A CALL TO ARMS!

Jude 1-25

Purpose This letter was written to defend the apostolic faith against false teachings that were arising in the churches. Alarming advances were being made by an incipient form of Gnosticism not ascetic, like that attacked by Paul in Colossians, but antinomian. The Gnostics viewed everything material as evil and everything spiritual as good. They therefore cultivated their "spiritual" lives and allowed their flesh to do anything it liked, with the result that they were guilty of all kinds of lawlessness. (1 John)

Readership The readers are not identified, but we know that they were beset by false teachers who were immoral, covetous, proud, and divisive.

Contents Condemning the heretics in no uncertain terms, Jude exhorts his readers to "contend earnestly for the faith”.

Since the author of this epistle was the brother of James, this would make him the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 6:3). Our Lord's brothers in the flesh did not believe in Him while He was ministering (John 7:5). But after the Resurrection, James was converted (1 Cor 15:7), and we have every reason to believe that Jude was also saved at that time. Acts 1:14 informs us that "His brethren" were part of the praying group that was awaiting the Holy Ghost; 1 Cor 9:5 states that "the brethren of the Lord" were known in the early church.

Why did Jude write this letter? To warn his readers that the apostates were already on the scene! Peter had prophesied that they would come (2 Peter 2:1-3; 3:3), and his prophecy had been fulfilled. Apparently, Jude wrote to the same believers who had received Peter's letters, intending to stir them up and remind them to take Peter's warnings to heart. We will discover a number of parallels between Jude and 2 Peter as you study this fascinating but neglected letter.

He wrote to "exhort" them (Jude 3). In the Greek language, this word was used to describe a general giving orders to the army, hence the atmosphere of this letter is "military." Jude had started to write a quiet devotional letter about salvation, but the Spirit led him to put down his harp and sound the trumpet! The Epistle of Jude is a call to arms.

The Army (Jude 1-2)

The Captain of the army is Jesus Christ, and the soldiers He commands are people who share a "common salvation" through faith in Him. Jude called them saints (Jude 3), which simply means "set-apart ones." He addressed them as sanctified, which, again, means "set apart."

Certainly, salvation begins in the heart of God and not in the will of man (Rom 9:16).

The mysteries of God's sovereign electing grace are beyond us in this life and will never be understood until we enter His glorious presence. For that reason, we are wise not to make them the basis for arguments and divisions. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God" (Deut 29:29).

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 makes it clear that the same God who chose us also set us apart by the Spirit and then called us by the Gospel to trust in Jesus Christ. God's choosing and God's calling go together, for the God who ordains the end (our salvation) also ordains the means to the end (someone calling us to Christ). We did not understand how God's Spirit was working in our lives prior to our conversion, but He was working just the same to "set us apart" for Jesus Christ.

Not only are God's saints set apart, but they are also preserved. This means "carefully watched and guarded." The believer is secure in Jesus Christ. This same word is used in Jude 6 and 1:13 ("reserved") and also in Jude 21 ("keep yourselves"). God is preserving the fallen angels and the apostates for judgment, but He is preserving His own children for glory. Meanwhile, He is able to preserve us in our daily walk and keep us from stumbling. Because they are set apart and preserved, God's soldiers ate the recipients of God's choicest blessings: mercy, peace, and love. Like the Apostle Peter, Jude wanted these special blessings to be multiplied in their lives (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2). God in His mercy does not give us what we deserve. Instead, He gave our punishment to His own Son on the cross. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.... But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities" Isa 53:4-5).

Because of Christ's work on the cross, believers enjoy peace. The unsaved person is at war with God and cannot please Him (Rom 8:7-8); but when he trusts the Saviour, the war ends and he receives God's peace (Rom 5:1).

He also experiences God's love (Rom 5:5). The Cross is God's demonstration of love (Rom 5:8), but His love is not experienced within until His Spirit comes into the believing heart. As the believer grows in his spiritual life, he enters into a deeper relationship of love (John 14:21-24).

Certainly, those who know Christ as their Saviour enjoy a unique position. They are called by God to be set apart for God that they might enjoy love with God. While their fellowship with the Father might change from day to day, their relationship as children cannot change. They are "preserved in Jesus Christ." Because Jude would write a great deal in this letter about sin and judgment, he was careful at the very outset to define the special place that believers have in the heart and plan of God. The apostates would sin, fall, and suffer condemnation; but the true believers would be kept safe in Jesus Christ for all eternity.

