Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jude 1:3

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation ] More accurately, giving all diligence, as a present act connected with the time of writing. The word for “diligence,” as with the cognate verb in 2Pe 1:10 ; 2Pe 1:15; 2Pe 3:14, implies earnest effort. The term “common salvation,” not elsewhere found in the New Testament, has a parallel in the “common faith” of Tit 1:4. In both passages stress is laid on the “faith,” or the “salvation,” as being that in which all Christians were sharers, as distinct from the “knowledge” which was claimed by false teachers as belonging only to a few.

it was needful for me to write unto you ] Better, perhaps, I found a necessity. The ground of the necessity lies in the fact stated in the next verse. The words have been interpreted as meaning that he was about to write a fuller or more general Epistle, and was then diverted from his purpose by the urgent need for a protest against the threatening errors; and the inference, though not, perhaps, demonstrable, is at least legitimate, and derives some support from the change of tense (which the English version fails to represent) in the two infinitives, the first “to write” being in the present tense, such as might be used of a general purpose, the second in the aorist, as pointing to an immediate and special act.

that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints ] The simple form of the verb for “contend” is found in Col 1:29; Col 4:12, and implies, as it were, “wrestling” for the faith. This expression finds a close parallel in the “striving together for the faith” of Php 1:27. “Faith” is obviously to be taken in its objective sense, as being, so to speak, the belief of the Universal Church. And this faith is described as being “ once for all delivered to the saints.” It was not necessarily embodied as yet in a formal Creed, or committed to writing, but was imparted orally to every convert, and took its place among the “traditions” of the Church (2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6), the noble deposit, “the good thing committed to their trust” which all pastors and teachers were to watch over and pass on to others (2Ti 1:14), identical with the “form of sound words” (2Ti 1:13). In the words that describe the “mystery of godliness” in 1Ti 3:16, and in the “faithful sayings” of the Pastoral Epistles ( 1Ti 1:15 ; 1Ti 3:1; 1Ti 4:9 ; 2Ti 2:11; Tit 3:8), we have probably portions of this traditional faith. It was now imperilled by teachers who denied it, both in their doctrine and their life, and it was necessary that men should redouble their efforts to maintain it unimpaired.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Beloved – An expression of strong affection used by the apostles when addressing their brethren, Rom 1:7; 1Co 4:14; 1Co 10:14; 1Co 15:58; 2Co 7:1; 2Co 12:19; Phi 2:12; Phi 4:1; and often elsewhere.

When I gave all diligence – When I applied my mind earnestly; implying that he had reflected on the subject, and thought particularly what it would be desirable to write to them. The state of mind referred to is that of one who was purposing to write a letter, and who thought over carefully what it would be proper to say. The mental process which led to writing the Epistle seems to have been this:

1. For some reasons – mainly from his strong affection for them – he purposed to write to them.
2. The general subject on which he designed to write was, of course, something pertaining to the common salvation – for he and they were Christians.
3. On reflecting what particular thing pertaining to this common salvation it was best for him to write on, he felt that, in view of their peculiar dangers, it ought to be an exhortation to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to them. Macknight renders this less correctly, Making all haste to write to you, etc. But the idea is rather that he set himself diligently and earnestly to write to them of the great matter in which they had a common interest.

To write unto you of the common salvation – The salvation common to Jews and Gentiles, and to all who bore the Christian name. The meaning is, that he did not think of writing on any subject pertaining to a particular class or party, but on some subject in which all who were Christians had a common interest. There are great matters of religion held in common by all Christians, and it is important for religious teachers to address their fellow Christians on those common topics. After all, they are more important than the things which we may hold as peculiar to our own party or sect, and should be more frequently dwelt upon.

It was needful for me to write to you – I reflected on the general subject, prompted by my affectionate regard to write to you of things pertaining to religion in general, and, on looking at the matter, I found there was a particular topic or aspect of the subject on which it was necessary to address you. I saw the danger in which you were from false teachers, and felt it not only necessary that I should write to you, but that I should make this the particular subject of my counsels.

And exhort you – That I should make my letter in fact an exhortation on a particular topic.

