(Jude 1-16)
It has been surmised that the Epistle of Jude was the last of the inspired epistles. In any case it is very appropriately placed, in our arrangement of the Scriptures, immediately before the book of Revelation; for while Jude speaks of the corruption and apostasy of the Christian profession, the Revelation foretells the judgment that must follow in all its terrible detail.
Jude having taken his pen in hand purposed to write with all diligence concerning the common salvation, but, led by the Spirit of God, he is constrained to write concerning a special evil which made it of all moment that he should exhort the saints to contend earnestly for the faith.
There are common evils—the world, the flesh, and the devil—to which all who enjoy the common salvation are exposed at all times and in all places, Jude, however, writes neither of the common salvation nor of the common evils. He has before him a special and very terrible form of evil—the corruption of Christianity by ungodly men inside the Christian circle.
To obtain a clear conception of this appalling evil, let us remember that the apostle John had already written of those who “went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:19). Jude likewise traces the evil of which he speaks to those who are not “of us” for he says in verse 4 they are “ungodly men.” There is, however, this important difference, the ungodly men of whom John speaks “went out,” whereas the ungodly of whom Jude writes “crept in.” In result, the difference is very great. If ungodly men “go out,” they will become opposers to the truth outside the Christian circle. If the ungodly creep in, they will become corrupters of the truth inside the Christian circle. To oppose the truth is indeed solemn, to corrupt it is far worse. It is of this special and terrible evil that Jude writes. He lays bare its insidious commencement in the days of the apostles; he exposes its deadly character; he traces its evil course through the succeeding ages, and foretells its overwhelming judgment at the coming of the Lord. Its continuance through the dispensation clearly proves that corruption inside the Christian circle is an evil that no accession of light can arrest, no revival can check, and no reformation can remove. The Lord alone can deal with it at His coming. First then Jude presents before us: