Jude

This devotional is written by Matt Coombs.

Jude

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The sin and doom of ungodly people
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct – as irrational animals do – will destroy them.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved for ever.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’ 16 These people are grumblers and fault-finders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A call to persevere
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Doxology
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – 25 to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen.

Reflection

Jude humbly begins by addressing himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, that is to say he, like James, is Jesus’ half-brother. But he doesn’t make anything of this relationship to establish his authority in writing this letter, he’s quite content being known as a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

This letter is written to warn the recipients of false teachers among them (3-19) and calls them to persevere with advice for how to help those who have been led astray (20-23).

The false teachers had been accepted into their community (4) and participated in their worship (12). Their teaching seems to suggest that because of the grace they had received they were therefore free to do whatever they like (4). As such, they engage in sexual immorality (7-8), and reject the leaders authority in the church (8) and they cause division by grumbling and finding fault in everything (16, 19). To Jude’s dismay some people in the church have been influenced by them.

Jude’s concern is for this beloved community. He doesn’t want them to be misled. He wants them to receive by faith Jesus’ forgiveness, and then by the power of the Spirit become more like him (19), reciprocating the love they have received by loving and serving him.

We all fall short of this, of course. Nevertheless, Jesus helps us and keeps us (1, 24). In the full assurance of God’s saving love, let’s hold close to this truth and invite the Holy Spirit to keep us in his love, and transform us into the people we are called to be.

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