Greeting
1 Jude, a a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:
To those who are the called, b loved ,c by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. d
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. e
Jude’s Purpose in Writing
3 Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, f I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith g that was delivered h to the saints once for all. 4 For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, ,i have come in by stealth; j they are ungodly, k turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying l Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
Apostates: Past and Present
5 Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe; m 6 and the angels n who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day. 7 Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah o and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. p
8 In the same way these people—relying on their dreams—defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones. q 9 Yet when Michael r the archangel s was disputing with the devil t in an argument about Moses’s u body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you! ” 10 But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct—like irrational animals—by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, v have plunged into Balaam’s error w for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion. x
The Apostates’ Doom
12 These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts y as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; z trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead and uprooted. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars a for whom the blackness of darkness b is reserved forever. c
14 It was about these that Enoch, d in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones e 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly f concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.” 16 These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; g their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering h people for their own advantage.
17 But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They told you, “In the end time i there will be scoffers j living according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people create divisions and are worldly, k not having the Spirit.
Exhortation and Benediction
20 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, l 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, m waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. 22 Have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; n have mercy on others but with fear, o hating p even the garment q defiled by the flesh.
24 Now to him r who is able to protect you from stumbling s and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish t and with great joy, 25 to the only u God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
A. Opening: Reason for writing (3–4). While about to write in another vein, Jude has received information that means he must instead exhort the community he addresses to “contend for the faith” (3), which will be defined in verses 22–23 as holding fast to what they are committed to and rescuing those who are deceived (i.e., the others and any they have influenced). The reason this is necessary is that these others have entered the congregation and are presently functioning within the community (v. 12). Jude makes two related charges: they pervert grace into “sensuality” and they thereby deny “Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord” (4). In other words, living in disobedience to Jesus is a form of apostasy.
5–7. The first group is the people saved in the exodus (5), the angels of Gn 6:1–8 (6), and Sodom and Gomorrah (7). Two of the three were once saved or had a dwelling with God, while all three were finally destroyed. The Gn 6 story (read through the lens of 1 Enoch) and Sodom are put last because each refers to sexual relations across a forbidden boundary. The others in the community are apparently crossing some type of sexual boundary, doing things that were not approved of even in the culture surrounding the believing community (perhaps like the man in 1 Co 5:1).
8–10. These “dreamers” (possibly indicating the source of their revelation) not only cross such boundaries but they also “reject authority,” slandering the good angels, perhaps those who were thought to have brought the law (and thereby ethical rules) to Moses (8). Unlike the archangel Michael, who in the Testament of Moses argues respectfully with the devil over whether or not Moses deserved burial (the devil accused Moses of having been a murderer in Egypt) and who leaves judgment to God (9), these others, lacking the propriety of Michael, are like animals in that they do not understand what they slander (10). They are also like animals in that they follow their instincts, not realizing that these impulses will in the end destroy them.
11. This gives way to the second group of three: Cain, Balaam, and Korah. This woe oracle sounds like it was pulled out of OT prophecy. While the first and last of the group were rebels, all three were viewed in Jewish tradition as having taught evil. There is a crescendo in the descriptions: “gone the way of,” “plunged into . . . error,” “have perished in.” Only the spiritually suicidal would emulate them.
12–13. These others are a part of the local community of believers, for they participate in the Lord’s Supper, which in that period was a full meal, a “love feast” (12a). Yet they are a defilement of that meal. Furthermore, they are there for their own gain, not for worship or building up others. Thus they are like Balaam or like the shepherds of Ezk 34:2. Four images create a vivid warning about them: (1) waterless clouds and (2) fruitless autumn trees indicate they promise much but do not deliver (12b); (3) waves seem impressive, but these stir up “shame”; and (4) stars (believed by ancients to be angelic powers) that are wandering rather than in their proper courses (which parallels the clouds being “carried along”) are doomed (13). Such stars will be destroyed, as was the case with the angels of Gn 6:1–8.
14–16. The message of destruction is underlined by the quotation from 1 Enoch 1:9 (14b–15). Here we find the only quotation of a “scripture” in the whole work, and it is the quotation of a “prophecy” that Jude attributes to Enoch (14a). Although we now know the quotation as part of 1 Enoch, for Jude it is simply an authoritative prophecy that he knows is appropriate for his topic, and he cites it as freely as he might have cited other prophets such as Isaiah or Jeremiah.
17–19. First, the “dear friends” (17) are not to be surprised but rather to remember apostolic predictions (which were not passed down beyond that age, for they are not found elsewhere in the NT or church tradition) that this rejection of Jesus’s morality is precisely what would happen “in the end time” (18). Such people are members of the community of believers in which they cause divisions, but in fact they are totally of this age, living “according to their own ungodly desires” and “not having the Spirit” (19).
20–21. Second, in contrast to such people, the dear friends are to strengthen themselves in their holy commitment and to pray in the Spirit (which they clearly have and which the others, who do not have it, claim is leading them; 20), and especially they are to look expectantly toward the final judgment, when they will receive mercy from “our Lord Jesus Christ” (21). Thus they are to keep on being faithful as they have been doing.
22–23. Third, they are to rescue everyone they can from the false teaching, exercising mercy rather than judgment yet being careful that in the process they themselves are not sucked in. There is not a word about attacking and expelling the others who have come into the community; rather, the faithful are to live the truth themselves and rescue those trapped in desire.