Jude

Introduction
The short epistle of Jude really needs very little introduction. It speaks for itself, and
most issues that would normally be dealt with in a study of a biblical book will be
touched on in the comments on each verse. Jude is one of the shortest books of the Bible,
consisting of only twenty-five verses, but it has an important message, and one that
seems especially relevant to our day.
One matter that we will just mention is that Jude and 2 Peter share a number of almost
identical statements. The issue that arises is the question of which book used the other.
Was Jude using 2 Peter or was Peter using Jude? Or was there an unknown third work
that both used? We do not know, and unless new evidence turns up, we have no way of
knowing. This is one of those matters that scholars write thousands of words about
without ever coming to a conclusion. They simply give their opinions at the end of the
lengthy review of evidence. Those opinions are worth about as much as those of the
others who do the same thing! God has not told us everything. Let us be content with
seeking his voice in that which he has told us. The parallels between Jude and 2 Peter
will be noted as we go through the book.
Salutation
Judas, slave of Jesus Christ and brother of Jacob, to those who are called, beloved by
God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ: 2mercy to you, and may peace and love be
multiplied.
V. 1. The name “Judas” is translated “Jude” for obvious reasons. No servant of the Lord
would want to go by the name of the Lord’s betrayer. But the Greek text has Judas, so I
have kept it here to show that fact, but will henceforth refer to the author as Jude. Also,
when the name “James” appears in the New Testament, it is “Jacob” in Greek.
This is a common form of greeting, and we might therefore skip over it quickly, but the
terms used are of great importance in Scripture and need to be noted. Jude says that he
is a slave of Jesus Christ. Many might object to the use of this word “slave” in this
context, but that is what the Greek word means. The truth is that we are all slaves to

God or to some god. The Lord Jesus himself said in Jn. 8.34, “Amen, amen I say to you
that everyone who does sin is a slave of sin.” Rom. 6.16-18 says,
Do you not know that you are slaves to the one to whom you present yourselves
for obedience? You are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin unto death
or of obedience unto righteousness. But thanks be to God that you were slaves of
sin, but you obeyed from the heart the form of teaching to which you were
committed, and having been set free from sin you were made slaves of
righteousness.
Peter, whose second epistle shares, as we noted, many similarities with Jude, says in
that letter, 2.19, “… promising them freedom, themselves being slaves of corruption, for
that by which one is overcome, to this he has been enslaved.”
The choice is yours, slavery to sin or slavery to God. But the wonderful truth we
discover is that whereas freedom to sin is actually slavery to sin, slavery to God is
freedom indeed. Slavery to sin is destructive and leads to spiritual death and hell.
Slavery to God is freedom to be all he made you to be and to reign with him eternally.
All he made you to be – that means complete fulfillment, a great blessing in this day of
so many people living an unfulfilled life and wondering who they are and why they are
here.
Ex. 21.1-6 tells of the law in Israel that if a Hebrew is bought as a slave by another
Hebrew, he is to serve six years and then go free, “But if the slave plainly says,
‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’” then he is to have
his ear pierced with an awl and is to remain a slave. All who have genuinely known
slavery to God would not go out free, for that slavery is the slavery that is freedom
itself. They love their Master.
Jude says that he is a “slave of Jesus Christ.” Let us just note that “Jesus” is the human
name of the Lord, the name he was given at birth according to the angel’s instruction. It
means “I AM Saves,” I AM being the English translation of the name of God revealed to
Moses in the Old Testament at Ex. 3.14. The Son of God became a man to save his
people from their sins and their penalty, thus the human name. “Christ” is a title. The
Old Testament word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ” mean the same thing,
“anointed.” The Lord Jesus is the one anointed by God to be Prophet (1 Ki. 19.16), Priest
(Ex. 28.41), and King (1 Sam. 16.12, Ps. 45.7). He is the Messiah, the Christ. He is the
Word made flesh. He is a human being. In fact, he is the only human being who has

ever been what God intended man to be at the beginning. He is the last Adam and the
second Man (1 Cor. 15.45, 47). In him we will one day be what God wants man to be. In
Adam we are sinners. In Christ we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5.17).
The point we want to make is that like us, the Lord Jesus is a man, a human. He has
been through all that we have gone through, and much more than we can even imagine,
having borne sin and its penalty on the cross, indeed, having been made sin (2 Cor.
5.21). Thus he can sympathize with us (Heb. 2.17-18, 4.15). But he is also the Messiah,
the Christ, God’s divine and human Anointed One, able to function as Prophet, Priest,
and King forever, thus saving us forever and utterly (Heb. 7.25). The humanity of the
Lord Jesus, and thus his ability to sympathize with us, is stressed by putting the human
name first.
Jude’s statement that he is Jacob’s brother raises questions that are not within the scope
of such a work as this. I will comment briefly and leave it to the reader to consult the
commentaries, which will deal with the subject of authorship in detail. It is unknown
who Jude is. He could be the half-brother of the Lord (Mt. 13.55), in which case his
brother mentioned in Jude 1 would also be the half-brother of the Lord and the author,
as most believe, of the Epistle of Jacob (James). He could be the disciple/apostle of the
Lord mentioned in Lk. 6.16, Jn. 14.22, and Acts 1.13. The other Judases in the New
Testament who might be possibilities are mentioned in Acts 9.11, 15.22, 27, and 32. Of
these we know nothing other than the brief statements of these verses. We must be
satisfied that Jude, like the other writers of Scripture, was inspired by God and what he
wrote is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3.16). And it is of interest that these two, Jude and Jacob,
were brothers in the flesh and brothers in the Lord.
We do not know the specific people Jude wrote to. He wrote to “to those who are called,
beloved by God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ.” That could be all Christians, and in
fact it turned out to be just that. In Jn. 15.16 the Lord Jesus said, “You did not choose me,
but I chose you….” The idea of calling is very important in the Word of God. It is quite
clear that we as sinners did not seek God on our own, but that he called us first. Paul
says the same thing in different words in Rom. 5.8: “But God demonstrates his love for
us, for while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” This calling is the grace of God. It
is not of us, as Paul wrote in Eph. 2.8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and this is not of you. It is God’s gift, that no one may boast.” This is what is
called in theology prevenient grace, “pre” meaning “before” and “ven” being the root of
“come.” That is, the grace of God came before we even wanted it. He draws all to

himself, as the Lord said in Jn. 12.32: “And I if I be lifted up will draw all men to
myself.” Jude uses the word “grace” only once, in v. 4, but its spirit permeates the book.
What is that spirit? The standard definition of grace is “undeserved love and favor.”
That is certainly true, but a definition of grace cannot capture the reality of it. As one
grows in grace he begins to grasp that everything in his life is grace. It is all a gift (see
Jn. 3.27 and 1 Cor. 4.7), including the things that are bad to us, for they are God’s
instruments to crucify our flesh and form Christ in us (Rom. 8.28-29). We begin to see
that grace is really just God himself in the way he operates. It is his nature. To whatever
extent we called on the Lord, he called us first, when we did not deserve it. And we still
do not deserve it. It is all grace.
Then Jude says that we are loved by God the Father. This is that grace in action. Why
does God love us? Not because of anything we are or have done, but because of who he
is. He is love (1 Jn. 4.8. 16). Many of us have known loving fathers on earth and many of
us have not, but the fatherhood of God is perfect, all that it should be. If you had a
loving father, know that God is all he was and so much more. If you did not have a
loving earthly father, know that you have an infinitely loving heavenly Father. We are
of all people most blessed to have such a Father.
We are also kept in Jesus Christ. Do you think that you are standing as a Christian? Paul
wrote in 1 Cor. 10.12, “Therefore let the one who thinks he stands take heed that he
does not fall.” No, we are kept from falling. If God did not keep us in Jesus Christ, we
would all fall away at once. There is only one who is able to live a Christian life, and it is
not you or me! It is the Lord Jesus. He said in Jn. 16.33, “I have overcome the world.”
We stand in him or we do not stand at all. In a similar statement in 1 Pt. 1.5 Peter writes
that we are “guarded by the power of God through faith.” It is by the power of God,
and it is through faith. That is, as we trust in God and his word, his promise to keep us,
we are kept. We must walk by faith. That is the means of everything for us.
V. 2. Jude next gives the common greeting of his day, praying for his readers the
blessings of mercy, peace, and love. It is of interest that Jude lists mercy, but not grace.
There is a difference. Grace is God’s love toward the sinner and his provision for that
condition, namely, the giving of his Son to die in our place, thus paying the penalty for
sin, and raising him from the dead, thus conquering death once for all. But mercy is the
response to the pitiful condition of man because of his sin. It may still involve the
forgiveness of sin, but its motivation is different from that of grace. Grace is love toward

