A BRIEF COMMENTARY OF THE BOOK OF JUDE

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Jude is a very small book of the Bible found right before the book of Revelation. Like all of God’s Word it has important things to say to us about the Christian life. It was written by Jude, the brother of James. Jude was not an apostle for he is not mentioned as one in scripture and neither does he claim this title for himself.

 

He addresses those who have been called and loved by God as well as those who are kept by Jesus Christ, the Disciples of Christ. In this short statement we find great truths. He is telling us that we are chosen by God and called to a purpose in life. He states that we are in a position of being loved by our Heavenly Father. This is an encouraging thing to know as we struggle here on this earth with our difficult trials. This love from our Creator is not the fleeting human emotion we are accustomed to. It is the pure, holy and faithful love of our God who gave His only Son to die for our sins. Another encouragement is the fact that we are kept by Jesus Christ Himself. Our spiritual security and faith rest in the constant and unchanging person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

After his greeting Jude explains that while he was eager to write about the salvation that comes from Christ, he was moved in some manner, possibly through conviction of the Holy Spirit, to urge believers to contend and fight for the faith and to challenge anyone or anything that might come against the truth of the gospel. The truth in God’s Word is in a sense, entrusted to or put in the care of Christians. Christians must not only treat it with respect, they must also communicate it properly and accurately to others.

 

Jude warns of certain men who have slipped into the church who have no respect for God’s Word and strive to twist and distort the truth. He explains that these men were spoken of long ago and it should be no surprise to us that such men exist and seek to infiltrate our fellowship. They attempt to sneak in amongst Christians to work their evil ways and introduce false doctrine and beliefs. Jude exposes their character by calling them godless men. He exposes their methods by stating that they attempt to change the grace of the Lord into an excuse to sin willingly in all sorts of ways. He exposes the foundation of their faith as stubble and sand when he says that they deny Christ as Lord over all who call themselves Christians.

 

This warning is as true for us today as it was to those who received this letter from Jude. Within each Body of Believers there are sometimes men and women of this sort who seek to taint and tarnish the pure and holy calling that God has called us to. At times they can resort to promoting gossip or dissention so that they can seek to split and divide, discourage and disrupt, any promotion and spread of the True Gospel. This also affects the loving fellowship of Disciples of Christ in the church body.

 

There are also instances where such men and women even seek to establish their own churches that portray a false or twisted Gospel that contains an element of God’s Truth. Empowered by their false view of the scriptures and special skills in deception they seek to build an empire for themselves gathering followers from other church fellowships and preying on individuals who are seekers of God. Their influence can be expressed through a lifestyle of prosperity, twisted Bible teaching, promises of healing for any illness or infirmity and copious printed publications or media resources of their deceptively skewed versions of the truth. Often these false teachers gather very skilled and talented people around them to creatively and effectively draw others into their deceptive spiritual exploits and ministries. Such misled individual individuals feel that they are following divine truth, but in actually they are only resources that are used to promote and grow the empire of the false teachers and charlatans.

 

R.C. Sproul states, “It has always been the ploy of heretics to try and couch their doctrines in biblical language. Paul warns the Ephesians about this very thing.”

 

Ephesians 5:6-8

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.”

 

What results from such spiritual fellowships based in error is discord among Christians in the local community as they attempt to deal with this deceptive influence among those in their neighborhoods. It is also possible at times that even true Disciples of Christ are drawn into the influential and deceptive nets of the false teachers and willingly participate in their ministries. Yet another effect of the false teachers is that they taint the witness of true Disciples of Christ because non-Christians are confused over whether there is a difference between the true Disciples of Christ and members of the false teacher’s fellowships, churches and events.

 

We can guard ourselves against such individuals if we listen to wise counsel, ground ourselves in the Word, listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and pray fervently and consistently. Godly discernment helps us to not only discover what is God’s Truth it also assists us in perceiving the twisted truth promoted by these subtle and crafty false teachers?

 

In such situations it is critical that we as Disciples of Christ become well-versed in the Holy Scriptures and adept at discerning false teaching as well as defending the Faith. Then we can, in a loving manner clarify to those we come in contact with; the difference between falsehood and God’s Truth to seekers wishing to know God, Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

We are to apply ourselves to growing in our understanding of Holy Scripture and using it as the benchmark as to what is Truth and what is falsehood and error.

