Jude (WK) - Bible Truth Library

• "The gainsaying of Core" is direct rebellion against all constituted authority; it is man's self-will exerting its supremacy. (“The Corruption of Christianity” by G.V. Wigram)

• "The way of Cain" is natural unbelief, accompanied by hatred of righteousness…."Balaam" is the embodiment of the principle of religious corruption. He possessed the truth, but used it for corrupt ends. It was not the rejection of God's revelation, but the employment of the light he possessed without the exercise of conscience, and without seeking God's ends....Korah is a type of the last phase of apostasy; when the ecclesiastical and civil power will be found in open revolt against the kingly and priestly rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. (“The Epistle of Jude”)

• Observe here the word, "Woe." I do not know it anywhere in the New Testament except in the very different application which the Apostle makes to himself in 1 Cor. 9:16, if he did not make the glad tidings known. Here it is, "Woe unto them." I am not of course speaking of the Gospels, but of the Epistles. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• Cain sees nothing defective in the offering itself—in the materials that composed the offering; but there is this vital defect that completely ruined him, and that is, there was no faith. There is no mention of either God on the one hand, which must be, nor, on the other hand, was there any judgment of his own sinfulness. He failed therefore completely as to the inner man, for God never calls upon men who put on any appearance before Him. That is what was done here; perhaps no great depth of it, but still Cain took the place of a worshipper and he brought his offering to Jehovah, with no consciousness of his own ruin by sin, nor of God's grace, or of the need of it….It is a departure from faith, it is a departure from love, it is a departure from righteousness. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• It is not the mere order of history. If it were the order of history then the error of Balaam would be put last. It is a moral law, it is the order of men's souls. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• Balaam was drawn to curse Israel, and he was induced to do so by all the offers of gold and silver and honor of every kind. And I will even say that he tried to make it out that he did not care for money; he said he was entirely above such a paltry consideration. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• Balaam thought to employ the women of Moab to draw the Israelites after idolatry. He could not turn Jehovah away from Israel, so he tried to turn Israel away from Jehovah. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• Korah belonged to the highest of the Levites; but nothing satisfied him. Why? Because he hated that Moses should have a place that belonged to him beyond any other. (“Jude 10-13” by W. Kelly)

• First {Cain}, that of nature, the opposition of the flesh to the testimony of God and His true people, the impetus which this enmity gives to the will of the flesh. (“JUDE” by J.N. Darby)

• In the second place {Balaam}, ecclesiastical evil, teaching error for reward, knowing all the while that it is contrary to the truth and against the people of God. (article #86573)

• Third {Core or Korah}, open opposition, rebellion, against the authority of God in His true King and Priest. (article #86573)

• {Cain} The way of Cain was the way of natural religion. Cain was a religious man, but his religion was according to the thoughts of fallen man and not according to the revelation of God. (“The Course of the Evil: Jude 1:11-13” by H. Smith)

• {Balaam} This has been rightly called the ecclesiastical error, or how many there are who hold high official position in the professing church who simply use the position to make merchandise out of the people of God, and are ready to teach error to obtain rewards. (“The Course of the Evil: Jude 1:11-13” by H. Smith)

• {Core or Korah} the modern answer to the gainsaying of Core is only too manifest. From pulpit and press, from convention and conference there flows an ever-rising tide of rebellion against the Christ of God, combined with the exaltation of man. Christ is degraded to the level of fallen man, and man is exalted to the level of God. (“The Course of the Evil: Jude 1:11-13” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

Woe to them! because they have gone in the way of Cain, and given themselves up to the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

W. Kelly Translation

Woe unto them! because they went in the way of Cain, and rushed greedily into the error of Balaam’s hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.