Jude, Infiltration

Jude 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude’s indictment of these men begins with this verse. He says that certain men have crept into the church unnoticed. The image Jude is attempting to portray is one of stealth and secrecy. They did not come boldly, but slipped in like the wedding guest in the parable Jesus told, who was found without a proper garment, Matthew 22:11-13. In fact, this passage in Matthew corresponds quite well with the content Jude is addressing.

Jude, A Call To Arms

Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

The introduction to verse 3 is prefaced by beloved, as mentioned earlier. Those that are beloved share with Jude a common salvation, and with that common salvation they share with him all things. “Now all who believed were together, and had in all things in common,” Acts 2:44. This togetherness is more than spatial. It was a shared realization of purpose and peace, administered through the Holy Spirit, by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, who washed away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself.

Jude, Multiplying

 Jude 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude continues in verse 2 with an opening benediction, desiring that mercy, peace and love be multiplied to his readership, whom he addresses intimately at the beginning of verse 3 with, “Beloved.” We are told that believers are, “accepted in the Beloved,” Ephesians 1:6. The first and greatest beloved in the Father’s eyes is His Son, with whom He is well pleased. When we are in Christ through faith in His gospel, we are in the Beloved, and therefore by virtue of adoption into God’s household we, too, are beloved. We are beloved for the Son’s sake.

Jude, A Fellow Bondservant

Jude 1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

Jude is the brother of the Apostle James and the half brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know from Matthew’s account of the gospel that Jesus had four brothers: James, Joses (or Joseph), Simon and Judas (Jude), Matthew 13:55. Verse 56 details the fact that our Lord also had no less than two sisters, since the plural of the word is employed.

The Giving Of Thanks

With Thanksgiving upon us, I thought it would be a good time to turn to the Psalms, the thanksgiving Psalms, and appreciate the Lord for who He is and what He has done for His people. The Psalms I’m focusing on today are Psalms 105 through 107, each of which carry a tone of praise and gratitude. They are celebratory Psalms, marveling at the person and work of Yahweh, the God of Israel and Creator of Heaven and earth.