Jude 1:1-25 - Homilies By R. Finlayson

The Letter.

I. INTRODUCTION .

1 . Address.

2 . Salutation. "Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied." The first word of salutation points to their being regarded under troublous conditions. The second word of salutation points to their enjoyment of the Divine protection. The third word of salutation points to their being (generally) delighted in by God. This Divine blessing is already realized: let it be realized a hundredfold.

II. THE LETTER .

1 . Purpose.

2 . Occasion. "For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old set forth unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." Jude's alarm was occasioned by the presence of intruders in the Christian fold. These crept in privily— literally, "entered in aside from," i.e., did not enter in by the door. They are described indefinitely as certain men, being not definitely, or all of them, false teachers. They fell back on false ideas, but more in the way of justifying their immoral conduct. Jude puts to the front their condemnation, which he is to announce, and also (as he is to show) their being of old set forth unto this condemnation as being men of a certain character which is described. They were ungodly men, i.e., they wanted especially reverence toward God (want of right feeling toward God being founded on an unworthy conception of God). To the adopted into the family of God the grace of our God is most sacred; but these treated it irreverently, turning freedom from the condemning power of the Law into freedom from the regulative power of the Law. Especially was their antinomianism associated with lasciviousness. The adopted into the family of God acknowledge Jesus Christ as their only Master and Lord, i.e., as having alone power to sway and direct them; these are antichristian, in refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as having the sole swaying and directing of them.

III. THREE EXAMPLES OF JUDGMENT .

1 . The people redeemed from Egyptian bondage. "Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, how that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." They had got once for all in the knowledge of Christ the key to the interpretation of all things; he might therefore have left them to find out examples for themselves. He would only put them in mind of a few. He takes his first example from the generation of Israel that came out of Egypt. The Lord stood forth a first time, and it was to save a people. He stood forth a second time (this is the literal rendering of the word which is translated "afterward"), and it was not to save, but to destroy. It might have been expected that the generation who had seen the great works of the Lord in Egypt, for whom the Red Sea was parted, would have believed; yet this was the generation that perished in the wilderness for their unbelief. If the Lord works deliverance for us, it is that we may believe; if we show a disregard of the Divine works, an insensibility to their importance, we can only expect that the Lord will stand forth some day when we may not be thinking of it, and this time not to deliver, but to destroy, so that we never reach the heavenly Canaan.

2 . The angels that appreciated not their rule and their abode. "And angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness until the judgment of the great day." We are here given to understand that these angels had their own rule, i.e., under God, and their own habitation, i.e., a place in heaven. Their rule, though necessarily circumscribed in comparison with Divine rule, was important in ways that we cannot clearly define; their habitation was light and peace and joy. It might have been expected that they would have been content with what they possessed; but no; there was something else which appeared more desirable to them, and for it they kept not their own principality, but left their own habitation. And what an irony in the exchange they made! Instead of keeping power, they were kept in bonds. Instead of having an abode of light, they were kept under darkness. They are to be kept in everlasting bonds (" everlasting" having here a limited sense) until the judgment of the great day, when their false preference is to be adjudicated on. If we appreciate not the position of influence God means us to fill, and the light and happiness he would appoint for us on earth, but prefer something else, there are certainly bonds and darkness for us until the great assize.

3 . Sodom and Gomorrah. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication, and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire." The inhabitants of these cities gave themselves over to fornication, and went after strange flesh, i.e., other than human. They did this in like manner with the angels, there being an unnaturalness in the sin of the angels, but not the same unnaturalness. Their abominations did not escape the notice of God; they suffered for them the punishment of fire. The fire is regarded as eternal, inasmuch as its consequences remain. The Dead Sea covers the sites of those cities. It is said in Jude 1:4 , "They who were of old set forth unto this condemnation;" or it is said here "are set forth as an example." We are intended to learn from the inhabitants of those old cities, or from the buried cities themselves. If we give ourselves up to forbidden pleasures, will not the judgment-day bring punishment as of eternal fire?

