Text: The Book of Jude (NKJV)
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: 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
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. 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.
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. 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; 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. 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 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!” 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. 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.
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; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 14 Now 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.”
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
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,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
The Book of Jude is very similar to Second Peter. Some contend that 2 Peter should not be in the Bible, and that it was an inauthentic rip-off of this book. I do not believe this to be the case; however, our focus here is on Jude.
Jude is unique in that it is the only New Testament book to clearly reference an Apocryphal book (a book rejected as not rightly part of the Bible) in verses 14-15.
Who wrote the book? The name "Ioudas" was very popular in the 1st Century A.D. in Israel because of the national hero by the same name (Judas Maccabaeus). The authorship of this book is debated by some Biblical scholars, but it seems to be pretty clear from internal content. Compare Jude 1 to Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. Thus, the author of this book of the Bible is Jesus's half-brother (by Joseph and Mary), who did not actually believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior until after His death (John 7:1-9, Acts 1:14).1
Moving on to the content of the book, we see that this short book is rich in doctrine and early church history. Jude was writing to an unidentified church, specifically calling for them to contend for purity in the faith from corrupt individuals within their organization.
Jude proceeded to describe the faults of these evil, wolves-in-sheeps'-clothing that had crept into this church. Their judgment is sure.
Verses 14 and 15 are a reference to the Apocryphal book of 1 Enoch 1:9. This neither validates 1 Enoch nor invalidates Jude as Scripture. It is a reference to a historical text, that was not inspired by God in its original recording in 1 Enoch but became part of the inspired record in Scripture here. We have to remember that non-Biblical books record truth as well. An history textbook has truth in it that is not inspired, but it also contains some error. Jude used valid information from an incompletely perfect source under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.
Let's look more closely at verses 16-19. Notice the negativity of the individuals in question. They grumble and complain. Don't overgeneralize this as Jude is speaking specifically of their actions within the local church (although these are certainly not good qualities in other situations either). Basically, this is a group of nay-saying, complainers who usurp the authority in their local church by doing whatever they want, leading others astray into their ways. I am not accusing anyone here of being a wicked apostate like those here, but I think that many if not most Christians in America today grumble and complain. We need to be careful of our attitude in our local churches.
Jude then admonishes the true Christians to build each other up in the faith. This is in direct contrast to causing divisions by the apostates. Positive criticism, love, and compassion are important characteristics of every member of a healthy church body.
1. Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983), 501.
Applications:
Stick true to right doctrine. That understanding of doctrine comes only from the Bible, so one has to study it at length to do this. Compromising truth a little for pragmatic purposes is not ok. Spiritually, the ends do not justify the means.
Have a spirit of unity in your local church body. You can only control you, so do it. If you don't agree about how something is being done, there are appropriate ways to voice that. Creating a viral attitude of negativity and subversion are not. Unity within a local church should always be maintained; however, one should understand that in the situation where some in a church pervert true doctrine, it is they who are breaking the unity not those involved in discipline or standing for purity in church doctrine. Unity does not mean permissiveness or acceptance of everything.
Develop a positive attitude within the church. Focus on serving others like Jesus did and loving them as He loved them. Remember the mercy He is showing you even now.
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: 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
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. 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.
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. 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; 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. 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 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!” 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. 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.
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; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 14 Now 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.”
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
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,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
The Book of Jude is very similar to Second Peter. Some contend that 2 Peter should not be in the Bible, and that it was an inauthentic rip-off of this book. I do not believe this to be the case; however, our focus here is on Jude.
Jude is unique in that it is the only New Testament book to clearly reference an Apocryphal book (a book rejected as not rightly part of the Bible) in verses 14-15.
Who wrote the book? The name "Ioudas" was very popular in the 1st Century A.D. in Israel because of the national hero by the same name (Judas Maccabaeus). The authorship of this book is debated by some Biblical scholars, but it seems to be pretty clear from internal content. Compare Jude 1 to Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. Thus, the author of this book of the Bible is Jesus's half-brother (by Joseph and Mary), who did not actually believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior until after His death (John 7:1-9, Acts 1:14).1
Moving on to the content of the book, we see that this short book is rich in doctrine and early church history. Jude was writing to an unidentified church, specifically calling for them to contend for purity in the faith from corrupt individuals within their organization.
Jude proceeded to describe the faults of these evil, wolves-in-sheeps'-clothing that had crept into this church. Their judgment is sure.
Verses 14 and 15 are a reference to the Apocryphal book of 1 Enoch 1:9. This neither validates 1 Enoch nor invalidates Jude as Scripture. It is a reference to a historical text, that was not inspired by God in its original recording in 1 Enoch but became part of the inspired record in Scripture here. We have to remember that non-Biblical books record truth as well. An history textbook has truth in it that is not inspired, but it also contains some error. Jude used valid information from an incompletely perfect source under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.
Let's look more closely at verses 16-19. Notice the negativity of the individuals in question. They grumble and complain. Don't overgeneralize this as Jude is speaking specifically of their actions within the local church (although these are certainly not good qualities in other situations either). Basically, this is a group of nay-saying, complainers who usurp the authority in their local church by doing whatever they want, leading others astray into their ways. I am not accusing anyone here of being a wicked apostate like those here, but I think that many if not most Christians in America today grumble and complain. We need to be careful of our attitude in our local churches.
Jude then admonishes the true Christians to build each other up in the faith. This is in direct contrast to causing divisions by the apostates. Positive criticism, love, and compassion are important characteristics of every member of a healthy church body.
1. Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983), 501.
Applications:
Stick true to right doctrine. That understanding of doctrine comes only from the Bible, so one has to study it at length to do this. Compromising truth a little for pragmatic purposes is not ok. Spiritually, the ends do not justify the means.
Have a spirit of unity in your local church body. You can only control you, so do it. If you don't agree about how something is being done, there are appropriate ways to voice that. Creating a viral attitude of negativity and subversion are not. Unity within a local church should always be maintained; however, one should understand that in the situation where some in a church pervert true doctrine, it is they who are breaking the unity not those involved in discipline or standing for purity in church doctrine. Unity does not mean permissiveness or acceptance of everything.
Develop a positive attitude within the church. Focus on serving others like Jesus did and loving them as He loved them. Remember the mercy He is showing you even now.
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