Commentary - Jude 1:1-4

Bird's-eye view

The short, sharp, and pugnacious letter of Jude is a call to arms for the Christian church. It is an urgent summons to defend the faith against insidious internal corruption. Jude, the brother of James and thus the half-brother of the Lord, intended to write a pleasant letter about the glories of our shared salvation. But the Holy Spirit impressed upon him a more pressing and less comfortable task: to exhort the saints to fight. This is not a street brawl, but a disciplined, principled, and strenuous defense of the doctrinal and moral content of the Christian faith. The threat is not from outside persecution, but from within. Certain men, marked out for condemnation long ago, had slipped into the church unnoticed. These men were characterized by their ungodliness, their licentious abuse of God's grace, and their ultimate denial of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jude's letter, therefore, is a divine diagnostic of a recurring spiritual cancer in the body of Christ and a prescription for how to deal with it.

This opening section sets the stage perfectly. It establishes the authority of the author, the secure standing of the recipients, and the nature of the crisis. The faith is a definite, objective body of truth, "once for all handed down." It is not something to be tinkered with or updated. The enemies of the faith are not honest doubters but subversive agents, using the language of grace as a cover for their sensuality. The battle lines are drawn from the very beginning: it is the faith of God versus the apostasy of men.

Outline

Context In The Canon

Jude is one of the General Epistles, and it reads like a compact version of 2 Peter chapter 2, with which it shares significant thematic and verbal parallels. It is a book about apostasy, about the danger of false teachers arising from within the covenant community. This is a constant theme throughout Scripture. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly warned Israel about false prophets who spoke peace when there was no peace. Jesus warned of wolves in sheep's clothing. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that savage wolves would arise from among their own number. Jude stands firmly in this tradition. His letter is a bracing reminder that the church's greatest dangers often come not from the roaring lion without, but from the whispering serpent within. It is a book for the end of the apostolic age, preparing the church for the long war against heresy and corruption that would characterize its history.

Key Issues

A Necessary Fight

Modern Christians are often allergic to the idea of contention. We have been catechized by a sentimental culture to believe that niceness is the highest virtue and that any kind of sharp-edged disagreement is a failure of love. Jude will have none of it. He understands that there are times when the most loving thing a man can do is fight. When a wolf gets into the sheepfold, the loving shepherd does not offer it counseling; he breaks its neck. Jude was all set to write a lovely treatise on the "common salvation," a topic dear to his heart and ours. But the pressing reality of spiritual subversion forced his hand. The church was under attack from within, and a failure to "contend earnestly" would be a failure to love both God and the saints.

The word translated "contend earnestly" is a strong one; it is the Greek word from which we get our word "agonize." It speaks of an intense, disciplined struggle, like an athlete competing in the games. This is not about being cantankerous or picking fights for the sake of it. This is about the strenuous defense of a precious treasure: "the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints." This faith is not a vague feeling or a set of personal opinions. It is a fixed, objective body of truth, a deposit of apostolic doctrine that has been delivered to the church as a sacred trust. To defend it is not arrogance; it is fidelity.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

Jude begins by identifying himself with humility and with reference to others. He calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ, his highest honor. He does not pull rank as the half-brother of the Lord, though he was. Instead, he identifies himself as the "brother of James," who was the well-known leader of the Jerusalem church. This was a way of establishing his bona fides without any hint of self-promotion. He then addresses his readers with three glorious descriptions of their spiritual state. They are the called, meaning God has effectively summoned them out of darkness into His marvelous light. They are beloved in God the Father, which is the ultimate source of their security and identity. And they are kept for Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful statement of the doctrine of perseverance. We are kept, not by our own strength, but by God's power, reserved for the day when Christ will claim us as His own.

2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

This is more than a polite greeting. It is a rich, Trinitarian blessing. He prays for a multiplication of grace. Mercy is God not giving us the bad we deserve. Peace is the result of that mercy, a settled tranquility with God and with one another. Love is the character of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Jude desires that these saints experience these blessings in overflowing abundance. Given the conflict he is about to describe, they will need this mercy, peace, and love in full measure.

3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

Here is the thesis of the entire letter. Jude's original plan was to write a pleasant, encouraging letter about their "common salvation," the glorious gospel they all shared. But a pressing danger made him change his topic. The word "necessity" indicates a divine compulsion. The Holy Spirit redirected his pen. The new task was to exhort them, to strongly urge them, to contend earnestly for the faith. The faith is not something we invent, but something we receive. It was once for all handed down. This is a crucial phrase. "Once for all" means it is a final, complete, and unrepeatable revelation. There are no new gospels, no updates, no doctrinal add-ons from latter-day prophets. The apostolic deposit is closed. The job of every subsequent generation is not to amend it, but to defend it.

4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now Jude identifies the threat. The reason for the fight is the presence of infiltrators. "Certain persons have crept in unnoticed." They are spiritual spies, secret agents of the enemy. They did not come in through the front door with a declaration of their true intentions. They slipped in, using the right language, feigning piety. But their destiny is not in doubt. They were "long beforehand marked out for this condemnation." This is a strong statement of divine sovereignty and predestination. God is not surprised by these apostates; their judgment was written into the script long ago. Jude then gives a threefold description of their character. First, they are ungodly persons, meaning they lack reverence for God. Second, they turn the grace of our God into sensuality. They take the glorious doctrine of grace, that we are saved apart from our works, and they twist it into a license for immorality. They argue that since we are forgiven, it doesn't matter how we live. This is antinomianism, and it is a perennial heresy. Third, they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. This denial may not have been an explicit verbal denial, but a practical one. By their licentious lives and their rejection of His moral authority, they showed that He was not truly their Master and Lord. Their doctrine and their deeds were a package deal of rebellion.

Application

Jude's letter is as relevant today as the day it was written. The church is always just one generation away from apostasy. The threats he describes are still with us, often in more sophisticated and culturally acceptable forms. We still have those who creep into the church, who use the language of grace to excuse sin, and whose lifestyles deny the lordship of Christ.

The primary application for us is to take up the task Jude assigns. We must contend earnestly for the faith. This requires, first, that we know the faith. We cannot defend a treasure we have not studied. We must be men and women of the Book, grounded in the apostolic doctrine once for all delivered to the saints. Second, it requires courage. It is not popular to draw sharp doctrinal lines or to confront sin. But fidelity to Christ requires it. We must be prepared to be called bigots, legalists, or troublemakers for the sake of the truth. Third, our contending must be done in the right spirit. Jude begins his letter by reminding his readers that they are "beloved" and praying for mercy, peace, and love to be multiplied to them. Our defense of the faith must be robust, but it must not be rancorous. We fight because we love the truth, we love the church, and we love the Lord who bought the church with His own blood.

Finally, we must rest in the security that Jude lays out in the first verse. We are called, beloved, and kept. The ultimate victory is not in doubt. God will preserve His people. But He uses means, and one of the primary means He uses to keep His church pure is the faithful contending of His saints.