1_Judee the servant of Jesus Christ_. He calls himself the servant of Christ, not as the name applies to all the godly, but with respect to his apostleship; for they were deemed peculiarly the servants of Christ, who had some public office committed to them. And we know why the apostles were wont to... [ Continue Reading ]
2._Mercy to you. _Mercy means nearly the same as grace in the salutations of Paul. Were any one to wish for a refined distinction, it may be said that grace is properly the effect of mercy; for there is no other reason why God has embraced us in love, but that he pitied our miseries. _Love _may be u... [ Continue Reading ]
3._When I gave diligence_. I have rendered the words σπουδὴν ποιούμενος, “Applying care:” literally they are, “Making diligence.” But many interpreters explain the sentence in this sense, that a strong desire constrained Jude to write, as we usually say of those under the influence of some strong fe... [ Continue Reading ]
4._For there are certain men crept in unawares_. Though Satan is ever an enemy to the godly, and never ceases to harass them, yet Jude reminds those to whom he was writing of the state of things at that time. Satan now, he says, attacks and harasses you in a peculiar manner; it is therefore necessar... [ Continue Reading ]
5._I will therefore put you in remembrance_, or, _remind you_. He either modestly excuses himself, lest he should seem to teach as it were the ignorant things unknown to them; or, indeed, he openly declares in an emphatical manner, (which I approve more of,) that he adduced nothing new or unheard of... [ Continue Reading ]
6._And the angels_. This is an argument from the greater to the less; for the state of angels is higher than ours; and yet God punished their defection in a dreadful manner. He will not then forgive our perfidy, if we depart from the grace unto which he has called us. This punishment, inflicted on t... [ Continue Reading ]
7._Even as Sodom and Gomorrha_. This example is more general, for he testifies that God, excepting none of mankind, punishes without any difference all the ungodly. And Jude also mentions in what follows, that the fire through which the five cities perished was a type of the eternal fire. Then God a... [ Continue Reading ]
8._Likewise also these_. This comparison is not to be pressed too strictly, as though he compared these whom he mentions in all things to be Sodomites, or to the fallen angels, or to the unbelieving people. He only shews that they were vessels of wrath appointed to destruction, and that they could n... [ Continue Reading ]
9._Yet Michael the archangel_. Peter gives this argument shorter, and states generally, that angels, far more excellent than men, dare not bring forward a railing judgment. [2 Peter 2:11.] But as this history is thought to have been taken from an apocryphal book, it has hence happened that less wei... [ Continue Reading ]
10._But these speak evil of those things which they know not. _He means that they had no taste for anything but what was gross, and as it were beastly, and therefore did not perceive what was worthy of honor; and that yet they added audacity to madness, so that they feared not to condemn things abov... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Woe unto them. _It is a wonder that he inveighs against them so severely, when he had just said that it was not permitted to an angel to bring a railing accusation against Satan. But it was not his purpose to lay down a general rule. He only shewed briefly, by the example of Michael, how intoler... [ Continue Reading ]
12._These are spots in your feasts of charity_. They who read, “among your charities,” do not, as I think, sufficiently explain the true meaning. For he calls those feasts _charities_, ( ἀγάπαις,) which the faithful had among themselves for the sake of testifying their brotherly unity. Such feasts,... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Raging waves of the sea_. Why this was added, we may learn more fully from the words of Peter: [2 Peter 2:17 ] it was to shew, that being inflated with pride, they breathed out, or rather cast out the scum of high-flown stuff of words in grandiloquent style. At the same time they brought forth n... [ Continue Reading ]
14._And Enoch also_. I rather think that this prophecy was unwritten, than that it was taken from an apocryphal book; for it may have been delivered down by memory to posterity by the ancients. (197) Were any one to ask, that since similar sentences occur in many parts of Scripture, why did he not q... [ Continue Reading ]
But the vengeance suspended over the wicked ought to keep the elect in fear and watchfulness. He speaks of _deeds _and _words_, Because their corrupters did much evil, not only by their wicked life, but also by their impure and false speech. And their words were _hard_, on account of the refractory... [ Continue Reading ]
16._These are murmurers_. They who indulge their depraved lusts, are hard to please, and morose, so that they are never satisfied. Hence it is, that they always murmur and complain, however kindly good men may treat them. (200) He condemns their proud language, because they haughtily made a boast of... [ Continue Reading ]
17._But, beloved_. To a most ancient prophecy he now adds the admonitions of the apostles, the memory of whom was recent. As to the verb μνήσθητε, it makes no great difference, whether you read it as declarative or as an exhortation; for the meaning remains the same, that being fortified by the pred... [ Continue Reading ]
By _the last time _he means that in which the renewed condition of the Church received a fixed form till the end of the world; and it began at the first coming of Christ. After the usual manner of Scripture, he calls them scoffers who, being inebriated with a profane and impious contempt of God, ru... [ Continue Reading ]
19._These be they who separate themselves_. Some Greek copies have the participle by itself, other copies add ἑαυτοὺς, “themselves;” but the meaning is nearly the same. He means that they separated from the Church, because they would not bear the yoke of discipline, as they who indulge the flesh dis... [ Continue Reading ]
20._But ye, beloved_. He shews the manner in which they could overcome all the devices of Satan, that is, by having love connected with faith, and by standing on their guard as it were in their watch-tower, until the coming of Christ. But as he uses often and thickly his metaphors, so he has here a... [ Continue Reading ]
21._Keep yourselves in the love of God. _He has made love as it were the guardian and the ruler of our life; not that he might set it in opposition to the grace of God, but that it is the right course of our calling, when we make progress in love. But as many things entice us to apostasy, so that it... [ Continue Reading ]
22._And of some have compassion_. He adds another exhortation, shewing how the faithful ought to act in reproving their brethren, in order to restore them to the Lord. He reminds them that such ought to be treated in different ways, every one according to his disposition: for to the meek and teachab... [ Continue Reading ]
23._Hating even the garment_. This passage, which otherwise would appear obscure, will have no difficulty in it, when the metaphor is rightly explained. He would have the faithful not only to beware of contact with vices, but that no contagion might reach them, he reminds them that everything that b... [ Continue Reading ]
24_Now unto him that is able to keep you_. He closes the Epistle with praise to God; by which he shews that our exhortations and labors can do nothing except through the power of God accompanying them. (204) Some copies have “them” instead of “you.” If we receive this reading, the sense will be, “It... [ Continue Reading ]