Jude’s burden is to expose the apostasy in the Christian profession (vss. 4-13) and to pronounce its end under the judgment of God (vss. 14-16); and also, to encourage the saints to carry on in the path of faith with the resources which God has given for such times of departure (vss. 17-25). Thus, his purpose is twofold: first, to expose the character of men and the evil that they would bring into the Christian profession, and second, to provide direction and encouragement for the saints amidst the growing mass of apostates. Since God would not have us to be occupied with evil, it is a short and concise epistle.
There are many similarities between 2nd Peter and Jude, but they are not redundant. Both refer to the working of wicked men who have come in among Christians. Both describe the terrible conditions of Christendom in the last days, and both give guidance to the believer living in those difficult times. And, both quote from Old Testament examples of failure—of the angels that sinned, of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Balaam, etc. J. N. Darby pointed out that the main difference is that 2nd Peter speaks of sin, whereas Jude speaks of apostasy. Also, that 2nd Peter has to do with the bringing in of erroneous doctrines, whereas Jude has to do with the giving up of sound doctrine (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, Loizeaux edition, vol. 5, p. 547).
What is Apostasy?
There are two kinds of departure from God; both are bad, but one is infinitely worse. These are backsliding and apostasy.
A true believer may backslide (slip away from walking with the Lord) if he is not careful to maintain communion with Him. Peter is an example. He stumbled in the path of faith through sin and ended up denying the Lord, but he was restored later through the Lord’s work as an Advocate.
Apostasy is different; it is a willful renouncing of the Christian faith that one once professed to believe. It is something that only a merely professing believer who has never been born again would do. A real believer may walk out of communion with God and at a distance from the Lord, but he will not abandon the faith. Apostasy is not a question of denying the Lord under the pressure of persecution; it is a decided giving up of the faith.
Apostasy is a very solemn thing, for once a person apostatizes, there is no hope of him turning around in repentance. Scripture says that it is “impossible” to “renew them again unto repentance” (Heb. 6:4-6). Thus, all such are damned, even though they are still alive in this world! Judas Iscariot is an example; he was a disciple of the Lord’s, but he was never born of God (John 6:70). Peter returned to the Lord, but Judas never did. The following passages refer to apostates: Matthew 7:21-23; 12:43-45; 13:5-7, 20-22; Mark 3:28-30; John 15:2, 6; Acts 1:25; Romans 11:22; 1 Cor. 9:27; 10:12; Hebrews 2:1-4; 3:7-15; 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 12:12-29; 2 Peter 2:1, 20-21; Jude 4-16; Revelation 8:8-12.
Many Christians don’t know the difference between backsliding and apostasy, and by confusing these two things they’ve been led to wrong conclusions—one of which is that believers can lose the eternal salvation of their souls, which is not true. It is, therefore, important to understand the difference.
Jude shows that the seeds of apostasy were sown very early in Church history (vs. 4). It will culminate with the mass in the Christian profession giving up Christianity and following the man of sin in the worship of the image of the Beast (2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:11-18). There is no time in the history of the Christian testimony when the words of Jude have been more applicable than in this very day in which we live.
The Salutation
(Vss. 1-2)
Jude introduces himself as “Jude, the servant [bondman] of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.” Neither he, nor his brother, were part of the apostolic band that followed the Lord in the days of His earthly ministry. They were half-brothers of the Lord (Matt. 13:55) but were unbelievers in those days (Mark 3:21; John 7:5). James was converted by the time the Lord rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:7) and Jude was probably converted around that time as well. By the time the Lord had ended His resurrection appearances, all of His brethren were believers and were among the saints in the upper room in Jerusalem waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14).
