UD 1-7Nothing certain is known of the writer of this epistle beyond the description here given. He contents himself with two titles- "servant" (bondman) "of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." If the James referred to be "the Lord's brother," of whom Paul speaks (Gal. 1:1919But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. (Galatians 1:19)), rather than the apostle Judas, not Iscariot (John 14:2222Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? (John 14:22)), who seems to have been the brother of James, the son of Alpheus (Luke 6:1616And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. (Luke 6:16)), then Jude also was, according to the flesh, a brother of the Lord. If so, what grace and humility are displayed in that he does not call attention to the fact. And what a lesson for all who take, or seek to take, a place amongst believers on the ground of human distinction or birth!
The similarity of this epistle to that of 2 Peter cannot fail to strike even the ordinary reader; but, in truth, there is a notable difference. "Peter speaks of sin, Jude of apostasy, the departure of the assembly from its primitive state before God. Departure from the holiness of faith is the subject that Jude treats. He does not speak of outward separation;" that is, of separation from the assembly, or from professing Christianity. Bearing this in mind, there are degrees of corruption to be traced through 2 Peter, Jude, and 1 John. In Peter, as pointed out, it is sin-sin working indeed in gross forms-in the bosom of the Church; in Jude it is moral apostasy, though those who are guilty of it still retain their place inside (v. 12); white in John the apostates have gone out. "They went out from us, but they were not of us," &c. (1 John 2:1919They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19))
Another point should be noticed as indicative of the character of this important epistle. While Jude deals with evils already existing in his own day, these evils are taken as shadowing forth the state of things that will be found at the close; and he thus speaks of the Lord coming " with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all," &c. The epistle therefore is prophetic, and as such has a special importance for those whose lot has fallen upon the last days, in which " perilous times " are to be expected.
The address of the epistle is as beautiful as it is peculiar to this writer: " To them, that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus." (v. 1)
Jude reminds those to whom he is writing that, if they were saints, they were so through grace, by a divine and sovereign call-a call which, addressed to them in the power of the Holy Ghost through the word of God, reached their hearts and consciences, and separated them from the world, to be God's people. We cannot too often recall the fact that it was God's call that made us saints, and that we are consequently not called to be saints, but saints by divine calling. Then we have a twofold description of the called. First, sanctified, or rather "beloved, in God the Father." Jude thus sets the saints in the immediate presence of God, teaches them that they are the objects of His heart, and would have them know that as such they have been brought into the enjoyment of an intimate relationship with Him; for He is their Father, as well as God. Secondly, they are preserved in Christ Jesus. The ground, and possibly the means, of their security are thus stated; and it should never be forgotten that if we are kept, preserved in the midst of all the dangers which surround us, and of all the snares and temptations of the evil one, it is only in and through Jesus Christ. It is God's power that guards us, but the power is exercised, displayed on our behalf in and through Him who is now seated at God's right hand. What food for meditation then -yea, what ground for praise and adoration-lies in these two words, "Beloved in God the Father;" and, "Preserved in Jesus Christ!"
The salutation differs both from those of Paul and of Peter; while it resembles those of Paul when writing to individuals in the introduction of "mercy," and those of Peter in the use of the word "peace." Jude says, "Mercy unto you, and peace, and love be multiplied." (v. 2) Such was his and God's desire, as expressed through him, for these beloved saints. Mercy is the first thing (see v. 21), for in view of the circumstances in which they were found this was their primary need, mercy for their weakness (compare Heb. 4:1616Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)); the constant outflowing of the tender compassion of God to protect, sustain, and to guard them amid the perils of their path. Also peace, not peace with God, but peace, peace absolutely, which possesses the whole soul, and in the power of which we can walk with unruffled composure in the presence of the greatest dangers or the most malignant enemies. It is not said whether it is the peace of God (Phil. 4) or the peace which Christ gives, His own peace, to His people (John 14), because indeed it is a peace which, founded on the work of redemption, the soul enjoys in relationship with the Father and the Son. Love is added-the expression of the divine nature, that holy circle and atmosphere into which the redeemed are brought, and in which they live and move and have their being. (Compare 1 John 4:1616And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)) And all these (and the reader will observe the order-mercy, peace as the fruit of mercy, and then love as the sphere of the soul's life) Jude desires should be multiplied unto them. For even if these blessings are possessed, they are only possessed in measure, seeing that, like the source whence they flow, they are infinite in their character. The believer can therefore never say that he has attained, and his rest must thus be, as has often been said, not in attainment, but in attaining; and he is drawn on to this by every new glimpse he gains of the boundless treasures, which are laid up for him in Christ.