That ye should earnestly contend – Compare Gal 2:5. The word here rendered earnestly contend – epagonizesthai – is one of those words used by the sacred writers which have allusion to the Grecian games. Compare the notes, 1Co 9:24, following. This word does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It means to contend upon – i. e., for or about anything; and would be applicable to the earnest effort put forth in those games to obtain the prize. The reference here, of course, is only to contention by argument, by reasoning, by holding fast the principles of religion, and maintaining them against all opposers. It would not justify contention by arms, by violence, or by persecution; because:

(a)That is contrary to the spirit of true religion, and to the requirements of the gospel elsewhere revealed;

(b)It is not demanded by the proper meaning of the word, all that that fairly implies being the effort to maintain truth by argument and by a steady life;

(c)It is not the most effectual way to keep up truth in the world to attempt to do it by force and arms.

For the faith – The system of religion revealed in the gospel. It is called faith, because that is the cardinal virtue in the system, and because all depends on that. The rule here will require that we should contend in this manner for all truth.

Once delivered unto the saints – The word here used ( hapax) may mean either once for all, in the sense that it was then complete, and would not be repeated; or formerly, to wit, by the author of the system. Doddridge, Estius, and Beza, understand it in the former way; Macknight and others in the latter; Benson improperly supposes that it means fully or perfectly. Perhaps the more usual sense of the word would be, that it was done once in the sense that it is not to be done again, and, therefore, in the sense that it was then complete, and that nothing was to be added to it. There is indeed the idea that it was formerly done, but with this additional thought, that it was then complete. Compare, for this use of the Greek word rendered once, Heb 9:26-28; Heb 10:2; 1Pe 3:18. The delivering of this faith to the saints here referred to is evidently that made by revelation, or the system of truth which God has made known in his word. Everything which He has revealed, we are to defend as true. We are to surrender no part of it whatever, for every part of that system is of value to mankind. By a careful study of the Bible we are to ascertain what that system is, and then in all places, at all times, in all circumstances, and at every sacrifice, we are to maintain it.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jud 1:3

Beloved.

Ministerial courtesy and love

1 Piety is no enemy to courtesy.

2. The work and labour of a minister should proceed from love to his people.

3. People should study to be fit for the love of their pastor.

4. The love of a minister must not be slack and remiss, but vehement and ardent.

5. Loving a ministers person has a great influence upon loving his doctrine.

6. The aim of minister in being beloved of his people should be to benefit their souls.

7. The love of a minister to his people should procure love again from his people. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.)

I gave all diligence.

Diligence

1. Greatest diligence is always to be used about the best things, about matters of greatest concernment. It is madness to make as great a fire for the roasting of an egg as for the roasting of an ox; to follow the world with as much fervency as we do holiness: and about trifles to be employed with vast endeavours. It is impossible to be too diligent for heaven, and difficult not to be over-diligent for the earth.

2. All that ministers, even the best of them, can do, is but to be diligent, to take pains and endeavour (1Co 3:6). One thing to preach, another to persuade.

3. Diligence in duty is the commendation of ministers. The light of knowledge without the heat of love, speaks him not excellent. He is not made for sight, but for service.

4. People who partake of the ministers diligence, must take heed of negligence. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.)

To write unto you.–

Writing

Writing is a great help to promote the common salvation. By this means we speak to the absent and to posterity; and by this means are the oracles of God preserved in public records, which otherwise were in danger of being corrupted, if left to the uncertainty of verbal tradition. Apostolical doctrine being committed to writing, remaineth as a constant rule of faith and manners. Finally, by writing, the streams of salvation are conveyed into every family, that in the defect of public preaching good supply may be had in this kind (Jdg 5:14). Again, in controversials there is great use of writing, controversies not being so easily determined by the judgment of the ear as the eye. In the clamour of disputations and violent discourse, usually there is such a dust raised, that we cannot so soon discern the truth as upon a calm debate, and mature consideration of what is delivered in writing. (T. Manton.)

Of the common salvation.–

The common salvation

I. Invite attention to the theme. The common salvation.

1. Salvation is adapted to all. It meets the case of man, as it provides–

(1) An atonement for sin.

(2) A justifying righteousness.

(3) The Holy spirit, to renew and sanctify.

