Jude 1

Notes

Ver. 1. Judas—not Iscariot, but the brother of James the less, and kinsman of Jesus Christ according to the flesh, sent forth by his immediate commission to preach the gospel to those Jewish Christians who, in the judgment of charity, appear to have been called of God the Father to make known his eternal heart of love, and in consequence thereof preserved in Christ from dying in their sins, and graciously called to partake of all the blessings of the gospel in time and eternity; 2. Wishes the most tender compassion and favour of a gracious God, and peace with him and with one another, and the best prosperity of every kind, and all the excellent fruits and rich manifestations of his special and distinguishing love in their utmost fulness. 3. My dear Christian brethren, when I, with much thought and care, applied myself to write somewhat to you concerning that spiritual and eternal salvation which answers the circumstances of every sinful man, and is offered in the gospel to all that hear it, and which all believers, Jews and Gentiles, share of, directed by the inspiring Spirit of God, I found it peculiarly necessary, with the utmost earnestness, to stir you up to the most fervent zeal, active diligence, and careful concern, to maintain, defend, and practise the pure and uncorrupted doctrines of the gospel, concerning the person, offices, righteousness, grace, and government of the Lord Christ, which have been by him, through his holy apostles, delivered to all his followers who are holy in heart and life, as a trust and treasure to be by them faithfully kept, and fully and purely transmitted to posterity.—4. For according to the ancient purposes and predictions of God, there have clandestinely, by craft and flattery, crept in among you impious and heretical men who, under pretence of embracing the Christian religion, represent the doctrines of God's grace as an encouragement to wanton and lascivious practices; and who, by their doctrine and conduct, plainly undermine the whole authority of God's law, and reject the gospel doctrine concerning the divine person and offices of Christ, as the Prophet, Priest, and King of his church, and his gracious salvation of men from their sins to holiness and happiness. 5-7. To deter you from the smallest regard to or compliance with these seducers, seriously remember how your Hebrew ancestors, after God had miraculously delivered them from their Egyptian bondage, were almost every one of them cut off by terrible judgments in the wilderness for their disobedience and unbelief; and how the highly dignified angels who revolted from God by sin were cast down into hell, and are, by the curse of his law and their own wickedness and misery, reserved, like condemned and chained prisoners, till the last judgment—when their torments shall be completed, and they, with all apostates and impenitent unbelievers, shall depart into the most tremendous everlasting punishment!—And in what a fearful manner God, by fire and brimstone from heaven, destroyed the Sodomites and their neighbours of Gomorrha, Admah, and Zeboiim, for their unnatural lust, men with men; and set them and their country as an emblem of that everlasting destruction which is prepared for wicked angels and men. 8. In like manner, these profligate seducers delude themselves and others with their foolish and impure imaginations, indulge their fleshly lusts, and even pollute their bodies by unchaste dreams and lewd practices; and contemn, revile, and rail against all government and governors in church or state, so far as they tend to restrain their exorbitant vices. 9, 10. Yea, though Michael, that eminent chief of the holy angels, when disputing with the devil about the burial or concealment of the body of Moses from the Israelites, who would have readily worshipped it, did not venture to return the reviling and opprobrious language of that foul spirit, but solemnly left him to the righteous judgment of God, for his attempting to draw his people into the most flagrant sin against his divine majesty, crown, and dignity: these daring pretenders fear not to vilify the most excellent things, civil or sacred, of the proper use, design, and benefit of which they are totally ignorant; and even in such things as by the light of nature they cannot but know to be unlawful, they act as if they had no principle of reason to direct and govern them, and in a perverse, sensual, and brutal manner debase themselves beneath human nature. 11. The most dreadful curses must therefore suddenly overtake them; for, like Cain, they envy, hate, and are disposed to murder such as deserve their highest respect; like Balaam, for the sake of worldly honour or wealth, they are ready to act the most treacherous, hypocritical, malicious, and destructive part against the people of God; or, like Korah and his companions, they set up themselves in the most daring manner against the governors whom God has appointed in church or state, and shall, in a most awful form, be at last swallowed up in everlasting flames. 12. They are a scandal, reproach, and an infectious defilement to your feasts, civil and sacred, while, fearless of guilt or punishment, they labour only to gratify their luxurious appetites; and while they put on false appearances, as if they would be most refreshing, useful, and comforting to mankind, they are quite destitute of any real goodness; unstable as clouds, they are driven about by their own lusts and passions from one error and vice to another, and become more and more dead in sins, and hopeless of recovery. 