The occasion of the epistle is now given. "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 to the saints." (v. 3) Jude, as he tells us, had been earnestly desirous to minister to the edification of the saints; but the state of things was such to render this impossible, and he had rather to stir them up to put on their armor, to gird on their weapons, and to prepare for conflict. This gives a principle of immense and abiding importance. When Satan, through his emissaries, has found a foothold within, and is engaged in corrupting and undermining the foundations of the truth, it is idle to talk of edification; for God, at such a moment, calls to conflict, and it is by conflict alone that His work can then be done. Timid souls are ever disturbed at the least sign of controversy; they plead for peace and charity, and urge the danger to souls from warfare. But when the truth of Christianity is at stake, is it genuine love to souls that abandons the field to the adversaries? When Goliath dared the armies of Israel it was David who wrought most for the welfare of the people of God. When Peter denied, at Antioch, the truth of grace by refusing to eat with Gentile believers, it was Paul who withstood him to the face, that labored most effectually for the blessing of the saints. If God calls to conflict, it is nothing but supreme selfishness that turns aside from the battle under the plea of desiring to shield the saints. (Compare Judg. 6:16,17,2316And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 17And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. (Judges 6:16‑17)
23And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. (Judges 6:23)) When Nehemiah, for example, was engaged in building the walls of Jerusalem, the enemy was so active, that " every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded." Moreover, he adds, "he that sounded the trumpet was by me." And he commanded all classes of the people that in whatever place they should hear the sound of the trumpet they should resort thither. (Chapter 4:17-20) If the trumpet sounded forth its summons to conflict, the building of the wall was to be suspended, and all were to face the foe in dependence upon God. And this is the lesson enforced by Jude. Now, he says in other words, is the time for conflict. He puts God's trumpet to his lips, and summons them to the battle, to rouse them, that they might watch, stand fast in the faith, quit themselves like men, be strong, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. "The faith," it need scarcely be observed, is the thing believed, the truth, and the conflict was to be waged to maintain it as it had been delivered to the saints. Any modifications, any developments of it, any adaptation to modern thought and feeling-all of which are, in fact, corruptions of the truth-were and are to be resisted. Delivered to us through the apostles, we are to contend for it in the very form in which it has been received. The next verse points out the source and cause of the danger: "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and the Lord Jesus Christ." (v. 4) We have, thus, the history and character of these corrupting apostates. First, they had crept into the assembly unawares, " unnoticed; " that is, their true character was not discerned when they were brought into the assembly. In a day of evil there can be no graver responsibility than that of the "porters " (see 2 Chron. 23:1919And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in. (2 Chronicles 23:19)); those who keep, so to speak, the gates, and whose duty it is to admit only such as have an undoubted title and qualification for the privilege of entrance. There was remissness in this day when these men were allowed to steal inside; and how often is there a lamentable lack of vigilance in the same way at the present moment. The consequence, whether then or now, is confusion and corruption. While, however, the "porters" had failed, these men had been " marked out beforehand to this sentence;" they had been foreseen by the omniscient eye of the Spirit of God, and the ground of their condemnation had been beforehand determined and proclaimed. In their essential character they were " ungodly " men-men who had not the fear of God before their eyes, and acted without reference to Him, shutting out God from their thoughts, acts, and ways. (Compare v. 15)
Then follow their special features: they turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denied the only Master (δεσπότην), and our Lord Jesus Christ. They seized upon grace as an excuse for sin; continued in sin that grace might abound (Rom. 6:11What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1)); and they rejected the authority of Christ, who was in fact their only Master. (Compare 2 Peter 2:11But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)) They refused, in a word, the will of Christ, that they might be free to do their own will. It was thus the assertion of man in that sphere (the sphere of the assembly) where Christ and His authority are everything. This is the essence of all lawlessness, and was therefore true apostasy, though they yet occupied outwardly the ground of Christianity. The apostle Paul thus writes.
" The mystery of iniquity [lawlessness] doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [lawless one] be revealed," etc. (2 Thess. 2:7,87For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:7‑8)) These men who had stolen in among the saints unobserved were thus the precursors of the open apostasy and the "revelation" of the man of sin; for the same spirit governed them as will be exhibited in him in a more public way. These ungodly men existed in Jude's day; but let it not be forgotten that they have their representatives in every age of the church, and thus in our own time. We are therefore forewarned, and we need to be on our watch, jealous for the rights and honor of our Lord, against the slightest departure from His Word, or the smallest tendency to the abuse of grace. The seed-corn of apostasy may lie in what appears to be an insignificant act of the assertion of man's will in opposition to that of the only Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the next place Jude cites examples to show the certainty of judgment upon all that leave the place of subjection to the Lord, or fall into sin and corruption. "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (vv. 5-7)
There is, we cannot doubt, a twofold reason for the citation of these widely-differing examples of judgment. First, it is to show, from the case of Israel, that the judgment will proceed on the ground of their having occupied the place of the people of God. It would moreover seem-and this will be more clearly seen further on in the epistle-that the state of these men will be characteristic, towards the close, of public Christianity. Secondly, we have in these three examples the features-the forms of sin and iniquity-exhibited in these "dreamers" of whom Jude speaks. Thus those that were destroyed of the Israelites in the wilderness (and only two of those who came out of Egypt were spared-Caleb and Joshua) did not believe; they were children in whom was no faith. "And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Heb. 3:18,1918And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18‑19)) The sin of the angels who kept not their first estate was rather that of disobedience; for one characteristic of those who have been preserved is that they "do His commandments." (Psa. 103:2020Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. (Psalm 103:20)) Lastly, in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha it was the will of the flesh, self-will in lust, "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh." And let the moral order be noted: first unbelief, then disobedience, and finally the license of the flesh-an order that is continually exemplified in the word of God.
Two other things may be indicated. The fallen angels, as we learn from this scripture, and from 2 Peter 2:44For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2 Peter 2:4), are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. They are, therefore, a class apart from the devil and the demons of the New Testament, who are so often found engaged in their evil work upon the earth. It is to these fallen angels that Paul may refer in 1 Cor. 6:33Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). The destruction, moreover, of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the neighboring cities, is set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Those cities lie still under the weight of their doom, swallowed up in the judgment by which they were overtaken; and the Spirit of God appeals to this both as a warning and an example, a warning of the certainty of coming judgment, and as an example of its eternal character. Let all such, therefore, as these corrupters of God's grace, and rebels against the authority of Christ, beware!