostle Judas, also known by the name
Lebbaeus Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18). Judas is designated by the
translators of the KJV (Luke 6:16), to be ‘the brother’ of James. This presumption on
the part of the translators confuses the issue, for the words are not in the
original text, as the italics indicate.
Just as the second James was of Alphaeus, so the apostle Judas was of, or, the son of, this James.
James of Zebedee:
The apostle James the son of Zebedee and brother to John (Matt. 10:2)
was martyred by Herod (Acts 12:2) sometime around 44 AD and before Jude wrote
this epistle. With this being the case,
if Jude were his brother, it would have been more natural for him to identify
himself as Jude the brother
of John.
James the brother of the Lord:
The only other James mentioned in
the New Testament is called the Lord’s brother and an apostle (Gal.
1:19). Although Paul calls him an
apostle, he is never mentioned as one of the Lord’s chosen twelve, for the Lord
appeared to him after his resurrection and apparently while he was on his own
(1 Cor. 15:5-7), which shows a very human touch to our Lord; he was concerned
for his ‘step’ brother. He is mentioned
in this Corinthian passage separately from the twelve.
Galatians 1:19 also shows James
to be closely associated with Peter, and in Galatians 2:9, he is the first
named in a triumvirate of early church leadership. He, along with Peter and John, seemed to
Paul to be pillars in the early Jerusalem church, and in Acts 15:13,
James appears to be a principle spokesman at that council.
In Mathew 13:55 we find that James the brother of the Lord had other brothers and one by the name of Judas. “Is not
this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren,
James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
Jude is almost certainly the brother of James
the Lord’s brother
and therefore half brother to our Lord himself.
Such a relationship would
grant him a hearing in the church and free to use such strong stern words in his
condemnation and exhortation, yet a natural humility would prohibit him using
the Lord of Glory as a means of self-identification.
Time of
writing:
Jude was familiar with the teachings of the apostles and was motivated
to write this epistle by his desire for a continued and growing faith in his beloved brethren (a group to whom he seems to have
had some particular rapport, vs.20), and by the writings of Peter whose second
letter, esp. chapter two, had influenced him in formulating this particular
exhortation.
The second letter of Peter was written late in his life when he could
foresee his own death, (2 Pet. 1:13-15) and as that was about 67 AD, it can be
assumed that Jude wrote his epistle sometime near or after that event.
This is consistent with the general consensus, which places the time of
writing to be 60 – 100 AD. Such phrases
as ‘write unto you of the common
salvation’; ‘the faith, which
was once delivered unto the saints’ found in vs.3 shows an already delivered
content of faith, with vs.17, ‘the words
which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ’ indicating his
readers to be second-generation Christians.
The believers were to contend or argue the case for the doctrine that had been delivered to
them, which also indicates a goodly period of assimilation and spiritual
growth. The content of the epistle
reveals a premeditated attack by seditious men whose aim was to destroy the
people’s freedom in Christ. All this
speaks of an established and well-motivated church being set upon by devilish
men and suggests a number of years had elapsed since its inception.
The reasons for
the epistle:
Ungodly men had come into the
church bringing with them their own humanistic and therefore distorted views of
the Christian way of life. They must have
gained a certain amount of acceptance in the church, for the believers were in
need of correction, hence this letter from Jude.
The Church today is in need of a similar hard hitting no nonsense
rebuke, for ungodly men whose humanist and licentious teachings have all but
obliterated the knowledge of God’s grace, have infiltrated the Western Church
and made wreckage of the faith of many.
All that Jude so powerfully and passionately expresses is applicable to
these ungodly and profane men (and women) who, by their smooth and
sophisticated philosophies, have insinuated themselves into positions of
influence in the churches.
Jude wrote, warning believers to be on their guard, to look to God for
strengthened faith, and to contend
for the faith so that some of the ungodly and profane might yet be saved.
Commentary
Jude 1:1-2
“Jude, the
servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by
God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and
peace, and love, be multiplied.”
Jude, like his older brother James, is
unwilling to identify himself by any reference to their family relationship
with the Lord of Glory, but both acknowledge themselves as servants of Jesus Christ.
They saw themselves as slaves; servants bonded to the Messiah the
promised seed of David and King of Israel.
