Book -- Chapter 6 -- Jude

Here is the next chapter of the book.  I will post the chapter on Philemon next Tuesday.  I would like to ask everyone if they would pray that the storms that are supposed to be in my area tonight will not be bad.  Thank you.

Chapter 6 – Jude

     We now come to the final book in our study of the Bible’s smallest books.  Jude is a book that is absolutely packed with interesting things to learn.  Of all of the books that we have studied together, I think that Jude may be the most interesting. 

     This little book has been a source of controversy and intrigue for Bible scholars since the time of the early church.

     Let’s begin with some background information.  This epistle was written to a general audience of first century believers and is therefore referred to as one of the general epistles.  It claims to have been written by Jude who is the brother of James who was a prominent leader in the church at Jerusalem.  This James was the probable writer of the epistle of James, and he was Jesus’ half-brother.  Therefore, the man named Jude who wrote this epistle was also a half-brother of Jesus.

     Little is known about Jude’s role in the early church.  He does have this epistle bearing his name, and it seems as if he was a respected leader whose words would readily have been given an audience.

     Most Bible scholars concur that Jude was written sometime near the end of the first century.  The main reason for this conclusion lies in the fact that Jude is concerned with heretical teachers and the prevalence of false doctrine within the church.  The church would probably have had to have been established for a time for such a plethora of false belief to have taken root. 

     There is a continuing question among scholars regarding the relationship between Jude and II Peter.  There are entire portions of Jude and II Peter that are virtually word for word identical.  The question is did Jude borrow from Peter, or did Peter borrow from Jude’s writing?

     Some of those in the early church felt the Jude was merely a copy of II Peter.  They relegated Jude to non-canonical status.  Many in the early church regarded both Jude and II Peter to be outside the canon of Scripture.  However, the church eventually came to the conclusion that both of these epistles should be considered part of the New Testament.  Each book was seen to possess value in its own right.

     One of the main reasons that Jude was not accepted right away was due to the fact that Jude references two non-canonical books within it as if they are authoritative.  Jude mentions an account where Michael the Archangel is in a dispute with Satan over the body of Moses.  This account is taken from a book known as the Assumption of Moses. 

     Apparently, Jude believed this to be an accurate recording of an event that actually took place.  Neither Jewish nor Christian scholars hold to the Assumption of Moses being an authoritative work or being part of the Old Testament canon. 

     Also, Jude speaks of Enoch prophesying the Second Coming of Jesus.  This is supposed to be the same Enoch who was taken to Heaven by God because he was a righteous man.  There is a Book of Enoch that cites this prophecy that is not considered part of the Hebrew Bible. 

     So, what do we make of this?  In my opinion, just because these accounts are contained in non-canonical books does not mean that they did not occur.  Obviously they did, or they would not be recorded in the Scriptures. 

     It is also possible that Jude is referencing these stories to prove a point.  Often, we will reference a story from mythology to get a point across.  Jude may be doing this, but I don’t think that this is the case. 

     Jude did not originally intend to write his epistle on the subject of the dangers of false teachers and teachings in the church.  He intended to write an epistle dealing with the common salvation we have through knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

     However, Jude had to change his plans when he realized that those who taught false doctrines had come into the church and were leading many people astray.  In fact, Jude said that these false teachers perverted the grace of God into sensuality and denied Jesus Christ.

     Jude urges his readers to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered for the saints.”  This is still something that is important for us to do today. 

     We live in a day and age when many churches no longer teach much about Christian theology.  Many people in the pews don’t know what they believe or why they are supposed to believe it.  Because of this, there is a great deal of unorthodox teaching in the church today.

     As believers in Jesus Christ, we have as part of our responsibility the mission of standing up for sound doctrine.  We should do this with gentleness and with respect and not in some type of militant or hateful manner.

     We will not be able to earnestly contend for the faith if we do not know theology and sound doctrine ourselves.  Therefore, we need to be students of the Word and students of the theological disciplines.

