Jude

Epistle of Jude: Contending for the Faith

Opening question: When was the last time you had to fight for something?

Background

Jude, “Judas” in Greek, was named after its author (v. 1), one of the 4 half-brothers of Christ (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). Jude was related to Jesus, and an eye-witness of the resurrected Christ.
Jude lived at a time when Christianity was persecuted by Rome from the outside, and infiltrated by false teachers who undermined the church from within by various doctrinal errors. Therefore, Jude chiefly devoted his letter to confronting deviations from the true faith (vv. 3,17). He called for discernment on the part of the church and unwavering defense of biblical truth.
Read the whole of Jude

1) What are your initial thoughts? Did any verses or themes catch your special attention? (Allow some time for people to reflect/feedback).

2) What credentials authorize Jude to rally Christians to stand up and confront false teachings? ->

• Who was Jude? cf Mt 13:55 =>
• What are possible reasons that he did not introduce himself as a brother of Jesus?

Instead of introducing himself as a biological brother of Jesus (though he could), he calls himself his servant. The fact that Jude as a close relative shares such believes about Jesus is a powerful witness to Christ and his resurrection, because to be fooled into blindly believing that your own brother was raised from the dead would require a different character than the author of this letter.

3) What did Jude command his readers to fight for? v3: “the faith, once and for all delivered”

• v4: Why is that necessary? [Faith is attacked also from within – under a cloak of progress and innovation]
• Have you ever witnessed that process happening? How?

4) Did Jude warn believers that they can become apostates? Or does he teach that true believers will never fall away? Or neither of that?

• v4: Apostates are such who distort the doctrine of God’s grace and deny the Lord (i.e. by their works, cf Tit 1:16); they ‘crept in unnoticed‘ (i.e. secretly) ->
• How could that happen?

They were admitted to join the community of believers and share in their sacraments: Note that Jude did not count them as true believers: They “crept in” bypassing the ‘door’ to the sheep pen (cf Jn 10:1). By deviating from the gospel, false teachers show their true colors that they never have been right with God in the first place, cf 1Jn 2:19

v1: those who have been ‘called’ will also be preserved by God, cf v24. Note the promise that God keeps who are his, and that genuine faith therefore is distinguished by the fact that it endures and perseveres (cf Dan 11:32).

5) Read Jn 17:11-16 – When Jesus prays for the perseverance of the saints, are his requests granted? cf Ro 8:30; Eph 1:13-14 if needed =>

• v5: Does the example from the Old Testament in v5 describe people who once believed but then stopped believing? [We read that this generation never believed, except Joshua and Caleb]

5) If believers have God’s firm promise that they will persevere, why bother them to contend for the faith? =>

• Read again v3 (lit. ‘using all diligence to write concerning salvation,…. I had to write to you exhorting you to contend…”):
• Discuss: Did Jude decide last minute to change subjects? [No: The ESV translation inserts an ‘although’ that does not exist in the original]
• Or did Jude issue such a warning because such warnings are the means by which believers are preserved (because their genuine faith will listen to and respond to it)?

6) Read again Jn 17:11-16 -> Here, Jesus interceded on behalf of believers that his resurrection life may take root in their hearts and transform them. Can his prayer go unanswered? ->

• If not, does this mean that such transformation will be automatic and his words unnecessary to make it happen? Why or why not?
  The word of God (incl. its warnings) is the instrument by which God accomplishes his purposes in believers. Illustration: If I am certain that a plant in my garden is healthy and will live until harvest time, does that mean that I will not water it? Surely not; instead, the water is the means by which I will make sure that my faith in this plant will not be disappointed.

7) Of which specific heresy is Jude warning in this letter? [e.g. vv16 & 18: Licentiousness with regard to any kind of carnal desires]

• Are ‘carnal’ desires different from normal ones? If so, how?
  [‘Sensuality’ means indulgence of any carnal lust, incl. obsession with food, sex, leisure or luxuries, or unbridled ambition or work addiction. => Anyone who perverts e.g. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians into a free pass for such licentiousness is found out as a heretic.]
• v8: Can false teachers deceive even themselves? How? […by relying on their (own) dreams]
• Do you think this still applies to anyone today? How? [e.g. ‘God told me so….’ when in fact he did not => false assurance derived from false experiences or fake prophecies etc.]

8) How can such teaching continue to creep into the church?
E.g. by admitting false believers to the ministry, and by not confronting them when they spread their false doctrine(s) from there. => Vigilance is needed to guard the gospel against both legalism and licentiousness.

• v19: What is the fallout of false doctrine? sects, divisions
• How can we fight against that, v21-23? […and not to glory in victory, but to glorify God]