Open up your Bibles to Jude. When is the last time you heard that? Jude is the next to the last book of the New Testament, right before Revelation. It doesn’t rank up there on the list of most popular books in the Bible. Not many quotes from Jude are on your refrigerator or being cross stitched for wedding gifts.
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It’s not very popular for a few reasons.
(1) It’s a short book, only 25 verses. By word count it’s the 5th shortest book of the Bible.
(2) It’ deals with a difficult subject, false teachers. Jude has some pretty severe words and, especially in our day, we tend to avoid any hint of judgmentalism.
(3) Jude’s use of non-biblical books. He quotes from a book called 1 Enoch and references another non-biblical work called the Assumption of Moses. It’s hard to know sometimes what to make of those references.
(4) Jude, the author is not well known. All the other books of the Bible are written by more well know leaders in the church. Matthew, Mar, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James (who knows who wrote Hebrews?) But Jude – who is this guy?
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Let’s tackle that question first.
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Authorship
Jude was a common name in NT times. It’s a variation of Judas (I guess no one could stomach naming a book Judas!). There are at least five Jude’s/Judases in the New Testament. One we can eliminate immediately.
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(1) Judas Iscariot – he killed himself after he betrayed Jesus.
(2) There’s Judas the Galilean who is mentioned in Acts 5:37. Most eliminate him as he is mentioned just in passing as a former Jewish revolutionary.
(3) There’s a Judas Barsabbas in Acts 15, but he never seems to rise to a suitable level of prominence and is not mentioned as brother of James.
(4) There’s another one of the 12 apostles, Judas, the son of James (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13). But the Jude of this letter refers to himself as the brother of James, not the son of James.
(5) That leaves one candidate – Jude (or Judas) the half-brother of Jesus who is the brother of James.
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Matthew 13:55 (NIV) — 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (cf. Mark 6:3)
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Why does he reference himself to James? James, another common name in NT times, is in all likelihood the brother of Jesus who at first didn’t believe (John 7:5) but later became a leader in the Jerusalem church as we see in Acts 15, 22; Galatians 2, and 1 Corinthians 15:7 (one of the witnesses to the resurrection). Jude likely became a believer after the resurrection since Acts 1:14 says the Lord’s brothers were part of the prayer meetings prior to Pentecost. We learn from 1 Cor 9:5 that the Lord’s brothers were itinerant missionaries, and Jude probably was included here. But why doesn’t he call himself the brother of Jesus? He likely refrains from calling himself the brother of Jesus out of humility and a desire to avoid the appearance of claiming special authority based on his biological rather than spiritual relationship to Jesus. So, this Jude, who likely became a leading figure of the church as well, the brother of James and the half-brother of Jesus.
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Who are the original recipients?
Jude does not specify the audience like Paul does in his letters. He seems to have a church in mind, or a network of churches, but perhaps this was for a wider audience than Paul’s letters. There are no personal greeting. No people he gives thanks to. This is why Jude is classified as a general, or catholic, epistle among the NT documents. It would make sense that these churches were at least partially composed of Jewish people who would be somewhat familiar with 1 Enoch and The Assumption of Moses.
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When was it written?
One way to date this book is to note its relationship to 2 Peter. A lot of the material in Jude is also included in 2 Peter (much has been written about hat that we will not get into). The current consensus is that Jude was written first and Peter made use of Jude. If that’s the case, Peter (according to Christina tradition) died a martyr’s death at the hand of Nero Caesar who died in AD 68. That would mean that 2 Peter was written on later than AD 68 and Jude was written some time before that. So, pretty early on in the history of the church.
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What is a bit unsettling about that is the fact that false teaching has taken root in the church no more than 35 years after the resurrection! Within a generation the core beliefs of the church are being challenged. That reminded me of a sobering quote by John Wesley:
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What one generation tolerates another generation will embrace.
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So, we have this short, somewhat harsh, less than popular book. Why then am I preaching from it?
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(1) It’s in the Bible and its place in the Bible has never been seriously challenged. Jude appears in the earliest lists of New Testament books. The Bible is life-giving and so Jude is life giving.
(2) Last year I listened to a series of 12 podcast ranging from 30-60 minutes by biblical scholar Michael Heiser and discovered how much there was in this little book. There are some wonderful and encouraging words in this book that are often overlooked. One commentator called Jude, “The most neglected book of in the NT.” “I need to preach this book,” I said to myself.
(3) Although the main topic, warnings of false teachings, is less than pleasant we need to be aware that the danger of false teachings is always a reality.
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All right, with all that introductory material behind us let’s get into the text of the book. Today I hope to get through verses 1-4.
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Jude 1 (NIV) — 1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
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Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James - we more or less covered this phrase in our introductory remarks. We didn’t cover the designation of servant. Jude proudly bears the name of servant, or slave, of Jesus Christ. This is a common designation for people of God (Moses, David, Elijah, Paul …). Does it describe you? Are you willing to carry that designation?
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The next phrase is one of those hidden gems. Look how he describes believers: to those" who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." Jude is fond of using triads, and here is the first of many.