2. The salvation of the gospel is sufficient for all. As well exhaust the Godhead as exhaust it. If you were bid betake yourself to that mighty ocean, would you say there was not water enough for me to bathe in?

3. The salvation of the gospel offers itself freely to all.

II. Exhort the urgency of personal appropriation of the common salvation. It suggests mournful considerations. Is what lies within the reach of all, what comes as a boon to be forfeited. Ah, what a dismal consummation from such preliminaries! It is no dubious problem, that, in order to any benefit, the salvation must be appropriated; otherwise it is worse than of no avail. For that dishonoured salvation must throw a dismal complexion on your eternity. It must add intensity to all its retributions. (Adam Forman.)

The common salvation

I. The essential truths it embraces.

1. The full admission of mans entire depravity and ruin.

2. The necessity of an entire and sole dependence on the finished work of Christ.

3. The necessity of the influences of the Holy Spirit, for the regeneration and sanctification of the soul.

II. The wondrous scenes it discloses.

1. Look back to the counsels of eternal love.

2. Observe the scenes of the Redeemers advent.

3. Look to the scenes of purity and bliss above.

III. The distinguishing blessings it confers.

1. Pardon and peace.

2. Adoption and dignity.

3. Comfort and preservation.

4. Present pleasure and joyful anticipation.

IV. The personal attention it demands. (W. Spencer.)

The common salvation

(with Tit 1:4):–Jude was probably one of Christs brothers, and a man of position and influence in the Church. He is writing to the whole early Christian community, numbering men widely separated from each other by nationality, race, culture, and general outlook on life; and he beautifully and humbly unites himself with them all as recipients of a common salvation. Paul is writing to Titus, the veteran leader to a raw recruit; and yet Paul beautifully and humbly associates himself with his pupil, as exercising a common faith. But you will notice that they take up the same thought at two different stages, as it were. The one declares that there is but one remedy for all the worlds woes; the other declares that there is but one way by which that remedy can be applied. All who possess the common salvation are so blessed because they exercise the common faith.

I. The underlying conception of a universal deepest need. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. The tap root of all human miseries lies in the solemn fact of human transgression. That is a universal fact. Wide differences part us, but there is one thing that we have all in common: a conscience and a will that lifts itself against disliked good. Beneath all surface differences of garb there lies the same fact, the common sickness of sin. Now, do not let us lose ourselves in generalities. Whatever you may want, be sure of this: that your deepest needs will not be met until the fact of your individual sinfulness and the consequences of that fact are somehow or other dealt with, staunched, and swept away.

II. The common remedy. The common salvation. There is one remedy for the sickness. There is one safety against the danger. There is only one, because it is the remedy for all men, and it is the remedy for all men because it is the remedy for each. Jesus Christ deals, as no one else has ever pretended to deal, with this outstanding fact of my transgression and yours. He, by His death, as I believe, has saved the world from the danger because He has set right the worlds relations to God. On the Cross, Jesus Christ the son of God bore the weight of the worlds sin, yours and mine and every mans. Further, Jesus Christ imparts a life that cures the sickness of sin. Christ deals with men in the depths of their being. He will give you, if you will, a new life and new tastes, directions, inclinations, impulses, perceptions, hopes, and capacities, and the evil will pass away, and you will be whole. Jesus Christ heals society by healing the individual. There is no other way of doing it. If the units are corrupt the community cannot be pure.

III. The common means of possessing the common healing. My second text tells us what that is–The common faith. If it is true that salvation is a gift from God, then it is quite plain that the only thing that we require is an outstretched hand. It is no arbitrary appointment. The only possible way of possessing the common salvation is by the exercise of the common faith. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The common salvation

I. It is common because it comes to all men from: a common source.

II. Because it concerns all classes.

III. Because it satisfies a common need.

IV. Because it is adapted to men of all races and every clime.

V. Because it is the theme of all the writers of Scripture. Learn–

1. To accept this salvation.

2. To publish it.

3. To defend it. (James Hoyle.)

The common salvation

I. It lies open to all.

II. Christ is offered freely to all, in order to be received altogether as He is exhibited in the gospel.

1. In His complex character as God-man.

2. In all His offices as Mediator, Prophet, Priest, and King. (F. Frew.)

The general character of the gospel scheme

I. The gospel, which is characterised by its spiritual or experimental effect, is here called the salvation. It is the instrumental medium through which this comprehensive blessing is conveyed to the soul. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

