The Book of Jude

verse 22-23

I have moved the original thread to the Knock down, Drag out debate. For those that wish to pursue the original "debate", you may join that group. Since this is a powerful verse and strongly debated in the churches please keep this thread respectful.
Robert Loutzenhiser, Sr Moderator

And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Now the burden of duty is given to us.
Do we hear the command of Jesus to "go ye"

Here we are at the end of Jude. A book written to warn Christians about false teachers and philosophies that steal away from the life and power that is in a Spirit filled life.

Observe how;
The false teachers look at the true teachers and accuse them of heresy.
The true teachers look at the false teachers and accuse them of heresy.

I know that is true in real life experience as well as the testimony of scripture.
Proverbs 29:27 says that “The godly despise the wicked; the wicked despise the godly.”

Verse 24-25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

Worth memorizing, It will change the way you think!

Verse 21
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

The love of God is perfected in us when we keep his commandments

So is it all about do's and don't and faith and mercy or both?

Verse 20
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost
There are a lot of commands about “yourselves” in the New Testament.

Judge among yourselves, Test yourselves, Examine yourselves, Humble yourselves, Conduct yourselves…. These are just a few of the "yourselves."

That word signifies a basic instruction, NOT ALONE!
Someone noted in another post that Christians shouldn’t be Lone Rangers.

There is power in agreement when praying, working and learning the Word of God.

verse 19

These be they who separate themselves,
sensual,
having not the Spirit.

Remember that Jude is still talking about those who have "crept in" and "feast with us". Can they be "in" but separate at the same time?

Verse 18

18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

Not consistent with the christian life is another plain
way of saying it.

Verse 17

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

I love the word but in the Bible. It provides such relief in an otherwise hopeless situation...
Here's one more

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

verse 16
These people are grumblers and complainers, doing whatever evil they feel like. They are loudmouthed braggarts, and they flatter others to get favors in return (New Living Translation.)

Grumble, complain, brag a lot and flatter.
Looks like the only people that would miss it are
those that are being flattered!

Verse 14 & 15

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
"to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Verse 12-13
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Verse 11
Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

It wouldn’t be fair to comment without reading about
Cain, (Genesis 4)
Balaam, (Numbers 22-24)
Korah, (Numbers 16)

P.S. They were not examples of righteousness!

verse 10

But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

We're back to learning about the creeps (fasle teachers/apostates) again, that were last mentioned in verse 8.
We want to be able to identify them (the creeps) and more than that, not be one of them.

Hopefully we are going to learn about the
* power of speech (speak evil)
* being ignorant (do not know)
* corrupting one's self (corrupt themselves)

Stay tuned and plug in your thoughts now.

Verse 9

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

What is there to argue about Moses’s body? (That is a good topic if someone else wants to launch it!) The point of the verse is that even when these 2 superpowers were in contention, Michael didn’t accuse the devil of anything but brought the Lord into the affair and rebuked the devil on His behalf.

verse 8
Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.

Now we’re back to the creeps and what they are like. Jude only reminded us of the rebellion in heaven and earth to show us what the creeps are like.

I know that we’ve talked/typed about the condition of the world and society today, but the real focus in this letter is the creeps that have infiltrated the church.

We’ve looked at and considered what Jude said, verse by verse. Lots of good thoughts and resources about what the “not so clear” passages mean. Thank You all for your inputs.
Now lets review the 7 verses as a whole and see if the message has impact on our faith today.

Verse 7

verse7 is the 3rd of 3 reminders of how and when God dealt with unfaithfulness.

"And don’t forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with sexual immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and are a warning of the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil."

Sodom and Gomorrah are noted for the destruction that God wrought on them. This judgment was finally done because the place was full of sexual immorality and perversion...

But.....

Verse 6

In verse 6 Jude gives us the second of 3 examples of when and how God dealt with unfaithfulness.

“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day”

I have to admit that I struggle with exactly what this verse refers to. Perhaps if there are any of you that have further insight … say on.
There is a very similar passage to this in 2 Peter 2:3-6.

Verse 5
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

In verse 5 Jude is about to give us the first of 3 examples of when and how God dealt with unfaithfulness.

It was a relatively easy task to get the Israelites out of Egypt but it was quite another thing to get the Egyptian ways out of the Israelites.

Verse 4

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s amazing that the real threat seems to be the one who creeps in unnoticed. Did those men (creeps?) have the ability to creep in because someone was asleep at the wheel, or because of
polished and practiced stealth, or both?

Remember Jesus, He said that false prophets would appear as sheep dressed up in wolves clothing.

Saints, if you’re ready willing and able, the keys to have mercy, peace and love multiplied in your life are in the “doing” of His Word.

verse 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who
are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

While the study here gets setup, we should go ahead and get acquainted. Please introduce yourselves, perhaps mention what you would like to get from this study.
Ask questions, make comments, you,ve got the floor!