Jude 1:1-25

Fight for the *Faith!

Jude

Hilda Bright

What This Letter Is About

Jude wrote the letter to warn his readers against false teachers. These teachers claimed to be Christians. But they were being a great danger to the *faith.

Plan Of The Letter

Verses 1-2 Greetings

Verses 3-16 Jude writes about the danger of false teachers. Jude gives examples from the *Old Testament, and from two other ancient books. These examples show the wrong beliefs and actions of these teachers. To teach wicked ideas and actions will certainly bring God’s severe punishment on people like that.

Verses 17-23 Jude tells Christians how to grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus. Then they can help other Christians to do the same.

Verses 24-25 Jude encourages his readers with words of praise, to remind them of God’s great love and power.

Chapter 1

The Letter

The author and the readers

v1 From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

To all whom God has called and loves. He keeps them safe for Jesus Christ.

Verse 1 Jude and James were two of the four brothers of Jesus (Mark 6:3). Jude does not say that he was a brother of Jesus. He speaks of himself only as a servant of Jesus, who was now his Master. Jude was also humble enough to mention his well-known brother, James. James became a leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:19; Galatians 2:9). Readers will now know which Jude was writing the letter. Jude (or Judas) was a common (frequent) name.

Jude likes to put ideas in threes. (Other examples are in verses 2, 4, 5-7, 8 and 11.)

• God has called them. God calls people to serve him in the same way as he called Israel (Isaiah 42:6). To serve him is a responsibility. It is also an honour, like an invitation to a special party. God is saying, ‘Be my guest!’

• God loves them. God’s love protects them and also gives them inner strength every day.

• God is keeping them for Jesus Christ. Whatever happens, God will keep them in safety until Jesus comes again (Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:4).

v2 May you have more and more of God’s *mercy and inner peace and love.

Verse 2 Jude prays for three gifts for his readers:

• ‘God’s *mercy’ They need God’s pity to forgive them and to help them every day. And they will need it especially on the day of judgement.

• ‘God’s inner peace’ This peace of God is so much greater than we can understand (Philippians 4:7). Christians will have this inner peace because God has *forgiven them. They know that he will help them to obey him. They know that God always keeps his promises.

• ‘God’s love’ They will come to realise how greatly God loves them (Romans 8:35). Then they will want to show love to other people (John 15:17). Christians cannot earn any of these qualities. They are God’s free gifts.

The reason for the letter

v3 Dear friends, I was eager to write to you about the *salvation that we all share. But instead I must write and urge you to fight hard to defend the *faith.

This is the *faith that God gave to Christians, once and for always.

Verse 3 Jude loves his ‘dear friends’, because he and they all share in God’s love. Jude had wanted to write about the *faith that they shared. This was the *faith (trust) in Jesus that God had given to them all. Christians have the responsibility to keep this *faith without change. They must be careful that people do not take important facts away from the *faith. Neither must they add false ideas. The Greek word for ‘defend’ means that it will be a great struggle. Christians must be ready at any time to meet a sudden test of their trust in Jesus.

v4 Some wicked men have come among you in secret. They change the *grace of God, as an excuse for their wicked behaviour. They deny our only Master and *Lord, Jesus Christ. Long ago, God warned that he has given judgement against people like that.

Verse 4 The ‘wicked men’ are false teachers. They may have travelled from place to place. Nobody noticed when they came among Jude’s readers. Their wrong ideas were a danger to the *faith. These were the errors in their teaching:

• They were taking wrong advantage of God’s *mercy. They used it as an excuse to behave in any way that they liked. They were like some Christians that Paul described (Romans 6:1). They said that God loves to forgive. So wicked behaviour makes it possible for God to show even more of his *grace.

• They said that the human body is evil. So, it does not matter how you use it. They denied Jesus and his words by the wicked way in which they lived.

• They denied that Jesus had a real human body. They said that he could not be hungry or need to drink. He did not feel pain.

• They said that Jesus was not one with God.

• They claimed to have special knowledge of the way to God. They were superior to ordinary Christians, who could not have this same knowledge.

Now, in verses 5-15, Jude gives examples of God’s punishment of people like that.

*Old Testament examples of God’s judgement

v5 You know all these stories, but I need to remind you of them.

God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt. But afterwards, he destroyed those who did not trust him. v6 Some *angels did not keep their position, but left their proper place in heaven. God has kept them chained in deep darkness until the day of judgement. v7 The people of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities near them loved to practise sex in ways that are not natural. These people are a warning to other people. They suffered the punishment of fire that will last for ever.

Verse 5 The people of Israel were once slaves in Egypt (Exodus chapter 1). God rescued them through Moses (Exodus Chapter s 5-12). But they did not trust God enough to enter the land that God had promised to give them. So they died in the desert (Hebrews 3:17). Jesus called his death an ‘exodus’ (departure) (Luke 9:31) that would rescue his people from evil. Lack of trust in him, too, will lead to God’s judgement.

Verse 6 Because of their pride, some *angels refused to obey God (Revelation 12:7-9). They left heaven to marry women on earth (Genesis 6:1-2). The false teachers in their pride and desire for women were like the bad *angels. Those *angels did not ‘keep’ their proper position. So God ‘kept’ them in chains and in darkness until the day of judgement. If God judges even *angels, he will judge men and women too.

Verse 7 The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are an example of all kinds of wicked behaviour. Genesis 19:1-11 describes how two *angels visited Lot. They visited him to warn him to escape from God’s judgement against Sodom and Gomorrah. The men of Sodom wanted to use the visitors to satisfy their wicked desires for sex. God destroyed them with fire.

v8 But in their wicked imagination, these men are now using their bodies in the same evil way. They do not respect God’s authority. They speak evil of *angels.

Verse 8 Even with such awful examples in front of them, the false teachers have no thought for their own fate. So they continue their wicked practice of sex, like the people of Sodom. They do not obey the *Lord Jesus Christ (verse 4).

They insult God’s *angels. The Greek word for ‘angel’ also means one who brings a message. So Jude may be referring to the church leaders. The false teachers consider themselves far superior.

v9 The chief *angel Michael argued with the devil about the body of Moses. But Michael would not accuse him. Instead he said, ‘May the *Lord correct you!’

Verse 9 Jude gets his information from an ancient book called ‘The Assumption of Moses’. This book is not in the *Old Testament. But Jude’s readers would know the story. When Moses died (Deuteronomy 34:5-6), God sent one of his most important *angels, Michael, to bury his body. But the devil said that the body belonged to him. This was because Moses had murdered an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). Michael did not argue with the devil. He said that God himself would deal with him.

v10 These men, however, *mock anything that they do not understand. They behave like animals and do whatever they like. Their desires are wicked, and wicked behaviour will destroy them.

Verse 10 They think that anything that is outside their experience has no use or worth. They do not realise where their attitudes and actions are leading them. Their fate is as certain as in the case of those wicked people and bad *angels that Jude has mentioned.

Three more examples from the *Old Testament

v11 How terrible for them! They have followed Cain’s example. *Greed has caused them to fall into Balaam’s error. They are *disobeying God, as Korah did. Like him, they will die.