Jude
Book Outhne
Key theme: Overcoming the apostates
Key verses: ,
I. Introduction (vv. , )
II. The Alarm (vv. , )
III. The Argument (vv. )
IV. The Admonition (vv. )
Book Overview
Since the author of this epistle was the brother of James, this would also make him the half brother of our Lord Jesus Christ (see ). Our Lord’s brothers in the flesh did not believe in Him while He was ministering (). But after the resurrection, James was converted (see ), and we have every reason to believe that Jude was also saved at that time. informs us that “the brothers of Jesus” were part of the praying group that was awaiting the Holy Spirit; shows that “His [the Lord’s] brothers” were known in the early church.
Jude wrote this letter to warn his readers that the apostates were already on the scene! Peter had prophesied that they would come (; .), and his prophecy had been fulfilled. Apparently, Jude was writing to the same believers who had received Peter’s letters, intending to stir them up and remind them to take Peter’s warnings to heart. We will discover a number of parallels between Jude and 2 Peter as we study this fascinating but neglected letter.
Jude wrote to exhort or “urge” them (). In the Greek language, this word was used for when a general would give orders to his army; hence the atmosphere of this letter is military. Jude had started to write a quiet devotional letter about salvation, but the Spirit had led him to put down his harp and sound the trumpet! The epistle of Jude is a call to arms.
“Be Transformed”
Jude opened his letter by gathering the troops and issuing orders, “exhorting” his brothers and sisters to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. ). God’s Word is not an unfolding, continually expanding message, but a “deposit” given in His Word from which we continue to be challenged. The truth doesn’t change; it applies fresh each day.
Because God’s soldiers are set apart and kept safe, they receive God’s choicest blessings: “mercy, peace, and love” (v. ). Like the apostle Peter, Jude wanted these special blessings to be multiplied in the lives of believers (see ; ). God in His mercy does not give us what we deserve. Instead, He gave our punishment to His own Son on the cross (see , ).
Because of Christ’s work on the cross, believers enjoy peace. The unsaved person is at war with God and cannot please Him (, ); but when this person trusts the Savior, the war ends and he or she receives God’s peace ().
The soldier of Christ also experiences the transforming power of God’s love (). The cross is God’s demonstration of love (), but His love is not experienced within a person until His Spirit comes into the believing heart. As the believer grows in his or her spiritual life, he or she enters into a deeper relationship of love ().
If you have trusted Jesus Christ, you are in His army. These orders are for you. You have received the faith and have been entrusted to defend it. Your life is a spiritual mission. That realization should transform the way you live each day.
Greeting to the Called
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.
Contend for the Faith
3Beloved, 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.
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.
Old and New Apostates
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.
6And 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;
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.
Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.
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!”
10But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11Woe 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
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;
13raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
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.”
Apostates Predicted
These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.
But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
18how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.
19These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Maintain Your Life with God
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
23but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Glory to God
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,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
Annotations for Jude
Those who know Christ as their Savior enjoy a unique position. They are called by God to be set apart for God that they might enjoy love with God. While their fellowship with the Father might change from day to day, their relationship as children cannot change. They are “preserved in Jesus Christ” (v. ). Because Jude would write a great deal in this letter about sin and judgment, he was careful at the very outset to define the special place that believers have in the heart and plan of God.
Not only are God’s saints set apart, but they are also “preserved.” This means “carefully watched and guarded.” The believer is secure in Jesus Christ. This same word is used in verse (“keep”) and in verse (“keep yourselves”). God is preserving the fallen angels and the apostates for judgment, but He is preserving His own children for glory. Meanwhile, He is able to preserve us in our daily walk and keep us from stumbling.
Because they are set apart and preserved, God’s children are the recipients of God’s choicest blessings: mercy, peace, and love. Like the apostle Peter, Jude wanted these special blessings to be multiplied in their lives.
An apostate (an “ungodly” person) is not a true believer who has abandoned his salvation. This person has professed to accept the truth and trust the Savior, and then has turned from “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. ). Jude would agree with what Peter wrote, and Peter clearly stated that the apostates were not God’s sheep but rather were pigs and dogs (, ). They may have looked clean on the outside, but neither had been given that new nature which is characteristic of God’s true children (, ).
Jude did not write that these “ungodly men” were ordained to become apostates, as though God were responsible for their sin. They became apostates because they willfully turned away from the truth. But God did ordain that such people would be judged and condemned. The Old Testament prophets denounced the false prophets of their day, and both Jesus Christ and His apostles pronounced judgment on them.
The first generations of Israelites out of Egypt rebelled against the will and the Word of God, and God cannot tolerate rebellion. As a result, everybody in the camp twenty years and older was destined to die in the next forty years. Their unbelief led to their extermination. God cannot lightly pass over the sins of His people.
Both Peter and Jude stated that God made these cities an example to warn the ungodly that God does indeed judge sin (see ). When we combine their descriptions, we discover that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah (and the other cities involved) were ungodly, filthy, wicked, unlawful, unjust, and given over to fornication. They did not occasionally commit unnatural sexual sins; they had “given themselves over to sexual immorality,” the pursuit of lust. The Greek verb is intensive: “to indulge in excessive immorality.” This was their way of life—and death!
All authority comes from the throne of God, whether it is authority in the home, the church, or the state. Those who exercise authority must first be under authority, accountable to God. But the false teachers rejected divine authority and set themselves up as their own authority.
, Michael did not rebuke Satan but left that to the Lord. It is dangerous for God’s people to confront Satan directly and to argue with him, because he is much stronger than we are. If an archangel is careful about the way he deals with the devil, how much more cautious ought we to be? Yes, we share in the victory of Christ, but we must not be presumptuous. Satan is a dangerous enemy; so when we resist him, we must be alert and vigilant (, ).
, Jude presented six vivid pictures of the false teachers and helps to explain why they are dangerous to the church.
Jude completed the description and emphasized even more why these people were so dangerous: They were out to please themselves by taking advantage of others. They were giving the impression that they wanted to help, but they were only interested in gratifying their own lusts.
A strong defense depends on strong people, and this applies to spiritual battles as well as military contests. If the church is to oppose and defeat the false teachers, then all of us in the church must be strong and able to “stand against the wiles of the devil” (). We always face the danger of stumbling (), and a stumble is the first step toward a fall.
As Christians, we may pray in solitude (), but we never pray alone; the Spirit of God joins with us as we pray () because He knows the mind of God and can direct us. He can give us wisdom and knowledge from the Word (.). He can also help us approach the Father through the access we have in Jesus Christ (). We worship God “in the Spirit” (), and the Spirit motivates us to pray, for He is “a spirit of grace and supplication” (). When believers are yielded to the Spirit, then the Spirit will assist them in their prayer lives, and God will answer their prayers.
, This well-known benediction contains a wealth of spiritual truth for the believer to receive. If we want to keep our feet on the ground spiritually, walk straight, and not stumble, then we must yield ourselves fully to the Savior. He alone is able to guard us, but we must keep ourselves safe in the love of God (see v. ). He is able if we are willing!
What a magnificent doxology this is! Knowing the purpose Jude had in mind when he wrote this letter, this doxology takes on even greater significance. Jude was reminding his readers of the greatness of Jesus Christ. If only they could catch that, they would never be led astray by false teachers.
Jude 1
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1 NU-Text reads beloved.
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22 NU-Text reads who are doubting (or making distinctions).
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25 NU-Text reads To the only God our Savior.
25 NU-Text omits Who . . . is wise and adds Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
25 NU-Text adds Before all time.