Jude
Author: Jude
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, writes to urge believers to contend for the faith against intruders who deny the only Lord.
Outline
The change of purpose (1–4)
He had meant to write of the common salvation and instead writes that they must contend for the faith once delivered.
Old examples (5–16)
Israel in the wilderness, the angels who left their estate, Sodom, Cain, Balaam, and Korah are warnings about the intruders.
Keep yourselves (17–25)
The apostles warned of mockers, and the letter ends by commending the readers to the one who is able to keep them.
Key verses
Jude 1:3
Jude exhorts them to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
Jude 1:20–21
They are to build themselves up in the faith, pray in the Holy Ghost, and keep themselves in the love of God.
Jude 1:24
God is able to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory.
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. The greeting says the readers are already kept. The body of the letter tells them to keep themselves. Both are needed because certain men have crept in unawares, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude had been ready to write something else. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. The common salvation is not canceled. The emergency is that the faith once delivered is being denied by people who are already inside.
He puts three old judgments in front of them and says the intruders are walking the same road. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. These speak evil of those things which they know not, and what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them. They have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds. Trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. The pile of images is the argument. The intruders are not a new kind of person. They are the wilderness generation, the fallen angels, Sodom, Cain, Balaam, and Korah, showing up at the love feast.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The response is not only denunciation. It is building, prayer, and a careful distinction between the person who can be pitied and the person who must be pulled out of the fire. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude changed his subject because intruders had changed the room, and he ends by handing the readers back to the one who is able to keep them, which is where the greeting had already placed them.