Journey Through Jude: 1-7

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

• verses 1 and 2 serve as a standard introduction for epistles during this day.
• “Jude” – 1/2 Brother of Jesus; Brother of James; see: Matt. 13.55; Mark 6.3. Jude avoided saying that he was the Lord’s brother:1) because of his humility 2) because Jesus’ elevated position
• “servant” – doulos; pertaining to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something—‘subservient to, controlled by.’
• “James” – A prominent leader in the early church in Jerusalem. Brother to Jesus. Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection according to 1 Cor. 15.7.
• “called” – The term “called” does not merely mean that God invited believers to be his own. Those whom God calls are powerfully and inevitably brought to faith in Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. The call of God is extended only to some and is always successful, so that all those who are called become believers. Such an understanding of “called” is clearly attested in the Pauline writings (Rom 1:1, 6–7; 8:28, 30; 1 Cor 1:1–2, 9, 24; Gal 1:15; 1 Thess 2:12; 5:24; 2 Thess 2:14; 2 Tim 1:9; cf. 1 Pet 2:9; 5:10; 2 Pet 1:3; Rev 17:14).  For more clarity, see 1 Corinthians 1.22-25.

• “beloved” – Salvation does not bring us into a spiritually neutral state. The atonement of Jesus not only serves as a propitiation, but also as the means by which we are adopted into his family and are loved by God.
• “kept” – Those whom God has called to himself are loved by him and kept until the day of salvation. The grace of God that called believers to faith will sustain them until the end. The emphasis on God’s grace does not cancel out human responsibility. In v. 21 the readers are exhorted, “Keep yourselves in God’s love.” God’s grace does not promote human passivity and laxity. It should stir the readers to concerted action. Nonetheless, the ultimate reason believers will persevere against the inroads of the intruders is the grace of God by which he set his love upon believers, called them to be his people, and pledged to preserve them until the end.
• “for Jesus Christ” – Every believer is a trophy of God’s grace.

² May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

• “multiplied” – literally, grow greatly.
• APP: God is never done working in our lives.

³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

• In this verse, we see Jude’s purpose in writing.
• “necessary” – lit. an obligation
• “appealing” – lit. encouraging
• “contend” – Perhaps an athletic or military metaphor is intended. The word suggests a struggle or intense effort.
• “the faith” – the traditional teaching that was to be safeguarded.

⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

• In this verse, we see Jude’s reason for writing.
• “certain people” – Jude proceeds to tell us four things about these intruders: (1) their judgment was predicted long ago, (2) they are ungodly, (3) they turn grace into an opportunity for license, and (4) they deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
• “crept in” – Jude accuses these men of hiding their true intentions. They are using false teaching as a way of promoting self and selfish gain.
• “designated for this condemnation” – their heresy and apostasy had not taken God by surprise. The reference to this judgment being from “long ago” may allude to certain passages in 1 Enoch, or more generally to judgment passages from the Old Testament.
• 3 reasons for judgment: 1) ungodliness, 2) taking advantage of grace, 3) denying the authority of Christ.
• “sensuality” – behavior completely lacking in moral restraint, usually with the implication of sexual licentiousness—‘licentious behavior, extreme immorality.’ … ‘they have not repented of the filthy things they have done, their immorality and licentious deeds’ 2 Cor 12:21. In some languages the equivalent of ‘licentious behavior’ would be ‘to live like a dog’ or ‘to act like a goat’ or ‘to be a rooster,’ in each instance pertaining to promiscuous sexual behavior.

⁵ Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

• Verses 5-7 display examples of apostasy, which resulted in divine judgment.
• A simiilar passage: 2 Peter2 – 2But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
• “now I want to remind you” – The importance of continual biblical intake is highlighted by this phrase.
• “saved a people out of the land of Egypt” – The first example of apostasy which earned judgment refers back to Israel during the wilderness wonderings. This is most likely a reference to Israel’s rejection of entering into the promised land after the spies were sent in to survey the people there. See Numbers 14. Especially Num. 14.11.
• No person in the believing community can presume on God’s grace, thinking that an initial decision to follow Christ or baptism ensures their future salvation regardless of how they respond to the intruders. Israel’s apostasy stands as a warning to all those who think that an initial commitment secures their future destiny without ongoing obedience. Those who are God’s people demonstrate the genuineness of their salvation by responding to the warning given by God through His Spirit and Word, Christian brotherhood, etc. These warnings are some of the means by which God preserves his people until the end. Those who ignore such warnings neglect the very means God has appointed for obtaining their final salvation.
• “believe” – to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance. The verb emphasizes a definite beginning point with ongoing trust.

⁶ And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

• “position of authority” – literally “rule”. Meaning, they did not stay in their allotted position of authority. They chose to leave their proper place.
• “left their proper dwelling” – “to depart from a point definitively”. Their apostasy is not an accident. The phrase “abandoned their proper dwelling” is from the book of 1 Enoch. Jude is emphasizing the angelic apostasy by using the terms of leaving 1) authority and 2) proper dwelling. To show that it is deliberate and intentional.
• The only context for angelic sexual immorality is found in Genesis 6.1-5.1When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
• 3 options for interpreting Genesis 6.2
  • Angels
  • Human judges or rulers
  • Descendants of Seth
• See Psalm 82
• “At this juncture I want to sketch in briefly the Jewish tradition, so that we sense how pervasive it was. In Testament of Naphtali 3:4–5 the angels of Gen 6:1–4 are designated as “Watchers,” and they are said to have “departed from nature’s order” and hence are cursed with the flood. According to T. Reu. 5:6–7 women charmed the Watchers with their beauty, so that the Watchers lusted after them. They transformed themselves into males and gave birth to giants (cf. 1QapGen 2:1). Jubilees also teaches that the Watchers sinned with the daughters of men by mingling with them sexually (Jub. 4:22). The angels of the Lord saw the beauty of the daughters, took them to be their wives, the offspring were giants, and because of such wickedness the Lord brought the flood (Jub. 5:1–11). The Damascus Document is quite brief in its rendition of the story. The Watchers fell because they did not keep God’s commands. The tradition of giants as offspring is preserved since their sons are said to be like cedar trees and their bodies are comparable to mountains (CD 2:17–19). God sent the flood as a result of such sin.”- Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 449.
• “Sodom and Gomorrah” – listed because they too serve as an example of judgment for apostasy and unrepentant souls. They are probably also used by Jude because of the specific nature of the sins being promoted by the false teachers he is seeking to address.