First Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Hebrews 5:11-14

 

In the early years of my Christian life I was introduced to Derek Prince, who was a tremendous influence in my growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of his works was The Spirit-Filled Believer’s Handbook.¹ In this he goes through the foundational teaching or doctrines in Hebrews 6. I want to go through Hebrews 5:11-6:3 and present the challenge of the Apostle and briefly touch on these first principles (in a much less comprehensive and thorough way than Bro Prince!). I pray that all who read my notes will be blessed and encouraged in the grace of Christ.

Obviously, the best way to understand this passage is to start at chapter 1 and read everything leading up to this, then what comes after (and I encourage you to do that), but for now I’m confining myself to these seven verses. Let’s start!

5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 

He² points out a problem that is hindering them from growing, We have many things to say, but ye are dull of hearing. Wow, he did not mince words! What in the world was going on?

12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 

Ah, he gets right to it! At this point in your faith, you ought to be able to teach the faith, instead you need to be (re)taught the first principles of the faith.

We have to ask two questions:

(1) How / when do we come to the place where we ought to be teachers? I think the simple answer is time and teaching. If we are sitting under teachers who are carefully and faithfully presenting the whole counsel of God, and we are receiving and acting on the Word, we will grow in grace and knowledge.

(2) The second question is blunt and personal: Am I able to teach the basics of the Christian faith, or am I in need of being taught myself?

are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat – Paul makes this same distinction in 1 Corinthians 3, as does Peter in 1 Peter 2. Milk is good, but it is clearly the first principles of the faith. These folks have been believers long enough that they should have graduated from milk to meat.³

13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 

Milk is for babes in Christ, new believers. But as he explains, everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness; they don’t understand it, they can’t defend it, they can’t teach it. We don’t expect that of babies. Babies are wonderful, but the normal thing is for them to grow in strength and understanding.

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Strong meat, solid food, is for them that are of full age, who have grown and matured.⁴

Who are the persons of full age? “Understand, dear friends, that there is no reference here at all to the age of a person as to human life. The Greek word is, “Men that are perfect;” it signifies, therefore, spiritual men who have attained to the highest degree of spiritual development. Now this is not the result of years, for there are some grey heads that have no more wisdom than when they first began; and, on the other hand, there are some youthful believers who are worthy to be called fathers in Israel... Growth in grace does not run side by side with growth in years. As old Master Brooks says, “There are some few believers who seem to be born with beards; they are ripe Christians at a very early stage of their spiritual existence; and there are some who ... are always babes, needing the spoon and the rocking-chair, even in old age. The expression in the text, then, has no reference to age, but is used in a spiritual and metaphorical sense.”⁵

One of the signs of their maturity is their ability to discern both good and evil. Discernment is a very helpful and necessary grace that every believer needs and can walk in. I believe the passage reveals three ingredients to discernment, three steps:

(1) time growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ

(2) being thoroughly taught the word righteousness

(3) regularly exercising discernment (reason of use…senses exercised; this will be a separate post)

This is the backdrop for Hebrews 6, or as they say today, the backstory.

NEXT: The First Principles Hebrews 6:1-3

 

¹ Later republished under different titles, now known as Foundation Series

² I believe the he is the Apostle Paul.

³ We are all familiar with the distinction between milk and meat. Milk means milk (cow, sheep, goat, camel, yak); meat refers to solid food: vegetables, fruits, as well as “meat” (beef, pork, chicken etc). This all being true, I still prefer to use milk and meat.

⁴ “A careful examination of the context will inform you that one form of strong meat which is only fit for full grown Christians is the allegorical exposition of Scriptural history… Beyond a doubt, the historical parts of Scriptures are intended to be instructive allegories, setting forth heavenly mysteries... Holy Scripture is to be received, not only as a literal description of facts which really did occur, but as a picture in which grace-taught souls, illuminated by the Holy Ghost, may see pourtrayed in express characters the great gospel of the living God.” Charles Spurgeon sermon: “Hebrews 5:14, Strong Meat”

⁵ Charles Spurgeon sermon: “Hebrews 5:14, Strong Meat”

The Epistle of Jude 22-25

 

 

This is the conclusion of Jude’s short, but powerful epistle.