They would have known that Jesus, among others (including themselves),
was descended from David, but seeing him after his resurrection the past facts
of Jesus life; his reported virgin birth, his goodness and piety, his baptism
at the hands of John, his words and his actions would all have come sharply
into focus and they would no longer be seeing a brother, but the resurrected
Lord of glory, Christ the anointed of God.
All those who are born of God’s Spirit are sanctified or set apart. This does not
only mean to be set apart from the world, but has an active meaning as being
‘set apart for service’. God the Father
has set believers apart from the world unto holiness, and believers are
exhorted to present their bodies their hearts and minds as a living sacrifice
to God and no longer to live according to the world’s standards, which, in the light
of our so great salvation is a reasonable request. Rom. 12:1-2.
All those who are born of God’s
Spirit are preserved in Jesus Christ, for
he has given them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of his hand. The Father, which gave them to Christ, is
greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of the Father’s hand. Christ and the Father are one.” We
are kept by the power of God. John
10:27-30; 1 Pet. 1:5.
Jude was writing to those who were sanctified and preserved, yet were
being led astray by false teaching, teaching that did not line up with the
apostolic faith.
Jude 1:3
“Beloved, when I
gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful
for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
The depth of fellowship between
saints is dependant upon like-mindedness in doctrine, for if there is too great
a divergence in doctrinal beliefs fellowship is minimal or nonexistent. If the doctrinal beliefs held are scriptural,
then that fellowship will also be with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ (1
John 1:3).
Jude had wanted to write to these brethren,
sharing with them, things regarding salvation and fellowshipping with them in
that shared knowledge, but found it necessary to write an exhortation
instead. He understood the principles of
light and darkness, truth and error that we find in 1 John 1:3-8, and wrote
this letter to re-establish the fellowship he had had with these people.
Heresy had manifested itself very
quickly in associated evils, and such evils soon became known to the world at
large. Jude would have been saddened by
the brethren’s lack of spiritual gumption in not contending for the
faith and though his rebuke was intended to implicate them and turn them back
to that faith, the godly anger he expresses is primarily against the
perpetrators of the heresies.
Jude 1:4
“For there are certain men crept
in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men,
turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord
God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
These were ungodly men, as-eb-ace’; irreverent, that is, (by extension) impious or wicked, who had crept or settled in alongside, that is, lodged stealthily; which they do even
today, by means of a pious and religious front designed to lull the brethren
into thinking them Bible believing saints.
They use Bible phraseology such as ‘being born again’ to mean a ‘change
of mind’, ‘salvation’ to mean ‘renewed vigour’ in social action. Those that happen to believe in a god, teach
that human achievement will bring about relationship with Deity.
Not understanding the totality of human depravity they think their base
instincts are natural (of God) and therefore not condemnable, and in doing so turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. An extreme example of this is found in the
homosexual ‘churches’ of today, but it is also in every sensuous act or thought,
where the emotions dominate. The Pentecostal
movement of today is another example of this phenomenon.
Such people fashion God in their
own limited and carnal likeness and in doing so, deny the only Lord God, for he is not some creation of man’s
desires but the Creator of heaven, Ex. 20:11; Acts 4:24. In the denial of their depravity they also
deny the Lord Jesus Christ, for he it is who died for sin, who gave his life a
ransom, a payment to procure their release from the judgment of sin. 1 Tim. 2:6; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet.
2:24.
The condemnation of such people has been ordained of old, as is seen in Psalm 1:4-6;
“The ungodly are
not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the
righteous.
For the LORD
knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Jude 1:5
“I will therefore put you in
remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”
There is no doubt in Jude’s mind
as to the salvation of his beloved brethren, for he knows them to be sanctified
by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ (vs.1), but he
reminds them that there was once those who though sanctified and preserved, and
in the midst of the congregation of Israel, died in the wilderness. Because of unbelief, they died the
sin unto death and never entered into the Promised Land; this is not the loss of
salvation but the loss of blessings and eternal rewards.
As it was then, Jude explains, so it is now, for there are those of the
church who, by imposing their own ‘works’, reject the apostolic doctrines
pertaining to the common salvation, and because of their unbelief will never enter into rest.
