TEACHING NOTES ‌ Introduction Jude is a very short book—only one chapter of twenty-five verses. However, this little book is packed with strong teachings that are relevant for us today. This small book also contains some really strange quotations from books that are not in our Protestant Bibles. There is a lot to learn and discover in Jude. Most importantly, Jude is all about contending for the ancient faith against false teachings and error. In a time when church and denominations are redefining truth and trying to change the meaning of the Bible, Jude still speaks directly into the issues of our day. ‌ Interesting Facts about Jude’s Letter: - ‌Jude likely wrote between AD 65-80. ‌- Jude is full of Old Testament references. ‌- Jude uses 1 Enoch and The Assumption of Moses. ‌- Jude 24-25 became a prayer in the early church. ‌- Jude’s grandsons were once brought before the Roman emperor Domitian, who was persecuting the church. Upon their testimony, Domitian ordered the persecution to stop. They went on to become church leaders (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.19). ‌ Jude 1–2 ESV 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: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. ‌ Jude = The Greek name here is Ioudas, which is the Hebrew name Judah. Jude identifies himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.” Jude is also the brother of Jesus, but he choses to call himself a servant of Jesus. Why? Because being Jesus’ servant is more important to Jude than being His brother. ‌ To those who are called = Jude is writing to believers, not unbelievers. Jude says they are “called, beloved in God the father and kept for Jesus Christ.” Jude is clearly writing to the church. Jude is going to use Old Testament examples about Israel’s disobedience to warn the church that they will face harsh judgment if they disobey and compromise. The main point is that God always disciplines His people when they are rebellious. ‌ Jude 3 ESV 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. ‌ Although I was very eager = Jude actually wanted to write a letter about “our common salvation” meaning a letter about the Gospel and how to live it out. However, some issues had come up that needed to be corrected in the church. The issues that Jude addresses threatened to ruin the church. Jude says, “I found it necessary” which in Greek means to be pressured or distressed. This is a serious situation that must be addressed quickly. ‌ Contend for the faith = The Greek word for “contend” here is epagonizomai, which means “to exert intense effort on behalf of something.” Jude wants them to strive for “the faith” meaning the true faith, not some new version of faith. Apparently, something is happening in the church that requires a struggle to correct. Remember, Jude is talking to the church about the church, not about contending against the world. This is an internal battle, not an external one. ‌ Once for all delivered = Jude gives a hint that the ancient faith delivered to the apostles is being corrupted and compromised. This church needs to get back to the true faith and stop the people in the church who are trying to change it. This is exactly what is needed in the modern church. We need to get back to the Bible as the foundation for our faith and practice. ‌ Our faith was delivered once for all and must not be changed to appease the desires of the culture. ‌ Jude 4 ESV 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. ‌ Crept in unnoticed = The Greek word here is pareisdyo, which means “to sneak in by stealth.” This sounds a lot like Gen. 4:7 where sin is described as a creeping or crouching serpent. The tense of this verb implies that this happened over time and not quickly. This verb is also in the active voice, indicating that this is still going on. Deception always happens slowly and is often unnoticed until the consequences become intense. ‌ Who long ago were designated for condemnation = The Greek word for “designated” here is prographo, which means “written beforehand.” Jude is saying that there are examples of these people and their outcome written about long ago in the Old Testament. Jude is going to provide these written examples for us by referring to events in the Old Testament, and other literature, that describe times when God’s people rebelled. Paul also writes this way in 1 Cor. 10. ‌ 1 Cor. 10:1-8 “1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.” ‌ Ungodly people = These people are irreverent toward God, meaning they are living as if God doesn’t exist. They live as if there will be no discipline. ‌ Pervert the grace of God into sensuality = The Greek word for “pervert” here is metatithemi, which means “to change or depart.” These people in the church are changing God’s grace into something else, which is to depart from God’s grace. They are changing grace into a license for “sensuality” (Grk. aselgeia - licentiousness, debauchery, indulgence, loss of control). These people are practicing and teaching the idea that God’s grace allows us to live how ever we want to live. In the NT, sensuality