The Book of Jude

The book of Jude has a lot to say to our generation. Distorters of the faith will find the book distasteful and likely offensive, because of its warnings and uncompromising stance against defectors from the truth of Jesus Christ. But to those who approach the book with receptive hearts, Jude’s words speak as clearly and forcefully today as they did almost 2000 years ago. This small epistle strikes the imagination with its vivid pictures of false teachers. The writer commands our attention with his appeals for defending the faith and growing in grace. The primary focus of the book is on the faith, the believers, and God not the errors and character of the heretics. it is notable that with all of the blunt descriptions of false teachers, Jude gives us neither a command to confront these troublemakers ( only to avoid them), nor a plan of disciplinary action. He simply indicates they are under the condemnation of God. So to give you a little background, Jude is the brother of James the half brother of Jesus. The book was likely written between 60 -64 A.D. it was surely written before 70 A.D. since he makes no mention of the fall of Jerusalem. If it had been written after 70 A.D., he would have most certainly mentioned it as an example of God‘s judgment. Jude comes quickly to his point. Not content to merely expose error, he forcefully encourages his readers and then concludes with a truly eloquent benediction. From his opening sentence, he assaults error, threatens judgment, and encourages holiness. A brief outline of the book is.: verses 1-2 are an introduction , verses 3-4 he describes the damage of false teachers , verses 5 -7 God’s judgment of sin , verses 8 -16 the wickedness of false teachers , verses 8 -10 their opposition to authority , verses 11 -13 their versatility in their sin , verses 14 -16 their judgment in righteousness , verses 17 - 23 calls to be alert by reading the words of the apostles , verse 19 by being wary of heretics , verses 20 - 21 by growing in grace , verses 22 - 23 by caring for others and verses 24 & 25 his doxology. It seems that Jude arranges his thoughts in groups of three. In verse one Christians are referred to as the called , the sanctified and preserved. In verse two he wishes for his readers to receive mercy, peace, and love. In verses 5 -7 there are three illustrations of sin and judgment from the old Testament. In verse 8 the false teachers are described as defiling the flesh , rejecting authority and speaking evil of dignitaries. In verse 11 three examples of rebellion are given, Cain, Baalam, and Korah. All of these result in strong encouragement to the faithful to contend earnestly for the faith. Jude was the half brother of Jesus, but yet rather to be known as a bond servant of Jesus Christ, judging by the way, he introduces himself. This demonstrates something of the character and humility of Jude and the relative unimportance of being connected to Jesus by human relationship and shines the light on the importance of the spiritual relationship. To Jude, the blood of the cross that saved him was much more important than the Family blood in his veins. One of the most important points of this book is the call to defend the faith. I think it’s not different today as then. We have those who are unbelievers all around us. We face false teachers everywhere we turn. There are those who mean to do us harm and even wish to kill us. I’m sure we all meet with resistance to the gospel regularly. This is when we must stand firm in that call to defend the faith. If you think it’s difficult now, there is a time coming soon when it may cost us everything up to, and including our lives. are we ready for that? The word Jude uses for the word contend is a Greek word that comes from the athletic world of the times from ancient wrestling. It is a strengthened form of the word meaning to agonize. therefore, the word contend speaks of a hard and diligent work. When adding the word earnestly, it shows a continuous struggle. We need to earnestly contend for the faith because there are dangerous men among us today as there were in Jude’s time. It seems that we are surrounded these days. Jude says these men were marked for condemnation long ago. This should remind us. The war has already been won, but we must still go to battle every day. Now as then, these men pervert the grace of God into ludeness and evil. We are free in Christ, but not free to sin and do evil. It shows just how corrupt the human heart can be. The use of God‘s word is not only to teach us what we could not have otherwise known, but also to arouse us to a serious meditation of those things which we already understand. He uses three Old Testament examples of men who rebelled against God and the judgment that followed, and we know these examples well. He calls them to mine to bring back to our hearts, the penalty of rebellion against God. He also uses the example of the angels who sinned. If angels who were actually in the presence of God were deceived and rebelled against him, then we should be even more careful and diligent so we don’t find ourselves being deceived. He also uses the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that very much resemble the society we live in. Jude uses vivid imagery to describe those who have rebelled against Him: they are clouds without water, autumn trees without fruit, raging waves of the sea foaming up their own shame, wandering stars. They all end in the same place blackness of darkness forever. In versus 14–15 Jude quotes from the book of Enoch. Enoch was not received as scripture, but was highly respected among both Jews and early Christians. The historian Tertullian tells us that the book of Enoch was preserved by Noah in the ark and was read until the time of the apostles. Because the book of Enoch contained many famous testimonies concerning Jesus Christ, the Jews out of malice suppressed and abolished the entire book. Jude did not quote from Enoch to tell us anything new, but to give us a vivid description of what the Bible already teaches. In versus 16–18 he tells us about these men who pervert the faith, they are grumblers, complainers, walking, according to their own lust and they mouth great swelling words flattering people to gain an advantage. It sounds very much like many of the false teachers we have circling us like vultures. So what to do about these false teachers and apostates ? Significantly, Jude does not tell us to attack them who are a danger to the church. Instead, he tells us to focus on our walk with our Savior help others affected by them and to focus on God. We are to simply pay them no attention. God will take care of them, remember, they have already been marked for condemnation. We must keep ourselves in the love of God, building ourselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, looking for the mercy of our Lord onto eternal life. There is so much more to be gained in knowledge and truth in the book of Jude. So much more that I just don’t have enough space in this article to give you more. I hope that what I have given you thus far, will urge you on to take a good close look at the book of Jude to see what it says to you personally. We all must know that every time we read scripture it is an opportunity for God to speak wisdom into our hearts and into our lives. I beg you to please not falter when it comes to immersing yourself in God‘s word so that he may bless you and grant you all wisdom. May the grace of God, our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior be on all of you . I love you all . And will continue to mention you in my prayers.