There is a rest for the people of God and it is gained when they cease
from their own works and by faith accept God’s provisions. Read Hebrews 4:1-10.
Jude 1:6-7
“And the angels which kept not
their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving
themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
The Holman
Bible Dictionary describes the Biblical use of the word ‘angel’ as follows:
The term “angel” is derived from the Greek word angelos which means “messenger”. Angelos and the Hebrew
equivalent, malak (which also means
“messenger”), are the two most common terms used to describe this class of
beings in the Bible. In general, in texts where an angel appears, his task is
to convey the message or do the will of the God who sent him. Since the focus
of the text is on the message, the messenger is rarely described in detail.
Another set of terms used to describe angels
focuses not on angels as mediators between God and persons, but on God’s heavenly
entourage. Terms such as “sons of God,” “holy ones,” and “heavenly host” seem
to focus on angels as celestial beings. As such, these variously worship God,
attend God’s throne, or comprise God’s army. These terms are used typically in
contexts emphasizing the grandeur, power, and/or acts of God.
The angelic first estate mentioned in this verse is the realm to
which all angels had been assigned in creation, the spiritual and celestial
sphere. It was from this estate that
certain angels wilfully departed, the phrase kept not is descriptive of disobedience and it was an act of disobedience when
they left their own habitation, the
habitation of spiritual existence.
The phrase, “Even as Sodom and
Gomorrah…in like manner” tells us that
Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain (Gen. 19) followed in the
example of these angelic beings in giving themselves over to fornication and going
after strange flesh. Strange
flesh in regard to the Sodomites was homosexual lust, men with men; but to
these angelic beings it was the physical acts of sexual intercourse with the
daughters of men. They had been allotted
a spiritual existence but had left that in disobedience and attached themselves
to the human race in a very real and destructive way. See Gen. 6:2-6
The words sons of God in Gen. 6 are the same as in Job 1:6, 2:2, 38:7 in
which passages they are clearly seen to be angelic beings. The phrase is found nowhere else in the Old
Testament but in these four passages and it is certain that Gen. 6:2,4 also
refers to angelic beings.
To impose the New Testament usage
of sons of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:14) upon Gen. 6 is arbitrary and
contextually misleading and leaves no adequate explanation for this passages in
Jude, or in 2 Pet. 2:4, where Peter writes: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment…”
Again Jude is showing the intrusion of error upon
truth, unbelief upon faith, and the destruction that is in store for such
ungodly and profane men. When error puts
on a façade of truth, it remains error still.
Jude 1:8
“Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise
dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”
Filthy is not in the original
text leaving dreamers free from any immoral
connotations. The word is the middle
voice pronounced en-oop'-nee-on; something seen in sleep, that is, a dream (vision in a
dream), dream.
dream), dream.
Barnes believes dreamers “is applied to these persons as holding
doctrines and opinions which sustained the same relation to truth which dreams
do to good sense. Their doctrines were
the fruits of mere imagination, foolish vagaries and fancies.”
It is almost certainly the correct interpretation but as the word is
used in the book of Acts 2:17 in application to visions in dreams, it is a possibility that these men claimed their dreams to
be visions from God. Whichever is the
case the outcome proved the falseness of their ‘dreams’ or ‘fancies’, for it
led them into activities which defile the
flesh, a
phrase that hearkens back to vs.4 and Jude’s use of the word lasciviousness. Antinomians have often abused the grace of God
by distorting the Christian’s freedom from the Law into license or
licentiousness.
ANTINOMIANISM (an tih noh' mih an ihsm) The false teaching
that since faith alone is necessary for salvation one is free from the moral
obligations of the law. The word antinomianism is not used in the
Bible, but the idea is spoken of. Paul appears to have been accused of being an
antinomian (see Rom. 3:8; 6:1, 15). While it is true that obedience to the law
will never earn salvation for anyone (Eph. 2:8-9), it is equally true that those
who are saved are expected to live a life full of good works (see, for example,
Matt. 7:16-20; Eph. 2:10; Col. 1:10; Jas. 2:14-26). Since we have been freed
from the dominion of sin through faith in Jesus, we have also been freed to
practice the righteousness demanded by God (Rom. 6:12-22). Holman Bible Dictionary
Barnes writes: Antinomianists believed that, “by the gospel they were
released from the obligations of the law, and might give indulgence to their
sinful passions in order that grace might abound.”
