By Neil Earle
Michael Green has written: “2 Peter and Jude are a very obscure corner of the New Testament. They are hardly ever preached upon; commentaries and articles in learned journals rarely deal with them.”
So true. The last sermon I gave on the Book of Jude was 34 years ago back in 1977 when I was pastoring a small rural church in Brandon, Manitoba.
Well, let’s try it again today in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
The small book of Jude comes in at 25 verses but it is a wake-up call to Christian orthodoxy at a time such as ours, a time when the contents of the Christian faith are widely questioned, when new theologies are blended with the “faith once delivered” leading to new heresies and dangerous aberrations, with new churches emerging almost every day, and when morality seems up for grabs.
Jude is famous for his ringing phrase “the faith once and for all delivered.” But just who was this First Century writer and why should we listen to him?
He tells us in verse one that he is a servant of Jesus Christ and “the brother of James.” Mary clearly had other children apart from her famous first-born. Matthew 13:55 lists James, Joseph, Simon and Jude and sisters are mentioned as well. Jesus is famous, of course, but who was this mater-of-factly mentioned man, James. Well, he was leader of the headquarters church in Jerusalem and one of the three “pillars” of the New Testament era (Galatians 2:9). History tells us that James was known even to his Jewish enemies as James the Just for his devotion to God and exemplary prayer life. He was nicknamed something like “old camel knees” because he knelt in prayer so long and so often. In 62 AD a hate-filled hierarchy in Jerusalem took advantage of a change in Roman governors to seize James and throw him from the pinnacle of the temple.
That very temple, of course, was destroyed by invading Roman armies eight years later and there were many who attributed this to God’s revenge on the Temple system for the murder of James.
All of this is the back story to Jude’s first verse.
In fact the destruction of Jerusalem is not mentioned by Jude, which leads more and more scholars to put 65AD as the date of this letter though his intimation that the apostolic age is past has often led to a date sometime in the 80s AD. Jude doesn’t tell us and we are not exactly clear on what the problem was in his churches and even where his churches were. What is clear is that he clearly loves the people in his charge (“dear friends” is mentioned three times – verses 3, 17, 20), indicative of a pastor guarding against wolves who have “secretly slipped in among you” (verse 4).
Verse two reveals the first of his many triads – Christians are described as “called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.” This is the first of at least six references to Jesus in this letter – a good pointer to what Jude felt “the faith once delivered” really was and a reason why his letter was included in the list of inspired books made by St. Athanasius in 363 AD. Jude’s book is unfailingly Christ-centered, as we shall see.
Verse three is another triad – mercy, peace and love are wished upon us “in abundance” and in a day and age when television news gives us an average of 45 seconds of coverage per issue we do well to ponder this gift of peace. The year 2010 was noteworthy in the United States for people shooting off their mouths about any and everything and a pandering media picking up every distorted vibe and relaying it to millions. Think of the now-discredited “birther” movement, for example. This was one of many examples of public figures making outrageous statements and not feeling any need to correct them. Things have settled down a bit since then and the January, 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Gifford and others was one reason. But what a price to pay for trashing the truth, for not being careful about what we say – and how we say it.
Relevance? Yes. Jude has it.
In verse 3 and 4 Jude gives his purpose statement as to why he wrote. The ungodly interlopers are turning God’s lavish grace into an excuse for immorality and “denying Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” That is the third reference to Jesus in four verses. The writer very definitely has the Son of God on his mind and this Christ-centeredness, of course is one of the keys to all sound doctrine.
Another triad follows in verses 5-7 where Jude cites three Old Testament examples of people who once occupied privileged positions and messed up. They were the Israelites who left Egypt under Moses, the primeval rebels among the angels, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The rebellions of Israel in the wilderness and the fate of Sodom shows Jude drawing on Old Testament references in his sermon but there are also veiled Old Testament references to what the Greeks fictionalized as the revolt of Zeus against the Titans in the dim past (Isaiah 14:12-17; Job 4:18).
Jewish popular writing of Jude’s time was full of speculations about warring angles usurping their rightful place as God’s servants. As Michael Green reminds us, such beliefs were widespread in Jude’s time. It came from such Jewish pop fiction as First Enoch which Jude quotes in verses 14 and 15. Says Green: “Jude does not necessarily endorse its truth; he does however like any shrewd preacher use the current language and thought forms of his day in order to bring home to his readers…the perils of lust and pride” (Jude: Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, page 191).
The theme of prideful rebellion against constituted authority is never far from Jude’s mind and pastors and ministers who have dealt with what some call ‘clergy killers’ are well familiar with the pattern. Verses 8-10 condemns so-called “know it alls” who “reject authority and slander celestial beings.” The attitude of contempt for all hierarchy and authority – so amplified by the corrupt communication media of our day where “if it bleeds it leads” on the nightly news – this spirit is completely hostile to the good example cited by Jude. In what may be another example from popular fiction, Jude shows how Michael the Archangel would not be led into a “slanderous accusation” even against Satan the devil but left the vindication of his argument with the Great God.
Slanderous accusations?
Whew. Need I say more? The very airwaves are charged with these things daily and affect us all whether in the board room, the living room, the classroom or the bedroom. Beware. Losing your cool can have untold consequences, says Jude. Three of these dangerous results come next in verses 11. Here is Jude’s Unholy Trinity of case histories to avoid. Cain the first murderer tried to whine that authority was picking on him. Balaam was the “I’ll preach for food and glory” prophet and became the patron saint of those who will do their own thing in religion to gain followers. Korah was the arch-rebel who skillfully accused Moses of usurping his power even as he lusted for leadership himself (Number 14).
All these anti-heroes wanted to be Numero Uno and their fates were horrific. This attitude of King of the Mountain is all too prevalent in many churches today. Flashing ahead to verse 17 Jude links these power-cravers with “grumblers and faultfinders” who put themselves in the best possible light as they work their grisly deeds of rebellion and disunity. Note: Everything a rebel says seems to have some merit. Korah was famous for telling a part of the truth. Yes, Israel had not been led by Moses into the Promised Land. Yes, they had the sand and not the land. But Korah cunningly played down the truth. The reason they were not in the Land was their own rebellion, an attitude Korah was feeding to be Head Honcho.
Ever see any of that attitude in your office, your club, your family, your CHURCH?
Yes. You probably have. This is why Jude next lists five clever word-pictures of what these false teachers are really like. He is quite systematic as well as highly colorful.
First, they are “hidden rocks” which is a better translation than “blemishes” in the newer Bibles. Every sailor knows how dangerous hidden rocks are. They can degut a ship in seconds. The rebels in Jude’s time put on a good show. They pranced around so innocently at Christian worship services (love feasts) but in their heart was war. Old Testament word pictures abound in such warnings (Psalm 120:7). In the play “My Fair Lady” there’s a line: “Oozing charm from every poor, he oiled his way around the floor.” We have a saying today Jude would agree with. “All that glitters is not gold.”
Christians, beware. Everyone is not whom they seem, especially if they are angling for office.
Second, they are empty clouds. They promise much but deliver misery. Cliques beget churches which beget more churches and so on ad infinitum.
Third, the false teachers are fruitless trees, twice dead says Jude. They bear no lasting, sustainable fruit and are under condemnation of the second death, which is final death (Revelation 20:14).
Fourth, they are raging waves of the sea. This connotes wasted energy. Our church body already has 200-400 smaller churchlets come from us and new sects and mini-churches start every day. They ultimately seem to run around in circles diverting people with clever ads and propaganda as if they are making a big impact on the world but – sad fact – the world has never heard of them. As opposed to God’s sheep who peacefully feed in green pastures, the heresy teachers are always diverted by some new fad or trend – some new crisis in the Middle East could be the end of the world. They constantly mistake popguns for the crack of doom.
In some ways all this would be slightly humorous if it were not for the bloody and grisly records of people such as Jim Jones, David Koresh and a cast of thousands. In effect, Jude is exposing this aberrant Christianity (Jude 18). His little book shows us that the Holy Spirit not only knew what was coming but would use his letter as Exhibit A against those who ridicule the church and Christians when the rapture fails or the end time don’t appear. “See, Jude already covered this in the First Century. Nothing new!”
Fifth, the false heresiarchs are “wandering stars”, meteors who streak across the sky and promise great things but soon burn out and fade to page 14A very quickly. As Jude might say, It was true then and it is true now.
In Jude 15, as he concludes, Jude mentions the word “ungodly” four times in this one verse. The ungodly are also the impious and they have a talent for constructing a doctrinal system by leaving the most important things out. What are those important things? Of what does the faith once delivered consist? His conclusion shows us.
After such a serious and hard-hitting little book it is refreshing to see Jude calling us “dear friends” again in verse 17. He reiterates the fact that such deception was prophesied (verse 18). He labels division as the heinous fruit of false teachers and their arrogance (verse 19). Then he shows on what our “most holy faith” is to be built (verse 20). And the pattern is Trinitarian. Notice verses 20-21:
“…and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.”
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There they are. The very essentials of the Trinity doctrine that has tripped up heresiarchs for hundreds of years. Most heretical sects will not – simply will not – accept the Trinity teaching yet that three-fold pattern reveals how God works to establish us in the faith. The Father and Son send out the Holy Spirit to bring us to the Son whose good offices and redeeming work make us acceptable to the Father (Ephesians 1:5-6).
Once that adoption has been made we are then free to go out and help others. We are saved to serve and verse 22 says “be merciful to those who doubt.” Some will respond to kind and gentle orthodox teaching. But others you treat as if they are already burning in the fire – pluck them out (verse 23). That’s the kind of letter Jude has written – as a spiritual firefighter, Fahrenheit 65AD. After all this dire subject matter he concludes with one of the most thrilling doxologies in the New Testament, a song of praise “to Him who is able to keep you from falling.” Read it, you’ll like it.
Jude reminds us: False teachers and heresies are nothing new. The key is to be building our faith on the right foundations – biblical, doctrinal and with church history – including the book of Jude – in view.