The Word Made Fresh
1From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to all those who are called, whom God the Father loves and has kept safe in Jesus Christ. 2May you have mercy, peace, and love in abundance.
3Friends, I had planned to write to you about the salvation we share, but I find it necessary now to appeal to you to stand strong for the faith that the saints received once for all, 4because certain ones have stolen in to join you. They are people who long ago were condemned as ungodly. They twist the grace of God into lewd behavior and deny our only true Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5You are fully informed, I’m sure, but I want to remind you that the Lord who brought his people out of Egypt did away with those who did not believe. 6And those angels who didn’t stay in their place he has kept in chains and in darkness to wait for the great day of judgment. 7Also, Sodom and Gomorrah and the other nearby towns that indulged in sexual sins and pursued their sinful lust are an example; they have undergone a punishment of eternal fire.
8But in the same way these dreamers have engaged in corrupting themselves. They reject authority and slander the angels. 9Now when the archangel Michael argued with the devil over the body of Moses, he didn’t dare slander him but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10But these people slander anything they don’t understand and they are condemned by the things that they instinctively know, like wild animals. 11Woe to them! They go the way Cain went and abandon themselves for the sake of gain like Balaam, and perish in the rebellion of Korah.
12These people are a flaw on your love-feasts. They participate without any fear and fill themselves. They are like empty clouds blown by the winds; like twice-dead trees in the fall – uprooted with no fruit. 13Or like wild sea-waves, foaming with their own shame. Or like stars that wander into the deepest darkness that was reserved for them.
14About such people Enoch, seven generations removed from Adam, uttered this prophesy: “See, the Lord is coming with a thousand thousands of his holy ones 15to carry out judgment on everyone and convict them of every ungodly deed they committed in ungodly ways, and of all the terrible things those ungodly sinners have said about him.” 16They grumble and are never satisfied. They wallow in their own lust. They use people to their own advantage, flattering them with big words.
17But you, dear friends, surely remember what the apostles of our Lord said: 18“In the last days there will be those who will deride you and indulge in their filthy yearnings.” 19They are the people who are causing division because the Spirit is not in them. 20But you, friends, grow in your most sacred faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Always love God and look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to guide you to life eternal. 22Be merciful to those who are doubtful. 23Pull others out of the fire. Have mercy on those who are afraid even to the point of hating their own clothing for fear that their bodies will be defiled.
24Now, to him who is able to keep you from falling and will grant you to stand rejoicing in his presence without fault; 25to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority, before all the ages, now and forever. Amen.
Commentary
1-2: Jude appears to have been a general epistle, sent out as a circulatory letter to a number of congregations rather than to any specific location. He identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, tantalizing but frustrating references to his identity. If he was the apostle Judas (not Iscariot) he was not the brother of the apostle James. If he was the brother of that James in Acts who is known as “the brother of the Lord,” then he would also be a brother of Jesus and not a servant of Jesus. The first verse contains a shadow of the problems plaguing the church by the end of the first century — internal evidence makes 80-100 A.D. a likely time for Jude to have been written — because it refers to those who are “kept safe” for Jesus Christ, implying some danger. Indeed, we will find there is much danger, not from persecution but from internal disturbances.
3-4: He gets right to the point. The church has been infiltrated by those who preach a different gospel from the one the apostles preached. He points out two specific differences in this paragraph: the first is licentiousness, and seems to relate to what theologians call antinomianism (against law). This was a corruption of early Christianity which held that since Christ had fulfilled the law, grace covers all our sins and so we can live any way we choose and do anything we like. John Wesley called this “a gospel of the flesh.” The second charge is that they deny Jesus Christ as Master and Lord. The issue here seems to be the argument about Christ’s identity as the Son of God. These were people who held that Jesus was an ordinary person like everybody else, and so his teachings were not completely authoritative. Most scholars think this is a reference to an ancient heresy known as Gnosticism, which claimed certain knowledge about God and the world not available to those outside their circle.
5-7: He offers three examples of what happens to those who oppose God: the Hebrews who rebelled against Moses in the wilderness, the angels who “fell from grace” (a prominent feature of Jewish mythology more so than that of scripture), and the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah who were destroyed because of their licentious behavior.
8: In reverse order he refers to Sodom and Gomorrah, the fallen angels, and the rebellious Hebrews.
9: This is a reference to an ancient Jewish legend about the devil contending with Gabriel for the body of Moses. His point is that even Gabriel did not dare condemn the devil (the chief of the fallen angels in Jewish legend) but left that to the Lord.
10: The troublemakers, unlike Gabriel, slander everything they don’t understand and are destroyed by giving in to their (perverted) instincts.
11: For the reference to Cain, see Genesis 4:1-16. Balaam’s story is in Numbers 22-24, but there is much legendary (not Biblical) material about Balaam that doesn’t leave him in nearly the positive light of that story. In fact, later rabbis blamed Balaam for the sexual immorality that became prevalent among the Hebrews as reported in Numbers 25 (but in Numbers their immorality is not directly connected to Balaam). Korah’s rebellion is recounted in Numbers 16.
12-13: Five colorful metaphors are used for these troublemakers. They are a flaw (or rocks or reefs or blemishes) at the church’s fellowship meals. They are like empty clouds, producing nothing of substance for anyone else. They are autumn trees without fruit, again producing nothing for others; twice dead, perhaps because they were once unbelievers, then became believers, but now are spreading teachings not in keeping with faith in Christ; uprooted because they have left the truth given them at first by the apostles. They are wild waves “foaming with their own shame,” perhaps meant to compare the worthlessness of their teaching with the worthlessness of foam. They are wandering stars, which makes me think of comets which appear for a time and then seem to disappear into the utter darkness of space; but Jude is probably referring to passages in the non-canonical Book of Enoch in which stars are equated to angels and some of them rebel against God and are cast out.
14-16: Quoting the Book of Enoch, Jude asserts that the coming of these troublemakers was prophesied centuries before, and that God will subject them to judgment. They use their charisma to prey on others and satisfy their own lusts.
17-19: Finally, Jude nails the coffin shut: these people are exactly what the apostles warned you about, he says, for they prophesied that there would be “those who will deride you and indulge in their filthy yearnings,” which is precisely the way in which Jude has been describing them.
20-23: He now turns from condemning the intruders (verse 4) to encouraging the faithful. Keep the faith, he tells them. Pray. Love God. Watch for Christ to return. Have mercy on those who are being swayed by these false teachers and save them if you can, but be fearful of having mercy on those who have participated in the lustful orgies sanctioned by the intruders.
24-25: A beautiful benediction ends the letter, serving once again as a reminder to his readers, both then and through the centuries, that God is able to keep them from falling.
Takeaway
Pray that your congregation will never have to put up with the kind of people Jude describes – who want their own way and who want to be important. The church falters when such people assert themselves. Keep the faith. That is the best way to survive such attacks and keep the congregation from being ruled by people who have to have things their way.