Such were these ‘dreamers’ whose ‘foolish vagaries/fancies’ led them to
despise dominion koo-ree-ot'-ace); mastery, that is, (concretely and collectively) rulers: — dominion (authority), government. This attitude of contempt would have been
held toward the authority of the apostles and their doctrine, and in
consequence, of God himself. Their
subsequent ungodly behaviour proved what they were and it was up to the
brethren to recognize and reject such men. By their fruits you shall know them,
Matt. 7:16-20.
Not only did these men despise authority, they spoke evil of dignities, those in authority. It was not sufficient to reject the teaching
of the apostles; they must also criticize and ridicule the men themselves. But so it always has been; arrogant men of little or no standing have always
belittled those of higher station. No
matter how false the accusations, no matter how destructive, the ruin of the
‘great’ man’s influence will enhance the arrogant one’s self-esteem, and that
is all that matters.
Jude 1:9
“Yet Michael the archangel, when
contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring
against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
This allusion to a dispute over the body of Moses is not found in the
Old Testament Scripture, though the death of Moses is, (Deut. 34:5-6). It is found in the Rabbinic commentary
(Rabbah 11:12) and as the Holy Spirit has seen fit to have it included in this
portion of scripture it is thereby certified as true and scriptural.
Jude includes this to show the
total arrogance of these men. The
archangel, a being of immense power and standing with God, and one whose
standing is superior to the Devil, would have been out of line in making a censorious
accusation against the Devil, but simply said “The Lord rebuke thee”.
Jude 1:10
“But these speak evil of those
things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in
those things they corrupt themselves.”
Such men as these,
inferior to the angels, even fallen angels, take it upon themselves to despise dominion and slander dignities. Speaking
about things of which they know nothing they display their ignorance of Scripture and impose their ignorance upon Scripture, living their lives according to their
feelings like so many animals living by their instincts. They are worse than beasts however, for animals know no better, but these are
brute
beasts; capable of rational thought but brutish - al'-og-os; without thought, irrational: —brute, unreasonable.
In their emotional irrational state, they become subject to one, or all, of
the natural desires, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes or the pride
of life, and corrupt themselves. This
applies to the false teachers of today, the wolves that have entered into the
church and have destroyed the faith of the people by their humanist socialist
philosophies. They may be confident,
sophisticated intellectual men (and women) yet in their rejection of the
literal faith, handed down to us in the Bible, they leave themselves nowhere to
go but to their own imaginings, and these are prompted by the lusts of the
flesh, the lusts of the eyes or the pride of life.
Jude 1:11
“Woe unto them! for they have
gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,
and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”
Cain was a religious man, for he very willingly brought a sacrifice to
God. It was not the sacrifice God had
required; yet Cain in his pride and self-righteousness believed the fruit of
his efforts should be acceptable (Gen. 4:3-5).
Those who reject the revealed will of God and yet expect God to accept
them, have gone in the way
of Cain
in pride and self-righteousness.
The error of Balaam cited here was his
love of reward (money, prestige and power), which enticed him, against the
Lord’s opposition, to bring about the downfall of God’s people. He was not permitted to curse Israel and in
not doing so he fulfilled the letter of God’s decree, but by recommending
cohabitation and sexual immorality as a means to fulfil the enemy’s purpose, he
erred in the spirit of that decree, (Num. 22:1-24:25, 31:16). Men, who, for the prestige of leadership,
infiltrate the Church with their philosophic ‘dreams’ and opinions, also lead
God’s people to err and to depart from the truth.
Many today are politically motivated, for the ‘faith that was once delivered unto the saints’ is a powerful force
for freedom and centralised government cannot come about when people are free.
The story of Korah’s rebellion against God’s authorised men, and his
subsequent destruction is found in Numbers 16:1-33 and is used by Jude as a
warning and an indictment against all those who set themselves up as leaders of
God’s people without the sanction of God’s word. By their denial of Biblical truth, the
apostolic doctrine, these men are found to be in defiance of God.
