Jude, The Judgment Of The Ungodly

Jude 15 “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Verse 15’s focus and Enoch’s focus is on the ungodly, and what makes them ungodly. The word is used four times in this verse, supplying the central theme of the coming judgment. Verse 14 told us that the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints. Why? To execute judgment.

Jude, Enoch's Historicity

Jude 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,

In verse 9 we learned that Jude cited the Assumption of Moses regarding the fate of Moses’ body. Now, in verse 14, Jude quotes from 1 Enoch, another Psuedopigraphical book. The quote is from 1 Enoch 1:9. Whatever correlation there is between the books, I maintain that 1 Enoch (like the Assumption of Moses) was not a part of Scriptural canon for reasons. Read such works with a pinch of salt and remember that these extra Biblical works are not considered Scripture. That being said, I would like to focus on the man Enoch.

Jude, The Fate Of False Teachers

Jude 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Jude continues to assign attributes to the false teachers he warns the church about. They are blemishes or hidden reefs, waterless, wandering clouds, or twice dead trees bereft of fruit, courtesy of verse 12. Now, in verse 13, his accusations increase in intensity, again reflecting Peter’s writing from his second epistle.

The Coming One: A Consideration Of Prophecy

To celebrate Christmas once again, I would like to examine a few prophecies concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. We will quote the Old Testament prophecy, and then the New Testament fulfillment as it is found in our Lord. What did the Old Testament prophets say regarding Jesus of Nazareth? And how was it brought to fulfillment in Him? Let’s find out together, and enjoy the wonder of the greatest of miracles: the birth of the Son of God, the advent of our Lord and Savior.

Jude, The Attributes Of False Teachers

Jude 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;

The NASB and ESV employ the phrase, “hidden reefs,” in place of, “spots,” in the beginning of verse 12. A spot can be likened to a blemish, which is the term the NIV uses in its translation. But a hidden reef has an even more insidious connotation. Imagine being on your boat at sea, approaching land, oblivious to the reef hiding just below the seemingly safe and placid water you are treading. What would happen? Your boat collides with the reef and you are either marooned against it, or your boat’s hull develops a leak and sinking is inevitable.

Jude, Examples From Scripture

Jude 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Jude lifts three Biblical examples of rebellion and its consequent ruin, likening the false teachers to them. He prefaces this series of examples with a simple, “woe to them!” Woe is a word that indicates great sorrow. We search and find an excellent example of the usage of this word in Scripture if we turn our attention to Revelation.

Jude, Like The Animals

Jude 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

These false teachers speak evil of anything they are ignorant of, Jude explains. They speak from the deep well of their great ignorance, as the saying goes. We are all guilty of this on occasion, and it is a very dangerous pastime to cultivate.

Jude, Contention & Irreverence

Jude 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

This verse in Jude seems to be a direct reference to a pseudepigraphical book, the Testament of Moses, or the Assumption of Moses. Found only in fragmentary form, the writer appears to have recorded the story of what is here being described. Mind you, this is not a tacit or direct endorsement of extra-biblical or non-canonical works; read such material with a grain of salt since we know the Holy Spirit did not include them in the canon of Scripture for a reason, whatever that may be.

Jude, Dreamers

Jude 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.

In verses 5 through 7, Jude stirs up reminders for the congregation he’s writing to, warning them not only of the false teachers in their midst, but of the consequences of those who rebelled in former times and suffered the consequences for it. Now, in verse 8, Jude reaches something of a summary of the prior three verses.

Jude, Strange Flesh

Jude 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

In verse 7 Jude offers the third and final example from Scripture to liken to the false teachers infiltrating the church. Interestingly, this verse is closely linked to the previous, and Jude uses the inordinate behavior of the Sodomites to further detail the conduct of the angels in Noah’s time in order to clarify his present point.

Jude, The Transgression Of Angels

Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

Jude continues with his reminders in verse 6. The first reminder he brought up was disobedient Israel in the days of Moses. He begins verse 6 with the conjunction, “and.” Conjunctions connect one thought with another, and so, like unfaithful Israel, we find ourselves considering the unfaithful angels. Not all of them, mind you, because we know Satan’s kingdom persists for the time being, Matthew 12:26, Ephesians 2:2.

Jude, Reminders

Jude 5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude elicits a contrast between the false teachers that have crept into the church, and the Jews who perished after being taken out of Egypt. This verse actually has some very interesting things to say about the salvation of God, who it applies to and how it is applied.

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.