Page 85 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

Request to Struggle in their Defense of the Faith (Jude 3-4).
What could possibly be the correct interpretation of that faith? Then, why did they need to struggle for
that faith? The word faith appears 296 times in both the Old and the New Testament. In the Old
Testament, it appears twice (x2 [Deut. 32:20; Hab. 2:4]). In the New Testament,
it appears 294 times. In many passages, it means that confidence we have in
God, but in the following passages, it means the truth held by believers
everywhere—the Gospel (see Rom. 10:8; 16:26; 1 Cor. 16:13; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal.
1:23; 3:7, 23, 25; Phil. 1:27; Col. 1:4, 23; 1 Tim. 1:19; 4:6, etc.). The latter
meaning seems to be what Jude has in mind because in v4, Jude mentions the
secrete (cf. 2 Pet. 2:1) coming of false teachers into the church. Hence, the
reason why they needed to struggle in behalf of the defense of the Gospel they
received. Their condemnation was already settled a long time ago. “God’s
judgment for sin has already been decided. Since the false teachers mentioned here are intentionally
and unrepentantly leading others astray, Jude is sure of their fate (compare note on 2 Pet. 2:3; Matt.
7:15; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:29–30).” He will specify such false teachers in few verses down from here.
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Those take advantage of the grace of God into behavior completely lacking in moral restraint. Further,
they also reject God’s authority as master.

Outcome of Ungodliness Evidenced by History (Jude 5-7).
In this portion of Scripture, Jude compares the false teachers to three examples of the Old Testament
sinners whom God judged. The first example is that of the destruction of those who did not obey God
after coming out of Egypt. Jude wanted that to serve as a serious warning to his audience so that they
can be able to stand firm and endure obeying God amidst rampant and apparent false teachers. The
second example is keeping of the unruly angels in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for
judgement on the great Day. Great Day should possibly mean the day when Jesus Christ will finally judge
the whole world. Those angels disobeyed God by doing what they were not commanded to do. This may
refer to Genesis 6:1-4. But possibly, it refers to the falling of Satan before Adam and evil fell (cf. Rev.
12:7-9). The third example is that of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which indulged in extreme
sexual immorality. The destruction of those people in those three examples foreshadows the worse
judgement that is coming.

Confirmation for Ungodliness (Jude 8-16).
Based on their dreams that are untrue, they live their lives by them and therefore pollute their bodies,
reject authority, and heap abuse on celestial beings. These possibly imply the fallen angels, demons. The
heaping of abuse on celestial beings is as a result of lack of understanding. They are like irrational
animals (cf. 2 Pet. 2:12). What they were doing allowed them to be compared to Cain, Korah, and
Balaam (cf. Gen. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:15; Num. 16:1-35) who are not good examples but bad examples in
accordance with God’s criterion. Those false teachers look like sheep outside especially when they are
feasting, waiting for an opportunity to destroy. Jude now uses six metaphors to apply the examples he
has discussed to show how false teachers were sinning. 1) They are blemishes at your love feasts, 2)
shepherds who feed only themselves, 3) they are clouds without rain, 4) they are autumn trees without
fruit and uprooted, 5) they are wild waves of the sea, and 6) they are wandering stars (Jude 12-13).

Confirmation of Judgement on the Ungodly (Jude 14-16; cf. 1 Enoch 9).
Jude tells his audience that what false teachers were doing was confirming their own judgement. They
are grumblers and faultfinders who exercised flattery for the sake of gaining advantage. Enoch was the
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“the 7th in his GENERATION . . . Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch” (Gen 5:1-24).

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