IV. Two CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTRUDERS . "Yet in like manner those also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at naught dominion, and rail at dignities." Their first characteristic was defiling the flesh (corresponding to "lasciviousness" in Jude 1:4 ). They did this in like manner with the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, by whose fate they were not warned. Their second characteristic was setting at naught dominion and railing at dignities (corresponding to "denying our only Master and Lord" in Jude 1:4 ). They did this in like manner with the Israelites who believed not, and with the angels who valued not their rule and their habitation. Lordship over them (in Christ) they despised; dignities (belonging to the heavenly world) they railed at. They did this when they should have been warned by the judgments on Israel and on the angels. Both these characteristics were displayed by them in their dreamings, i.e., "in the arbitrary fancies of their own perverted sense, which rendered them deaf to the truths and warnings of the Divine Word."

V. THEIR CONDUCT CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF MICHAEL .

1 . Michael. "But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." "And the Lord buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." There was a Jewish tradition that the grave of Moses was given to the special custody of Michael. There seems also to have been a tradition (which cannot be traced) of a dispute which Michael had about the body of Moses. That the dispute was matter of fact is here certified. It throws light both on the importance of Moses and on the spirit of Michael. Of so much importance was Moses to the Israelites that there was danger of their worshipping him after his death. His body was therefore put beyond their search, and placed under the care of Michael. The devil, assuming a claim to the body as death's prey, sought to get it back for the enticement of the Israelites. Michael, contending with him in defense of his charge, was indignant at the attempt to thwart the Divine purpose; but he did not allow himself to be abusive in his condemnation. Having respect to his adversary's original dignity, he simply said, "The Lord rebuke thee." The same language was used when an attempt was made to stop the building of the temple. Satan is represented as at the right hand of Joshua, the high priest, in the act of resisting him. The Lord (as Joshua's defender) said unto Satan, "The Lord rebuke thee."

2 . Contrast. "But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed." In contrast with Michael, these had no proper knowledge of the heavenly dignities that they railed at (of the nature and position given by God); there was a brutish kind of knowledge in which they were well advanced to their destruction.

VI. DENUNCIATION OF THEM BASED ON AFFINITIES TO EVIL MEN . "Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah." Jude, at this stage, becomes so impassioned that he regards the woe he pronounces on these men as already carried out. When Cain would not listen to the Divine remonstrance, but went on his willful way, and was punished by being made a fugitive and a vagabond, they were made fugitives and vagabonds with him. When Salaam was told not to go and curse Israel, but was swayed into a precipitous course by Balak's tempting offer, they were infatuated with him. When Korah set himself against the Divine appointment of Moses and Aaron, and was swallowed up alive, they perished with him.

VII. DESCRIPTION OF THEM BY ASSOCIATION WITH CERTAIN NATURAL OBJECTS .

1 . Rocks. "These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves." In the same impassioned tone Jude seizes upon natural objects to describe them. First of all he calls them "hidden rocks" (which is the right translation). When he contemplates them as "hidden rocks is at the love-feasts. It was the fact of their being hidden in their true characters that led to their having a place at the love-feasts. It was also the fact of their being hidden that made them so dangerous there, as it is the rock that is just covered with water that is so dangerous to vessels. It is wrong and confusing to bring in "shepherds." All that is conveyed is that, with the characters they had, they should have been afraid to present themselves at the love-feasts; but instead of that, they feasted themselves at their pleasure. It was their want of moderation that was dangerous by way of example to others.

2 . Clouds. "Clouds without water, carried along by winds." In seasons of drought clouds sometimes appear in the sky that hold out the promise of rain to those who have been long and anxiously looking for it; but they are only a deception—they have no rain in them to give out, and are carried past by the winds. So the men of whom Jude writes held out the promise of being a blessing especially to the Christian society, but they were only a deception, having no spiritual influences in them to give forth to any.