Jude 1:12-13
“These
are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds;
trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the
roots; Raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
‘Spots in
your feasts of charity’: Jude uses the word spee-las, a ledge or reef
of rock in the sea, which has been confused, by the KJV translators, with the
word spee-los, a stain or blemish, found in 2 Peter
2:13. It can be imagined that Jude on
reading Peter’s letter, saw, in a play on the word spee-los
to spee-las,
a more sinister application regarding these men. Though they are a stain
and
a blemish
on the purity of the Church, Jude saw them as unchartered reefs, making
wreckage of those who sailed too close. By
accepting such men into the love,
affection and benevolence of the Church (feasts of charity),
the brethren sailed too close and were in danger of spiritual shipwreck.
In their
conceit and self-righteousness, these people share in the activities of the
church without comprehension or appreciation of the fearful majesty of God; feeding themselves
on the love,
affection and benevolence of the brethren without the
reverential fear that
accompanies repentance and salvation and all true worship. They have no substance in their claims to
Christianity; they are likened to empty clouds and unstable water being driven
by forces (their lusts) over which they have no control, and being without the
fruit of the Spirit, are thereby known to be without God.
As all unregenerate
are, these were “before of old ordained to this condemnation, vs.4”,
to whom “is reserved the
blackness of darkness for ever.”
Jude 1:14-15
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Again we see Jude using a non-canonical source and again we refer to JC
McEwan.
“This is a quote from the apocryphal book of Enoch which
is not part of Scripture. The fact that
Jude quotes this part shows us that the book of Enoch records this accurately,
but does not mean that the book is canonical or correct in any other
part…”
This particular section of Jude’s epistle is therefore to do with the
end time’s judgment spoken of by Enoch in the days before the flood. Those, unrepentant of the evil of rebellion
and rejection of God, will one day face him as their judge, at which time they
will know without a shadow of doubt, the evil, the rebellion and the hatred
that was behind their thoughts their words and their deeds.
According to our Lord, in eternal Hell there will
be weeping, klowth-mos'; lamentation: —wailing, weeping, which is an expression of deep regret and remorse; and
there will be the gnashing of teeth, from broo'-kho; to grate the teeth (in pain or rage), expressing an
everlasting rebellion carried over from life. (Matt. 8:12, 13:42 etc.) It is a graphic picture of the damnation of
sinners and one to which all saved sinners, who have experienced these emotions,
should be able to relate; a never-ending sorrow and bitterness.
In regard to the continuing rejection and rebellion of the present day,
McEwan continues: “God is in control, and he will judge the evil, but if
they are still active, it simply means that he hasn't moved against them yet!”
Italics added.
Jude 1:16
“These are
murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh
great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.”
Jude tells us that these are sensual men, men ruled by their emotions
rather than truth, and consequently having no stability in their lives. They are constantly finding fault in everyone
and everything and never recognize that the cause of their dissatisfaction is
their own unbelief.
The Lord Jesus Christ told those who professed belief in him to take up
their cross and to follow him (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). In Galatians 5, Paul writes “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with
its passions and desires,” and if they now live in the Spirit, they should also walk in
the Spirit, showing
that the cross referred to by the Lord is the battle every believer experiences,
the battle with sin. If believers live their
lives in the Spirit they will,
experientially crucify the sinful nature and will bring forth fruit expressive of
salvation. That fruit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-25
These
men wanted the fruits of love, joy and peace without first attaining patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.
They wanted the crown without first experiencing the cross.
Not only did they want the crowns of spiritual victory without fighting
the necessary battle (1 Tim. 1:18), they wanted position and prestige within
the church without first attaining the right to them, and they used persuasive
words of flattery to gain the support of those whom they thought could assist
them in achieving that goal.
Jude 1:17-19
“But, beloved,
remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time,
who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate
themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”
Here again Jude shows Peter’s influence on his understanding of the
ways of religious but unregenerate men.
In 2 Pet. 3:2, Peter refers back to the prophets of old and to his own
apostolic revelation to warn of scoffers, walking after their own lusts in the last days, and
Jude in his exhortation is inspired to repeat that warning. God has seen fit to call attention to
this fact with a second admonition in his word; therefore believers of all ages
must not be ignorant of the presence of unbelief and apostasy within the
Church. It is a fact of life, and God’s
people must know the truth so that they can recognise error.