the sinner because he is lost in sin and faces hell. Mercy’s motivation is pity for the
suffering of people now because of the damage that sin has done. We could say that the
healings that the Lord Jesus brought about were mercy. Sickness and bodily infirmity
are the result of sin. All suffering is the result of sin. This does not mean that every time
we sin, God hits us with some suffering because of it, but that the fact that the world is
fallen because of sin results in general suffering. Everyone experiences it. Even
Christians who have had their sins forgiven still suffer because this is a fallen world. But
God has mercy on us in our suffering and alleviates it in some cases, or uses it for a
higher good, such as our growth in him and our ability to empathize and minister to
others who are suffering (2 Cor. 1.3-7). The words “mercy” and “grace” are often used
interchangeably, but the awareness of this distinction between the two gives us a
greater understanding of God’s nature and motivation.
Next comes peace. We often speak of peace of mind, of the need for peace in the world,
and so forth. The Bible sets forth three aspects of peace for the individual. First, as we
see in Rom.5.1, we have peace with God. This peace comes from repentance and faith in
Christ to save us from our sins. When our sins are forgiven, there is no longer enmity
with God, but peace. Satan will accuse us, reminding us of our sins and trying to stir up
the guilt that goes with them, but we can stand on the word of God that our sins are
gone. Satan is lying and we can stand on what God says:
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
(Ps. 103.12) If we feel guilt over forgiven sin, we can be sure it is not conviction from
God, which is definite and not taunting, but accusation from Satan (Rev. 12.10), which is
vague and condemning, and we can reject that accusation. “There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8.1) God does not condemn us
when we sin, but convicts us and forgives us when we confess the sin. Peace. Peace with
God.
This last statement shows us that there are two aspects to forgiveness. The first is that
when the Lord Jesus died, he bore all the sins of everyone who had lived at that time or
who would ever live, and we come into the good of that forgiveness when we repent
and trust Christ for salvation. But then how do we deal with the fact that we still
commit sins as Christians. It is a matter of appropriating the forgiveness that has
already been provided in that particular case. The sin was died for two thousand years
ago. We received general forgiveness when we turned to the Lord. We appropriate it in
the given case when we sin as Christians. In a sense we reclaim the forgiveness we
already have, applying it to a particular situation.
5

The second aspect of peace, after peace with God, is the peace of God:
Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4.6-7)
Whereas in Jude 1, where Jude says that he is a “slave of Jesus Christ,” emphasizing the
Lord’s humanity, here in Philippians he writes “Christ Jesus,” here the stress in on the
Lord’s offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, God’s Anointed, and thus his ability to
guard our hearts and minds. He is a man, but he is also almighty God. He is up to any
task.
The peace of God is what we might call peace of mind, and also peace in our emotions.
It is God’s ability, through his Son, to manifest peace in our hearts and minds even
when, humanly, we ought to be worried. Many have testified that they have been in
most troublesome situations that would normally worry one to distraction, but have
known the peace of God coming over them.
Finally, there is a point at which we come to realize that our peace with God and the
peace of God are not just something he gives us, but they are the Lord Jesus himself. In
Eph. 2.14 Paul writes, “For he himself is our peace….” Mic. 5.1-5a is a beautiful
prophecy of the Lord Jesus, and v. 5a says, “And this one will be peace.” It is one thing
to receive the Lord and begin Christian life, but he wants us to come to the place where
we see that Christ is our life (Col. 3.4). He does not give us things. He gives us himself,
and in us he is all that we need. We have a “hidden life,” one that the world knows
nothing of, “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3.3). There is no separation between the
Lord and ourselves, as though he were up there in Heaven and we are down here
struggling on the earth and in desperate need of what he can give us. No, far from there
being any separation, he is in us and he is our life. How could he be any closer? You will
never be any closer to the Lord spatially that you were the instant you were born from
above. It is to be hoped that you will grow closer relationally, but you will be no closer
than his presence in you and the life you share with him. He IS our peace.
Jude’s prayer for these blessings ends with love. This, of course, is the Greek word agape
(pronounced uh-GAHP-ay), the Bible’s word for God’s love and his kind of love, love
that is total and unconditional. It is love that gives grace to the sinner and mercy to the
sufferer. It is love that is willing to go to the cross for the very ones who were nailing

him there and those who were behind that awful miscarriage of justice, and for you and
me. It is the love of 1 Cor. 13, that mountain peak of Scripture that you would do well to
stop and read just now. I am not qualified to deal with this love. No one is. Just be
thankful for it with all your heart, and express that thanks by yielding your heart
wholly to him. The greatest commandment is for us to love the Lord our God with all
our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mk. 12.30), and the second is like it: love your
neighbor as yourself. Receive God’s love. Spread it around. “If you love me you will
keep my commandments” (Jn. 14.15). “If you keep my commandments you will abide
in my love….” (Jn. 15.10)
Judgment on the Ungodly
3Beloved, while I was exercising all diligence to write to you concerning our common
salvation, I had a constraint to write to you exhorting you to contend strongly for the
faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain men slipped in under
false pretenses, those written about long ago for this condemnation, ungodly ones,
turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Sovereign and Lord,
Jesus Christ.
V. 3. Jude intended to write about “our common salvation,” but he felt a constraint to
change course and call on his readers to contend for the faith. The Greek word for
“contend” is epagonizomai, from whose root we get our word “agonize,” showing the
distance to which God’s people must go to defend the faith, the faith “once for all
delivered to the saints.” Perhaps the clearest simple statement of this faith is found in 1
Cor. 15.3-6:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the twelve; then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at
once….”
V. 4. What would have caused Jude to make such a change and such a call? The fact that
certain men had come into the church and were deceiving the Lord’s people forced him
to deal with the matter as urgent. “For certain men slipped in under false pretenses.”
Paul, using the same word root in adjective form in Gal. 2.4, wrote of “false brothers
brought in under false pretenses to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might enslave us.” In his second epistle, which has many similarities to Jude,
Peter used another verb from the same root to warn of false prophets and teachers

bringing in “under false pretenses destructive heresies and denying the Sovereign who
bought them.” (2.1) Paul also told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.29-30, “I know that
after my departure fierce wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock, and
from you yourselves will arise men speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples
after them.” John adds in his first epistle, 4.1, “Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but
test the spirits, if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the
world.”
“Under false pretenses.” These men had come is posing as simple Christians like the
others in the church or churches. But they had begun spreading wrong ideas. Jude
points out here that these false ones were turning the grace of God into sensuality. That
is, they said that since we are under grace and not under law, we are free to do as we
please. In addition, part of the intellectual and cultural climate of the New Testament
was the idea that all physical matter is inherently evil and that the soul is the good.
Indeed salvation was escape from the prison-house of the body. Since the body is evil
anyway and the soul of man is good, it is permissible for people to indulge the body
immorally. This kind of thinking may have reinforced their belief. Paul writes about this
in 1 Cor. 6.15-20:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Therefore having
taken the members of Christ, will I make them members of a prostitute? May it
never be! Or do you not know that the one who is joined to a prostitute is one
body with her? For he says, “The two will be one flesh.” [Gen. 2.24] But the one
who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee immorality! Every other sin
that a man may commit is outside the body, but the one who is immoral sins
against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple
[sanctuary, Holy of Holies] of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have from God,
and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify
God in your body.
The Old Testament story of creation is quite clear that everything God made was good,
including the human body. It was God who formed the first man with his own hands
and breathed into him the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. Six times
Gen. 1 tells us that God looked at what he had created and saw that it was good, and
then in 1.31 he saw that it was very good. Evil does not come from the material
universe, but from the heart and will of Satan initially, and then from the heart and will
of man who sinned at Satan’s temptation. Everything God made was good. (The
teaching that man consists of body and soul is unscriptural. Man also has a spirit. This
will be dealt with later in our study of Jude at v. 19.)