“James,” whom Jude refers to here, is not James, the son of Zebedee (Matt. 4:21); he was killed by Herod quite early in Church history (Acts 12:1-2). Nor was he the son of Alphaeus (Matt. 10:3), who is also called James the less (Mark 15:40). This James became a leader in the assembly in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19). “Jude” is not the Judas that supposedly was sent forth by the Lord with Judas Iscariot (Luke 6:16). Neither Jude, nor James were apostles. (See W. Kelly, Lectures on the Epistle of Jude, pp. 10-11.) We might wonder why Jude wouldn’t have introduced himself as being the Lord’s brother. He refrained from doing that because he was acting in accordance with the Christian principle: “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more” (2 Cor. 5:16). Moreover, introducing himself as the Lord’s brother might have appeared as being prideful and seeking honour for himself.
Those to whom Jude writes are “the called ones”—those who have been called by the gospel and saved. They are a remnant of true believers amidst the mass of merely professing persons. He views them in a double way: “beloved in God the Father” and “preserved in Jesus Christ.” (The word “sanctified,” in the KJV, should be “beloved.”) Knowing this is a comforting truth to rest on in times of departure. The true saints of God are the special objects of His love, and in spite of the movement of apostasy gaining momentum in Christendom, they will all be preserved to the end. We are eternally secure and thus preserved by the One who has called and saved us. Jude ends his epistle with this same happy thought in verse 24. This does not mean that true believers can’t be affected by apostasy. While a true believer will not apostatize from the faith, he can be influenced by the current of apostasy and begin to give up certain principles and practices that he once held. The only remedy for this is keeping close to the Lord (Deut. 33:12).
(Vs 2)
Jude adds, “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.” This is God’s supply of grace to help us to go on in the Christian path. Hence, an abundant provision has been made for the saints in these last times.
The Need to Contend for the Faith
(Vs. 3)
It was on Jude’s heart to write on the subject of the salvation which is the common possession of all Christians, but the Holy Spirit constrained him to exhort the saints to contend for the truth that was being undermined by evil men. He says: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” “The faith” which Jude refers to here is the Christian revelation of truth. As a rule, when the word “faith” is used in Scripture without the definite article “the” preceding it, it is speaking of the soul’s inward energy of confidence in God (Eph. 2:8, etc.). But when “faith” is used with the article, as here in our text, it is referring to the precious deposit of truth that God has given to us—the body of Christian knowledge.
Jude’s simple but important exhortation is that we need to stand uncompromisingly for the truth. Like Shammah defending the field of lentils against the Philistines (2 Sam. 23:11-12), we are not to give up one iota of the truth to the enemy. We are not to relinquish it, nor to sell it (Prov. 23:23), but to keep it, as Paul exhorted Timothy: “That good thing [deposit] which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (2 Tim. 1:14).
We are to “earnestly contend” for the faith by first knowing the truth, and then by walking in it. We cannot defend the truth if we haven’t taken the time to learn it. Some have great devotion of heart to Christ, and this is commendable, but sadly, they lack intelligence in the truth. Consequently, in desiring to be faithful, they will sometimes hold onto error ignorantly, and valiantly defend it, thinking that it is the truth. But this kind of misguided energy only adds to the confusion in the Christian testimony. (Compare John 16:2.) Let us, therefore, give due diligence to learning the truth (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:15) and to seek grace from God to walk in it (3 John 3).
Earnestly contending for the faith is not done by arguing for the truth. There is such a thing as doing a right thing in a wrong way. Being right on some point of truth doesn’t make fighting and arguing acceptable. Paul warned Timothy of this, stating that he was “not to have disputes of words, profitable for nothing” (2 Tim. 2:14). As alluded to already, we are to keep the good deposit of truth “by the Holy Spirit” (2 Tim. 1:14). That is, we are to act in the Spirit, not in the flesh, in holding the truth. It is one thing to contend and quite another to be contentious. “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men” (2 Tim. 2:24). Thus, it is not enough to uphold the truth; our behaviour must compliment the truth that we profess (Phil. 1:27).