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

I don’t think he’s talking about the false teachers. I think he’s talking about those who have been lured away by them, captured by their false teaching and lascivious living. Let’s be honest, “You can believe in Jesus AND live any way you want to. You don’t have to be held back, suppressed by those old-fashioned, legalistic, hateful rules” is much more attractive to the flesh than

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence*, even as the Gentiles which know not God

(1 Thessalonians 4:3-5) [*passion for forbidden things]

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6:17 - 7:1)

So we want to keep ourselves in the love of God and seek to rescue the fallen and wayward.

Jude ends with a doxology. Nearly every book after Acts ends with a doxology, a praise to God. This is beautiful.

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

He began with, “ye are preserved (kept) by Jesus Christ”, then in the middle of the letter he urges us to “keep yourselves in the love of God”. Now he closes with the focus once again on the Lord who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the Father.

“To the only wise God - He alone who is the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, who alone can teach, who alone has declared the truth; that truth in which ye now stand.

Our Savior - Who has by his blood washed us from our sins, and made us kings and priests unto God the Father.

Be glory - Be ascribed all light, excellence, and splendor.

Majesty - All power, authority, and pre-eminence.

Dominion - All rule and government in the world and in the Church, in earth and in heaven.

And power - All energy and operation to every thing that is wise, great, good, holy, and excellent.

Both now - In the present state of life and things.

And ever - To the end of all states, places, dispensations, and worlds; and to a state which knows no termination, being that Eternity in which this glory, majesty, dominion, and power ineffably and incomprehensibly dwell.

Amen - So let it be, so ought it to be, and so it shall be.”¹

 

Amen!

1 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude. You can read it here.

Praying in the Holy Spirit

 

(I quoted A.B. Simpson in my last post. That quote was very good (which is why I used it!), but he had more to say about praying in the Spirit, which is also very good, and I wanted to share that as well.)

1. The Holy Spirit lays upon us the desire and burden of prayer. Sometimes we understand it; sometimes we do not. Sometimes it is a joyful consciousness of spiritual elevation; sometimes it is an unutterable and inarticulate groan. Sometimes it is a definite sense of need, a consciousness of personal defect, or a heart-searching sense of our own emptiness and failure. It is a blessed thing to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” The sense of need is the shadow side of the blessing. Let us thank the Holy Spirit when He gives us the burden of prayer.

2. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray according to the will of God. He gives us direction in our prayers. He saves us from wasting our breath and asking at random. He illuminates our mind to understand the Scriptural foundations of prayer, and makes us understand the things that are agreeable to the will of God, enabling us to ask with confidence that it is His will, and that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

3. The Holy Spirit gives us access into the presence of God. He creates for us the atmosphere of prayer. He gives us the sense of the Father’s presence. He leads us to the door of mercy and steadies our hand as we hold out the scepter of prayer, and reveals to us that inner world of divine things which none but he that feels it, knows.

4. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in the name of Jesus. He shows us our redemption rights through the great Mediator, and coming in His name we can ask even as He, and humbly, yet confidently claim, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me, and I know that Thou hearest Me always.”

5. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in faith, “for He that cometh unto God, must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.”

He enables us when we pray to “believe that we receive the things that we ask,” and to rest in the Master’s word, without anxiety or fear. He witnesses to the heart the quiet assurance of acceptance and He sustains us in the trial of our faith which follows, enabling us still to trust and not be afraid.

6. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray the prayer of love, as well as the prayer of faith. The Holy Spirit leads us into the dignity and power of our holy priesthood, laying upon us the burdens of the Great High Priest, and permitting us to be partakers of “that which remaineth of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, the Church.” In this blessed ministry we are often made conscious of the needs of others, and permitted to hold up some suffering or tempted life in the hour of peril; and we shall find some day that many a life was saved, many a victory won, and many a blessing enjoyed through this hallowed ministry that reaches those we love by way of the throne, when we never could have reached them directly.