In addition to God’s creating everything as good, when man had sinned and brought all
creation, including his physical body, into a fallen state, God did what was necessary to
redeem man and all creation. One day, according to Rom. 8.23, at the return of the Lord,
our bodies will be redeemed, that is, bought back from their fallen condition, and,
according to Phil. 3.21, they will be transformed from the fallen state to be like the body
that the Lord Jesus has now, the body of his glory.
Since our bodies were created as good, and are now the means of our communication
with those around us, and one day will be in Heaven with the Lord, they must be kept
holy. The body is not a prison that our souls are trapped in, but an eternal part of us if
we are the Lord’s. Thus they should be used for the Lord. Do you want to join Christ to
a prostitute? “May it never be!” Those false ones who permit immorality are only trying
to justify their own sin and bringing judgment on themselves and those who follow
them. So we see that these who came in under false pretenses were simply what we
would call libertines. They were trying to use thoughts current at that time to permit
and justify their own immorality. It is amazing what a great part immorality plays in
our world. If the truth could be brought out, we would see that a very high percentage
of atheists are just using atheism to allow themselves to sin with impunity. If there is no
God, it doesn’t matter what we do. Live for yourself and get all you can while you’re
here because this is it. They are not great intellects. They are common, garden variety
fornicators and adulterers.
In addition, the libertines were denying our Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ. We noted
above that Jesus is the human name of our Lord. In saying that these men were denying
him, Jude says that they deny his humanity and his messiahship. A further aspect of the
culture of that day was that since the body is inherently evil, God could not have
become a man with a real physical body. What appeared to be the physical body of
Jesus was actually only an appearance and not a real body. If it was a real body, it was
not the same as the person inside, just a place for him to dwell. An example is
Cerinthus. Little is known about him, but he lived around A.D 100. Cerinthus taught
that Jesus was the offspring of Joseph and Mary, who was not a virgin, and that “… ’the
Christ’ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him just prior to his crucifixion.” Since
the body is inherently evil, the Christ could not have been born a man, but only entered
the body of the man Jesus at his baptism, and since he could not die, he left his body
before the time of his death (https://carm.org/what-is-cerinthianism).
The Christian belief is that God had to become a man to redeem man, for his sacrifice
for sin had to be a real death. If he did not die, our sins have not been atoned for and
forgiven and we are lost. In Heb. 10.5, quoting Ps. 40.6, whereas the psalm says in
Hebrew, “My ears you have dug,” the quotation in Hebrews says, “A body you have

prepared for me.” This quotation comes from the Greek translation of the Old
Testament for Greek-speaking Jews that was produced over a period of about two
hundred years before the birth of the Lord, and which was the Bible of Greek-speaking
Christians in that day. What does it mean, “A body you have prepared for me”? It
means simply that God the Father through the Holy Spirit caused his Son to be born of
a human woman so that he had a real body through which he functioned on earth as a
man (a real man) and which actually died for our sins. It is history, not myth. Christ
died for our sins. Thus did these false ones deny the humanity of the Lord, and thus his
death for our sins.
But they also denied his messiahship. If he did not become a man and die for our sins,
neither could he be the Messiah. The Old Testament plainly prophesies the death of the
Lord Jesus for our sins. Ps. 22 is a remarkable picture of the crucifixion written long
before the Jews knew about crucifixion and long before Rome ruled its world of that
day. Is. 52.13-53.12 is the classic Old Testament prophecy of the Lamb slain for our sins.
If the Lord Jesus could not fulfill Old Testament prophecy of his death, then he could
not be the Messiah.
These men were wrong on all counts, that immorality is permissible for Christians and
that the Lord could not have had a real physical body, thus denying his humanity and
his messiahship.
5Now I want to remind you, you knowing all things once for all, that Jesus, having
saved a people out of the land of Egypt, secondly destroyed those not having faith; 6and
angels not keeping their own domain, but leaving their own dwelling, he has kept for
judgment of the great day in eternal chains under thick darkness, 7as Sodom and
Gomorrah and the cities around them, in the same way as these having lived immorally
and gone after other flesh, are set forth as an example, undergoing the justice of eternal
fire.
V. 5. Now Jude reminds his readers of what they already know and he says that they
know all things once for all. This phrase “once for all” takes us back to v. 3 where Jude
says that the faith “was once for all delivered to the saints.” It seems that his meaning is
not that they know everything, an impossibility, but that they know the faith and the
truth of the faith. There is no need for them to be deceived because they know the truth
of our common faith. Obviously they will need to grow in the faith and will learn more
truth as they are taught and as they have experiences that are instructive, but the
foundation has been laid. As they hold to that they will not be deceived.

The next words, “that Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt,” are
difficult to establish. Without going into a lengthy discussion, let me just say that you
are probably aware that there are many manuscripts of the Bible, and that these were all
written and copied by hand in ancient days. Over the years there came to be differences
between one manuscript and another as to exactly how they read. That is the case here.
Where I have “Jesus,” some say “Lord” and others say “God,” and there are several
other differences which I won’t go into. This is one of the more difficult of these
examples in Scripture to sort out. Most translations use “Lord,” and that seems the most
reasonable to me. I make no claim to be a scholar in this area, but taking what I do
know of this field and what others, leading scholars, think, it appears to me that “Jesus”
has the best support. If you disagree I won’t argue with you! And it does not change the
meaning of the text, whichever choice you make.
The point of the sentence is that even though the people of Israel had [firstly] been
saved out of Egypt by the Lord, they were secondly destroyed by him because they did
not exercise faith in him. I usually use the word “faith” or “trust” instead of “believe”
because “believe” has a largely intellectual connotation in our culture. Probably most
people would say they believe in God, but it would seem that most do not trust in him
or have faith in him. Belief is the beginning. Without it there can be no faith, but faith is
believing God’s word and acting on it, actually putting faith in God and acting
accordingly. There will be many people in hell who believe in God, in Jesus, in the
Bible, but who have never trusted in him for salvation. James says that the demons
believe and they tremble (2.19).
Those who did not exercise faith in God in the wilderness were doomed to die there,
never getting into the Land of Promise. Some would use this verse to say that one can
lose salvation. There are several passages of Scripture that seem to say this, but
considering Scripture as a whole I believe that one who has been saved cannot then be
lost. Keep in mind that what those who died in the wilderness missed was not Heaven,
but the Land of Promise, and that they did not go back to Egypt, a type of the lost
world. They typify saved people who spent their lives in the spiritual wilderness
instead of coming into victory in the Lord. The Land of Promise was a land where the
people had to fight to take it, so it is not Heaven, but the spiritual “land” where we live
in victory in this life. Yes, there are many battles to fight, but God has already given us
the victory and we will “take the land” if we fight with trust in God. For these reasons I
believe that the teaching of this verse is not that salvation can be lost.

V. 6. Next come the fallen angels. Whereas the people of God had been saved out of
Egypt, but died in the wilderness, not losing salvation, the angels who rebelled against
God with Satan were never saved, but rebelled knowing fully what they were doing.
They walked by sight, not by faith, and have no hope of salvation, but are awaiting final
judgment.
At this point I need to introduce the Book of Enoch. Please bear with me. This book was
an ancient writing, apparently in Hebrew. If so, the Hebrew is now lost. It was
translated into Greek, but only bits of that still exist. This was translated into Ethiopic
around A.D. 600. This version is in the Ethiopic Bible, but was rejected by other
branches of Christianity. A copy of this was found in Ethiopia in 1773, and an English
version was published in 1821, and the Ethiopian text in 1838. The original was
probably written over a period of about two hundred years by various authors. It had
influence on Jewish and Christian writings over several centuries. Another ancient
writing called The Assumption of Moses used Enoch, and others also used it. The
Assumption of Moses was written in Hebrew in the first half of the first century A.D., and
a Greek version came out in the first century. The reason for giving this information is
that it is possible that Jude (and 2 Peter) quoted or referred to both Enoch and The
Assumption of Moses. [J. B. Mayor, The General Epistle of Jude in The Expositor’s Greek
Testament, 234-235.]
Here in v. 6 Jude writes of the fallen angels. Scripture says little about this and is not
entirely clear, but there are demons, presumably fallen angels, who are active in the
world deceiving and tormenting, but this passage indicates that not all are free to work.
Some “he has kept for judgment of the great day in eternal chains under thick
darkness,” [What a dismal statement. The darkness referred to is not ordinary darkness,
but, as one writer says, “darkness that may be felt” (W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary
of New Testament Words, 268). Deep gloom with no hope of escape.
Jude says that these angels did not keep their own domain, the rule they were under,
but left their own dwelling, Heaven, and that is why they are held for judgment. It is
unclear what this means exactly. Some think it refers to Gen. 6.2, where it is said that
the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were “good” in Hebrew, probably
“beautiful” or “desirable” or something similar, and took wives of them. In this
interpretation the sons of God are fallen angels who out of lust assume human bodies
and have sexual relations with human women. Gen. 6.4 mentions the Nephilim in this

context. “Nephilim” means “fallen ones.” It is the Book of Enoch that contains the
explanation of Gen. 6.2 as referring to fallen angels.
We have seen that 2 Peter has a number of striking parallels with Jude. This epistle says
in 2.4, “For if God did not spare angels who had sinned, but casting them in chains [or
“pits,” another difficult passage!] of depressing darkness into tartarus delivered them to
be kept for judgment….” As in Jude we see here in 2 Peter fallen angels being held in a
gloomy prison awaiting final judgment and hell. The “tartarus” in this verse is actually
a verb in Greek, so I have translated, “casting them … into tartaraus.” This is the only
use of this word in the Bible. It is equivalent to “hades.” The reader needs to understand
that hades, the abyss, and tartarus all have the same meaning. Hades is the
prison-house of some fallen angels and the lost human dead awaiting final judgment,
and it can also refer to death or the grave (see Acts 2.31). The Old Testament equivalent
is “sheol.” When the Lord Jesus spoke of the gates of hades in Mt. 16.18, he was not
speaking of hell, but of this prison of the lost dead, or death itself, or the grave. He was
saying that death could not hold himself or the church, but he and his people would be
resurrected from the dead: victory over death! It is the same as the abyss of Lk. 8.31,
Rom. 10.7, and Rev. 9.1, 2, 11, 11.7, 17.8, 20.1, 3. In Rev. 11.7 John writes of “the beast,
the one coming up out of the abyss,” that is, Antichrist, the one who will die and go into
the abyss, hades, but then come back from the dead (Rev. 17.8). It is in the abyss that
Satan will be bound for the one thousand years of the millennium (Rev. 20.1-2).
Hell is another matter. There is no one in hell at present. The first occupants of hell will
be Antichrist and his false prophet, who will be thrown alive into the lake of fire, hell, at
the return of the Lord (Rev. 19.20). The notion that hell is Satan’s kingdom has no
warrant in Scripture. Hell is not his kingdom, but his doom, his final judgment, along
with all those whom he has deceived and taken there with himself. We see his entry into
hell in Rev. 20.10. For further study on hell, see Mt. 5.22, 29, 30, 10.28, 18.9, 23.15, 33,
Mk. 9.43, 45, 47, Lk. 12.5, Ja. 3.6 (all uses of the word gehenna, “hell,” in the New
Testament). See also Mt. 3.12, 13.42, Lk. 3.17, Rev. 20.14, 15, 21.
V. 7. Next Jude writes of Sodom and Gomorrah. He says that these cities and those
around them had “lived immorally” and that they had “gone after other flesh”
(homosexuality, see also Rom. 1.26-27) and are an example of the same judgment as that
of the fallen angels. Like them they will undergo “the justice of eternal fire.” Gen. 19.24
says, “Then I AM rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from I
AM out of the heavens.” The fact that they were destroyed by fire from the heavens

(Heaven or the skies, the same word in Hebrew) is an example in this day before the
coming of the Lord with final judgment of that coming day when the Lord will appear
and bring judgment on his enemies. It is a warning from God on all those who reject the
Lord and practice evil. Judgment will fall.
Peter also speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah: “… and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
reduced to ashes, were judged by overthrow, set as an example to those who would be
godless….” (2 Pt. 2.6) Both Peter and Jude see Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of
God’s judgment, a warning of the wrath to come.
8
In the same way nevertheless, these also, dreaming, defile flesh and set aside lordship
and blaspheme glories. 9But Michael the archangel, when disputing with the devil
argued about the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce a reviling judgment, but
said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10But these, as many things as they don’t know they
blaspheme, and as many things as they do understand by nature, like unreasoning
animals, by these they are corrupted. 11Woe to them, for they went the way of Cain, and
abandoned themselves to the deception of Balaam for pay, and in the rebellion of Korah
they perished.

Jude begins this paragraph with “In the same way nevertheless,” that is, despite the
warnings of judgment just given. He then goes on by referring to “these.” Whom does
he mean? “These” are the men of v. 4 who “slipped in under false pretenses, those
written about long ago for this condemnation, ungodly ones, turning the grace of our
God into sensuality and denying our only Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ.” These
men, despite the warnings, have gone the same way of immorality and blasphemy.
Jude adds that these men dream. One of the most fundamental truths about the
Christian faith is that it is historical. As noted above on v. 4, it is history, not myth. The
stories of the Old and New Testaments actually happened. There is a solid basis in
reality for what we believe. These men who “slipped in under false pretenses” were not
dealing with real history, but with things they dreamed up. We saw in v. 4 that they
turned “the grace of our God into sensuality,” that is, they said that since we are under
grace and not under law, we are free to be immoral, which they would not have seen as
immoral. It does not matter what one does in the flesh. So we find the same thing here
as in v. 4, that they defile flesh. The Greek text does not say “the flesh” or “their flesh,’
just “flesh.” That is, they do defile their own flesh, and that of others also. How

convenient that your faith allows you to indulge in sexual sin! That belief did not die
with antiquity!
Jude also writes that these men set aside lordships and blaspheme glories. The Bible
teaches that the universe is ruled by a hierarchy under the Sovereign God, and that
Satan also has his evil hierarchy. He is at present the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31) and
the god of this age (2 Cor.4.4) and has an organization under himself. We read of the
prince of Persia and the prince of Greece (Dan. 10.13, 20). These are demonic angels who
rule these countries under Satan’s dominion. Michael is called an archangel in Jude 9,
and a chief prince or your prince, meaning the nation of Israel, or a great prince (Dan.
10.13, 21, 12.1). In Lk. 1.19, 26, Gabriel appears to Zacharias and Mary to announce the
births of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. We are not told his rank, but he says that
he stands before God. Eph. 2.2 says that there are rulers and authorities of the air. Eph. 6
speaks of rulers and authorities, world rulers of this darkness, and spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenlies. In Col. 1.16 we read that “… in him were created all things in the
skies and on the earth, the things seen and the things unseen, whether thrones or
lordships or rulers or authorities.”
These men set aside lordship, having no respect for authority, not realizing that they
themselves are under the authority of and are controlled by Satan. In addition to the
angelic hierarchy, God has set authority in the church. The Lord Jesus is the Head of the
church, and under him are apostles and elders. These men do not run the church as
dictators, but they do oversee to keep things on the right track, and they teach and
preach truth and proper conduct (see 1 Tim. 3.15). The men under question in Jude have
no respect for this authority, saying that they can do as they please. They set aside
God’s authority and his delegated authority in the church.
The word “blaspheme” means to speak profanely or impiously or irreverently of God,
or to speak evil of or insult or slander an angel or a human person. These men speak so
of glories. What are glories? They must be the angels of God. We are told in Ezk. 1 and
Rev. 4 about the four living beings, angelic beings, that in some way have to do with the
glory of God. Lk. 9.26 speaks of the glory of the holy angels. These men who had come
in under false pretenses had no more respect for them than for any other authority. In
another parallel between Jude and 2 Peter we read in 2.10, “… despising lordship.
Daring, self-willed, not trembling when they blaspheme glories….” We see the same
conduct as with the men dealt with in Jude.

This disrespect of authority, even heavenly authority as well as that within the
church, is placed in stark contrast with the behavior of Michael, an archangel no less,
who had such respect that he would not even “dare to pronounce a reviling judgment”
against Satan, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” Peter has the “reviling judgment” in 2
Pt. 2.11. This ought to say something to modern-day Christians who talk about their
rebuking the devil. Perhaps they should leave that to God. This story of the dispute
about the body of Moses may come from The Assumption of Moses, which we referred to
above at v. 6.
V. 10. Jude then returns to these intruders. Prov. 18.2 says, “A fool has no delight in
understanding, but only that his heart may reveal itself.” This word could well apply to
these men, who appear to be more interested in proclaiming what is in their own hearts
than in understanding the truth. Jude says that they blaspheme as many things as they
don’t know. We have all probably been guilty of going on about something when we
didn’t know what we were talking about! Such are these, and more: anything they don’t
know they blaspheme. Someone said that it is better to be quiet and be thought a fool
than to speak up and remove all doubt. Apparently these men had not heard this
saying! (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain-silent/)
Jude goes on to say that “as many things as they do understand by nature, like
unreasoning animals, by these they are corrupted.” These men take things that are
understood by nature, but they deal with them as unreasoning animals would, and thus
are corrupted by them. Ti. 1.15 reads, “To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled
and faithless nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” Paul
also writes in 1 Tim. 4.2 of those who are “seared in the conscience.” That is, it is
possible to suppress the conscience to the point that there seems to be no more
awareness of right and wrong, or at least total apathy about right and wrong. These
teachers appear to have gotten to that point that they can even make something evil out
of something that is good, or something good that is evil (see Is. 5.20).
Yet again Peter has a comment on the same matter: “But these as unreasoning animals,
born in accord with nature for capture and killing, blaspheming when they are ignorant,
in their killing will also be killed.” (2.12)
“Woe to them,” Jude says, “for they went the way of Cain.” Gen. 4 tells us about
Cain and Abel. When they came to make an offering to God, Cain brought some of the
produce of the ground, food that he had raised, but Abel brought an animal of the flock.
Cain’s offering was not accepted, but Abel’s was. Cain became so angry that he killed
Abel. Why was Cain’s offering rejected? Cain’s offering was the fruit of his labor,

symbolizing salvation by works. Abel’s was accepted because he offered a sacrifice of
what came from God, not from his own labor, picturing salvation by grace. In addition,
God requires a blood sacrifice, a type of the sacrifice of Christ, for the wages of sin are
death (Rom. 6.23). These false ones were rejecting salvation by grace and Christ himself,
as Jude writes in v. 4: ”… turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our
only Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ.” They were living by “another gospel” (Gal.
1.6-9).
Further, they “abandoned themselves to the deception of Balaam for pay.” Balaam’s
story is told in Num. 22-25. He was hired by Balak, king of Moab, when the Israelites
had camped in Moab. Balak was afraid because of what the Israelites had already done
to the Amorites, and hired Balaam, a prophet, to come and curse Israel for him. Three
times God would not let Balaam curse Israel, but rather had him bless them. But he
wanted the pay offered for his curse, so he advised Balak to invite the Israelites to the
sacrifices to his gods. They went, and they ate of the sacrifices offered to their gods and
bowed down to the gods of Moab, and committed immorality with the Moabite women.
The Lord’s anger brought judgment, which is detailed in Num. 25.
Peter also writes of this affair: “ … forsaking the straight way they have gone astray,
following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the pay of unrighteousness….”
(2 Pt. 2.15) It is of note that Peter uses the word agape, the Greek word for God’s love
and Christian love, indicating that money was Balaam’s real god. Rev. 2.14 adds, in the
letter to the church in Pergamum, “But I have a few things against you, that you have
there those holding the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling
block before the sons of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit
immorality.” A popular saying today is, “Follow the money.” Enough said.
These men also perished in the rebellion of Korah. It is significant that Jude uses the
past tense, “perished,” when they were still alive and active. Paul writes in 1 Tim. 5.6, “
… she who is living in self-indulgence is dead while living.” So had these men perished
spiritually even while physically alive and living in self-indulgence. What a warning
this should be.
Num. 16 contains the account of Korah’s rebellion. He and some others rose up against
the leadership of Moses and said, “You take too much on yourself, since all the
congregation are holy, every one of them, and I AM is among them. Why then do you
lift yourselves up above the assembly of I AM?” Without going into the details of the
judgment, let us just say that the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and his
followers and their families and possessions. “And they went down alive into sheol.”

The point is that these men defied the authority God had placed among them, and God
judged them. We have already seen in v. 8 of Jude that these false ones did the same
thing.
12These are those who are hidden rocks in your love feasts, feasting with you without
fear; shepherding themselves; waterless clouds, carried by winds; autumn trees without
fruit, twice dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea casting up their own shameful deeds
like foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved into the
age.
V. 12. Now further charges are lodged against these men. “Hidden rocks in your love
feasts, feasting with you without fear” seems to mean that when the Table of the Lord is
observed, these men partake with them without fear of judgment (see 1 Cor. 11.27-30),
but they are actually like hidden rocks in the sea, a great danger to passing ships. Since
they are false brothers, they are a danger to those who might follow what they say and
be led astray. We have already seen a number of warnings to the Lord’s people about
this danger. Peter once again has a parallel: “… spots and blemishes reveling in their
deceptions as they feast with you….” (2 Pt. 2.13)
“Shepherding themselves” sounds odd to our ears, but it is the literal translation of the
Greek text. The meaning is that these men care only for themselves. A true shepherd is
to care for the sheep in every way, but these shepherd only themselves, care only for
themselves.
These are waterless clouds, a contradiction in terms, because a cloud is water in its
evaporated state. These men are contradictions, appearing as brothers in the Lord, but
not containing the water of life, the Holy Spirit of God. They are only exalting
themselves. Prov. 25.14: “As clouds and wind without rain, so is he that boasts of his
gifts falsely.” They are “carried by winds,” reminding us of Paul’s statement in Eph.
4.14: “… that you no longer be babies, tossed by the sea and carried about by every
wind of teaching….” Don’t necessarily believe the latest thing you have heard. Test the
spirits (1 Jn. 4.1). Instead of dispensing the water of life they are tossed about by the
waves of the world. Peter has “waterless springs and mists driven by a storm….” (2 Pt.
2.17) And we have seen the thick darkness in dealing with Jude 6.
The statement that they are “autumn trees without fruit” calls to mind Mt. 21.18-22, the
story of the barren fig tree. On the way into Jerusalem the Lord Jesus was hungry. He
saw one fig tree by the road, but when he went to pick fruit he saw only leaves. Since

