False Teachers

HoHum:

Jeff Strite- Phil (a member of our congregation) owns a stunning sports car. It's a Viper. It's a thing of beauty. And it has a powerful engine with 10 cylinders. Most of us common folks have cars with 6 and 8 cylinders... but this car has TEN. I'm pretty sure it can take you anywhere you want to go as fast as you'll ever want to go.

Well, let's say I come into some money, and I decide to buy Phil's sports car, and he's kind enough to sell it to me. But buying that car just about taps me out. Money gets tight and I have to start cutting some corners. And one of the places I decide to cut corners is in the oil I buy for oil changes. The oil I'm supposed to put in that vehicle begins to look a little too expensive for my budget, so I decide to go down to the grocery store & buy some Wesson cooking oil. I mean -- it is oil isn't it?

Now, what do you think is going to happen to that car? It'll turn over just once, and then that engine isn't going to be worth much. On the outside it will probably still be a beautiful sports car but on the inside... the power of its engine will be destroyed. It will ultimately be unable to take me the places I want to go.

And that is what God tells us about the Faith Once Delivered to the saints. If I go to changing the oil and putting something in the engine that doesn't belong I might still have a good looking chassis on the outside, but on the inside... I'll have destroyed the power that the Church has to help people go where they need to go.

WBTU:

In our survey of each NT book we come to the short letter of Jude. Read by paragraphs

The Jude mentioned here is the brother of Jesus. ““Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” Matthew 13:55, NIV. Jude is a form of the name “Judas,” since the betrayal of Judas Iscariot the name of Judas is despised. After the resurrection, Jesus’ brothers came to believe in him and they became missionaries. “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?” 1 Corinthians 9:5, NIV.

Jude is packed with quotes from the OT and the Apocrypha (writings by Jews between the time of the OT and NT) like the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Enoch. Jude’s use of apocryphal literature was of concern to the early church. Some concluded that any book that used such material could not be genuine and not inspired of the HS. However, these same people fail to recognize that other NT writers did the same thing. Paul referred to heathen poets. The author of Hebrews mirrors some of the works of the Jew Philo, and James makes reference to non-biblical sources. The issue is not where the specific words came from but how the NT writer used the same words to reveal God’s truth.

Another concern here is that much of Jude is similar to much of 2 Peter. 15 of Jude’s 25 verses appear copied from 2 Peter. Did Jude copy from 2 Peter or did Peter copy from Jude? This relates to the issue of dating this letter, which came first 2 Peter or Jude? For many the dating of Jude is hard to determine.

Alger Fitch- The answer appears to me to be found in comparing the so called identical passages, matching closely the verb tense. The material is 2 Peter is in the future tense, predicting what shall be in the future. Jude’s material is sent as a warning to the churches calling attention to the fact that what had been foretold by Peter was presently happening. Peter prophesied, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” 2 Peter 2:1, NIV. Peter continues his foretelling into chapter 3: “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”” 2 Peter 3:3, 4, NIV.

Jude, on the other hand, seeing these things happening, reminds his readers, “But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.” Jude 1:17, and he speaks of the “certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago” Jude 1:4, NIV. 2 Peter tells of what is yet to come. Jude points to what is already happening.