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Basics

BOOK: Jude

Description: A short letter about false teachers in the church

Author: Jude – uncertain but possibly a brother of Jesus

Date written: Probably somewhere between AD65 and AD80

Chapters: 1 (text below)

Brief Synopsis

• There were godless and immoral unbelieving men who had slipped into the church (v.4)
• Jude warns that Scripture testifies a number of times that such men will be judged (v.5-7)
• He graphically describes then making clear they should not be there (v.8-16)
• The church needs to build itself up and care for weaker members (v.17-23)

Contents

• v.1-3 Greetings
• v.3,4 Beware Ungodly People
• v.5-7 Old Testament Warnings
• v.8-10 The Folly of these People
• v.11-16 The Nature of these people
• v.17-23 A Call to Persevere
• v.24,25 Doxology

[Letter Notes: Jude’s letter is a plea to the church to be alert and wise in respect of certain men who had wormed their way into positions of leadership but who revealed all sorts of ungodliness. These false leaders did this by making spiritual claims of wild authority while at the same time exhibiting lives that were given over to human licentiousness. He reminds his readers that the Old Testament is full of warnings about how God will deal with unbelievers (even if they appear to be His people) and those who relish unrighteousness and promote themselves for profit. These people will be judged by God but in the meantime the church needs to stand apart from these sorts of people and remain true to the faith that has been conveyed by the apostles, who also warned that such people would come. It shows the dangers of not checking those who get into leadership against godly and holy standards, and emphasizes, even as some of the other epistles do, the spiritual warfare that went on in the first century church, a battle for the faith, for belief and for holy living.]

The Letter

v.1,2 Greetings

v.1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

v.2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

[Note: Jude, brother of James to the believers, be blessed with God’s mercy, peace and love

v.3,4 Beware Ungodly People

v.3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

v.4 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.

[Note: Instead of writing the basics of our salvation I’ve felt led to write urging you to fight for the faith given to God’s people because deceivers have slipped into the church, who God warned about long ago, and who now in their ungodliness twist grace into license and immorality, denying our Lord.]

v.5-7 Old Testament Warnings

v.5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

v.6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

v.7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

[Note: Remember God destroyed the unbelieving Israelites even though they had been delivered out of Egypt, and the angels who fell [see Rev 12] have likewise been judged and imprisoned. I mean, remember Sodom & Gomorrah who gave themselves over to sexual immorality & perversion who burned to destruction.]

v.8-10 The Folly of these People

v.8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.

v.9 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!”

v.10 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.

[Note: These people today speak of dubious dreams, abuse their bodies, reject authority and abuse the angelic world. It’s been written and said that Michael disputed with Satan over Moses body after he fell in the mountains from disobedience but limited his challenge to Satan being rebuked by the Lord. [Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century AD)] But these foolish people spew out words against the spirit world without a clue of what they are doing [leave it to God!]

v.11-16 The Nature of these people

v.11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

v.12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.

v.13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

v.14,15 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.”

v.16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

[Note: These people have Cain’s anger and lack of control, Balaam’s desire to make money through spiritual abuse and deception, and Korah’s rebellious spirit. The presence of these leaders spoil your meeting around the Lord’s table, greedy for themselves, not caring for the flock, men without substance, blown around by desires, producing no fruit in the kingdom. Like wild waves on the seashore, they leave nothing other than empty foam, signs of their shame, purporting to be like stars bringing light they are doomed for utter darkness. Enoch prophesied about such people that God would judge them for their ungodly uncontrolled rantings [From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.)] They grumble, complain and use flattery in promoting themselves.]

v.17-23 A Call to Persevere

v.17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

v.18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”

v.19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

v.20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,

v.21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

v.22 Be merciful to those who doubt;

v.23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

[Note: Remember what the apostles prophesied, they warned in the last days such people would come and so they do, causing division, living licentious lives, in the absence of the Spirit. But you are different as you build up your faith, being led by the Spirit; keep yourselves by God’s love as you await your promotion to heaven, be gracious to those not strong in their faith, reach out to save who you can, fleeing from evil.]

v.24,25 Doxology

v.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.

[Note: So may God who holds and keeps you be honored and glorified for ever.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: