The Book of Jude

The Book of Jude was written by Jude himself and was scribed somewhere in the mid-60s AD. As the opening text in verse 1 notates, the book was written by Jude the brother of James and Jesus. The overarching theme for Jude is that the church must content for the faith that was once delivered to them and to not fall away from where they first began. The desire of Jude is that the church will persevere to the end by resisting fall teachers and stay faithful to the truth of Christ.

The Book of Jude breaks down into the following outline:

1. Initial Greeting (verses 1-2)

2. Jude's Appeal: Contend for the Faith (verses 3-4)

a. The Urgency of the Defense (verse 3)

b. Description of the false teachers and their teaching (verse 4)

3. Immoral Character and Consequent Judgment of the False Teachers (verses 5-16)

a. Judgment reserved for false teachers (Verses 5-7)

i. The analogy of Egypt (verse 5)

ii. The analogy of the rebellious angels (verse 6)

iii. The analogy of Sodom and Gomorrah (verse 7)

b. Nature of the false teachers (verses 8-13)

i. The false teachers are blasphemers (verses 8-10)

ii. The false teachers are motivated by greed (verse 11)

iii. The false teachers exemplify depravity with impunity (verses 12-13)

c. Judgment on the false teachers revisited (verses 14-16)

i. Description of the judgment (verses 14-15)

ii. Further reasons for judgment (verse 16)

4. Concluding exhortations (verses 17-25)

a. On the apostolic warnings (verse 17-19)

b. On the antidote to the false teachers (verses 20-21)

c. On showing mercy (verses 22-23)

d. Doxology of great joy (verses 24-25)

1) Greeting

a) "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."

i) Jude opens his letter with the notation that he is the servant of Jesus Christ but also the brother of James and is addressing his letter to the beloved in God the Father (the Church).

ii) He then decrees the mercy, peace and love of God to be multiplied to those who would read this letter.

iii) As I made note in the opening regarding the history of the letter, James is the half-brother of Christ who was the head of the Jerusalem Council and is noted in Acts 12:17 as being the brother of Christ.

iv) Thus Jude refers to James as his own brother then Jude is in direction relation to Christ as well. Jesus had siblings as noted in the Gospel of Saint John chapter 7 when his brothers went to the Feast of Booths.

2) Judgment on False Teachers

a) "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. 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."

i) Note in verse 3 that Jude make reference to his desire to write about something else but finds it necessary to write an appeal to the church to contend for the faith that was first delivered to the saints.

ii) This verse suggests that the church has gotten off course by not adhering to what was first given to them and have drifted from where they first began. Thus Jude is calling them back to the beginning to get them back on track.

iii) In verse 4, just as Paul had to contend with the Churches are Colossae and Philippi as well as in his letters to Titus and Philemon; here we see the same issue being addressed by Jude.

iv) Note Jude's words in verse 4… "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."

b) "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. 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."

i) There is a tremendous amount of insight that we need to unpack from these 3 verses (verses 5, 6, and 7)

ii) Verse 5 addresses those delivered out of Egypt and Jesus' involvement in their deliverance.

iii) Verse 6 speaks to Christ's authority over not just the natural and the power to have authority in our realm of existence but also in other realms of existence, namely the spirit realm. Jude refers to it is He that has kept them in chains until the judgment.

iv) Verse 7 addresses the fact that the Judge of all the earth, who has exited from the Beginning, was also the authority by which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

v) Now why are these three verses so important? Because the verses lend to us the insight and view of the Apostles in regards to Christ, in his divine nature, was active in the world from the beginning of creation; long before his incarnation.

vi) (See additional note packet - Next Page)

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The Book of Jude (Additional notes and scriptures)

The Gospel of Saint John 1:1-3, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

The Gospel of Saint John 8:53-59, "⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?" ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God." ⁵⁵ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."

Focus on verse 58, "⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

The Book of Exodus 3:13-14, "¹³ Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" ¹⁴ God said to Moses, "I am who I am."^[a] And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'I am has sent me to you.'"

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c) "⁸ Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹ But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

i) Verses 8 and 9 deal with those who dishonor and disregard for authority at any and all levels. The point of Jude referencing to Michael the Archangel did not bringing a blasphemous judgment against Satan but rather stood on the judgment of the Lord.

ii) If Michael the archangel did not manifest dishonor to a fallen angel then we must all the more aware that we not dishonor the Glorious One whom we serve.

d) "¹⁰ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion."

i) Note in verse 10 that they blaspheme all that they do not understand and are destroyed. The Scripture cautions us in this by warning us that judgment will befall those who life in the way of Cain (rage) fall into the sin of Balaam (greed) and that of Korah (rebellion)

ii) The challenge of this text is simply the question of who do you serve and how will you serve?

e) "¹² These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever."

i) In verses 12-13, Jude addresses those who are in leadership are unworthy to be in such a position as well as the fact that these leaders are empty. Note the statements used: shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted…

ii) As it were, the leaders that should be followed should be those who are the opposite of these things noted and not in alignment with them.

f) "¹⁴ It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him." ¹⁶ These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage."

i) In verse 15, Jude references to an extra-biblical text known as the Book of Enoch and quotes from Enoch's text in regards to the forthcoming judgment of God on the earth and the judgment of the wicked.

ii) This quote, if one were to read the Book of Enoch, is found in 1 Enoch 1:9 and in this specific passage, the focus of Enoch's writings on is the Lord's return to the earth and the destruction of the wicked.

iii) I fear that far too many look to the Return of Christ to be a great and wonderful day but the Scripture refers to it as the great and terrible day of the Lord. (Book of Joel 2:31)

3) A Call to Persevere

a) "¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."

i) Jude begins the process of closing his letter as warning a well as admonishment as is found noted in verse 17-18, "¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions."

ii) But from this warning and admonishment, Jude encourages the church to build themselves up in their most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Friends, I believe that if we understood the full revelation of our Prayer Language we would spend far more time praying in the Spirit.

iii) And notice verse 22 with me, "²²And have mercy on those who doubt;"

iv) Church we can't get mad with those who doubt or do not know… we must have mercy per the Scriptures…

4) Doxology

a) "²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

i) In closing, Jude finishes out with trusting the Lord with tending to His people by His divine Providence. And note the last portion of verse 25… before all time (past) now (present) and forever (future)