When we become wholly emancipated from our own selfish cares and worries, and fully at leisure for the burdens of the Master, the Spirit is glad to lay upon us the needs of the multitudes of God’s people, and the burdens of the whole Church and Kingdom of Christ, so that it is possible to have a ministry as wide as the world, and as high as that of our great High Priest, before the Throne.

7. The Holy Spirit leads us into the spirit of communion, so that when we have nothing to ask we are held in the blessed silence and wordless fellowship in the bosom of God. This should become the very atmosphere of our being.

Finally, as we thus “pray in the Holy Spirit” we shall be enabled to “build ourselves up on our most holy faith,” we shall “keep ourselves in the love of God,” and we shall “look” in heavenly vision “for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” And the benediction of this beautiful epistle shall be fulfilled in our lives. “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”

 

A.B. Simpson, Power From On High, vol 2; chapter 25 "The Holy Spirit In Jude".

Simpson originally entitled this section, "Now, what is the prayer of the Holy Ghost?" But I confess, that doesn't make sense to me, so I altered it to "Praying in the Holy Spirit" because that is what he is describing and explaining. You can read the entire chapter here.

The Epistle of Jude 20-21

 

Ah, we have now arrived where I began and where all this was taking us. This is a great passage: compact and powerful! There is only one imperative or command here: keep yourselves in the love of God.

This does not mean we have to work hard at getting God to love us. He does that unbidden. The love of God refers to that place where His love and mercy, grace and blessing, are freely and without hindrance enjoyed and experienced. This is where grace, mercy, salvation, deliverance, power, and victory abound. I can keep myself in the love of God or I can carelessly wander away.

This is why I went through the first 19 verses of Jude. False teachers have come who “separate themselves, are natural, having not the Spirit.” Clearly, they are not in the love of God. And their teaching and influence could cause us to drop out of or depart from the love of God. So the Holy Spirit says, keep yourselves in the love of God. The cool thing is, he tells us exactly how to do it in this passage.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

There are three steps involved in keeping ourselves in the love of God and they are marked out by those three -ing words. There is one verb, an imperative, keep; there are three participles, building up, praying, looking. What is a participle? “A participle is considered a "verbal adjective". It is often a word that ends with an "-ing" in English (such as "building," "praying," or "looking"). It can be used as an adjective, in that it can modify a noun, or it can be used as an adverb and further explain or define the action of a verb.”¹ In other words, building up, praying, looking explain how we keep ourselves in the love of God. It is God who is working in us, and yet we also have a vital part to play. As the apostle Peter says, Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You see to the growing.

(1) building up yourselves on your most holy faith

Spend time in the Word, reading and meditating on it

Believe what you read

Confess the truth of what you read

Make sure you are hearing the Word taught and preached

Be careful to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only

Fellowship (spend time) with other believers

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection [mind, thoughts] on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 2:6-7; 3:1-3)

(2) praying in the Holy Spirit

The Bible teaches three ways to pray in the Spirit

+ groans or sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26) 

+ praying in tongues, the blessing of having a prayer language (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)

+ depending on and being led by the Spirit as I pray.

Before we read and pray, it is very helpful to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, speak to you, and guide you in your praying. One good practice is to read the Word, then begin to pray that passage for you and others; you will often find the Spirit then lifting you in prayer.

“This, beloved, is the secret of many an experience which you have not perhaps understood. This is the explanation of that depression that sometimes falls upon your heart and brings the tears gushing to your eyes, or makes you bury your head in your hands and pour out a supplication which you cannot comprehend. He sees some need, some peril, which you cannot comprehend, and He is praying against some evil which some day you will know. When you are about to take a false step, to enter upon a wrong path, to miss some important call, or to be deceived by some subtle wile of Satan, He is there to pray the prayer within you which may be only a groan that cannot be uttered; but if you are wise you will yield to it, and you will answer to His touch. Often it is a prayer for some other life, some soul in peril, somebody in dire distress or disease, some cause that needs assistance, some wrong that needs resistance, some need of the Master’s heart which He is letting you share with Him.”²

(3) looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life

Set your focus, faith, hope on the return of Christ and the salvation he is bringing. Our focus and hope is so often fixed on vacation, the next season for our sports team, the next election, payday, that raise or bonus, the weekend. We all do that to some degree, these aren’t bad, but they can be distracting, so we need to be careful, I mean the Lord talked about the cares of this life choking the seed.³ The Lord Jesus promised us eternal life, which he will bring with him when he comes. This is, as Peter says, our lively hope; truly our only hope. We should be looking for him, living in expectation of his coming! Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!

Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

 

NEXT: Jude 22-25

 

1 Simple Definition of the Participle, https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/participles.htm

2 A.B. Simpson, Power From On High, vol 2; chapter 25 The Holy Spirit In Jude. You can read it here. 

3 Matthew 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

The Epistle of Jude 17-19

 

There’s a dramatic shift in Jude’s tone. When he was speaking of the false teachers there was a harshness, he had not one nice word to say about them; now in 17 and 20 he says, But ye, beloved. They were truly beloved: loved by the Father, and loved by Jude. He has two exhortations for them in 17 and 20.

17 But ye, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

But ye beloved, remember - Preachers and teachers are often tempted to always have something new. We in the pews (chairs for those who have removed the pews) often clamor for something new. One of the more powerful idols in America is “New”. We don’t like old people or old ways, one of the worst things you can call someone is “old-fashioned”. But we need to remember. We have, many of us, forgotten the words of the Lord and his apostles. There is a great need for the ministry of reminder.

Remember the words of the apostles. What words in particular?

18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

I have said all along that there is a lot of agreement between Jude and 2 Peter. Peter begins chapter 3 with these words, This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:1-4)

Why does Jude tell us to remember? First of all, it is so easy to get discouraged – There are false teachers everywhere! Remember, we were told this would happen. Second, we are prepared. Our faith is up to date; we’re not fooled, we’re not deceived; our pastors are reminding us of what the Lord and his apostles said.

Jude has one more thing to say about false teachers.

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

They separate themselves - From what? From the historic faith. They have “moved on”, “moved beyond” that old, out of date faith, to something “new, improved, and up to date, that better reflects who we are today”. They seek to lead the saints away from the faith and then from the fellowship.

They are sensual – The word means soulish, controlled by the soul. This is the natural man. What does natural man mean? He tells us…

Having not the Spirit - They don’t have the Holy Spirit. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14)

What does he mean, having not the Spirit? It could mean the Holy Spirit is not the source of their teaching, that he doesn’t anoint their ministry, he doesn’t agree with them. I think it more likely that he means they literally don’t have the Holy Spirit. They haven’t been born of the Spirit, nor baptized with the Spirit.

How did Jude know they didn’t have the Spirit? He doesn’t say. But you can’t deny the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit. They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, a license to live a flagrantly immoral life. This is not the Holy Spirit. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:4) Their teaching and their living do not line up with the gospel. Beloved, remember, there is no truth in them, their message is a lie. They have not the Spirit, they cannot minister life.

Remember, the apostles warned us there would be false teachers. How do we detect them? Listen to what they teach, do they deny the faith once delivered to the saints? Do they turn the grace of God to lasciviousness, telling you that what was once sin is now acceptable to God?

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

 

NEXT: The Epistle of Jude 20-21

The Epistle of Jude 5-16

 

Last week I pointed out that Jude and 2 Peter 2 are very similar, and 2 Peter 2:9 provides an excellent summary of verses 5-16 in Jude, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, except in Jude it’s mostly "reserve the unjust uno the day of judgment."

5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this,

“I’m not telling you something you don’t know or have never heard, but I am reminding you.” It’s good to be reminded, even of things we know full well.

He now provides three examples of judgment

5 how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

The twelve spies. The ten who believed not persuaded Israel into unbelief, which caused that entire generation to die in the wilderness.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

I believe this refers to Genesis 6:2 “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” These angels are held in chains awaiting judgment day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Sodom and Gomorrha, the third example of lasciviousness leading to eternal judgment.

 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Likewise, in the same way, these false teachers defile the flesh, despise authority (“They will come under no restraints; they despise all law”¹), speak evil of dignities (angels).

