The Neglected Book of Jude

[Shammu]

The Neglected Book of Jude

The letter of Jude is, I call the neglected letter yet never has this letter been more relevent to the church.

I would suggest that before commencing the study you taken time to read several different versions of this letter so that you gain a sense of what Jude was trying to communicate.

Jude 1:3 Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God].

In verse 3 two phrases seem to leap from the page, first Jude's intention "I was very eager to write" and second "I felt I had to write". He wanted to write about the salvation they had in common. It is interesting that although God speaks to us and deals with us as individuals we have a common salvation. We know ourselves that it is pleasant, exciting and satisfying to discuss the salvation we share and we gain a glimpse of the writers' heart in that he would rather talk about the positive things of life, but was willing to grasp the nettle. He felt he had to write to warn the church and to put them on their guard against those who would turn Christianity from a relationship into a religion. Introducing new innovations as though following ever fad and fashion of the day.

The church today can also be charged of following the latest craze or fad.

Jude tells them to "contend for the faith"; to fight for the truth but here we have to recognise that this is only a small part of what Jude is implying.

The thought of standing for the truth, knowing scripture and teaching others the truth of the gospel. Opposing false and erroneous doctrine through the teaching and expounding of sound doctrine. Even if this stance should lead to death for it is better to die than to deny the truth.

Agonising in ones own lifestyle to be obedient to the truth. Contending for the faith through personal sacrifice and discipline. For Paul could say 2 Tim 4:6-7  For I am already about to be sacrificed [my life is about to be poured out as a drink offering]; the time of my [spirit's] release [from the body] is at hand and I will soon go free. 7 I have fought the good (worthy, honorable, and noble) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept (firmly held) the faith.

Verse 4 says that "certain men ………….. have secretly slipped in among you". Or "crept in unnoticed". Does this happen in today's church that impious men who lack respect, undutiful and ungodly in their actions are accepted. In answer to the question think how many times people gossip about their leaders slandering them, argue and cause dissent, or people who cause division or seek after their own ambitions to the detriment of others. Ask your self, "do I live up to the standard that Paul sets out in Romans?

The men that Jude talked about took the grace of God and the freedom that this brings and turned it into licence to enable themselves to indulge in sin of many kinds. They also denied the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ many groups do this today.

Children of God
Christian Science
Jehovah's Witnesses
Mormons

These are just to name a few.

Jude 1:5-7  Now I want to remind you, though you were fully informed once for all, that though the Lord [at one time] delivered a people out of the land of Egypt, He subsequently destroyed those [of them] who did not believe [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him]. 6 And angels who did not keep (care for, guard, and hold to) their own first place of power but abandoned their proper dwelling place--these He has reserved in custody in eternal chains (bonds) under the thick gloom of utter darkness until the judgment and doom of the great day. 7 [The wicked are sentenced to suffer] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent towns--which likewise gave themselves over to impurity and indulged in unnatural vice and sensual perversity--are laid out [in plain sight] as an exhibit of perpetual punishment [to warn] of everlasting fire.

Jude makes clear that what he writes is not some new innovation but truths that the people have already heard and know but are not applying in their everyday life decisions.

Jude gives three warnings using the example of the Israelites, Fallen Angels and Sodom and Gomorrah. To understand the first two warnings we should appreciate that these men were not enemies of Christianity or the Church but believed them selves to be the advanced thinkers of the generation, a spiritual elite that were above everyone else. Men who had no use for words such as submission, accountability and responsibility

Israel, who experienced the great display of God's grace in the Exodus, saw and heard his revelation at Sinai, and received his care in the wilderness; yet a number of them disbelieved and rebelled. Obviously this is not an instance of people being saved and then losing their salvation. Jude describes the rebels as "those who did not believe". The Israelites were physically delivered from bondage, not by their faith as a nation, but by God's covenant love and mercy. The warning in this judgment is against unbelief and rebellion.

Jude clearly sets a dividing line between the saved and the unsaved and the ultimate destiny of the latter.

As to the fallen Angels,  The Jews had a very highly developed doctrine of angels, the servants of God. In particular the Jews believed that every nation had its presiding angel. In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, Deuteronomy 32: 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the Israelites.

That is to say, to each nation there was an angel. The Jews believed in a fall of the angels and much is said about this in the Book of Enoch, which is so often behind the thought of Jude. In regard to this there were two lines of tradition.

In this warning the Judgement against Pride and Lust. These Fallen Angels who left their post and position disregarding their responsibility are either; "kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." Or were cast out of heaven and were to roam the earth as demonic spirits.