the tree promised to give fruit, but had only leaves, he cursed it and it withered. In the
first place this was a picture of Judaism. It had all the leaves of spiritual life, the law, the
temple, the priesthood, the festivals, the sacrificial system, but it was spiritually barren.
There was no fruit. We see these men in Jude in the same condition. They gave every
indication of being brothers, of being full of ripe fruit like trees at harvest time, but they
had nothing of the Lord. Remember Paul’s word in Gal. 1.8-9,
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than
the one we preached to you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, and
now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you another gospel than the one you
received, let him be anathema.
“Anathema” means “cursed.”
These trees are “twice dead.” Various explanations of this term have been put forth. It
seems to me that the first death is that of being born in sin, and of not producing fruit
because of that, and then dead because of being uprooted, the next statement in Jude 12,
equivalent to the death of the tree withered at the word of the Lord Jesus, dead while
they are alive (1 Tim. 5.6), as we just saw in v. 11. Don’t forget that hell is called “the
second death” in Rev. 2.11, 20.6, 14, 21.8.
V. 13. We have seen that these men are “wild waves of the sea” tossed by the winds of
teaching. They cast “up their own shameful deeds like foam.” We have all seen foam or
other things on the water or on the beach that have been cast up by the waves,
especially when there has been a storm at sea. So do these men cast up what is really
there, their shameful deeds, and not their pretended goodness.
“Wandering stars” remind us of waterless clouds and wild waves of the sea tossed
about by the winds. Instead of staying on the course God intended for them, these
“stars” move around here and there, thus giving up the possibility of being stars that
are there to help people in their spiritual navigation, just as real stars guide ships.
Finally, Jude comes back to that gloom, that thick darkness of judgment that has been
reserved for these men, just as it has for the angels that are being held under thick
darkness as they await final judgment where the same unending gloom and darkness
will prevail.

The phrase “into the age” at the end of v. 13 is the literal Greek and means, “the age to
come” or “the ages to come.” We find both “age” and “ages” in the New Testament. It
means “forever.”
14Now also about these Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Look! the
Lord came with his holy myriads 15

to execute judgment against all and to convict all
the ungodly concerning all their ungodly works which they have done in an ungodly
way, and all the hard things which ungodly sinners have said against him.” 16These are
complainers, dissatisfied with life, going according to their lusts, and their mouth
speaks great swelling things, flattering faces for the sake of advantage.
V. 14. In support of what he has written Jude adds what appears to be a quotation from
Enoch 1.9, dealt with earlier at v. 6: “Behold, [God] shall arrive with ten million of the
holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and
censure all flesh on account of everything that they have done, that which the sinners
and the wicked ones committed against him.”
(http://www.evidenceunseen.com/bible-difficulties-2/nt-difficulties/jude/jude-9-14-15-w
hy-does-jude-quote-the-assumption-of-moses-v-9-and-the-book-of-enoch-v-14-15/).
First, he says that Enoch is the seventh from Adam, probably to give support to the
possible quotation by associating the number of completion with Enoch. Note also that
as Enoch was the seventh from Adam, he was the eighth person, and the number eight
is the number of something wholly new since it comes after completion, and that
something new is resurrection. This is not a part of Jude, but is of interest, especially
since Enoch did not die, but went directly to Heaven, coming into God’s life without
human death.
To go on with the possible quotation: we saw above that the Book of Enoch is an ancient
writing that was supposedly written by Enoch, and that it was never accepted into the
Jewish or Christian canons, that is, the books of the Bible. I wrote above that it appears
that Jude quotes Enoch, but it is unknown when this statement by the Book of Enoch
was written. It is mostly considered as written over a period of two or three centuries,
beginning about, say, 150 B.C. and going on to the first half of the second century A.D.,
so it is very possible that the Book of Enoch quoted Jude. None of this can be
established with finality because the facts are simply not available at this point.
Jude quotes the statement as a prophecy by Enoch, which we accept as accurate because
of our acceptance of the Bible as God-breathed. Possibly there was an ancient Jewish

tradition that was never written down that gave prophecies by Enoch which contained
Jude’s statement here, or perhaps it was written down with the physical writing being
lost over time. We do not know, but we can accept Jude’s statement as support for what
he has been writing in his epistle. What Enoch saw in his prophecy was the Lord
coming “with his holy myriads.” A myriad is 10,000, so there were at least 20,000,
supposedly angels, though it does not say so….
V. 15. … to execute judgment, and he is rather thorough: “against all and to convict all
the ungodly concerning all their ungodly works which they have done in an ungodly
way, and all the hard things which ungodly sinners have said against him.” Enoch said
that the Lord came, but probably he was seeing into the future at the final judgments
before and after the millennial reign of Christ. That is the way Jude applies the
statement.
V. 16. Then Jude adds his own words to what Enoch said: “These are complainers,
dissatisfied with life, going according to their lusts, and their mouth speaks great
swelling things, [see 2 Pt. 2.18] flattering faces for the sake of advantage.” [One scholar
thinks that Jude got these words from The Assumption of Moses. R.H. Charles, quoted in
Mayor, 236.] Even though they were setting themselves up as proclaiming liberty to the
church, these men were complainers, not accepting from the Lord what he brought or
allowed into their lives for his purposes, which is meekness, a Christian virtue, but were
complaining. They were dissatisfied with life, not happy in any area. This is
understandable considering they were misleading God’s people by bringing false
teachings into the church and by their own sinful conduct, their “going according to
their lusts.” Peace does not come from sinning and complaining. They spoke “great
swelling things,” an accurate translation, boasting and exaggerating in their speech.
Finally, the Greek is literally “flattering faces.” The word “face” is used a number of
times in the Bible to mean a person. With all their exaggerated talk they did not stop at
flattery if it would get them an advantage with someone. This is a reminder of their
“shepherding themselves” of v. 12. All of this is heaping up judgment.
Warnings and Exhortations
17But you, beloved, remember the speakings that were spoken before by the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Christ, 18

that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be
mockers, going after their own ungodly lusts.” 19These are those who cause divisions,
soulish, not having spirit.