Such apostates are recognised by the disdain in which they hold the
promise of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Pet. 3:4). They do not understand that “The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,”(2 Pet.
3:9).
In
their sensuality they see no need of repentance and therefore the grace of God
is completely foreign to them. They are
unregenerate and have
not the Spirit of God and therefore the knowledge and grace of
Christ is beyond their reach. In pride
of intellect and a deluded sense of superiority, they exalt themselves above
their fellows.
Jude 1:20-23
“But ye, beloved,
building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others
save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted
by the flesh.”
Jude has warned his beloved
brethren of the presence of ungodly men in their midst, and roundly condemned
the unbelief and pride associated with their false religious beliefs; he now
turns directly to the brethren with the exhortation to build, ep-oy-kod-om-eh-o; to build upon,
to construct something upon the faith they have. It is to be a spiritual structure, built of
knowledge and wisdom and “filled with all precious and pleasant riches” (Prov.
24:3-4).
The
assurance of redemption and forgiveness, of adoption and every other good thing
the Lord has done to ensure our salvation are those precious and pleasant riches,
and that confidence protects the soul from the ungodly and evil elements of the
world (Gal. 4:3-6, 9; Col. 2:8, 20).
Such assurance is brought about by faith in the promises of God and
subsequent knowledge of his unremitting care.
The Bible is the only dependable source for knowledge of God, and as the
doctrines of scripture build this ‘house’ in the soul, the believer finds
shelter within the assurance of God’s love.
“If
God be for us, who can be against us?” Paul asks in Romans 8:31. In Paul’s soul was a structure of such
assurance that he could say with absolute confidence, “Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us,” and then gives the assuring answer to his
question, “that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 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.”
This
structure of faith will reveal itself in a godly lifestyle and as love is the
foremost attribute of such a life, the love for the brethren will manifest itself in compassion. el-eh-eh'-o; have compassion
(pity on), have (obtain, receive, shew) mercy (on).
In
the context of this epistle that compassion is for those who have been
influenced by the great swelling
words of
the
apostates and who have become uncertain of the truth. In the case of these wavering believers compassion and gentleness is
needed in any attempt to lead them back into the truth. Others need a more forceful approach har-pad'-zo; to seize (in various applications):—catch (away, up),
pluck, pull, take (by force).
Toward
others, compassion is to be mingled with fear (fob'-os); alarm or fright: —be afraid, lest you in your attempts to
turn the wicked from his ways become contaminated by their philosophies. The Apostle Peter warns, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” 2 Pet. 3:17
The
Lord Jesus told his disciples, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. Matt. 10:16
When dealing with people the believer must first ascertain their
attitude. Are they indifferent,
diffident, defensive or aggressive? With
those who are indifferent, give them as much of the truth as they will allow
but if there is no response ‘shake the dust off your shoes’ and depart from
them, you are casting God’s pearls before swine.
The diffident must be treated with gentleness, for a fledgling or
wavering faith can be bruised by any show of assertiveness.
The defensive also must not be pressured, for a change of mind will
only come from within, which brings to mind the saying, “A man convinced
against his will, is of the same mind still.”
The aggressive should be treated with compassion but
with firmness, with an unyielding commitment to truth. If the truth cannot touch them nothing of
human personality will.
Jude 1:24-25
“Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.”
Jude closes his epistle to his brethren with a most beautiful
description of salvation and God’s ability to perform what he has
promised. The only wise God our Saviour
is able doo-nam-ahee; to be able: —be of power, to guard you from stumbling and to
cause you to stand before his glory with ag-al-lee'-as-is; exultation; specifically welcome: —gladness, (exceeding) joy.
His
final words are a cry of praise, worship and thanksgiving. To him, to the only
wise God our Saviour, be glory
and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.”
Bibliography:
All Bible references are from the KJV unless
otherwise stated.
All Hebrew and Greek etymology is from
Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary.
Barnes Alfred Barnes Notes on the New Testament 1868
Holman Bible Dictionary
Moses Peter Bible
Topic Book (condensed version) 2000
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