Jude 1

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:5-7

1:5-7 It is my purpose to remind you--although you already possess full and final knowledge of all that matters--that, after the Lord had brought the people out of Egypt in safety, he subsequently destroyed those who were unbelieving; and that he has placed under guard in eternal chains in the abyss of darkness, to await the judgment which shall take place on the great day, the angels who did not keep their own rank but left their own proper habitation. Just so Sodom and Gomorrah and the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:8-9

1:8-9 In the same way these, too, with their dreams, defile the flesh, and set at naught the celestial powers, and speak evil of the angelic glories. When the archangel Michael himself was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, he did not venture to launch against him an evil-speaking accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Jude begins this passage by comparing the evil men with the false prophets whom Scripture condemns. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 sets down what is to be done... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:10

1:10 But these people speak evil of everything which they do not understand, whereas they allow themselves to be corrupted by the knowledge which their instincts give them, living at the mercy of their instincts, like beasts without reason. Jude says two things about the evil men whom he is attacking. (i) They criticize everything which they do not understand. Anything which is out of their orbit and their experience they disregard as worthless and irrelevant. "Spiritual things are... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:11

1:11 Woe to them because they walk in the way of Cain; they fling themselves into the error of Balaam; they perish in Korah's opposition to God. Jude now goes to Hebrew history for parallels to the wicked men of his own day; and from it he draws the examples of three notorious sinners. (i) First, there is Cain, the murderer of his brother Abel ( Genesis 4:1-15 ). In Hebrew tradition Cain stood for two things. (a) He was the first murderer in the world's history; and, as The Wisdom of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

1:12-16 These people are hidden rocks which threaten to wreck your Love Feasts. These are the people who at your feasts revel with their own cliques without a qualm. They have no feeling of responsibility to anyone except themselves. They are clouds which drop no water but are blown past by the wind. They are fruitless trees in autumn's harvest time, twice dead and torn up by the roots. They are wild sea waves, frothing out their own shameless deeds. They are wandering stars and the abyss of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

(ii) These wicked men revel in their own cliques and have no feeling of responsibility for anyone except themselves. These two things go together for they both stress their essential selfishness. (a) They revel in their own cliques without a qualm. This is exactly the situation which Paul condemns in First Corinthians. The Love Feast was supposed to be an act of fellowship; and the fellowship was demonstrated by the sharing of all things. Instead of sharing, the wicked men kept to their own... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

Jude goes on to use a vivid picture of these evil men. "They are like wild sea waves frothing out their own shameless deeds." The picture is this. After a storm, when the waves have been lashing the shore with their frothing spray and their spume, there is always left on the shore a fringe of seaweed and driftwood and all kinds of unsightly litter from the sea. That is always an unlovely scene. But in the case of one sea it is grimmer than in any other. The waters of the Dead Sea can be... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

In Jude 1:16 Jude sets down three last characteristics of the evil men. (i) They are grumblers, for ever discontented with the life which God has allotted to them. In this picture he uses two words, one which was very familiar to his Jewish readers and one which was very familiar to his Greek readers. (a) The first is goggustes ( Greek #1113 ). (gg in Greek is pronounced ng). The word describes the discontented voices of the murmurers and is the same as is so often used in the Greek... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:17-19

1:17-19 But you, beloved, you must remember the words which were once spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; you must remember that they said to us: "In the last time there will be mockers, whose conduct is governed by their own impious desires." These are the people who set up divisions--fleshly creatures, without the Spirit. Jude points out to his own people that nothing has happened which they might not have expected. The apostles had given warning that in the last times just... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:17-19

(ii) These evil men have a second characteristic. They set up divisions--they are fleshly creatures, without the Spirit. Here is a most significant thought--to set up divisions within the church is always sin. These men set up divisions in two ways. (a) As we have already seen, even at the Love Feasts they had their own little cliques. By their conduct they were steadily destroying fellowship within the church. They were drawing a circle to shut men out instead of drawing a circle to take... read more

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