V. 17. Now Jude turns to a word to his readers, telling them to remember what was said
to them earlier. I have translated, “Remember the speakings that were spoken….” This
sounds a bit awkward, but I have done this deliberately to distinguish this word
“speakings.” In the Greek it is rema. Most readers probably know that the usual Greek
word for “word” is logos. It is the word for “the word of God,” “the word became
flesh,” and so forth. The written word is logos. The word rema refers more to what is
spoken, and in the New Testament it often means something that God has spoken to
someone. It may be by bringing a Scripture (logos) to life in someone’s heart and mind.
It may be by giving some guidance to a person. What God livingly speaks to a person is
rema. One word of caution: the Holy Spirit will never speak to anyone something
contrary to the Bible. The rema will never disagree with the logos. If you think you are
receiving guidance, but what you hear in your heart does not square with the Bible, it is
not God speaking. Peter uses the same verb for “spoken before” by the apostles in 2 Pt.
3.2.
V. 18. Jude is saying to his readers to remember what was given to them in a fresh,
living way. In this case, what they heard was audible, from the apostles. It was a word
of warning: “In the last time there will be mockers, going after their own ungodly
lusts.” These mockers claim to be giving rema, but what they say does not agree with
the word of the Lord, the logos. Keep in mind that these readers did not have our New
Testament as we have it. They may have had some of the apostolic writings, though we
don’t know this, but they did have the Old Testament, the Bible of the Jews and of the
first Christians, and they did have what apostles had spoken to them. They must
measure what anyone said by these standards so as not to be led astray.
One reality that should give them pause was the fact that these teachers went after their
own ungodly lusts. The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are quite clear that
immorality is not right with God. Paul’s letters deal with this matter. Paul told Timothy
to flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2.22). Don’t negotiate with them. Don’t keep turning it over
in your mind. Flee! They are spiritually deadly. When men practice immorality, even if
they justify it by some philosophy, get out of there! Flee! They are not speaking for God.
Again we find these same thoughts in almost identical words in 2 Pt. 3.2-3: “… that you
remember the speakings spoken before by the holy prophets and the command of the
Lord and Savior by your apostles, knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will
come with mocking, going according to their own lusts….”

V. 19. Then Jude writes that these men cause divisions, another giveaway, for God is a
God of unity among his people. Next he has a highly interesting and instructive
comment: They are “soulish, not having spirit.” Whatever did he mean? In 1 Cor.
2.14-15 we read, “The soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know, for they are spiritually judged.
But the spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is judged by no one.” Our English
Bibles usually render this word “soulish” as “natural.” “Natural” is a correct
translation, but it misses the strong point of Jude 19 and 1 Cor. 2.14. I believe that it
should be “soulish” because it comes from the Greek word psuche, “soul.” “Natural” is
phusikos, from phusis, “nature.” What Paul is saying in 1 Cor. is that the lost man or the
fleshly Christian, not being spiritual, must rely on his soul, his intelligence, will power
or lack of it, feelings, personality, and so forth. His spirit is not in contact with the Spirit
of God, though the Spirit dwells in him if he is a Christian, and so is unable to hear from
God and receive guidance and discernment. He has to try to figure it out for himself
and hope for the best. The spiritual man has a spirit that is not only indwelt by the Holy
Spirit, but he is in living contact with the Spirit. He is able to hear from God and receive
heavenly direction. He can judge the things that come to him as truth because he can
listen to the Spirit within. The soulish man is limited to his soul in dealing with life. The
spiritual man has a spirit alive with the Holy Spirit and has divine help.
We see the same thing in Ja. 3.14-15 when James writes about bitter jealousy, selfish
ambition, boasting, and lying that “this wisdom has not come down from above, but is
of the earth, soulish, demonic.” The wisdom that does not come from God by way of the
human spirit filled with the Holy Spirit is of the earth, at best soulish, limited to the
resources of a man without direction from above, and at worst demonic, being deceived
by demonic spirits in the man who is without a spirit in touch with God.
Jude says that these false ones are soulish. They are just what Paul and James write
about, limited to their own resources. What they are saying at best comes from
themselves, their own intelligence and imagination, is proclaimed by their own will
power, and strengthened by their ability to produce strong feelings. At worst their
beliefs come from the demonic, and that appears to be the case here in Jude. These men
do not have spirit, that is, they do not have a spirit in touch with God and hearing from
the Holy Spirit. Since they are presumably not Christians, their spirits are dead (Eph.
2.1). They are “soulish, not having spirit.” They must rely on their own resources with
no help from Heaven, but with deceptive “help” from Satan’s forces.

20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God’s love, receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for
eternal life. 22And have mercy on some who are doubting, 23but save some, snatching
them from fire, and have mercy on some with fear, hating even the garment defiled by
the flesh.
Vs. 20-21. Jude now turns to his readers. He began by exhorting them
to contend strongly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
For certain men slipped in under false pretenses, those written about long ago for
this condemnation, ungodly ones, turning the grace of our God into sensuality
and denying our only Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Here he gives some instruction about how to contend for the faith. First he says for
them to keep themselves in the love of God, and the first step to doing that is to build
“yourselves up in your most holy faith.” The building up would come from reviewing
the truth preached and taught to them by their apostles, by sharing testimony together
of how God had worked in their lives, sharing needs together and praying for one
another, and by worship in spirit and in truth of their God. They would do this by
testing the spirits, not just accepting false ideas.
Second, they would pray in the Holy Spirit. Some would take this prayer as praying in
tongues. That may certainly be a part of it, but one who does not have the gift of
tongues can pray in the Holy Spirit. Any Spirit-filled Christian can pray in the Spirit.
This means simply that he prays under anointing, the Holy Spirit within his spirit
directing him as to what to pray and how to pray, and the Spirit taking up the prayer
and helping “our weakness,” for “the Spirit himself intercedes with groanings that
cannot be expressed in words.” (Rom. 8.26-27)
Third, they would make it a practice to be “receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
for eternal life,” and doing this together. They would recognize that the Lord had had
and continued to have mercy on them, knowing their condition as aliens in Satan’s
territory, the world, and the attack they were under by the false brothers. This was not
just any attack, but a subtle one. They were not attacked as enemies to be destroyed, but
as people who wanted to grow in their faith. These men held themselves forth as
brothers who would share liberating ideas with them. They had to be able to discern,
again, to test the spirits. The mercy of the Lord that they had received and walked in
leads to eternal life. That life was in them already, for it is nothing but the life of God

dwelling in them by the Spirit. Stay on that road and do not go down the way of the
false brothers.
V. 22. Then they were to contend for the faith by their outreach. As they had received
mercy, they were to have mercy on some who were doubting. These would be their
fellow Christians who were having doubts raised because of the false ideas. Instead of
condemning them, those stronger in the faith were to have mercy on them, to do gently
and lovingly what needed to be done to draw them back to the truth. This verse could
also read [Jude again!], “Convict some who are disputing.” That is, instead of these
being those who were feeling doubts because of the false ideas, they would be the ones
spreading these ideas, on whom those who held to the truth were to have mercy,
making the attempt to bring them to the truth. The Greek manuscript evidence is so
evenly divided that it is virtually impossible to know which reading is correct. Either
way, those strong in the faith were to have mercy.
V. 23. They are to save some by snatching them from fire. That is, there are some who
are about to go with or have gone with the false brothers. The fire here would not be the
fire of hell, for if these had been saved, they would not lose their salvation. It is more an
example, a picture of someone about to fall into a physical fire, almost having one foot
in the fire, and being snatched back at the last second.
Then the strong should “have mercy on some with fear, hating even the garment defiled
by the flesh.” These probably are the false ones, and perhaps some of the congregation
who had gone their way, or one of these groups, that those who held to the truth were
to try to save or bring back, but doing so with fear, knowing that any involvement with
evil is dangerous and can draw one into the evil himself. One should be so cautious of
evil that he hates not just the evil, but even a garment defiled by it. Don’t touch evil! We
have an obligation to try to bring anyone who needs the Lord and whom the Lord leads
us to try to reach to make the effort, but don’t touch the evil itself. Be very careful.
Benediction
24Now to the one able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glory
without blemish, with great joy, 25

to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, strength, and authority before every age, and now, and into all
the ages. Amen.