 

Acts 17:11

“Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

 

Jude continues in his letter to establish the severity of the judgment on such people of lies for he gives examples of how God dealt with such deceivers in the past. He shares how God destroyed those of His chosen people who failed to believe in His truth. Jude also shares how those angels, who rebelled against God, were bound for judgment. He finally tells us of the wrath of God that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah for the immorality and perversions that took place within its walls.

 

Jude tells us something of the condition of life of these men. They are dreamers who live in a fantasy world. They pollute their bodies with all manner of sin and fleshly desires. They reject authority of all kinds, but especially the authority of God. He gives an example of Michael the archangel not slandering Satan, but rebuking him in the power and name of the Lord. He makes the point that even though Satan deserves no honor in any way, Michael the archangel did not lash out in anger, but responded as a true servant and messenger of the Lord and judged him according to the power of God not his own. Jude continues describing the behavior of these individuals by stating that they speak abusively about things they do not understand. This possibly has reference to 1 Corinthians 2:14 where we are told that the natural man cannot discern spiritual things for he does not possess the Spirit of God. These rebellious false teachers distort the truth they do not understand which leads to their own demise.

 

Jude states that these individuals might lead Christians astray. They follow the path of Cain who gave inappropriate offerings to God and murdered his brother. They emulate the path of Balaam who spoke against God’s chosen people, led them into sin and warred against. They seek also the path of Korah who rebelled against God and His servant Moses and was destroyed by God for his disobedience and rebellion.

 

Jude describes these false teachers as blemishes on the Christian love feasts or times of communion. A crude way to put it would be that these individuals are like infected zits on the pure soft skin of a teenager. He describes them in a rather unique way as shepherds who feed only themselves. Shepherds are supposed to take care of their sheep first and eat last, but not these men and women. They are selfishly motivated.

 

Jude continues with numerous comparisons of these individuals with examples in nature. He says they are clouds that look promising but which bring no rain and are easily blown about by any slight breeze. This reminds us of the double-minded man mentioned in James 1:6 and the spiritual infants described in Ephesians 4:14. He compares them to trees in the fall that possess no fruit and therefore are beyond reproduction and also uprooted which represents a type of second death. They are dead in works and dead in the core of their faith. It is in contrast to the wonderful fruit of the Spirit spoken of in Galatians 5:22. He compares them to wild waves of the ocean that despite their appearance of power only froth up shame upon themselves by their talk and actions. He claims they are wandering stars that have no stability and for whom darkness has been reserved forever. This illustrates the darkness of this world that stands in contrast to the light of our Savior and God’s Word. It also represents spiritual blindness that such men and women have due to the influence of Satan which is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:4.

 

Jude gives us a glimpse into the return of Christ when he quotes Enoch. The intent of Jude is to show that these deceiving men and women will get their due when Christ returns with His holy saints to judge and rule the world.

 

Jude describes these individuals as those who grumble continuously and are always looking for the bad in situations. Their main desire is to seek after their own evil and sinful desires. They selfishly boast about their abilities and compliment others only if they can acquire something for themselves. They are actually false encouragers with no veracity to their intentions.

 

Jude then quotes the Lord’s apostles and their warning that in the end times, people will deny the truth and seek after their own sinful lusts. These same people will attempt to divide the unity in the church. They will be known by their tendency to follow their fleshly desires and will be devoid of any evidence of being possessed by the Spirit of God.

 

Finally Jude gives us the answer to battling these evil men and women and how to withstand becoming tainted by their influence. He tells us to build each other up in faith, pray in the Spirit, keep in the love of God and persist in living holy as we wait for the Lord to return for us. But he goes beyond personal concern to outreach ministry. He tells us that we need to be tender and merciful to those who are weak in faith. We are to seek to save those who are heading for eternal judgment. We are to show mercy to those who do not know the Lord. In other words we are to hate the sin, but love the sinner.

 

Jude ends with encouragement that can only be based in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is the only one who can keep us from falling as we seek to be sanctified through His Spirit in this life. Christ will present us before Himself without fault and sin. This speaks of our positional holiness that we possess as Christians that will be realized in our glorification when we enter heaven. Christ will look upon us with great joy at the completion of our life and His task of making us holy as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the process of sanctification.

 

Jude closes with worship and praise of God when he says, “to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

 

Below is a web- link to my complete commentary on the book of Jude and the full text of the book of Jude.

 

http://www.godsbreathpublications.com/commentary-on-jude/

 

JUDE

 

“1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. 17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of 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, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”