Jude 1-11 (NASB)
1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, though you know everything once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these people also, dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him an abusive judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude is a book that is often overlooked. It’s not very long and sometimes it can be a little difficult to understand what he’s talking about. He references events and texts not found in the Bible. His identity is hard to decipher. Was he the disciple called Thaddaeus, but he went by Jude sometimes? Was he one of Jesus’ brothers? Was he both? Is he a different Jude entirely? There are a lot of questions surrounding him, but I think it’s most likely this is the Jude who is the brother of Jesus.
In order to explain why I think this, we should establish who Jesus’ siblings are. Matthew 12:46-50 says: While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus replied to the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.”
Mark 6:3 says, “‘Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?’ And they took offense at Him.”
Those two verses tell us that Jesus did indeed have siblings, and we know some of their names. Jude, by the way, is the shortened name of Judas. It makes sense that Judas would want to be known as Jude and not as Judas once Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Wouldn’t you want to change your name, too? We have our first clue in the beginning of Jude that this writer is Jesus’ brother, for he writes, “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,” and we know Jesus also had a brother named James. These two brothers, once upon a time, did not think very highly of their brother, Jesus, though. John 7:5 tells us, “For not even His brothers believed in Him.” Also, Mark 3:20-21 says, “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’”
Those verses also prove that Jesus had brothers and sisters, but they didn’t accept who He was at first. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? If your brother said that he was the Son of God, would you believe him? If you saw him die and then come to life again, that would probably convince you, though. That is what happened to Jesus’ family. For then we see in Acts 1:4 that His brothers became to believe and follow what He had been teaching, for it says, “All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”
While Jude begins his letter by mentioning his brother James, I find it significant that he does not mention that he is Jesus’ brother, but that he is a “bond-servant of Jesus”. You would think that he would want to capitalize on being related to Jesus, but he doesn’t even allude to that fact. Which is why some people don’t think this is the same Jude as Judas, Jesus’ brother. I think he is Jesus’ brother, and he doesn’t mention that he is, the same way that James does not mention that fact as well. I think this does not disprove their relationship to Jesus, but rather it proves that they had come to believe that He is who He said He was: the Son of God. That fact far overshadowed for them their blood relationship to Him. To me, it is proof of their faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
Working from the belief that Jude and James are both half-brothers of Jesus, and they wrote both books of the Bible respective to their names, I think it is telling that both books emphasize the need for a believer’s actions to match their confession. James, you might know, is a controversial book. Many people have questioned if it should be in the Bible, for they wrongly think it contradicts other parts of scripture. They think it has too heavy of a focus on works. Here in Jude, we see a heavy focus warning against falling away. He gives multiple examples of people who ended up committing apostasy. They fell away and could not come back to the faith. If both men were Jesus’s brothers, I find their common themes very telling. Their books seem to echo closely the words of Jesus Himself, as recorded in the Gospels. When we read Jesus’ direct words and compare them to Jude and James, they sound remarkably similar. In the book, The New Testament in its World, by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, they point out that Martin Luther said that James, “is not an apostolic letter but an epistle of straw.” They counter that opinion by arguing, “To begin with, if James is an epistle of straw, then the Sermon on the Mount is a sermon of straw, since James echoes much of Jesus’ teaching in the sermon.” (p. 732). I agree with Wright and Bird. I reached their same conclusion about James (and Jude), ‘echoing’ what Jesus said before I read their commentary. I reached that conclusion, not because I am that smart, but because it is that obvious.
All that to say, this little book of Jude should not be overlooked. As Jesus’ brother, he knew Jesus’ teachings really well. And his book contains needed warnings, not only to believers in Jude’s time, but to us today.
The NASB has subtitled this book: The Warnings of History to the Ungodly. I think that is an accurate description. Jude reaches all the way back to the beginning of history in his examples. Some of his references might not be very familiar to everyone, so as we look at this letter, I will give context to his examples. Let’s start at verses 1-3: “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.”
Jude writes that he was going to write a letter about their common salvation, but instead, he needed to write a letter of warning. It’s like he’s saying, ‘I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but it needs to be said.’
He has to write this letter of warning because there is a problem. As verse four states, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
This sounds like today, doesn’t it? As much as times change and history advances, things also stay the same. The problems then are still the problems today. Certain people have certainly crept in unnoticed to the Church at large. People, who for a long time have been on the path leading to condemnation, have infiltrated the ranks. They have turned God’s grace into a license for really bad behavior. And they deny Jesus is the only way to God. That sounds like a lot of ‘Christian’ teachers today. And Jude’s response sounds like the same message John was writing, doesn’t it? This was a widespread problem in the early church, and sadly, it has not been remedied.
He goes on, “5 Now I want to remind you, though you know everything once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these people also, dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him an abusive judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Jude is bringing charges against people who are living like the fallen angels and the immoral people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He says these people “defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties”. He’s saying that God’s judgement is real and we should remember it. I think it’s pretty clear that defiling the flesh means acting immorally, and rejecting authority means not obeying God’s law, but speaking abusively of angels, what does that mean? Jude gives the example that even the angel Michael didn’t pronounce judgment on the devil when arguing with him.
