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.
