Chapter 1
Salutation
This epistle follows the standard format of all ancient letters.
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
The author identifies himself as “Jude” or, literally, “Judas”. We identify him as the kinsman of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3).
He describes himself in two ways:
1. Servant of Jesus.
The Greek word here is “doulos” (δοῦλος) and literally means “slave”.
2. Brother of James
Assuming our assessment of authorship is correct, this was James, a fellow-kinsman of Jesus. James led the Jerusalem Church following Peter’s departure.
For a more thorough explanation of authorship, please see the introduction.
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
The recipients are extremely generally described, which is why this letter falls into the category of “Catholic Epistles”. This description could be given of all Christians (“called…beloved…kept”). All Christians are called by God, loved by Him and kept by His grace.
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
The typical Jewish greeting would be “Peace” (Hebrew: “Shalom”), but Jude expands upon this, including “mercy” and “love”. I would suggest that this brought about through contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice.
Occasion of the Letter
3 Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, …
Jude affectionately refers to to his recipients at “Beloved”.
…I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
The phrase “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” is probably the most famous line in this epistle. The “faith” here isn’t talking about personal faith, but is rather referring to the deposit of faith given to the Apostles by Christ.
The appearance of false teachers have resulted in Jude urgently crafting this epistle, to urge his readers to hold firm to the deposit of faith that they received.
The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ – Dei Verbum #4
This deposit is the final installment sent by God. Christians should not expect any new public revelation, as is asserted by Muslims (Qur’an), Latter Day Saints (Book of Mormon) etc.
4 For admission has been secretly gained…
The false teachers have snuck into the Church.
…by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons…
Those false teachers are sinful and will ultimately face damnation.
The word rendered here as “designated” literally means “written beforehand” and evokes the image we find in Scripture of a person’s name and deeds being recorded by God.
…who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness…
From Jude’s description of these false teachers, it appears that they taught a form of Antinomianism. This is a perversion of the doctrine of grace, which basically says that one can live immorally without any consequence to one’s salvation. It is condemned in several other places in Scripture. It probably grew out of a distortion of Paul’s teaching on grace.
It is possible that this antinomianism came from a form of proto-Gnosticism, a dualism which separates matter and spirit. The Gnostics argued that, since matter and spirit were distinct, one could do whatever one wanted with the body without consequence to the spirit.
…and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
The could mean either:
1. Shaming the name of Christ through immoral behaviour.
2. Taught heresy concerning who Jesus is
Jude is going to have some very harsh warnings for these false teachers as the letter progresses.
Judgment on False Teachers
Jude denounces the heretics, using examples from the Old Testament, Apocryphal as a typological argument to show the punishment of the ungodly. He also uses Apostolic prophecy to show that they will ultimately perish.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude uses an example from the Old Testament. Through Moses, God (“he”) brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus. However, despite their rescue from slavery and all that God had done for them, the Israelites grumbled, committed idolatry and doubted that God would take them safely into the Promised Land. As a result of spurning God, they died in the wilderness.
Paul uses a this example in his epistle to the Corinthians as a warning against spiritual complacency and returning to evil even after experiencing God’s mercy. If God didn’t spare the chosen people, he won’t spare those who continue to do evil.
6 And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day;
Jude now gives another example, this time alluding to an extra-Biblical tradition concerning Genesis 6:1-4. This tradition speaks of angels coming to earth to seduce human women. This tradition is found recorded in Josephus’ Antiquities, as well as in the non-canonical works of 1 Enoch and Jubiliees. As a consequence of the angelic disobedience, God imprisoned them to await judgement. If God didn’t spare the angels, he won’t spare those who continue to do evil.
Jude’s use of apocryphal material does not mean that those cited works are canonical and should be in our Bible. He is drawing upon well-known stories with which he knows his audience will be familiar in order to demonstrate his point. Paul did something very similar when, while speaking to Greeks in Athens, he quoted Pagan poets.
7 just as Sodom and Gomor′rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Jude gives us yet another example, returning once more to the Old Testament. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire for their sin, particular regarding their sexual sin. In fact, it is the reverse of the previous Enoch/Jubilees example, since at Sodom it was humans who sought sexual union with angels. Again, the message is clear, if you remain in unrepentant sin, expect judgement.
8 Yet in like manner…
Jude now compares the false teachers to those characters in his previous three examples, both in character and in punishment.
…these men in their dreamings…
This suggests that the false teachers are justifying their heresy from supposed revelation/visions. This explains why Jude earlier emphasized “the faith which was once for all delivered”, as these teachers were claiming new revelation.
…defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.