It bears repeating that an apostate is not a true believer who has abandoned his salvation. He is a person who has professed to accept the truth and trust the Saviour, and then turns from "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). Jude would not contradict what Peter wrote, and Peter made it clear that the apostates were not God's sheep, but were instead pigs and dogs (2 Peter 2:21-22). The sow had been cleaned on the outside, and the dog on the inside, but neither had been given that new nature which is characteristic of God's true children (2 Peter 1:3-4).

We have the "spiritual army" that Jude was addressing. If you have trusted Jesus Christ, you are in this army. God is not looking for volunteers; He has already enlisted you! The question is not, "Shall I become a soldier?" Rather, it is, "Will I be a loyal soldier?"

"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you [act] Like men, be strong." 1 Cor 16:13

The Enemy (Jude 3-4)

We have already noted that Jude set out to write an encouraging letter about "the common salvation." The name Jude (Judah) means "Praise," and he was anxious to praise God and rejoice in the salvation God gives in Jesus Christ. But the Spirit of God changed his mind and led Jude to write about the battle against the forces of evil in the world. Why? Because it was "needful" for the church.

We sympathize with Jude. Here in this ministry, we would much rather encourage the saints than declare war on the apostates. When the enemy is in the field, the watchmen dare not go to sleep. The Christian life is a battleground, not a playground. Jude wasted no time in identifying the enemy.

They were ungodly (v. 4 b). This is one of Jude's favorite words. While these men claimed to belong to God, they were, in fact, ungodly in their thinking and their living They might have "a form of godliness," but they lacked the force of godliness that lives in the true Christian (2 Tim 3:5).

They were deceitful (v. 4 c). "They crept in unawares." The Greek word means "to slip in secretly, to steal in undercover." Sometimes Satan's undercover agents are "brought in secretly" by those already on the inside (Gal 2:4), but these men came in on their own. Peter warned that these men were coming (2 Peter 2:1) and now they had arrived on the scene.

How could false brethren get into true assemblies of the saints? The soldiers had gone to sleep at the post! The spiritual leaders in the churches had grown complacent and careless. This explains why Jude had to "blow the trumpet" to wake them up. Our Lord and His Apostles all warned that false teachers would arise, yet the churches did not heed the warnings. Sad to say, some churches are not heeding the warnings today.

They were enemies of God's grace (v. 4 d). Why did they enter the churches? To attempt to change the doctrine and "turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness" (Jude 4). The word lasciviousness simply means "wantonness, absence of moral restraint, indecency." A person who is lascivious thinks only of satisfying his lusts, and whatever he touches is stained by His base appetites. Lasciviousness is one of the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19) that proceeds from the evil heart of man (Mark 7:21-22).

Peter had already warned these people that the apostates would argue, "You have been saved by grace, so you are free to live as you please!" They promised the people freedom, but it was the kind of freedom that led to terrible bondage (2 Peter 2:13-14,19). The readers both Peter and Jude addressed knew what Paul had written (2 Peter 3:15-16), so they should have been fortified with Rom 6 and 1 Cor 5-6.

The apostates, Like the cultists today, use the Word of God to promote and defend their false doctrines. They seduce young, immature Christians who have not yet been grounded in the Scriptures. Every soldier of the Cross needs to go through "basic training" in a local church so that he knows how to use the weapons of spiritual warfare (2 Cor 10:4-5).

They denied God's truth (v. 4 e). "Even denying the Lord that bought them," Peter had warned (2 Peter 2:1). Jude was not writing about two different persons when he wrote "the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" for the Greek construction demands that these two names refer to one Person. In other words, Jude was affirming strongly the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God!

But the apostates would deny this. They would agree that Jesus Christ was a good man and a great teacher, but not that He was eternal God come in human flesh. The first test of any religious teacher, as we have seen, is, "What do you think of Jesus Christ? Is He God come in the flesh?" Anyone who denies this cardinal doctrine is a false teacher no matter how correct he may be in other matters. If he denies the deity of Christ, something will always be missing in whatever he affirms.

They were ordained to judgment (v. 4 a). Jude did not write that these men were ordained to become apostates, as though God were responsible for their sin. They became apostates because they willfully turned away from the truth. But God did ordain that such people would be judged and condemned. The Old Testament prophets denounced the false prophets of their day, and both Jesus Christ and His Apostles pronounced judgment on them.