II. The gospel is not only called the salvation, but the common salvation. This may be intended to intimate–

1. That the salvation which the gospel reveals flows to believers from one common source–Christ.

2. That it is the same salvation that is enjoyed by all the children of God.

3. That the salvation of the gospel is common to every age, and class, and clime.

4. That all true believers have a common interest in this salvation–that they are all alike bound to maintain its doctrines, to vindicate its principles, and to promote its practical designs.

III. The gospel is also here described as the faith once delivered to the saints.

IV. The manner and spirit in which we are to contend for the faith.

V. The reasons which render this contending for the faith necessary.

1. Because men are by nature hostile to the truth, and therefore disposed to pervert it.

2. Because the glory of God is peculiarly connected with the preservation of His truth.

3. Because the uncorrupted truth is essential to the salvation of man.

4. Because we are bound in this matter to follow the example of our Lord and His apostles. (W. McGilvray, D. D.)

The common salvation

1. God is most free of His best blessings. He affords salvation in common to all His people.

2. Christ and heaven are full and satisfactory; they are enough for all.

3. None should be willing to be saved alone. Heaven was made for a common good.

4. They who teach others the way to salvation, should be in a state of salvation themselves. He who has sailed into foreign coasts, discourses more thoroughly and satisfactorily than he who has only map knowledge.

5. The commonness of salvation to all believers should be a great inducement to every one to labour particularly for salvation, and that they may not miss of it themselves.

6. There is but one way to heaven. There are many nations, more men, only one faith.

7. The partakers of this common salvation, who here agree in one way to heaven, and who expect to be hereafter in one heaven, should be of one heart. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.)

The common salvation

And note that he calleth it common salvation, not proper to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Peter, etc., but common to all. First, he calleth it common salvation. First, to admonish all men to lay hold of it. So saith Paul to Timothy, Lay hold of eternal life. And also to admonish ministers to neglect no sheep of God, not the very least. Secondly, he calleth it common salvation because it is not prepared for some few, as the Ark was for the deluge. Salvation is of the Jews, but the doctrine of the gospel is offered unto all. Thirdly, he calleth it common salvation because we are all saved by one common means, that is, by Christ. In this sense, as salvation is called common, so the Church is called common or catholic in three respects. First, it is not tied to any time, as the time of the law, but it endureth for ever. Secondly, it is not tied to any place, but to the whole world. Thirdly, it is not tied to any persons, as to the seed of Abraham, but to all that believe. In these respects salvation is called catholic, or common, and so is the Church. (S. Otes.)

The common salvation

I. Because it provides that which mankind everywhere require. It may be rightfully said, I think, that mankind are addicted to religion; by which I mean that the propensity to engage in worship, and to seek for help and succour from powers which are external to our selves–that that propensity is characteristic to man as man. Man is religious because he cannot help it; he is religious from necessity; he wants that which naturally he does not possess, and without which he believes it cannot be well with him, either now or hereafter. Why else will you find men going upon pilgrimages, offering sacrifices, and enduring the heaviest self-denial? Well, look here, in the glorious gospel of the blessed God you have just the common benefaction which humanity require. This, and not something else; not this or something else, but this exclusively, and this alone.

II. Because you can communicate it to mankind everywhere. I have spoken of various forms of religious service, and various modes of religious action; now of many of them it may be said that they arose out of the necessities of some given district, and that they relate exclusively to the peculiarities of that district. But you cannot tell me of any region of earth where Christianity cannot be instituted; the man does not live to whom it may not be preached, and by whom it may not be forthwith enjoyed. The nation cannot be found under heaven to which it may not be sent. The government does not exist under which it will not survive. Peculiarities, geographical, local or national, cannot be found whereby it would be set at nought.

III. Because it is adapted to mankind everywhere. It is not only required by them in the general, but it is adapted to them severally, wherever they may be found. There are great peculiarities–personal peculiarities amongst the human family.