Jude broadly identifies the sins of these false teachers as they relate to the ungodly in his previous three examples:
1. Defilement of the flesh
2. Rejecting of authority.
3. Reviling the “glorious ones”. This means that they blaspheme the angels.
Looking back at Jude’s examples, we see defilement of flesh in the Israelite orgy, in the actions of the angels and in the desires of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see rejection of authority in the Israelite rebellion against Moses and the angelic defying of God. Finally, we see the blaspheming of the angels in the desire of the residents of Sodom/Gomorrah to defile the angelic visitors.
The heresy of the false teachers appears to have also covered these three areas. Their antinomianism probably expressed itself in sexual license. As false teachers they were usurping the rightful place of the true teachers of the Church. It also seems that they taught something blasphemous concerning the angels as well.
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Jude returns to giving examples. This time he’s drawing from another apocryphal source, The Assumption of Moses. Michael is the guardian angel of God’s people and who led the battle against Satan. In this story, Michael calls upon the Lord’s judgement.
10 But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed.
Jude speaks of these false teachers as unknowing and base.
11 Woe to them! …
Words like this often come prior to the judgment oracles of the prophets in the Old Testament.
…For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error, and perish in Korah’s rebellion.
Jude alludes to more Old Testament examples in this verse and compares these false teachers to these characters from Israel’s history:
1. Cain
Cain murdered his brother Abel.
2. Balaam
He tried to curse Israel and later encouraged the Moabite women to seduce Israel.
3. Korah
He rebelled against the Israelite priesthood.
In each of these cases the person received punishment for what they had done.
12 These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, …
The “love feast” (known as “agape” in Greek) was a fellowship meal that was celebrated in the Early Church. In fact, the Eucharist was sometimes celebrated in that context. Jude says that these false teachers are “blemishes” on this communal meal. The word used here is “spilas” (σπιλάς) and, as well as meaning “stain”, can also refer to a hidden rock. If Jude is using the word in the latter sense, he painting a picture whereby the false teachers are an offshore reef which lies just below the surface of the water which traps unsuspecting ships as they try to enter the safe harbour. This is a powerful image of what the false teachers are doing.
Paul also pointed out abuses in the way the Corinthian Church celebrated the Agape meal.
…looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars…
Jude uses a series of Old Testament images to drive home his point:
“…looking after themselves…”
They do not care for Christ’s flock and seek their own satisfaction and advancement. Ezekiel speaks of this in reference to the failure to shepherd God’s people
“…waterless clouds…”
They promise refreshment, but fail to deliver water. A similar expression is found in Proverbs.
“…fruitless trees in late autumn…”
They lack the signs of life and fail to produce the fruit which is expected of them.
“…wild waves…casting up foam…”
They are unstable and bring nothing but debris. This is seen more clearly in Isaiah’s use of the phrase.
“…wandering stars…”
They are poor guides, leading others to a disastrous fate.
…for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.
These are the deepest prisons of the underworld which Jewish tradition said was reserved for the rebellious angels.
14 It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, …
This is another extract from 1 Enoch. Enoch was known as a prophet and here he is foretelling the destruction of the ungodly.
…“Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Jude says that this prophesy of Enoch also applies to the false teachers with which his readers are currently contending. The repeated message, yet again, is that the ungodly will be punished.
16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.
Jude again asserts that these teachers are only looking out for themselves. The reference to “grumblers, malcontents, …” may refer to the testing of Israel in the desert and their grumbling against Moses.
Warnings and Exhortations
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
The apostles themselves foretold this intrusion. We find this foretelling of false teachers sneaking into the Church several times in Scripture.
Although he may be using it in a more general sense, because Jude says that the “apostles…said to you“, it could very well be that Jude’s readers belong to a Church which was founded or taught by the Apostles.
19 It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
Schism, worldliness and fleshliness are the marks of these false teachers.
20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;21 keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
To inoculate themselves against these false teachers, Jude exhorts his readers to stand firm in the faith they were taught from the Apostles. He tells them to pray and wait for the Lord.
22 And convince some, who doubt; 23 save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Not only should they have a “defense game”, they should have an “offense game” and rescue those who are being drawn away by these false teachers.
Jude tells them to have mercy on those who have been deceived by these false teachers who have stained themselves. His reference to “the garment spotted by the flesh” is an allusion to a vision of Zechariah where he saw the high priest Joshua accused by Satan. Ultimately, the Lord saves him from judgement, casting off his filthy robe which had been stained by his iniquity. By alluding to this, Jude is offering hope, saying that those who have stained their garment can still be saved.
The spotted garment is the flesh. We hate, not our flesh as such, but the fact that sin has stained it, and so we work to make what is carnal into something spiritual. This cannot be done on our own, however, but only by the power of God, as Jude says in his final blessing – St. Bede, On the Seven Catholic Epistles
Benediction
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, …
God’s grace can keep us safe.
… 25 to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.
Closing benediction.