3 . Trees. "Autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots." In autumn fruit is expected on trees, but we have here autumn trees without fruit, and incapable of bearing fruit in the future, for they are dead, and twice dead, not only dead with their roots in the ground, but dead with their roots plucked up. So the men of whom Jude writes were not only destitute of good works, but incapable of ever producing them, being "rooted out of the soil of grace."

4 . Waves. "Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame." "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." There are those who are not only sinners, but sinners without the restraints that many put upon themselves in sinning, i.e., wicked. They are restlessly active in sinning; and what they do in their restlessness is to bring up the moral filth that has collected in them. It is these that Jude pictures here.

5 . Stars. "Wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever." We are to think of comets, whose course strikes us as erratic, and that, after shining for a time, are lost in the darkness. So there are those who are really out of the course appointed for them, but call forth the admiration of man for a time; their erratic course, however brilliant, can only end in their passing into the blackness of darkness for ever. This is the startling image with which Jude reaches a climax.

VIII. PROPHECY OF ENOCH .

1 . Enoch. "And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied." This is a new association with Enoch. We think of the godly humility of his walk, and of his being one of two rewarded with a translation; but it is only here that Scripture ascribes to him the prophetic gift. We do not wonder at his singular sanctity being accompanied with inspiration. He is here called the seventh from Adam, to mark the ancient date of his prophecy. For Jude, having referred to "these" men as having been of old set forth to their condemnation, and having brought forward many ancient examples, is now able to bring forward a distinct prophecy having a bearing on them (though not on them exclusively) of the most ancient date. The remarkable thing is that the prophecy (substantially) is found in the apocryphal 'Book of Enoch,' with which Jude seems to have been acquainted. The likelihood is that it found its way into that book from tradition. Jude did not avoid tradition (with regard to Michael as well as with regard to Enoch), rather took to tradition as that which was familiar to his readers, and what he did with it as an inspired man was to give it a pure, authentic form. We are thus indebted to him for the transmission of two important traditions, without the uncertainty that attaches to other Jewish traditions.

2 . Contents of the prophecy. "Saying, Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." To Adam was made an announcement of redemption; it is a significant fact that "the seventh from Adam" was able to make as clear an announcement of judgment. He announces the event as though it had taken place, and he was, after the event, narrating what he had seen. It was an event that was fitted to fill with astonishment. The Lord came, i.e., from heaven to earth. He came with a brilliant retinue, viz. "ten thousands of his holy ones" (apparently the angels) he came to execute judgment, which is the very language Christ uses of what was assigned him by the Father ( John 5:27 ). He came to execute judgment upon all, i.e., both godly and ungodly. He came to convict, i.e., bring home guilt to all included in the latter class (therefore in Jude's time too), both for their works and for their speeches. "A corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit"' The ungodly had their works of ungodliness which they had ungodly wrought. The ungodly sinners had their hard speeches which they had spoken against the Lord. Five times is the thought of ungodliness brought in. We may account for it by the strong impression Enoch had of the ungodliness that was around him. Men were working works as though they were never to be brought into judgment for them. God they thought of only to utter hard things against him who was Infinite and Essential Reasonableness and Tenderness. When brooding over the ungodliness of his day, Enoch was moved to predict, in rhythmic form, a coming, world-wide judgment.

3 . Application of the prophecy. "These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage." These are hard speakers against the Lord, especially in regard to their lot, They are murmurers, complainers of their lot— which is connected with their lusts (not God-governed desires), which are not easily satisfied. And, in murmuring and complaining, "their mouth speaketh great swelling words;" they reflect on God for not making their lot better, they seek to impress men with the great things they are entitled to. While thus they exalt themselves, they can demean themselves far enough in fawning upon persons from whom they hope to obtain an advantage.

IX. APOSTOLIC TEACHING .

1 . Its contents. "But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts." The prophecy of Enoch was of most ancient date; he now refers his readers to what was within their own recollection. They had not heard our Lord Jesus Christ; but they had heard his apostles. They were thus very near the highest source. Those apostles spoke of the last time, i.e., the period immediately preceding the completion of the kingdom of God. They spoke of mockers then. Of all classes of men these are the worst. They are not satisfied with ignoring holy things—they turn them into ridicule. They are represented by the free-thinkers of the present day, who are increasingly aggressive. There is this to be said that where there is an earnest Christianity, dislike of it takes the form of mocking. In the last time there will be an earnest Christianity such as we have not yet seen; and we may also expect that infidelity will then be most bitter when its utter defeat is near. We have the authority of the apostles here for saying that infidelity and libertinism go together. Mockers, they say, "walking after their own lusts of ungodliness." The explanation of the infidelity of many is their dislike of godly restraints.

2 . Its application. "These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit." It is very difficult to fix the meaning of the first part of this description. It is against the old translation, "they who separate themselves," that the men in question were present at the love-feasts. Neither does it appear that they were connected with a Christian society to "make separations," as the Revised translation bears. The idea of mocking is not lost sight of, as appears from the following verse. But, as if mocking were already asserted of these men, the thought proceeds, "These mockers are they." What, then, are we to make of the word which has given so much trouble? Taking the literal meaning to be "to put the limit away from," we would translate, "they who take excess of liberty." This is in accordance with the second idea in the apostolic saying. There is an easy transition then to "psychical." "The 'psychical' of Scripture are those in whom the spirit, as the organ of the Divine Spirit, is suppressed, dormant, for the time as good as extinct; whom the operations of the Divine Spirit have never lifted into the region of spiritual things" (Trench). Hence it is added, "having not the Spirit." These mockers make their own bounds, because under natural impulses instead of the Spirit's influences.

X. EXHORTATION TO READERS REGARDING THEMSELVES ,

1 . Connection of life with faith. "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith." There is a couplet which is taken to convey this meaning—that one mode of faith is just as good as another.

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;

His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right."

It is true that his mode of faith can't be wrong, whose life is in the right; but it is also true that his life can't be in the right, whose mode of faith is wrong. What we believe is the foundation; what we build on it is our life. This is in the line of Jude's thought. He has characterized mockers as libertines. And, having recorded this charge against the infidels or scoffers of his day (even within the pale of the Church), he turns to his own true brethren in the faith, and says to them, addressing them by an endearing title, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith." As if he said, "Ye have a most holy faith, let your life (to correspond with it) also be most holy." "Faith here is equivalent to the Object of faith. We do not build upon our act of faith; that is the heresy of building on ourselves. We build on the Object of our faith. Now, the great Object of our faith is God. We believe in God—that is the first article of our creed. We are theists, and not atheists. But more definitely we are Christian believers—we believe in a God identified with the Christian manifestation. We believe in a God to whom sin was so heinous that nothing but the blood of his incarnate Son could suffice to take it away. Should there not, then, be an awful sanctity about our life? It should be far removed from that of infidels, who have no object of faith to elevate them; and from that of pagans, who have an unholy faith; and from that of Romanists, whose faith is to a great extent nullified by such excesses as indulgences and purgatory; and from that of rationalists, who think of sin being taken away without satisfaction being made for it. What we count an immeasurable advantage in our creed should be turned into a corresponding advantage in our life. But is it not sometimes as though we did not believe our creed? Is there not a vast discrepancy between our life and the embodiment of our creed in the life of Christ? Let us listen, then, to the exhortation of this servant of Christ, and advocate of consistency.