1. What peculiarities there are, for example, in respect to constitutional temperament! One man is cheerful, so much so that some would say of him, that he is volatile and gay. Another man, on the contrary, is taciturn. It would be said of him that he is gloomy or morose. Others partake of each of these peculiarities in a manner which, perhaps, may be said to constitute the temperament we most admire. The gospel when brought to bear on these peculiarities, ministers impulse where it is required–it ministers equanimity where that is required, and strength where strength is required. It preserves cheerfulness from degenerating into levity, and seriousness from degenerating into gloom.

2. Again, what peculiarities there exist with respect to age! The young man needs to be reminded that the world is a great delusion, and to be kept under constant, powerful, yet cheerful check, lest he put darkness for light, and light for darkness. The man of business needs to be reminded that this is not his rest. The man of threescore years and ten needs to be succoured, comforted, and cheered by the consolations of the gospel. It takes the young man and the maiden, and administers counsel and instruction to them. It takes the man of business, and is like a monitor at his very elbow on the exchange, bidding him not to forget the things which are unseen and eternal. It goes to the old mans chamber, and makes all his bed in his sickness.

3. Yet again, there are peculiarities with respect to intellectual power. There are some men who are profoundly intellectual, and there are other men who are not profoundly intellectual. There is a very great variety of gradation between those two extremes; but mark! The proverbs, the parables, the doctrines, the invitations in this Book were made as much for the sage as they were for the rustic; and, engaged as men of the most opposite intellectual power may be upon the examination of it, I would defy anybody to tell whether the philosopher or the peasant were most at home.

4. Then there is another peculiarity with regard to the degree of each persons criminality. It is adapted to the profligate, the blasphemer, the dishonourable–to adopt the language of the Apostle Paul, it is adapted to the disobedient, the lawless, the ungodly.

IV. Because it may be proffered to all mankind, everywhere. So explicit are its declarations, so unrestricted are its invitations. Believe thou on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved! The light of heaven is unrestricted, and the light of the gospel is equally so. (W. Brock.)

Earnestly contend for the faith once delivered.