Why should these men be judged by God? To begin with, they had denied His Son! That is reason enough for their condemnation! But they had also defiled God's people by teaching them that God's grace permitted them to practice sin. Furthermore, they derided the doctrine of Christ's coming (2 Peter 3). "Where is the promise of His coming?" They mocked the very promise of Christ's coming and the judgment He would bring against the ungodly.

Of course, they did all these things under the guise of religion, and this made their sin even greater. They deceived innocent people so that they might take their money and enjoy it in godless living. Jesus compared them to wolves in sheep's clothing (Matt 7:15).

How, then, should the church respond to the presence of this insidious enemy? By earnestly contending for the faith.

"The faith" refers to that body of doctrine that was given by God through the Apostles to the church The word doctrine is found at least sixteen times in the Pastoral Epistles alone. Paul admonished both Timothy and Titus to make sure the believers were being taught "sound doctrine," which means "healthy doctrine," doctrine that promotes the spiritual health of the local church. While individual teachers and preachers may disagree on the fine points of theology, there is a basic body of truth to which all true Christians are committed.

This body of truth was delivered (Jude 3) to the saints. The word means "to be entrusted with." The church collectively, and each Christian personally, has a stewardship to fulfill. "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak" (1 Thess 2:4). God committed the truth to Paul (1 Tim 1:11), and he shared it with others, such as Timothy (1 Tim 6:20). He exhorted Timothy to entrust the Word to other faithful men (2 Tim 2:2). You and I would not have the Word today were it not for faithful believers down through the ages who guarded this precious deposit and invested it in others.

The church is always one generation short of extinction If our generation fails; to guard the truth and entrust it to our children, then that will be the end! When you think of the saints and martyrs who suffered and died so that we night have God's truth, it makes you want to take your place in God's army and be faithful unto death.

What does it mean to "contend for the faith"? The Greek word is an athletic term that gives us our English word agonize. It is the picture of a devoted athlete, competing in the Greek games and stretching his nerves and muscles to do his very best to win. You never fight the Lord's battles from a rocking chair or a soft bed! Both the soldier and the athlete must concentrate on doing their best and giving their all. There must also be teamwork, believers working together to attack and defeat the enemy.

Sometimes you hear well-meaning people say, "Well, it's fine to contend for the faith, but don't be so contentious!" While it is true that some of God's soldiers have been the cause of quarrels and divisions, it is also true that some of them have paid a great price to defend the faith. As Christian soldiers, we must not fight each other or go around looking for trouble. But when the banner of Christ is in danger of being taken by the enemy, we cannot sit idly by, nor can we ever hope to win the victory by wearing kid gloves.

The new views are not the old truth in a better dress, but deadly errors with which we can have no fellowship. False doctrine is a deadly poison that must be identified, labeled, and avoided, we cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before us. Would we eat poisoned meat because the dish is of the choicest stock?

We must always speak the truth in love, and the weapons we use must be spiritual. At the same time, we must dare to take our stand for "the faith" even if our stand offends some and upsets others. We are not fighting personal enemies, but the enemies of the Lord. It is the honor and glory of Jesus Christ that is at stake. "Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim 6:12).

The Victory (Jude 5-7)

Like the Apostle Peter, Jude reached back into Old Testament history and gave three examples of God's victory over those who had resisted his authority and turned from the truth. Peter referred to the fallen angels, Noah, and Lot (2 Peter 2:4-9) and followed the historical order. He also emphasized God's deliverance of the righteous as well as His judgment of the ungodly Jude, however, did not mention Noah and the Flood, but instead used the nation Israel as his example.

The point Jude was making is that God judges apostates. Therefore, the false teachers who had crept into the church would also one day be judged. Their seeming success would not last; God would have the last word.

Israel (v. 5). Both Paul (1 Cor 10) and the author of Hebrews (Heb 3-4) used the experiences of Israel to illustrate important spiritual truths. The nation was delivered from Egypt by the power of God and brought to the border of the Promised Land. But the people were afraid and did not have the faith to enter in and possess the land (Num 13-14). Moses, Joshua, and Caleb tried to encourage the people to obey God by faith, but the people refused. In fact, the leaders of the tribes even wanted to organize and go back to Egypt, the place of bondage!