V. 24. Jude ends his epistle with one of those magnificent doxologies of the New
Testament, which occur in Rom. 16.25-27, Heb. 13.20-21, and here. He has exhorted his
readers to contend for the faith and not to fall away, and now he says that God is the
one who is able to keep them from stumbling. They cannot do it in their own strength
and knowledge and wisdom, but only by the power of God. He is able! He is able to
present them before his glory without blemish, reminding us of Paul’s word in Eph.
5.27, that the Lord Jesus would present the church to himself as his bride “without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing.” Peter uses a word from the same Greek root as “without
blemish” in 2 Pt. 3.14. When we look at ourselves now as we struggle with the world
and the devil, and especially with our own flesh, it is hard to imagine that we would
ever be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that is the promise of Scripture,
the living word of God! Praise him!
And with great joy! Can you even imagine the joy that will fill our hearts, our whole
beings, when we are presented to our Heavenly Bridegroom! We know some measure
of joy now, but by comparison, we do not know what joy is. No wonder Jude writes,

“… to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
strength, and authority before every age, and now, and into all the ages. Amen.”

Amen and amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The Message of Jude
So, what is the message of Jude? In v. 18 he writes that “in the last time there will be
mockers….” This statement shows that he is dealing with the last days (2 Peter 3.3 says
“last days” in his parallel passage). It certainly appears to many of us that we are living
in the last days now. Many of the Lord’s people have believed that down through
history. God has not revealed to us when the Lord will come, but he does seem to have
given his people a sense that he is coming soon. It may seem that it has been a long
time, almost two thousand years, but remember that God is in eternity and with him a
thousand years are as a day, and a day as a thousand years. I think the main point is
that God wants us to be ready for his coming at any moment. He has told us enough
about prophecy to give us encouragement in this evil age, and he has left out enough
that we need to be ready at all times, at any instant. So with Jude we say that this is the

last time. That is, what Jude is writing about is taking place in our day, as it has in his
and in every time since.
The first thing he says is that we are kept, as we saw in considering v. 1. By this
statement and by his saying that we have mercy, peace, and love from God, he is
encouraging his readers to prepare them for what is to come, namely, that they are
headed into a fight. They must contend for the faith because it is facing a challenge. We
saw that the challenge was the idea of some who had come into the church under false
pretenses that immorality was permissible under grace. They were libertines. Are we
not living in such a day ourselves?
For the past fifty years and more we have seen the rapid growth of open immorality in
our nation and throughout the world. It began in the early ‘60’s with the outlawing of
prayer in our public schools, the decision by the Supreme Court that pornography is
free speech, and the invention of “the pill,” birth control, making sex outside of
marriage less risky. (I am not opposed to birth control, just to the misuse of it.) I was in
high school, college, and seminary in those days and saw the world change before my
eyes. It was that obvious. Then in the late ‘60’s we had the rise of the drug culture and
“free love.” Since then and up to now more and more people have lived together
without benefit of marriage until now more couples get together without marriage than
those who do marry. It is accepted as a societal norm.
In 1973 the Supreme Court found that the “right” to abortion is in the Constitution of
the United States. That has much further reduced the riskiness of sex outside of
marriage, and within marriage, too, for that matter. If you don’t want the child, just kill
it. What a boost to immorality that has been!
All of that has grown through the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. For the last ten or fifteen years we
have seen the increasing demand that homosexuality be acceptable as a lifestyle, and
the allowing of same sex marriage by our Supreme Court, and not just allowed, but
accepted as normal and wholesome. We are even seeing some of our school systems
teaching homosexuality as an acceptable way of life, even to young children.
Virtually all of our entertainment is shot through with immorality. It is almost
impossible to see a movie that does not have the obligatory sex scene, at least once. Any
time a couple “falls in love,” the first thing they do is head for the bed. TV shows are
not far behind. Our music is no better and is maybe worse. At least movies are rated –

supposedly! Non-pornographic magazines are full of advice on sex and pictures of
scantily-clad women.
Advertising is in the same camp. As someone once wrote, “Sex sells anything.” I can
remember a Mustang car ad on TV many years ago in which a good-looking young man
is surrounded by several bikini-clad girls wanting to get their hands on him, while the
blurb on the screen says, “Only Mustang makes it happen.” On and on it goes.
This is to be expected in the world, but more and more it has come into the church, or
what is called the church. We have unmarried couples holding leadership positions. We
have “churches” that are “affirming.” Guess what that means! We have homosexual
bishops. (By the way, what is called a “bishop” in our day is not in Scripture.) It’s OK.
Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. And really, it isn’t sin anyway. Ha! Try
telling God that on judgment day.
And this leads to Jude’s next step. He gives a powerful warning of judgment to both lost
and saved who are following this course of libertinism. The first citation is the example
of the Lord’s people being judged. He points out that those who were delivered from
slavery in Egypt by being taken miraculously across the Red Sea, which corresponds in
typology to a lost person being saved in our day, were subsequently judged for lack of
faith and all died in the wilderness rather than entering the Land of Promise. Then he
says that even angels who rebelled against God with Satan will not escape judgment,
but some are being “kept for judgment of the great day in eternal chains under thick
darkness.” Then he names Sodom and Gomorrah as having been destroyed because of
gross immorality, particularly homosexuality.
Then Jude points out that these libertines reject authority, which is what libertinism is in
essence. No authority will tell me what to do! Even Michael the archangel would not
disrespect any authority, even Satan, who has authority over his fallen angels and the
world itself as the ruler of this world and the god of this age. For this they will suffer
corruption (v. 10). Further examples of libertinism are Cain, Balaam, and Korah.
Then Jude shows some of the damage these men do in the church. They are like rocks
hidden in the sea near the shore on which boats may wreck. These rocks, as they
partake of the Lord’s Supper with the church, may possibly cause the shipwreck of the
faith of some who may follow them in immorality. I have seen people who were living
in open immorality taking the Lord’s Table. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 11.29 that those who

do this are drinking judgment to themselves. He also writes that he would not use his
freedom if it made a brother stumble (Rom. 14.21, 1 Cor. 8.13).
Finally, Jude comes back to the judgment awaiting these libertines who mislead God’s
people. He cites Enoch’s prophecy that God will “execute judgment against everyone
and … convict every soul concerning all their ungodly works which they have done in
an ungodly way, and all the hard things which ungodly sinners have said against him.”
He also lists further charges against these immoral ones in v. 16, showing how they may
further lead God’s people astray.
So much for the warning. Now Jude tells his readers how to keep from this judgment.
They are not to listen to these “mockers, going after their own ungodly lusts.” They are
to keep themselves in the love of God. They do this by building themselves up in their
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and continuously receiving the mercy of the
Lord Jesus for eternal life.
They are also to try to save all they can from this judgment, both saved and lost. The
saved who go astray will lose reward, their inheritance in the kingdom. The lost face
hell. Jude’s readers are to have mercy on doubters, their fellow Christians who have
been affected by the teachings of the libertines and who may be in danger of falling
away. They are to snatch others out of the fire. These could be fellow Christians who are
starting to follow the libertines, who must be snatched back, or the libertines
themselves, who are heading for the fires of hell and whom Jude’s readers are to
attempt to rescue. Last, they are to have mercy with fear. That is, as they try to save
these who are already into the immorality, they must be fearful of being led into it
themselves by too close contact with those they are trying to rescue. Do it with fear and
great caution. Do not even touch a garment of these evil doers. Try to reach the sinner.
Stay away from the sin.
So – Jude is a book of warning to the saved: Do not fall into the immoral way of the
libertines. If you do, you will walk in defeat in this life, and you will lose your
inheritance in his coming kingdom. And an exhortation: contend to the point of
agonizing for the faith.
And to the lost: Repent! Eternal hell awaits those who do not.
Jude closes his book with a very strong word of encouragement, and a word of praise to
God. God is able to keep them from stumbling, so they are to hold to him and to trust

him to keep them. Having done so, they will stand “before his glory without blemish,
with great joy.”
Therefore, “to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
majesty, strength, and authority before every age, and now, and into all the ages.
Amen.”

Amen!

Jude

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