GEMS FROM THE ENDINGS OF THE EPISTLES

Part XVIII: Gems From The Ending Of Jude, A. D. 67-80

(Jude 1-25)

I. Introduction

A. The epistle of Jude was written by Jude, the half-brother of Christ, a son of Joseph and Mary (cf. Matthew 13:53-55) sometime between A. D. 67 and 80 (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 434, 918).

B. Though Jude had initially earnestly wanted to write about the believer’s great salvation, he felt impelled due to the negative influence of apostates to urge his readers “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” Jude 3 ESV. This epistle thus provides insight and a strong call to counter apostacy.

C. We thus view this short epistle on contending for the faith opposite apostasy for our insight and application:

II. Gems From The Ending Of Jude; Jude 1-25.

A. To appreciate the importance of Jude’s epistle, we note that throughout Biblical history, people have faced significant opposition to God’s truth from false, apostate beliefs and their promoters:

1. Though God created Adam and Eve without sin, Satan seduced Eve to disobey God, and she in turn influenced her husband to sin against the Lord, and mankind fell into sin and suffered death, Genesis 1-3.

2. God gave man a fresh start via the Noahic Flood (Gen. 6:6-9:7), but Noah’s descendant Nimrod began the apostacy of paganism at Babel to counter God’s truth and rule of man (Gen. 10:8-10; 11:1-9; Rev. 12:1-3).

3. God thus chose Abraham to start a nation to check this apostacy of Nimrod’s paganism, Genesis 12:1-3.

4. However, the Old Testament records Israel’s failure to curb Nimrod’s apostacy, Genesis 12:4-Malachi 4:6.

5. God then sent His Son Jesus as Messiah, but Israel rejected Him, so God postponed the start of the Messianic kingdom and now graciously conducts its recruitment program via the Church (Gospels; Acts).

6. However, as foretold in the Matthew 13 parables, even the Church now faces Satan’s infiltrators who secretly infiltrated it to promote Nimrod’s ongoing worldwide, pagan apostacy, Jude 12, 3-4!

B. God thus used Jude to warn Christians to contend earnestly for the faith that was “once-for-all” (hapax, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 80) irreversibly, unalterably given to the saints, Jude 3a,b!

C. The way we believers in the Church are to achieve this directive is described in Jude’s epistle (as follows):

1. We must first be assured that we cannot lose our salvation, for it is preserved by God, Jude 1.

2. Since apostates creep into groups of believers, we must earnestly contend for any challenges to the faith that was irreversibly and unalterably given to us as revealed in the apostles’ writings, Jude 3-4; 1 John 4:6.

3. Jude then offered four criteria for identifying apostates and their errors, Jude 3b-24:

a. Since God’s truth for the Church was “once-for-all” delivered to the saints as given in Scripture, any belief that shifts from the original Scriptural assertions by the apostles must be opposed by the believer, Jude 3b.

b. Apostates can be identified by their sins, for (i) they rely on imagination instead of written Scripture (Jude 8a with 2 Timothy 3:14-17), (ii) they promise but cannot deliver teaching that feed the spirit of man (Jude 12c), (iii) they side with popular but false views (Jude 12d, 13b), (iv) they cannot produce righteous lives either in themselves or in their followers (Jude 12e) and (v) they are showy but fruitless long-term, Ju. 13a.

c. Apostates pervert God’s grace into license and lust, Jude 4: (i) They reject divine and Biblical human authorities (Jude 8b, 9, 11c, 12a), (ii) they are abusive (Jude 10a), (iii) they indulge in natural instincts (Jude 10b), (iv) they are greedy (Jude 11b, 12b), (v) they are habitual faultfinders (Jude 16a) and (vi) they manipulate people by flattery and boasting (Jude 16b).

d. Apostates deny Christ, Jude 4d: (i) They deny His authority and Lordship (Jude 4d), (ii) they deny His incarnation (1 John 4:3-4), (iii) they deny that He is the Old Testament promised Messiah and/or even His historical existence (Jude 24; cf. S. Maxwell Coder).

4. Thus, we believers must counter such apostacy by (i) caring for our own spiritual needs (Jude 17-19) through (+) using Scripture to discern error (Jude 17-19) and (+) applying Scripture to life (Jude 20-21). (ii) We must minister to others who face apostacy through (+) gently informing those who doubt the truth (Jude 22), (+) evangelizing deceived unbelievers (Jude 23a) and (+) cautiously instructing Christians who accept errant views, (+) watching ourselves lest we get sucked into their carnality (Jude 23b). (iii) We must remain confident that Christ will give eventual victory over apostasy to true believers (Jude 24-25).

Lesson: God raised up Jesus’ half-brother Jude to call us to contend earnestly for the faith that God gave to us.

Application: May we obey the epistle of Jude by contending earnestly for the apostolic Christian faith.