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

Michael the archangel – “Let it be observed that the word archangel is never found in the plural number in the sacred writings. There can be properly only one archangel, one chief or head of all the angelic host. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind, ever found in the plural; there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this archangel, and head of all the angelic orders; the devil, great dragon, or Satan, is head of all the diabolic orders.”¹

Disputed about the body of Moses – “What this means I cannot tell; or from what source St. Jude drew it, unless from some tradition among his countrymen.”¹

Which they know not - These false teachers act like they are so smart, but they don’t know what they are talking about, and what they do say corrupts them.

11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

What a summary! Their teaching causes people to perish, they teach whatever makes them the most money, and they rebel against God’s authority in the Church.

12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

He keeps piling it on! I think he’s saying, These people are terrible!

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

He quotes a prophecy of Enoch², who he says prophesied of these. I don’t think he means these teachers specifically, by name, but all false teachers. False teachers are a despicable lot; dangerous and doomed.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

I have come to the conclusion that these are character traits to avoid!

False teachers are a despicable lot; dangerous and doomed.

 

NEXT: Jude 17-19

 

1 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude; read it here.

2 There is a Book of Enoch, and in Enoch 1:9 we find a verse very similar to this. What can we say about this? Since I’m not trying to fully teach Jude, or writing a commentary, I will just say, This prophecy “is nowhere to be found in Scripture. For this reason some of the Fathers did not receive this Epistle, although there is not a sufficient reason for rejecting a book on this account. But be this as it will, we let it pass. Still this is true, that God, from the beginning of the world, has left it to some to make His word known (the word that promises His favor and salvation to believers, but threatens the unbelieving with judgment and condemnation), even till Christ's coming down from heaven, when it is openly preached to the whole world. Thus, also, this father, Enoch, insisted on that word of God which he received from his father, Adam, and which he had of the Holy Spirit.” Martin Luther, The Epistle of Saint Jude. You can read it here.

The Epistle of Jude 4

 

4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is why Jude changed his letter from a word about “the common salvation” (I would like to also have this original letter!) to an exhortation to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints”: False teachers, despicable heretics, had appeared.

Certain men crept in unawares – false teachers, heretics, are never upfront, they sneak in with an agenda. “False teachers don’t announce themselves. They use your vocabulary, but not your dictionary.”¹

Before of old ordained to this condemnation – He is about to offer witnesses to the truth that God judges such ungodly men, false teachers, and heretics.

Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness – Lasciviousness is a big word! Here’s how the Greek word is defined and explained: "as living without any moral restraint licentiousness, sensuality, lustful indulgence; especially as indecent and outrageous sexual behavior debauchery, indecency, flagrant immorality.”² This tendency to pervert the grace of God and change it into a license for flagrant immorality is a terrible yet common heresy. We see it all around us today, as many are gleefully announcing that they can believe in Jesus and live any way they want.

Paul speaks of this in Romans 5:20 and 6:1: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound . . . What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? The answer? God forbid, or simply, No way! It is true, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, but the grace that saves us through faith also teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:11-14)

Denying the only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ – This is very similar to 2 Peter 2:1 …there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Turning and denying are the actions which mark them as ungodly. They deny him either by their works or their words. By their work when they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, by their words when they disown him as the Christ, only begotten Son of God, the Savior, the One who died and rose again. Probably both.

The word for Lord in the phrase the only Lord God, is an interesting one, a very strong word, despotes, "as a title for God, the one who has supreme power, Master, Sovereign, Lord; as a title for Christ Lord, Master.”² 

“The passage I believe belongs solely to Jesus Christ, and may be read thus:” 

and the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ denying.³

How abominable is this denial and how powerful is this phrase! Yes, Jude is referring to our Lord Jesus Christ as the only God and Sovereign. You see, the faith which was once delivered to the saints is not kidding when it says and we confess;

We believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.⁴

Is this my confession of faith? Anything less is denying “the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

NEXT: Jude 5-16

 

1 Attributed to John MacArthur; I cannot find the source.

2 Timothy Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (BibleWorks 5.0)

3 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/jde001.htm

4 The Nicene Creed