Some people say this argument over Moses’ body is in reference to Zechariah 3, others say it’s from an ancient book called “The Assumption of Moses” which the early Christian writer Origen said is the source of what Jude is talking about. Regardless of the reference, the point is believers should not curse angels, not even the devil. Rather, we should do as Michael did and hand the responsibility to the Lord. My limited understanding of this is we should recognize that we, in ourselves, have no authority over any angels. All authority belongs to God. Jesus demonstrated His power when He cast out demons. As believers, we can cast out demons, but we can’t do that in our power. We can only do that in the name of Jesus, for it is by the Lord’s power that He casts them out. We are just a conduit. As Luke 9:49 says, “John answered and said, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow along with us.’” Apparently, even unbelievers can cast out demons if they are doing so in Jesus’ name. So, maybe the point Jude is making is some people were rejecting God’s authority and were attempting to speak abusively to angels or cast them out of people in their own power.
He continues in verse 10, “But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”
Doesn’t that sound like our society today? People are not living according to God’s holy law. They are doing whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it. They are following their sinful human instincts rather than submitting their selves to God. They like to talk like they understand God’s word, but they don’t know the first thing about it for they can’t understand it.
Therefore, as verse 11 says, “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
I would like to argue that the people who do not think the New Testament lines up with the Old Testament have not read the whole Bible. This book directly links the Old to the New. Jude is making the case that we need to remember what God has done in the past, for that shows us what He does now, and in the future.
He lists three different people as examples. The way of Cain is a reference to the well-known Cain who murdered his brother Abel. I think he is listed as an example of violence and murder. Balaam is a reference to the prophet in Numbers, who had a donkey who talked to him. I think that incredible part of Balaam’s story probably overshadows what else we might remember about him. Balak, the king of Moab, wanted Balaam to curse Israel so he could wipe them out. But Balaam could not curse them because, as he said in Numbers 23:8, “How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse? And how am I to curse him whom the Lord has not cursed?” Every time Balaam spoke, it was a word of blessing to the Israelites because God would not let him curse them. So, instead, Balaam found another way to curse them. As Revelation 2:14 summarizes the rest of the story, “But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.”
This is another example of why we need to read the whole Bible. It isn’t until Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible, that we see the end of the story of Balaam and why Jude references him. Jude is saying that people, “for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam”. People were telling believers it was okay to do things that directly contradicted the word of God.
I can’t help but draw a parallel from Balaam to the wicked false prophets of today. All for the sake of money, just like Balaam, there are false prophets who are teaching people to live immoral lives by wrongly telling believers that it’s okay to do things that directly contradict the word of God. They tell believers that their actions don’t matter. They teach them it is okay to live however they please and they teach this false gospel of cheap grace because it keeps their churches filled and their books selling. They are following Balaam’s plan for popularity.
The third example is from the rebellion of Korah. Numbers 16 tells us his story: 1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, 2 and they stood before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation chosen in the assembly, men of renown. 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”. 4 When Moses heard this, he fell on his face; 5 and he spoke to Korah and all his group, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will make known who is His, and who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself; indeed, the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. 6 Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and your whole group, 7 and put fire in them, and place incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”
Korah did not agree with God. He wanted to declare that everyone was holy and could be a priest. Moses warned everyone, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin!” (Numbers 16:26). For then, “as he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions” (Numbers 16:31-32).
Like Balaam, I see parallels today. What was Korah’s sin? First, he disregarded God’s authority. He thought he knew better than God. Second, he wanted to define what was acceptable to God, or what was deemed holy. He didn’t like the idea that God has His own definitive standard for holiness. Those two errors on Korah’s part sure sound familiar. We have whole swathes of Christian leaders who are interpreting the Word of God for us because they have decided they know better than God. They ‘know’ what God actually meant to say when He wrote parts of the Bible. They ‘know’ that certain accounts of happenings in the Bible aren’t factual, but are just stories told for illustration. They ‘know’ that God’s laws do not apply today in our modern culture. They ‘know’ that God’s standard of holiness is untenable in today’s society. These preachers and teachers are not speaking for God. Like Jude says, they disparage God’s word because they don’t understand it. We would be wise to get away from them. We should not listen to them or associate with them, lest we get swallowed up along with them, for their path leads to destruction.
Jude doesn’t end here, as we will see next week when we continue the study. But I think here is a good place to pause. Like Jude, many times I want to bring a message to us that is focused on our common salvation. I want to preach a message full only of mercy, peace, and love, just as Jude started out writing. But like Jude, there are necessary things to mention. There are threats we face each day. If we want to continue to follow God, we must be aware of these things and we must not bury our heads in the sand, thinking all is well and good within the body of Christ. I think that was what Jude was seeing, and he could not be silent. The Holy Spirit, who was directing his words, obviously wanted to lead Jude to write these words of warning. We would be wise to take heed and apply them to today. We should pray for the Holy Spirit to give us discernment to recognize the spirit of Cain, Balaam and Korah within the halls of Christianity and wherever we find it, we should point it out and flee away from it. Let us repent of any way in which we have turned the grace of our God into a license for indecent behavior, and let us pray that we never deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Pray: Father God, we thank You for Your great love for us. Help us to never place anything above You. We want to follow You and live lives that please You. Thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the cross so we can have forgiveness of sin. But please help us to never turn Your grace into a license to sin. Help us to turn away from sin, and help us to strive to live up to the standard of holiness that You have laid out for us to follow. We ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
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