Jude 1:3 - Meaning and Application

Jude writes to lately converted Jews and Gentiles to strengthen them in the Christian faith. He wants them to live in a way that matches that faith and to confess it boldly, especially when they face open opposition, whether through clever deception or harsh persecution. But we must be careful that what we believe, teach, defend, and spread is truly the Christian faith. It must not be the marks of one party or another, or any teaching newer than the inspired writings of the holy evangelists and apostles.

The gospel salvation is a common salvation. By that, the gospel is sincerely offered to all people wherever its message reaches, as Mark 16:15-16 says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” God means what he says. He does not trick us with empty words, whatever people may do. So no one is shut out from these gracious offers except those who stubbornly, without repentance, and finally shut themselves out. Whoever wants to may come and freely drink of the water of life (Revelation 22:17).

This salvation is applied to all believers, and only to believers. It belongs to the weak as well as the strong. No one should grow discouraged because of hidden decrees, things they know very little about and have nothing to do with. God’s decrees are hidden, but his promises are clear. All true Christians meet in Christ, their common head. They are moved by one and the same Spirit, guided by one rule, come together at one throne of grace, and hope soon to share one common inheritance. That inheritance will be glorious, though we cannot fully know now how glorious it will be. We only know it will far exceed our present hopes and expectations.

This common salvation is the subject of the faith of all the saints. All believers heartily agree with its teaching. They count it a faithful saying and one worthy of full acceptance (1 Timothy 1:15). It is “the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away. Nothing more or less should be changed in it. Here we should stay, and here we are safe. If we go one step further, we risk being trapped or led astray.

The apostles and evangelists all wrote to us about this common salvation. Anyone who has carefully read their writings can see this. It is strange that some think the apostles mainly wrote to support private systems and opinions, especially ones the apostles never did and could not have had in mind. It is enough that, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, they have fully made known everything necessary for anyone to believe and do in order to share personally in this common salvation.

Those who preach or write about this common salvation should give all diligence to do it well. They should not offer God or his people something that costs them nothing, or almost nothing, in thought or effort (2 Samuel 24:24). That would dishonor God and be unfair to people. Even though the apostle was inspired, he still gave all diligence to write about the common salvation. What, then, will become of those who, though uninspired, give no diligence or almost none, and simply say whatever comes into their mouths, using Bible words but not caring how they explain or apply them? Anyone who speaks about holy things should always do so with the greatest reverence, care, and effort.

Those who have received this doctrine must contend earnestly for it. They must do so earnestly, not angrily. Those who strive in the Christian life must do so lawfully, or they lose their work and may lose their crown too (2 Timothy 2:5). Human anger does not produce God’s righteousness (James 1:20). Lying for the truth is wrong, and shouting for it is not much better. Those who have received the truth must defend it, but they must do it as the apostles did, by suffering patiently and courageously for it. They must not try to make others suffer because those others will not at once accept every opinion we choose to call faith or essential truth. We must not let ourselves be robbed of any essential part of Christian faith by the clever tricks or smooth arguments of those who are trying to deceive (Ephesians 4:14). Paul says he preached the gospel, and it was the gospel, with much contention (1 Thessalonians 2:2), meaning, as I understand it, with earnestness, heartfelt zeal, and deep concern for its success.

Jude also writes this way because dangerous errors often call for a proper defense of important truths. In the same way that bad conduct often leads to good laws, harmful teaching gives reason to speak up for the truth. Ungodly men are the great enemies of the faith of Christ and the peace of the church. Those who deny or corrupt the faith, and disturb the church’s peace, are plainly called ungodly men here. We might have truth and peace, which is a great blessing, if there were no ministers or private Christians in our churches except truly godly people. But that is hardly something we can expect on this side of heaven.

Ungodly men raise doubts and arguments to promote their own selfish, ambitious, and greedy goals. This has troubled the church in every age, and I fear no age will be completely free from such people and such practices as long as time lasts. Nothing cuts us off from the church except what cuts us off from Christ, namely, a ruling unbelief and ungodliness. We should hate the thought of calling particular parties or people ungodly without proof, or even the faintest sign of it, as often happens. Ungodly men are those who live without God in the world, with no real concern for God or conscience. They are dangerous, and so they should be avoided, not only when they are openly wicked in what they do, but also when they are ungodly in what they leave undone. For example, some hold back prayer before God, or refuse to rebuke a rich man when their office requires it, because they fear losing his favor and the profit they expect from him. Others do the Lord’s work carelessly, and so on.

The worst of ungodly men are those who turn the grace of God into a license for sin. They grow bolder in sin because God’s grace has overflowed so greatly and still does. They become hardened in their evil ways by the fullness of gospel grace, whose purpose is to turn people away from sin and bring them to God.

So, to grow bold and careless under such great grace, and to turn it into a chance to practice all impurity with greed, is to harden ourselves by the very grace meant to bring us back. That makes us the vilest, worst, and most hopeless of sinners.

Those who turn God’s grace into a cover for sin are, in effect, denying the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny both natural religion, which is the truth known from creation and conscience, and revealed religion, which God has made known in Scripture. They strike at the root of natural religion by denying the only Lord God, and they tear down the whole structure of revealed religion by denying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ’s great purpose in setting up revealed religion in the world was to bring us to God. To deny revealed religion is, in effect, to overturn natural religion too, because the two stand or fall together. They give light and strength to each other. It would be good if modern deists, people who accept some belief in God but reject the gospel, would seriously think about this and honestly ask what keeps them from receiving Christ, while claiming to believe the principles and duties of natural religion.