2 . Recognition of the Trinity in connection with our life. We believe, we have said, in God; we believe also in the Three Persons of the Godhead—in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We are to build upon the Three Persons, though in different ways. "Praying in the Holy Spirit." Under the dispensation of the Spirit, we must not forget the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is here placed first, and in connection with prayer. In a good life we must give the first place to prayer. It qualifies us for receiving the bounties of Providence, puts us into working order, arms us against temptation. But prayer, to do this, must be prayer in the Holy Spirit. How can we wrestle with God in our own might? How can we have the right desires from ourselves? It is only when we pray in the might of the Holy Spirit, who is promised to help our infirmities and to teach us how we ought to pray, that we can succeed. The true idea of prayer is the Spirit of God pleading in our prayers, exciting within us the right desires—desires which at times cannot find expression in words, but only in sighings and groanings. We have often to complain that our prayers are cold. We have come under some worldly influence, and have no heart to pray. At such a time let us not neglect the duty, or attempt its performance in our own strength; but let us, in despair of self, depend on the Spirit's help, saying, "Come, O Breath, and breathe on these dead desires, that they may live!" "Keep yourselves in the love of God." This we are to do when, from the mount of prayer, we go down into the world. Our whole duty in the world may be summed up in this—that we keep ourselves in the love of God there. The temptation is to slide into the love of self. In things forbidden we cannot love God at all. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." In things lawful we can love God only by putting due restraints on ourselves. Let us eat and drink and work, not for selfish ends, but for the glory of God. To keep ourselves thus in the love of God will require effort. Without effort we can keep ourselves in the love of self. Without effort men are sliding every day to ruin. It is not those alone that sin hard who are lost, but those also who do not bestir themselves. Let us, then, make every effort to keep ourselves out of the love of self, and in the love of God. "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." We have been trying hard to keep ourselves in the love of God amid worldly allurements. We are not now to rest in anything we have done, as though we had advantaged God in any way. "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all these things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." We are conscious of our feebleness as agents. We find it hard to live the most holy life, to attain to eminent distinction in holiness. We are conscious of self soiling even our best efforts. It is well, then, that we can took for mercy. But for mercy we should faint. It is well that we can look for the mercy "of our Lord Jesus Christ." We can hope that our poor services will be accepted of God with an all-merciful regard to that perfect service which he has rendered on our behalf. Thus, then, are we to build up the most holy life. We are to begin with prayer in the Holy Spirit; we are to go about everything in the world in the love of God, and then we are to look for acceptance of what we have done through Jesus Christ. That is to be our order of procedure "unto the life eternal" (the unity of thought connects this with all)—until this life of time is merged in the life of eternity, until this very imperfect life is merged in the perfect life above. Let us look forward to this complement and goal of our life as that which is fitted to free and uplift us under present conditions.

XI. EXHORTATION TO READERS REGARDING THE ENDANGERED .

1 . Those who are in incipient danger. "And on some have mercy, who are in doubt." By those "who are in doubt" we are to understand those who hesitated in their judgment of the course pursued by the men with whom Jude has been dealing. In their hesitating mood there was danger of their, being drawn into the same course. They were certainly to be condemned for not being able to discriminate between a Christian course and an un-Christian course; but they were to be treated with mercy. If care was taken to give them Christian enlightenment, so that they were able to pronounce decisively against an un-Christian course, their safety would be secured.

2 . Those who are in extreme danger. "And some save, snatching them out of the fire." There seems to be a reference here, as in Jude 1:9 , to Zechariah 3:2 . Joshua (representing Jerusalem), clothed with filthy garments, was a brand already burning. With his filthy garments taken away, and clothed with a change of raiment, he was a brand plucked out of the fire. There were some who had come under the polluting influence of the evil men, for whose contracted pollution the fire was burning. They were not beyond recovery, but as in extreme danger, mercy toward them needed to take a certain swiftness and forcibleness. Let them be snatched hastily, even violently, as brands out of the fire.

3 . Those who are a source of danger. "And on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." There are some who, in their pollution, are fit objects for mercy; and yet they are a source of danger to those who have to deal with them, from the filling of the mind with images of pollution. The only safety in dealing with such is, along with wholesome fear leading to prayer for Divine help, a strong detestation of the pollution sought to be removed. The Saviour was thus proof against the pollution with which he had to deal, and none of us is safe in the neighbourhood of pollution without his detestation. Only we shall be very unlovely if, with his detestation, we have not also his mercy ( Luke 15:2 ).

XII. CONCLUSION IN THE FORM OF A DOXOLOGY .

1 . God addressed.

2 . The ascription to God.