Jude 1
25 verses
Jude issues a passionate exhortation to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints (hapax paradotheisē)—a definitive, completed deposit that allows no addition or subtraction, established against contemporary compromise. Certain people have crept in unnoticed—infiltrating the community like spiritual termites—who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny Jesus Christ as the only Master and Lord, turning liberating grace into license for sin. Three devastating Old Testament examples—the unbelieving Israelites destroyed in the wilderness, the angels who abandoned their proper dwelling and were bound in eternal chains, and Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by the judgment of eternal fire—establish God's pattern of judgment against rebellion. Michael the archangel, despite his supreme authority, refrains from pronouncing blasphemous judgment against the devil even when disputing over the body of Moses, demonstrating the restraint required of the righteous in contrast to the presumptuous blasphemy of these false teachers. The escalation from these historical examples to the present false teachers establishes the seriousness of the crisis facing the community. The Enoch prophecy—Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all—establishes that Christ's return will vindicate the righteous and condemn the ungodly, and believers keep themselves in the love of God by waiting for the mercy of Christ unto eternal life.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
The contrast between human weakness and divine strength is so vivid in this passage. His timing, His methods, His purpos...
1
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
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The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character. Their context of persecution gives these words...
2
Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
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I'm a pastor in a liberal denomination, and we're aging. Young people aren't coming. The faith I inherited is being crit...
3
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 unto the saints.
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The early church would have heard this very differently than we do today. Faith isn't the absence of doubt - it's choosi...
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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 our Lord Jesus Christ.
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God is faithful in every circumstance. It implies covenant loyalty, steadfast love that never wavers. The thread of cove...
5
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.
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Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss. Faith isn't the absence of doubt - it's choosing ...
6
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.
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I love how this passage doesn't shy away from the difficulty of obedience. There's something deeply comforting about kno...
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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.
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8
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
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My grandmother used to quote this verse every morning. The imagery here is agricultural - the original audience would ha...
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Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
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The imagery here is agricultural - the original audience would have immediately understood the metaphor of sowing, waiti...
10
But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
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What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His charact...
11
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
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I left church after my pastor was caught in financial corruption. He lived lavishly while asking the congregation for mo...
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These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
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Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss. I think this is a call to trust beyond what we ca...
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Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
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When we read this alongside the surrounding chapters, the narrative arc becomes clear: God is always working redemption,...
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And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
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Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss. What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways....
15
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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God is faithful in every circumstance. I think this is a call to trust beyond what we can see. The promise here is not c...
16
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
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17
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
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God is faithful in every circumstance. God is faithful in every circumstance. God meets us exactly where we are - broken...
18
How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
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19
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
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God is faithful in every circumstance. I notice the repetition here is deliberate - the author wants us to feel the emph...
20
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
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God is faithful in every circumstance. God is faithful in every circumstance. The early church would have heard this ver...
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Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
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We bring nothing; He provides everything. God is faithful in every circumstance. I notice the repetition here is deliber...
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And of some have compassion, making a difference:
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The Hebrew word used here carries a richness that English can't fully capture. Reading the Psalms alongside this gives a...
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And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
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The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character. God is faithful in every circumstance. What a ...
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Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
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God is faithful in every circumstance. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke the...
25
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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