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(1) Called – we are invited. Our relationship with God is initiated by him. No human effort on our part could establish a right standing with God.
(2) Loved in God the Father – this is so fundamental to our relationship with God. Everything he says and does comes from a heart of love. We will never be fully submissive to Him until we are assured that He loves us. We will live into the abundant life until we are convinced of his love for us.
(3) Kept for Jesus Christ – guarded is another way to translate this word. The word foreshadows what is to come – we are under attack. You guard things that are in danger of assault. But Jude sets the tone for the rest of this letter that true believers can be spiritually secure in Jesu Christ. We need to have that confidence.
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1 John 5:18 (NIV) — 18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
John 17:11, 15 (NIV) — 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
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These churches Jude was writing to seem to be living in spiritually dangerous times but he assures them that they are kept. You are kept. You are being guarded. We should never let fear overwhelm us.
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Jude 2 (NIV) — 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
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Here we see another triad and what three beautiful words:
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(1) Mercy – God has not treated us as our sins deserve.
(2) Peace – because of his mercy we have peace with God.
(3) Love – our response is to love God and love others.
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And Jude says those are yours in abundance!
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This sets the tone for what is coming. You are called, loved, and kept, You have in abundance mercy, peace and love. We need to hear these truths so loudly because the tone is about to change in verse 3.
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Jude 3 (NIV) — 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.
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Jude’s initial intention with this letter was to write an upbeat, encouraging correspondence about salvation. But something changed his mind. Instead, he felt compelled (a strong word) to urge (another strong word) to contend for the faith. Jude senses a real threat developing in the Christian community. He sees the warning signs.
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We are familiar with warnings. When the weather is threatening we see the warnings and watches. We put ourselves on guard. We prepare. The US armed forces has a rating system for threats to the nation – DEFCON levels. This sounds like a DEFCON level 2 or maybe even 1! Jude sees what we sometimes call a “clear and present danger.” So he urges the readers to contend! Another serious word! The NASB translates this word “contend earnestly.’ The Message translates it:
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Jude 3 Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.
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Jude is calling on this group to be ready to fight for the faith. Let me note, that this term in no way justifies physical or verbal abuse. Jude is calling us to stand firm in the faith. To hold unswervingly to those core beliefs that define Christianity. Note how he defines this faith:
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Once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.
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These beliefs have already been set. What was taught by Jesus, the apostles, and the inspired writes of the NT which have preserved those teachings is all we need and we cannot change that foundation. This is why we contend that the NT is all we need. Throughout Christian history there have been some who have proposed new inspired books, new revelations from God. No. The faith has been delivered.
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Paul was pretty insistent on that.
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Galatians 1:6–9 (NIV) — 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
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You can’t add to it. You can’t improve on it.
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I love Oreo cookies. Occasionally my mother would bring home these - Hydrox cookies. They look like Oreos but they are not. You can make them look like Oreos but they are just cheap imitations. Others try to do that as well- take a well-known brand and copy it. We call them knock-offs. Here are some examples:
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Kat Kot bars – a knock-off of Kit Kat bars.
Here’s a 7 Evelyn – a knock off of 7-Eleven
Here’s a favorite – I think it tastes like butter – a knock-off of I Can’t Believe it’s not Butter
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There are some people peddling a faith that has some similarities to Christianity but simply is not. And they have slipped into the church.
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Jude 4 (NIV) — 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
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Who are these people? Likely itinerant preachers, not uncommon in the first century, have infiltrated these churches with a knock-off gospel. Now we don’t have that situation today but beware – there are lots of ways that false teaching can slip into a church and into your life. We have access to the teachings of so many people through the internet. So many books, blogs, sermons are at our fingertips. So may people trying to influence us – it’s a billion-dollar industry. We must beware. We must be on alert.
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These false teachers are described in three ways: (we will move through these quickly as these will be developed later in the letter.)
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(1) Ungodly – not just denying the existence of God, but a failure to recognize a spiritual authority over us.
(2) Pervert grace – they teach that since there is grace we are free to sin in any way we want. Somewhat of the same thought we see Paul addressing in Romans 6:1:
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Romans 6:1–2 (NIV) — 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
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This is described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer as cheap grace in Cost of Discipleship.
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Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church.
In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin.
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.
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(3) Deny Jesus Christ as Sovereign Lord – this may be a denial of the deity of Jesus but I think it is more closely related to the first description. A failure to submit to Jesus.
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Luke 6:46 (NIV) — 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
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We will close out here. I am looking forward to getting deeper into this letter.
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The gospel has great power – mercy, peace, and love. We can have those things in abundance. Jesus promises us the abundant life. But all of these promises are when we are willing to submit to God, Jesus. All these promises come from a right understanding of the Gospel. When we dilute the gospel, the power diminishes. And there is a point when we dilute it to such a point that it is not really the gospel at all. Jude is concerned that these churches are hearing a diluted version of the good news and he’s concerned. My hope is that going through Jude we won’t give into fear or criticism but we will be challenged to believe and obey the pure form of the Gospel and in doing so experience the power of salvation.
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