| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
April 17, 2011 |
| Some Will Perish | ||
The book of Jude barely made it into the Bible. The author, if indeed he was the author, was Jude, the brother of James and the half brother of Jesus. He makes no claim to be an apostle. It isn't clear who he is writing to. He also quotes from two apocryphal books. All of these are reason to be suspicious of it.
The book could have been considered to be just one of many works from 1st century church authors, valuable but not part of the canon. Perhaps because of his closeness to Jesus and the apostles the book was considered as the end of the apostolic age rather than the start of the first century church age.
But in the end it was decided to include the book though the reasons are lost to time. But the book gives us insight into the early church and the problems it faced. But we also see that those problems are the same problems our church faces today and so the Christian way the church is instructed to deal with them here is for us as well.
Though this study will be focused on this chapter in Jude, the focus verse comes from 2 Peter 3:9, "The lord Yahweh does not delay his promises as people consider delay, but he is patient for your sakes, and because he is not willing that any person would perish, but that every person would come to conversion." This lesson continues that thought with Jude. Despite God not wanting any to perish, many have and many will. Some Will Perish.
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people.
Jude had been planning to write a letter that discusses "the salvation we share" but instead he felt compelled to write on a different topic. The topic of this letter was to be "contending for the faith" or "competing for the faith". The change of topic results from the actions of certain people who had gained entrance into the church he was writing to.
When he says "compete for the faith" he is talking about correcting false beliefs, particularly ones that creep into the church. One thing that we will see here is that very similar false beliefs still corrupt the church of today as they did the church of 2000 years ago.
4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
While we can't know for sure, "pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality" sounds very similar to the current idea of "Once Saved, Always Saved". To the people that accept it, this idea gives the freedom to behave like the world but still have everlasting life. But this idea is contradicted both by the idea that Jesus and the life he lived are to be our model, and by verses that clearly contradict that false teaching. Some of these verses are 2 Peter 2:20, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Hebrews 6:4, and there are many more. One of the better and more concise verses is found in Hebrews 10 "26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
The second false teaching that Jude mentions is one that says Jesus is not our only Lord. Once again we see this 2000 year old false teaching is still around. In today's world and even in today's churches there are people that believe that Jesus is not the only way to everlasting life. Some believe this because they can't bear the thought that some will perish. But Jesus makes it clear that some will perish. The verses from Hebrews 10 above also serve double duty here when they show clearly by "fearful expectation of judgment" and "raging fire" that some will perish.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude establishes an important fact here. The Lord that died on the cross and rose again is the same one who delivered Israel out of Egypt.
But that isn't the point that he is making here. Even though God had led them out of Egypt not all were saved to reach the promised land. Those who did not believe, he destroyed in the desert. Therefore we see that some will perish.
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
Having used Israel in the desert as an example that being God's chosen people was not enough to save them, Jude reminds his readers that being an angel was not enough to save them. When they abandoned their positions they were chained and held for judgment and punishment. Some will perish.
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
For his third example Jude refers to Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by God with fire and brimstone as recorded in Genesis 18 and 19 because they had become completely sinful. Their main sin was sodomy.
8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.
Jude lists three attributes of these people with each referring back to an example he gave previously.
So Jude is showing both the characteristics and examples where those characteristics led to the perpetrators perishing.
9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
Jude's point here is that these false teachers think too highly of themselves in their claims to authority in God's world. To amplify that point, he says that Michael, the greatest of the angels, did not think so highly of his position that he dared to condemn Satan. Instead Michael left that condemnation to God.
There is a message in here for us as well. It is not our function to condemn others. We need to leave that to God. Other scriptures discuss our authority to correct brothers and sister in the faith and those outside the faith.
Jude refers to a book here from the apocrypha called the "Testament of Moses."1
10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct - as irrational animals do - will destroy them.
Jude continues by saying that they have little understanding and thus teach falsely. But they understand their natural desires, as any animal does, and these will be their destruction.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
Jude refers to three Biblical figures that made mistakes:2
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm - shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted-twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
Jude is saying that these people are a disgrace when the church holds dinners. They claim to be shepherds who feed the flock but they feed themselves only. They are:
Jude says here and above that these people are reserved for judgment, eternal fire, and blackest darkness
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
Jude is quoting here from another book of the apocrypha, the "First Book of Enoch". In doing so Jude makes it clear that these people will be judged and convicted for the ungodly acts they have committed and the defiant words they have spoken.
16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Jude summarizes the points he has made about these people. He is making every effort to show these wolves for what they are.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
These people are the ones the apostles warned you about, says Jude. As a sideline Jude quotes the apostles teaching about the people who will come in the end time, some of them quoting Jesus. This indicates that Jude believed he was in the end times and in fact that the appearing of people like this was the proof of that.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Jude instructs the readers to
They are to do this by:
"The marvelous promise of Romans 8:26 is that we don't have to be perfect in prayer. The Holy Spirit, sent to us by our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, helps us pray as we ought. He is our advocate, our counselor, our comforter. But this happens only if we let him.
"Most of us don't pray in the Holy Spirit very well on a crowded bus or while we are in freeway traffic. It is hard to do so while we are watching TV. It takes time, time alone with God or with a prayer partner or two"3
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear - hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
The Aramaic NT says this better. "22 And snatch some of them who are from the fire. 23 And when they repent, show pity upon them with respect, while you hate also the tunic that is defiled by the flesh."
Jude instructs the church in the handling of doubters and sinners in the church. Both should receive mercy. Love should be what brings them back into the faith. When they realize their wrongdoing and repent they should be shown pity and respect and not be treated harshly in restoring them to the church.
But everything about their wrongdoing should be hated. Jude and others say this so that the church won't be tempted to fall into that sin again, but this concept of loving the sinner but hating the sin is foundational in Christianity.
1 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jude+1&version=NIV
2 http://bible.cc/jude/1-11.htm
3 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Spring 2011, Unit 2, April 10, Section II, A