The marvelous epistle of Jude was written by Jude, the half-brother of our Lord (Matthew 13:55) and brother of James, the writer of the epistle of James. This interesting epistle was written against the backdrop of false teachers who were so prevalent in Jude’s day. These false teachers had made their inroads into the church!
The wonderful book of Jude may be viewed as follows: I. The Prevalence of False Teachers Vv. 1-4; II. The Prevailing Problem of False Teachers, and God’s Past Judgment of Rebellion Vv. 5-16; III. A Pressing Defense Against False Teachers Vv. 17-25.
I. The Prevalence of False Teachers Vv. 1-4
In verse 1, the writer Jude identified himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. He directs this epistle to those who have been sanctified (set apart) by God the Father and preserved (kept) in Jesus Christ and called. The recipients of this epistle had been sovereignly called to salvation in God’s electing grace (Romans 1:6, 8:30; I Corinthians 1:24; Ephesians 4:4; II Peter 1:3).
Jude mentioned that these recipients had been blessed with God’s provisions of mercy, peace and love, blessings needed against a backdrop of apostate teaching. Against such a horrendous atmosphere of false teaching, Jude wanted the recipients of Jude to know assuredly the fullest degree of God’s mercy, peace, and love!
Beginning in verse 3, Jude’s original intent for writing this epistle was to discuss the common salvation in which the believers shared, but he was pressed with a great degree of urgency to admonish the believers to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” In verse 4, Jude’s great concern grew out of the fact that false teachers had gained entry into the assembly and were guilty of “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” In essence, these false teachers were perverting the simplicity of the gospel message, mainly teaching heresy.
Continuing to examine v. 4, the heretics of Jude’s time were guilty of promoting an unholy lifestyle in their teaching, advocating that grace permits one to live as he chooses. The very notion is against the truth of the word; rather, “grace teaches us that God exacts of us a holy lifestyle (Titus 2:11-12). Again, looking at verse 4, another aim of the false teachers is to deny the “Lordship of Christ.” Our Lord is God, and we must vigorously defend that truth because that trust has been entrusted to the church. The word “faith” as used by Jude in verse 3 refers to the body of truths delivered by Jesus Christ to the Apostles.
As believers of this dismal and decadent age, we must remain steadfast and uphold the central doctrines (teachings) of the faith, such as the Deity of Jesus Christ, the Substitutionary Atonement of Christ, the Incarnation of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ, and the Second Coming of Christ. Each believer of this dismal and decadent age should know the truth in order to defend it, for you cannot detect false teaching unless you know the true doctrine.
May God Bless!
Dr. Johnny Calvin Smith