     If we encounter those who are attempting to bring false teachings into our assemblies, we should by the use of Scripture address the errors that they are attempting to introduce.  We then need to demonstrate from the Bible what the correct and orthodox teaching truly is.

     It seems fairly clear from the text in Jude that Jude was dealing with two particular false beliefs that were being disseminated among the churches where his epistle was to be read.  The first of these beliefs is known as antinomianism.  The Apostle Paul also addressed this problem. 

      Antinomianism is a doctrine that promotes a false idea of grace.  According to Paul in Romans 6, some were teaching that we should sin so that grace could abound all the more.  To this idea, Paul said, “God forbid”.

     I’ve encountered this teaching in a modified form today.  People will say that we sin every day, and there is really nothing that we can do about it.  Just ask Jesus to forgive you and move on.  Others will do something that they know is wrong and then comment, “Well, God will forgive me if I ask Him anyway.”

     This type of belief is trampling upon the grace of God and turning toward sensuality just as spoken of by Jude.  Those of us who name the name of Jesus are to be those who follow the path of Christ and obey His commandments and His teachings.  Jesus said that if we truly love Him we will keep His commandments.  He also said that He can call us His friends if we do those things that He has said.

     If we truly love and serve Jesus, we will not have a cavalier attitude toward sin in our lives.  When we sin, we will repent, and then with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will attempt to amend our lives so that we don’t fall into sin in that same way again and again and again.

     In the matter of false teachings in the church, I just want to comment on the other area that Jude addresses which is also prevalent in the church today. 

     The easiest way to detect false teaching is to see what that teaching does with the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Almost every false teaching will have a wrong teaching about who Jesus is and what He did.

      For instance, many will deny that Jesus was God come in the flesh.  In our day and age, this takes the form of those who say that Jesus was just a good man or a prophet.  Even many in Christian churches will deny the divinity of Jesus.  They deny His miracles and His supernatural virgin birth. 

     Also prevalent, even in the church today, is a discounting of the substitutionary atonement of Christ.  They will deny that Jesus died in our place taking upon Himself our sin and the punishment that was due because of sin against a Holy God. 

     Jude doesn’t have anything good to say about false teachers.  He compares them to Cain, Balaam, Korah, brute beasts and the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.

     Cain murdered his brother Able.  He brought a sacrifice that was unacceptable to God, and hated his brother for doing what was right.  He was truly an evil man.

     Balaam was a prophet who was willing to prophecy whatever someone asked as long as the price was right.  He was even going to curse the people of God until he was stopped by a talking donkey. 

     Korah did not respect the God ordained authority that was given to Moses.  He rebelled, and he and his followers were punished by God.

     False teachers also revile spiritual beings.  Jude said that even when Michael was contending with Satan over the body of Moses, Michael said the Lord rebuke you.  He didn’t try to fight evil in his own power; he invoked the power of the Lord who is the only one who has the power to defeat pure evil.

     One of the signs that we are living in the last days before the return of Jesus is the fact that more and more false teachers will arise.  There are many today who are not teaching the true orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith.  Many people are being led astray because doctrine is not preached that much anymore.  Often, the church service seems more like a performance than a place where the Word of the Lord is taught in depth.

     However, even in the midst of these trying times, we as believers in Jesus are to build ourselves up in the faith.  We are to keep praying in the power of the Holy Spirit and sharing the message of Jesus’ love. 

     We know that just as Enoch prophesied, Jesus will come again and establish His kingdom with power and great glory.  Love, justice and goodness will prevail.  Every knee throughout the universe will bow and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

     With this thought in mind, we are to spread the message of salvation.  We are to live in such a way that we will not be ashamed should the Lord come at this very moment.  Even so, come Lord Jesus.

    The final two verses in the book of Jude are among the most beautiful in all of the Bible.  The Lord is the one who keeps us in the faith and keeps us on the narrow way that leads to eternal life. He will lead us all the way to glory where we will enjoy His presence for all of eternity.  All will be filled with joy and happiness.

     All glory, power, dominion and majesty belongs to the Lord both now and forevermore.