Jude says that the faith was “once” delivered unto the saints. This means that the truth has been given once for all time; the delivery of it is complete. There is, therefore, no more truth to be revealed or added. False teachers love to say that there is more truth to be revealed, and that what they have is such—but that erroneous notion only opens the door to spurious doctrines. On the grounds of what Jude says here, if someone were to come to us with something new, we should know immediately that their new idea couldn’t be the truth, because all the truth has been given.
Note: the truth was “delivered,” not discovered by searching through the Old Testament Scriptures. This is because the Christian revelation of truth is not in the Old Testament. It was revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10; Eph. 3:5) and communicated by them to the saints in the power of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-13).
Moreover, the body of Christian knowledge was delivered “to the saints.” It was not delivered to the apostles, but rather, through the apostles to the saints. Thus, the apostles were but the channels; the saints are the terminals of the truth. The term “saints,” refers to the whole Christian company; it includes both the brothers and the sisters. This shows that we are all the custodians of the truth. It is the responsibility of every saint to know the truth and to walk in it, and also to contend for it. Some have the idea that contending for the faith is a work that belongs to those who are teachers, but really it is a privilege and responsibility of all the saints. A sister might say, “I leave all that to my husband and the brothers in the meeting.” But that idea does not have the support of Scripture, for as Jude shows here in his use of the word “saints,” sisters are to be engaged in holding the truth too. What is so commendable about the Bereans is that there were among them many honourable women who searched the Scriptures; it was not something that just the men did (Acts 17:11-12). In fact, leaving the defense of the faith to a few “qualified” persons, or gifted teachers, has contributed to the loss of the truth as evidenced in Church history. Roman Catholicism has taken that idea to the extreme; it teaches that the Scriptures should be left in the hands of the clergy and stowed away in monasteries. Thus, in doing so, they have, in effect, taken the Scriptures (the truth) out of the hands of the saints!
A Twofold Evil
(Vs. 4)
Jude goes on to explain why contending for the faith is so important—many deceivers had crept into the Christian profession and were corrupting people with their evil doctrines and practices. He says, “For certain men have got in unnoticed [unawares], they who of old were marked out beforehand to this sentence [condemnation], ungodly persons, turning the grace of our God into dissoluteness, and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” These ungodly men had a mental acquaintance with the truth, but their ways were not in accordance with it. They had stolen in among the saints “unawares” by making an outward profession of faith, but they were charlatans. Simon the sorcerer was the first false professor to sneak in, but he was exposed by Peter and John and rejected (Acts 8). These whom Jude speaks of crept in undetected, and have remained among the saints, doing their evil work.
The KJV says that they were “ordained to this condemnation,” but the text should read, “marked out beforehand to this sentence.” God does not pre-ordain people for judgment; no one is predestined for Hell. What Jude is saying here is that God knew beforehand who these persons were and had the apostles and prophets forewarn the saints that they would arise, and to tell us that their end would be judgment. Therefore, being forewarned of their presence, we shouldn’t be surprised to see them at work in Christendom. Their seeds of ungodliness have a twofold character:
• The abuse of grace.
• The denial of the rights of Christ their Master.
“Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness [dissoluteness]” is to twist the truth of Christian liberty into license for the flesh (Gal. 5:13). These men pervert the truth of freedom from sin (Rom. 6:18) into freedom to sin! H. Smith said, “The great principle by which God is saving men from sin, and teaching them to live soberly is made the occasion by these ungodly men to gratify the flesh and indulge their lust, at the same time keeping up a fair profession and moving in the Christian circle” (The Epistle of Jude, p. 5).
“Denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ,” is not necessarily denying His name outwardly, but refusing to submit to His authority over them practically—while at the same time avowing that they do! He is their “Master” by virtue of His purchase on the cross (Matt. 13:44; Heb. 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1), but He is not their Lord and Saviour. They deny His right to rule over them, by lowering Him in their doctrine to the level of themselves. Thus, their doctrine strips the Lord of His deity, of His sinless humanity, and of His divine attributes, making Him as any other man (Psa. 50:21). The practical outcome of their erroneous notions is not to submit to His authority.