usually refers to sexual immorality. ‌ Deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ = The word for “deny” here is arneomai, which means “to disown.” This false teaching is actually disowning Christ and leads others to unbelief. ‌ Compromising God’s Word is a perversion of grace and teaches people to live in sins that will destroy them. ‌ Jude’s Three Examples ‌1. Rebellious Israelites ‌2. Rebellious Angels ‌3. Sodom and Gomorrah ‌ Jude will now give us three examples from the Old Testament where God discipled His own people for their rebellion against Him. Jude wants us to see that the church will also suffer the same consequences if we rebel. Grace does not remove God’s discipline, nor does it remove the consequences of sin. ‌ Example #1: Israel in the Wilderness ‌ Jude 5 ESV 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. ‌ Jesus saved a people out of Egypt? = After learning the Old Testament from Christ (see Luke 24:27, 44-45), the apostles taught that Jesus is the Angel of the LORD that appears numerous times. In the Exodus, the Angel of the LORD led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land. The Angel of the LORD was God in human form in the Old Testament. ‌ Afterward destroyed the unbelievers = Jude is referring to the wilderness years in Numbers, when Israel repeatedly rebelled and many of them were destroyed. Jude is NOT talking about God destroying the Egyptians. Jude is talking about God destroying a generation of Israelites. This is found in Numbers 14, where Israel refused to enter the Promised Land and asked to die in the wilderness. So, God gave them what they wanted and that generation of Israelites died in the wilderness (Num. 14:1-2, 28-32). That generation died in unbelief. ‌ If God allowed His own people who rebelled in unbelief to die, why do we think God will not do the same to rebellious churches? ‌If your answer to that question is grace, that’s exactly what Jude is teaching against. They were perverting grace into a license for sin. Grace without truth is not real grace. God is gracious to those who repent. ‌ Example #2: Rebellious Angels ‌ Jude 6 ESV 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— ‌ Angels who left their proper dwelling = Jude is referring to Gen. 6:1-4, where the “sons of God” left heaven to corrupt humanity with sexual immorality. The Old Testament describes several kinds of spiritual beings: sons of God, angels, cherubim, seraphim, etc. In the New Testament, these beings often are lumped into one category and referred to as “the angels.” Spiritual beings were created to obey God and to guard and help humanity. But these “angels” rebelled against God and left their “proper dwelling” to corrupt humans. ‌ Kept in eternal chains = Jude is alluding to the book of 1 Enoch, which expands on Gen. 6:1-4 in great detail. 1 Enoch tells us that these rebellious angels were locked up by God in the Abyss. Peter also mentions this in 2 Pet. 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [Tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” ‌ Until the judgment = God put a stop to their rebellion by sending them to the Abyss to await the final judgment, when they will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10). ‌ When we accept immorality, we are joining the enemy’s team and have become the enemies of God. ‌ Example #3: Sodom and Gomorrah ‌ Jude 7 ESV 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. ‌ Sodom and Gomorrah = The story of these two cities is found in Gen. 19. Two angels in human form arrive in Sodom, which is filled with sexually immoral people, and decide to stay at Lot’s house. The men of Sodom, both young and old, come to Lot’s home and demand to have the two men staying with Lot. This crowd wants to rape the two men who are actually angels. We could say that Gen. 19 portrays the reverse of Gen. 6:1-4. Before, the angels came down to corrupt humans. In Sodom, the humans come to corrupt the angels. ‌ Indulged in sexual immorality = This phrase is actually one word in Greek, which is ekporneuo—sexual immorality, fornication. This term is used in the New Testament to refer to any sexual behavior outside of biblical marriage. ‌ Pursued unnatural desire = The Greek literally reads, “went after other flesh” which refers to doing what is sexually unnatural. Jude is clearly stating that homosexual behavior is unnatural and sinful. ‌ Serve as an example = Because Jude is addressing people in a church who were leading others into sensuality, he wants them to understand the consequences. If God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire for their sexual immorality, God will not spare churches who are doing the same. ‌ If the church accepts and affirms immorality, the church becomes Sodom and Gomorrah. ‌ Jude 3 ESV 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. ‌ Conclusion ‌While this is a tough message to receive, it should encourage us to stay faithful Jesus and His Word. We should respond with prayer, repentance, and worship. Then we take Communion to celebrate God’s grace and redeclare our faithfulness to Christ. ‌