Nothing is matched more closely than these two, so it is strange to accept one and reject the other. It seems fairer either to receive both or reject both, though in this age many choose the easier and more plausible path of separating them.

Those who turn God’s grace into license for sin are set aside for condemnation. They sin against the last, greatest, and most complete remedy, so they have no excuse. They must die from their wounds and their disease. They were long ago marked out for this condemnation, whatever that phrase means.

Yet if our translators had chosen to render the words as “written of long ago,” meaning people who would, through their own sin and folly, become fit for this judgment, what harm would there have been? Ordinary Christians would then have been spared dark and confusing thoughts about reprobation, a subject the strongest minds can barely enter and can handle only with great loss and trouble. Is it not enough that inspired writers warned early on that such deceivers and wicked people would arise later, so that everyone warned in advance might also be armed in advance against them?

We must contend earnestly for the faith against those who would corrupt or weaken it, especially those who creep in unnoticed. That is a shameful description, though weak and ignorant people often use it badly, and even some who themselves have crept in unnoticed. Such people think their own word should count as law for all their followers and admirers. Faithful, humble ministers are helpers of their people’s joy, peace, and comfort, not masters over their faith.

Whoever tries to corrupt the faith must be resisted earnestly. The more active and crafty Satan’s agents are in trying to steal the truth from us, the more carefully we should hold on to it. But we must be sure not to apply false or unfair labels to people, groups, or opinions.

The apostle then gives a serious warning, in Christ’s name, to those who have professed his holy religion and later abandon it and prove false to it, in Jude 1:5-7. He recalls earlier judgments of God on sinners to awaken and frighten those addressed in this letter. God’s judgments are often announced and carried out as a warning to others, rather than because of direct and special anger only against the offenders themselves. That does not mean God is not displeased with them, but perhaps he is no more displeased with them than with others who escape for the moment.

“I will remind you.” What we already know still needs to be brought back to mind. That is why there will always be need for a settled and regular ministry in the Christian church, even though the key teachings of faith are plainly revealed in Scripture, either in direct words or by clear and immediate consequence. No infallible interpreter is needed for that purpose, whether claimed or imagined.

Some may weakly ask, if Scripture clearly contains all that is needed for salvation, what use is a standing ministry? Why not stay home and read our Bibles? The inspired apostle answers that objection here, at least in part. Preaching is not meant to tell us something brand new in every sermon, something we never knew before. It is meant to remind us, call forgotten truth back to mind, stir our feelings, and strengthen our resolve so our lives match our faith.

Even if you know these things, you still need to know them better. Many things we once knew, we have sadly forgotten. Is it useless to be reminded of them again? What are the things Christians need to be reminded of?

First, we are reminded of the destruction of the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness, Jude 1:5. Paul also brings this to the Corinthians’ attention (1 Corinthians 10). The first ten verses of that chapter are the best explanation of Jude’s fifth verse, since Scripture is always the best commentary on itself. No one should presume on privileges, because many who were brought out of Egypt by amazing miracles still died in the wilderness because they would not believe.

Let us not become proud, but fear (Romans 11:20). Let us fear that, since a promise still remains of entering God’s rest, any of us may seem to fall short of it (Hebrews 4:1). They had miracles in great abundance, and these were their daily bread, yet they still perished in unbelief. We have far greater advantages than they had, so let their terrible failure be our warning.

We are also reminded of the fall of the angels, Jude 1:6. A great number of angels left their own place, meaning they were not satisfied with the rank and station the supreme King of the universe had assigned them. Like discontented ministers in any age, they thought they deserved better. They wanted, while still called servants, to be rulers, and in effect they wanted their Ruler to serve them, doing only what they wished. Pride was the chief and immediate cause of their fall.

So they left their proper place and rebelled against God, their Creator and sovereign Lord.

But God did not spare them, great and powerful as they were. He would not yield to them. He cast them off, as a wise and good king will dismiss a selfish and deceitful minister. The all-wise God could not be fooled, as earthly rulers often are, by their secret plans.

What, then, became of them? They meant to defy and stare down even the power of God himself, but God was stronger than they were. He cast them down to hell. Those who would not serve their Maker and obey his will in their first state were made prisoners of his justice, and they are kept in everlasting chains under darkness.

Here we see the condition of fallen angels. They are in chains, held by the power and justice of God, waiting for the judgment of the great day. They are under darkness, though they once were angels of light. They are so deeply in the dark that they still fight against God, as if they had any hope left of winning. What terrible blindness! Light and freedom belong together, and so do chains and darkness.

The devils, once angels in the fullest sense, are kept for this judgment. There is surely a judgment to come. The fallen angels are held for the judgment of the great day, and should fallen human beings expect to escape it? Certainly not. Let every reader think about this in time. Their chains are called everlasting because they can never break free or escape. God’s decree, his justice, and his wrath are the chains that hold them fast. Hear this and fear, sinful people of the human race.

The apostle also calls our attention to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 1:7). This is an allusion to the destruction of the five cities of the plain. By that event, the misery of the damned is pictured as a lake burning with fire and sulfur. Those cities were guilty of shameful wickedness, things too awful to name or even think about except with deep horror and disgust. Their ruin is a special warning to all people to guard against fleshly lusts, sinful desires of the body, that fight against the soul (1 Peter 2:11).

These lusts burned up the Sodomites with fire from heaven, and now they are suffering the punishment of eternal fire. So take heed, and do not copy their sins, or the same judgment may come on you as came on them. God is still the same holy, just, pure Being that he was then. And can the dirty pleasures of a moment make up for suffering the punishment of eternal fire? Therefore, stand in awe and do not sin (Psalm 4:4).