13. In the most turbulent, pernicious, and noisy manner, they, to their own shame, throw out their furious reproaches and malicious slanders against the doctrines, ministers, and followers of Christ,—and their corrupt principles and vicious inclinations. Under all their pretences to be noted lights for the direction of others, themselves are utterly ignorant of real religion, and wander from the truth and holiness of the gospel, and run about spreading their wicked principles, temper, and courses, till at last they shall be plunged into the eternal horrors of that misery, despair, and damnation which God has prepared for them as their just punishment. 14, 15. It was partly with respect to such persons that the famous Enoch foretold Christ's glorious coming, attended by his saints and angels, to the last judgment—publicly to convince, expose, and condemn to eternal punishment, all ungodly persons, for their premeditated, malicious, and wicked deeds, and for their virulent speeches which they have thrown out against his person, gospel, and cause, and upon his members and faithful servants for his sake: 16. Which conduct exactly tallies with that of the seducers I am now warning you against; for these secretly murmur against God and his providence, against magistrates and ministers, against Christ and his followers and ways, and are continually finding fault and openly quarrelling with all his doctrines and dispensations, being quite dissatisfied with their own state and condition in the world; and with restless minds are pursuing their own vicious inclinations to unlawful pleasures; and, at the same time, talking in lofty and unintelligible strains, and with high pretences to knowledge and religion—speaking the most excessively vain and conceited things of themselves, and extravagantly flattering, caressing, and extolling such as are of their own party, however vile, especially if they be rich, or ready to grant them some worldly advantage, to gratify their covetous or luxurious temper. 17, 18. Now, my dearly beloved brethren in the Lord, beware of being stumbled at the rise of such seducers, or their scornful derisions of everything sacred, or their abandoned practices, since our Saviour and his apostles have given you such plain and express warnings of them. 19. For these are the very persons of whom you have been warned—men that make factions and divisions in the church, alienating themselves from the true apostles, servants, disciples, and doctrines of Christ, and forming separate parties of their own sentiment, as if they were more holy than others; whereas they are entirely governed by their animal appetites, lusts, and passions, and are entirely destitute of the enlightening, purifying, and sanctifying gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. 20. But guarding against being misled by men of such corrupt principles and practices, persevere with integrity and faithfulness in your holy profession, and, by all proper and appointed means, endeavour to promote your own and your fellow-Christians' spiritual establishment and advances in grace, holiness, and comfort, upon that foundation of faith which is laid in the doctrines of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and upon that principle of faith in you which purifies the heart, works by love, overcomes the world, and derives all grace out of Christ's fulness, to enable you to grow up to all perfection in him, who is the head; and continue habitually instant in prayer, under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit to help your infirmities. 21. And thus constantly endeavour to approve yourselves to God, as those that sincerely and fervently love him and delight to keep his commandments; and in order hereunto, study to maintain a sweet and experimental sense of his special love to yourselves—looking, hoping, and longing, in a prepared state and frame, for the final manifestations, fruits, and effects of the grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in that merciful sentence he shall then pass upon you, unto your complete deliverance from all sin and sorrow, and admission to all the blessings of eternal life. 22, 23. And in order to your own and others' edification in faith and holiness, great care and prudence must be used in dealing with such as have been seduced into any sin or error. Such as have been shaken or drawn aside through inadvertence, ignorance, and weakness, must be treated with great tenderness, meekness, condescension, endearing kindness, and compassionate concern, to recover and establish them.—Others that have gone farther lengths, and appear obstinate and hardened, must be more sharply dealt with; and their sin and danger must be set before them in the most alarming manner from the Word of God, and needful censures be inflicted upon them—in all which the utmost care must be taken to have no fellowship with them in their polluting courses. 24, 25. Now, to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose character I have represented as peculiarly suited to your encouragement and relief under your present troubles, and who has almighty power originally in himself as God, and all official authority and qualifications as Mediator, and having graciously undertaken it, is as willing as able to preserve you from apostasy, and from irrecoverably stumbling into error or wickedness, and, after your state of warfare is accomplished, to present you to himself and his Father perfectly holy and unblemished, and completely accepted in his immediate presence, and glorified together with him in joy unspeakable, and amidst the triumphant and ecstatic joys of all the established angels and ransomed saints—even to this God our Saviour, who, together with the Father and Spirit, is infinitely, originally, essentially, and communicatively the only wise God,—be ascribed all the glory of his divine nature and attributes as God, and of all his love, grace, designs, undertakings, and performances, and all the grandeur of his heavenly majesty, as God-man Mediator, together with universal rule and government, might and authority, over all persons and things in the kingdom of providence and of grace—now, henceforth, and for evermore.