Finally Sodom and Gomorrah, it would be good to remind ourselves of the story about the two cities from Genesis 19

Jude says that the men of these cities were guilty of sexual immorality and perversion (literally; lust after different flesh) in the same way as the Angels did.

This final warning is a judgement against sexual immorality, perversion, lust, greed and rebellion against God's order. The consequence of these sins is eternal fire.

Jude is very clear in his warnings but to the readers of his letter who were being reminded of such things the judgements of history must have been compelling.

Let me list what the warnings were against: Unbelief; pride; lust; greed; sexual immorality; perversions; rebellion.

I wonder if you looked at your town or city, would you find unbelief or pride or lust or greed or sexual immorality or perversions or rebellion against God's order. I guess you would, so why doesn't God destroy your town or my town. I think Jesus gives us the answer when he said, "You are the salt of the earth."

Jude 1:8-11 Nevertheless in like manner, these dreamers also corrupt the body, scorn and reject authority and government, and revile and libel and scoff at [heavenly] glories (the glorious ones).   9 But when [even] the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, judicially argued (disputed) about the body of Moses, he dared not [presume to] bring an abusive condemnation against him, but [simply] said, The Lord rebuke you! 10 But these men revile (scoff and sneer at) anything they do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand; and whatever they do understand physically [that which they know by mere instinct], like irrational beasts--by these they corrupt themselves and are destroyed (perish). 11  Woe to them! For they have run riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of gain [it offers them, following] the error of Balaam, and have perished in rebellion [like that] of Korah!

cont'd next post

[Shammu]

In verse 8 Jude calls these false teachers "Dreamers". It could be that this refers to pretensions of prophecy but is more likely to refer to their carnal way of life that causes them to live in a dream world. Living out every lustful craving and compulsion to gratify the moment.

The consequence is that, they pollute their own bodies (literally "flesh"). What Jude is saying is that when people give way to their passions of immorality in the name of experiment or exploration, they are actually damaging themselves. It starts in a small way as in the case of pornography but gradually becomes more and more extreme. In a sense Jude is saying if you start to pollute a river, it isn't long before the life of the river starts to die off.

They reject authority, which implies that they reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their life. A rebellion that causes them to ignore and dispute with those that God has placed over them. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way (Hebrews 13:17) "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."

The rejection of godly authority in the church is a rejection of the Lordship of Christ, for leaders lead for and on behalf of Jesus himself and must give an account to their Master.

They slander celestial beings is the charge brought here, to understand this we must look at the words 'slander' and 'celestial beings'.

The word slander may be defined as: 1 Libel; malicious lies; calumny. 2. Law Oral defamation. Verb. To utter maliciously a false report concerning someone. In this then these men were slandering angels; Jude contrasts their arrogance with the behaviour of the archangel Michael. Who when challenging Satan himself would not speak arrogantly, but used scripture.

Zechariah 3:1-5 THEN [the guiding angel] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before [a]the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua's right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him.

    2 And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! Even the Lord, Who [now and habitually] chooses Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this [returned captive Joshua] a brand plucked out of the fire?(A)

    3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel [of the Lord].

    4 And He spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to [Joshua], Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.

    5 And I [Zechariah] said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.


These men belittle and criticise things that they do not understand, anything outside of their experience they discard as worthless and irrelevant. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 2:14

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Therefore they follow their animal instincts and find satisfaction only in gratifying the flesh.

William Barclay says "The tragedy is that no man is born without a sense of spiritual things but can lose that sense until for him the spiritual things cease to exist. A man may lose any faculty, if he refuses to use it."

Individual wickedness
We see here individuals who are chosen out as examples, again three, and Jude pronounces "Woe" over these men just as Jesus did to the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:13). This is a warning to the false teachers by taking from the Old Testament the three characters Cain, Korah and Balaam whom the Gnostic sect called Ophites regarded as great heroes. Jude uses them as tragic and terrible examples of sin.

Cain, the world's first murderer, is seen by many Hebrew thinkers as a cynical, materialistic unbeliever who didn't believe in God or in the moral order of the world and therefore did exactly as he liked.

Balaam is found in Numbers chapters 22, 23, and 24. He was the prototype of all greedy, money-orientated ministries and, as Balak tried to bribe him to curse the Israelites, it is clear it was only his fear of what God would do to him that stopped him striking a deal with Balak. In Numbers 25 we read that the Israelites were seduced into worshipping Baal at a place called Peor and that the Lord's anger burnt against them. It is in Numbers 31:16 that we read it was Balaam who advised the Israelites at Peor. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord's people." Balaam is considered to be a covetous false teacher that led others in sin.

cont'd next post

[Shammu]

(Revelation 2:14) "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality."

