WARNING AGAINST A THREATENED PLAGUE OF BRUTAL FALSE TEACHERS As of old there were false as well as true prophets, so it will be now. This leads the Apostle to speak about the false teachers, who if they have not already begun-he expects will trouble his readers. Prophets were important persons in th... [ Continue Reading ]
DAMNABLE HERESIES] RV 'destructive heresies.' The word 'heresy' is passing here from its older meaning of a 'school' or 'sect' (RM) to the modern meaning of 'false doctrine': cp. Acts 24:14; 1 Corinthians 11:19; Galatians 5:20. EVEN DENYING THE LORD] RV 'denying even the Master'; their evil lives we... [ Continue Reading ]
PERNICIOUS WAYS] RV 'lascivious doings.'... [ Continue Reading ]
DAMNATION] RV 'destruction': cp. 2 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 3:7. With the rude but vigorous style of this and other vv. in the chapter cp. 1 Peter 3:17. St. Jude is more polished, but less strong.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Apostle here follows Jewish tradition (cp. Revelation 20:1), as it is given in the book of Enoch, from which St. Jude expressly quotes.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOAH THE EIGHTH PERSON] RV 'Noah with seven others': cp. 1 Peter 3:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither here nor elsewhere in Holy Scripture is it said that these cities were submerged. Zechariah 2:9 is against such a belief.... [ Continue Reading ]
VEXED WITH THE FILTHY CONVERSATION] RV 'sore distressed by the lascivious life.'... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE DAY OF JUDGMENT to BE PUNISHED] RV 'under punishment unto the day of judgement.' God's punishment is remedial, and this v. gives just a gleam of hope for the false teachers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comparison with Judges 1:9 would suggest that the Apostle is here too referring to an apocryphal book, but if we did not know that Epistle we should more naturally think of Job 1 or Zechariah 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS, MADE TO BE TAKEN] RV 'creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken.' SHALL UTTERLY PERISH IN THEIR OWN CORRUPTION, AND SHALL RECEIVE THE REWARD OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS] RV 'shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, suffering wrong as the hire of wrongdoing.'... [ Continue Reading ]
SPORTING THEMSELVES WITH THEIR OWN DECEIVINGS] RV 'revelling in their love-feasts.' Such a love-feast or common meal of the Christians is described in 1 Corinthians 11:20.; The abuses for which the Corinthians were rebuked led to the separation of the Holy Communion from such feasts. But though St.... [ Continue Reading ]
CURSED CHILDREN] RV 'children of cursing,' a Hebrew mode of expression: cp. 1 Peter 1:14 it means that their whole character is worthy of execration.... [ Continue Reading ]
BOSOR] RV 'Beor,' as in Numbers 22:5, Balaam, as we learn from Revelation 2:14, taught Balak to try and ruin the Israelites by tempting them to uncleanness, and Balak had already offered him rewards (Numbers 22:7; Numbers 22:17). Thus he was like the false teachers in two respects.... [ Continue Reading ]
FORBAD] RV 'stayed.'... [ Continue Reading ]
WELLS WITHOUT WATER, etc.] RV 'spring without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.' The false teachers are as disappointing as springs without water, or as mists which promise moisture but are scattered by the wind: cp. Wis 2:4 and Ephesians 4:14... [ Continue Reading ]
_Through much_ WANTONNESS] RV 'by lasciviousness.' The repetition of this word points to the character of the false teachers. Repetition of this kind is frequent in 1 Pet. THOSE THAT WERE CLEAN ESCAPED] RV 'those who are just escaping'; i.e. those who have become Christians, but are not far advance... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. John 8:34; Romans 6:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
Knowledge of Christ is both the beginning and the end of Christian life: cp. 18 (RV). LATTER END] RV 'last state': cp. Matthew 12:45 and Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 10:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN] RV 'turn back.'... [ Continue Reading ]
The second proverb is not in Holy Scripture; the first comes from Proverbs 26:11.... [ Continue Reading ]