Ver. 1. Had Jude, the author of this epistle, been the same as Judas Lebbeus, one of the twelve, there is scarcely a doubt that he would have called himself an apostle. This would at once have given his epistle the stamp of authority. As he has not done so, it seems in the highest degree probable that he was not an apostle, and that the James mentioned as his brother was the well-known president of the council at Jerusalem, and author of the epistle which bears his name. Jude was thus one of the brethren (or, as I believe, a brother) of our Lord. P.

Ver. 4. Ordained to this condemnation. Literally, 'before written;' that is, had their condemnation prophetically foretold. They were not, and, consistently with the attributes of God, they could not, be ordained to commit sin (see Ja. 1. 13, 14); but on account of that sin which God foresaw, described, and denounced, they were ordained to suffer a righteous judgment.—Denying, &c. According to the grammatical canon established by Middleton, &c., the translation of this passage, following the Syriac and Coptic, should be, 'denying our only Lord God Jesus Christ.' C.

Ver. 5. I will, &c. 'But I wish to remind you, even you who already know this'—stirring up your minds lest you should overlook the lesson through your very familiarity with the history. C.

Ver. 6. Their first estate. The original condition of their creation; spiritually, a condition of 'truth,' Jn. 8. 44.—Their own habitation. 'Their own proper situation, by aspiring to some higher' (Benson).—Note, While conjecture is scarcely ever to be indulged, yet is it not probable that as the covenant with Adam on earth required abstinence from a particular tree as a restraint on his natural appetite, so the covenant with the angels may have required their abiding in a particular place as a similar restraint on their natural capacities of winged movement? See 2 Sa. 22. 11; Is. 6. 2; Da. 9. 21; Re. 8. 13; 14. 6. C.

Ver. 7. Suffering (typically, in this world) the wrath of God in the world to come. C.

Ver. 9. The fact here referred to is not found in any existing Jewish writer. There can be no doubt, however, that it was an authentic tradition, and being so, it is brought forward by Jude as an example and warning to Christians. P.

Ver. 12. Twice dead. The leaf of profession withered: the root of doctrine plucked up. C.

Ver. 22. Making a difference between them—as misled through simplicity, and others who seduce through malignity. C.

Ver. 23. Some of the best MSS. read ver. 23 as follows: 'But others save, snatching them from the fire; and others, compassionate in fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.' P.

Reflections.—It is an inexpressible honour to be a faithful servant of Christ—to be divinely called, united to, and kept through Christ; and unbounded grace, mercy, and peace await such in time and eternity. With diligent care ought ministers to instruct their hearers concerning the salvation of their souls, universally offered in the gospel, and bestowed on all that believe; and to stir them up to an earnest concern, steadfast adherence, and fervent zeal for the truths of the gospel.—Impostors abound in every age, and dare to plead God's Word and grace in favour of their vilest abominations. Yet, when warned by the fate of ancient Hebrews, fallen angels, filthy Sodomites, murderous Cain, hypocritical Balaam, and presumptuous Korah, what can such apostates expect less than the eternal damnation of hell! But no warnings, no good examples, avail with men hardened in desperate wickedness: they will still rush forward in their impure, lustful, rebellious, insolent, reproachful, brutish, proud, fearless, discontented course—dishonouring God and seeking to please men, while they are plaguing his church. Great need, then, have Christians to regard the inspired warnings given against such, and to endeavour to make daily progress in knowledge, faith, fervent prayer, and holy love to Christ and his people, and in expectation of an eternal gracious reward. And with tender care, and holy but prudent zeal, ought they to reclaim such as have been insnared. Infinite is the mercy that in this insnaring world all the saints are in the hand and under the care of Jesus Christ as their keeper, and that all their preservation and happiness certainly redounds to his glory.

Concluding Remarks on the General Epistle of Jude.

There is no doubt that the doctrines of the Gnostics and Nicolaitanes had early been propagated in the church of Christ, even as the tares were sown ere the wheat had budded. There can, therefore, be little doubt, that against their lewd and pernicious errors the terrible denunciations of Jude were directed;—denunciations that prove beyond a question, that while the 'still small voice' of gospel grace is to be whispered into the ear of believers, 'the terrors of the Lord,' and 'the curse of the law,' are to be proclaimed with trumpet tongue against all the workers of iniquity. C.