Korah, whose story is found in Numbers 16:1-35, rebelled against the guidance of Moses when the sons of Aaron and the tribe of Levi were made the priests of the nation. He wanted to act and to function as a priest and minister before the alter of God and incited others to follow him. Their argument or case was as follows:
1/ you are no better than anyone else;
2/ everyone in Israel has been chosen of the LORD;
3/ we don't need to obey you, I can do this.

It is amazing to see how Korah twisted the first two statements - both true - to reach the wrong conclusion with devastating effect (see the study on the Tabernacle). The altar was the place of sacrifice, and as Christians it is a place to put to death wrong attitudes, wrong motives and wrong thoughts, a sacrificing of personal ambitions and desires, just as Christ gave himself as a sacrifice on the cross for each of us.

So Jude was charging these men with defying the legitimate authority in the church, and of therefore preferring to go their own way rather than God's. Barclay says "We should remember that if we take certain things which pride incites us to take the consequences can be disastrous"

These three men were unbelievers but there are Christians who demonstrate similar traits. Let us pause for a moment and think:

Cain didn't believe in God's order for the world and therefore did exactly as he liked not considering the consequences. Often people don't understand or experience the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their everyday life. They say I am under grace not under the law, so I can do whatever I like. The word 'submit' occurs 15 times in the letters to the churches this is an indication of the importance for us today. However, our society and culture do not recognise the need or the benefits of living in submission, but rather promotes a humanistic, throwaway culture where the cry is hear "I have rights" and "I can do what I want" (Romans 8:7; 10:3; 13:1; 13:5; 1 Corinthians 16:16; Ephesians 5:21; 5:22; 5:24 Colossians 2:20; 3:18; Hebrews 12:9; 13:17; James 4:7; 1 Peter 2:13; 2:18)

Humanism and human rights is not the panacea that will solve the present state human beings now find themselves in. I have included two quotes about humanism that sums up my thoughts.

"Christians need to recognise the solemn fact that humanism is not an ally in making the world a better place in which we live. It is the deadly enemy, for it is a religion without God and without hope in this world or the next" (L. Nelson Bell) [n]

"Humanism is not wrong in its cry for sociological healing, but humanism is not producing it" (Francis Schaeffer) [n]

Balaam was a covetous false teacher that led others in sin. There are Christians whose motives for worshipping God are wrong. They are tempted by money, status and position. The mother of James and John is seen to be worshipping Jesus so that status and position is won for her sons.

Mat 20:20-21 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." The KJV says in verse 20, " Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him."

We have heard of men building their ministries, and making relationships that best serve themselves. They worship Jesus, why? Is it because of who Jesus is or is it to build their own ministry? John the Baptist teaches us aright when he said "(John 3:27-30) To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less." In answer to the question John 3:26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

Korah was a man who led his own family to death and 249 others through false doctrine. He wanted to function as a priest and did not recognise the delegated authority of Moses. There are Christians today who are ambitious to do and be what they want to, not what God is calling them to. We often hear people say "God said" and although it is recognised that we all make mistakes, often what God says aligns more with the desires and wants of the speaker than with the will and purposes of God. In this area, for our own protection, we must take on board what John the Baptist said "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven".

Jesus said in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:15) "To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability."

Paul put it this way as he lists examples of gifting in Romans 12:6 "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us..... let him use it in proportion to his faith.

God has given each believer abilities, a sphere of grace, and a portion of faith. Each of us must move within the boundaries set in our ministries, which are the limitations of our abilities, the sphere of grace given us and in proportion to our faith. When we move beyond the boundaries of what is given us from heaven we reap the consequences. Yet to bury our God given talents is the most dreadful of things. .

[nChrist]

Amen Brother Bob,

The descriptions given of men in the Holy Bible haven't changed much over thousands of years. Our weaknesses, failures, and sins are much the same. This is a beautiful study. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Brother, it's amazing how Scripture is so accurate in describing our problems. We have names like "Humanism" to describe some of our failures today, but the Bible described these same problems quite accurately thousands of years ago. For Christians, there is an easy lesson here that's very plain, we need to keep our eyes and hearts on JESUS CHRIST. When we concentrate on men, especially ourselves, we are sure to create problems for ourselves and others around us. The happiest people in the Bible did keep their eyes and hearts on JESUS. The simple secret for Christians is that the times of real joy in this short life are when we are yielded completely to GOD. HE is willing and able to be the LORD over every aspect of our lives, but we have to want that and yield.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Titus 2:11-14 NASB  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.