This was rebellion against the will and the Word of God, and God cannot tolerate rebellion. As a result, everybody in the camp twenty years and older was destined to die at some time in the next forty years. Their unbelief led to their extermination.

Keep in mind that Jude was using a historical event as an illustration, and we must not press every detail. The entire nation was delivered from Egypt, but that does not mean that each individual was personally saved through faith in the Lord. The main point of the account is that privileges bring responsibilities, and God cannot lightly pass over the sins of His people. If any of Jude's readers dared to follow the false teachers, they too would face the discipline of God. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor 10:12).

The fallen angels (v. 6). This illustration is in 2 Peter 2:4, but Jude seems to add a new dimension to it by associating the fall of the angels with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7, "even as ... in like manner"). Some believe that Jude was teaching not only a revolt of the angels against God, but also an invasion of earth by these fallen angels.

The simplest explanation of Gen 6 is that the godly line of Seth ("the sons of God") began to mingle with the ungodly line of Cain, and this broke down the walls of separation, resulting in compromise and eventually degrading sin, the main lesson in mind: the angels rebelled and were punished for their rebellion.

Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 7). Both Peter and Jude state that God made these cities an example to warn the ungodly that God does indeed judge sin (2 Peter 2:6). When you combine their descriptions, you discover that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah (and the other cities involved) were: ungodly, filthy, wicked, unlawful, unjust, and given over to fornication. They did not occasionally commit unnatural sexual sins; they indulged in them and gave themselves over to the pursuit of lust. The Greek verb is intensive: "to indulge in excessive immorality." This was their way of life - and death!

Strange flesh means "different flesh." The bent of their life was constantly downward, indulging in unnatural acts (Rom 1:24-27). Those who hold the "fallen angel" interpretation of Gen 6 make the "strange flesh" refer to angels in human form; but when did the angels invade Sodom and Gomorrah? And, if fallen angels are meant, how can their sin and the sin of the Sodomites apply to us today, for we have no fallen angels to tempt or seduce us? Indeed, the men at Lot's door did want to engage in homosexual activity with His angelic guests, but the Sodomites did not know they were angels. Another possibility is that the Sodomites were guilty not only of unnatural sex with each other, but also with animals, which would be "strange flesh." Both homosexuality and beastiality are condemned by God (Lev 18:22-25).

These cities were set forth by God as an example and warning to ungodly people today. The verb set forth means "to expose openly to public view." (Interestingly enough, the word was used to describe a corpse lying in state!) But the cities of the plain are not today in public view. It is generally agreed among archeologists that Sodom and Gomorrah are buried under the southern end of the Dead Sea. How, then, do they serve as an example? In the pages of the Word of God. No one can read Gen 18-19 without clearly seeing God's hatred for sin and, at the same time, His patience and willingness to postpone judgment. This certainly ties in with Peter's explanation for God's seeming delay in fulfilling the promise of Christ's return (2 Peter 3:8).

The sin of Israel was rebellious unbelief (Heb 3:12). The sin of the angels was rebellion against the throne of God. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was indulging in unnatural lust. Unbelief, rebellion against authority, and sensual indulgence were sins characteristic of the false teachers. The conclusion is obvious: the apostates will be judged. But, meanwhile, God's soldiers must stay on duty and see to it that these false teachers do not creep into the ranks and start to lead people astray. "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine" (1 Tim 4:16).

What can we do practically to oppose the enemy and maintain the purity and unity of the church? For one thing, we must know the Word of God and have the courage to defend it. Every local church ought to be a Bible institute, and every Christian ought to be a Bible student. The pulpit needs to declare positive truth as well as denounce error.

Second, we must "watch and pray." The enemy is already here and we dare not go to sleep! Spiritual leaders in local congregations need to be alert as they interview candidates for baptism and church membership. Committees need to seek the mind of Christ as they appoint Sunday School teachers, youth sponsors, and other church leaders. Congregations must exercise discernment as they select officers.

Third, congregations and members must be careful where they send their money. "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?" (2 Chron 19:2)

Finally, we must have the courage to maintain a position of biblical separation from those who deny Christ and the fundamental doctrines of the Word (Rom 16:17-20; 2 Tim 2:15, 2 John 6-11). This does not mean that we separate from fellow believers over minor doctrinal differences, or that we practice "guilt by association." God's true army needs to stand together in the battle for truth.

Have you heeded the call to arms?