Contending for the faith

The revelation of God in Christ–whose contents are the object of Christian faith and are therefore described as the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints–does not consist merely in additional knowledge concerning God. Christ is the Saviour as well as the teacher of men. A large part, perhaps the larger part, of the revelation of God which has come to the race through Christ consists in the actual redemption of men from sin and eternal death. Those who receive the Christian gospel are not only brought under the power of great and pathetic and animating truths concerning God–they enter into the actual possession of a redemption which God has achieved for the race. To them the faith was once for all delivered. That is, the revelation of God in Christ, the Christian gospel, which is the object of the faith of all Christians, and which is here described as the faith, is committed to the trust of all who have been actually redeemed and restored to God by Christ. They are responsible for its purity and integrity. There are other provisions for perpetuating it, and for renewing it, when it has been corrupted or wholly lost. The written story of the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the authoritative teaching of the apostles. But even those sacred books were written by elect saints in discharge of the same trust which has been inherited by ourselves. They stand apart. They have an exceptional authority. But they illustrate the fidelity which is required of the saints of all succeeding generations; and in our age, as in all past ages, the effective defence of the faith lies, under God, with living men and women who through Christ have received the remission of sins, and the supernatural life, and the grace and light of the Holy Ghost. To the saints was the faith delivered once for all. The saints of every age are responsible for defending it in times of peril and asserting its power. For they, and they alone, have an independent, personal, and immediate knowledge of the Divine objects of faith. Some kinship with a poets genius is necessary for a true understanding of his verse; and spiritual kinship with the writers of the Old Testament and the New is necessary to catch their real thought. Who can tell what is meant by being in Christ except the man who is conscious that he himself is in Christ ? Who can have any clear perception of the great truth–the paradox of the Christian gospel–that we are justified, not by our own righteousness, but in Christ, except the man who, out of the fulness of his own happy experience, can join in the exulting triumph of saints and say, Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. The theologian, therefore, must first of all be a saint. It is not enough that he has mastered the theories of conflicting theologies concerning the Christian atonement, the forgiveness of sins, justification, the new life which is given to the race in Christ, judgment to come. He must know for himself the greatness of the Christian redemption. He must be vividly conscious that in the power of a new life he has passed into a new world, if he is to be able to give any true account of that Divine regenerative act in which the new life is given. His science is the science of God. He must have a large and varied knowledge of God–not merely of the speculations of other men about God. His faith in Christ as the Eternal Word who has become flesh must rest, not on proof texts, but on a direct vision of Christs glory, and his faith in the Holy Spirit on his own consciousness that that august and gracious Presence dwells in him as in a temple. For his thought to move with any certainty in the great mysteries which surround the being of the Eternal, he must be able to say with other saintly souls, Through Christ we have access in one Spirit unto the Father. To all Christian men the great objects of faith are revealed by the Spirit of God. No man can really say that Jesus is the Lord but in the Holy Spirit. The theologian who is called of God to be the teacher of the Church must receive in larger measure than his brethren the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. It is not given indeed to man to know in this direct way all the wonders of the Divine kingdom; and the theologian, like the discoverers in other sciences, must sometimes rely on the observations and experience of other men. The great things he should know for himself. Where his own vision is defective, and his own experience at fault, he will try to learn what other men have seen and what other men have experienced. He will distinguish between their speculations and the facts which they have verified and which have been verified by ordinary Christian men in different ages and under different conditions. He will remember that to the meek God teaches His way. He has to give an intellectual account of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. He will therefore attribute supreme value to that central substance of Christian truth which has been the life and strength of Christian men in all generations. The spirit of intellectual adventure will not be uncontrolled. He will not imagine that after nineteen centuries of Christian history the saints have yet to learn what are the first principles of Christ. Believing that the light of God has come to himself he will also believe that it came to devout men of past generations. We claim for the intellect the largest freedom. It can render no worthy service to the Church or to truth if it be fettered. We claim for it in religion a freedom as large as is conceded to it in science. In science it cannot change the facts; its function is to ascertain and to interpret them. In faith it cannot change the facts; its function is to ascertain and to interpret them. In both departments the facts are supreme. Wherever facts are known the speculative intellect is under limitations and restraints; it is absolutely free only where it is absolutely ignorant. The methods of the intellect in the investigation of religious truth differ from its methods in the investigation of scientific truth, as the methods of the historian differ from the methods of the chemist. But the claim for intellectual freedom in theology needs no other qualification than that which is imposed upon it in every other province of intellectual activity–facts, through whatever channel the certain knowledge of them may come, and by whatever methods they are discovered or verified–facts are its only limitation. It is our duty to keep an open mind to the discoveries of theologians and scholars; but this does not mean that we should consent to regard all the articles of the Christian faith as open questions. On the great subjects our mind is made up. The facts we know, and under God we have to transmit the knowledge of them to coming generations. We are willing, if necessary, to revise definitions, but can accept no definition which obscures the Divine glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, Creator, Brother, Lord, Redeemer of the human race. We are prepared to discuss theories of the Atonement, but can accept no theory which would dislodge our hearts from their sure confidence in Christ, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins according to the riches of Gods grace. We confess that the mystery of the eternal life of God transcends our science; that the terms of the creeds must be inexact; that they point towards august truths, but do not reach them; and yet, with reverence and awe we worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–one God, blessed for evermore; and in the knowledge of God we have eternal life. The substance of the faith delivered once for all to the saints of the first age has been verified in the experience of the saints of every succeeding generation, and has, in these last days, been verified in our own. Theologians have not to create new heavens and a new earth, but to give a more exact account of that spiritual universe whose mysteries and glories have environed the saints from the beginning. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)

Contend for the faith

I. The great cause for the maintenance of which the apostle exhorts Christians to contend.

1. For the purity of the faith.

2. For the influence of the faith.

3. For the propagation of the faith.

II. The grounds which justified the apostle in making this duty so imperative.

1. The importance of the faith in itself.

2. The proneness of men to deteriorate or pervert the faith.

3. The violent opposition of avowed enemies, and the seduction of secret foes.

4. The Divine origin of the revelation.

III. The spirit and temper in which, as Christians, we should discharge the duty.

1. Our methods must be spiritual, not carnal.

2. Our efforts should be enlightened and scriptural.

3. We should contend for the faith with great earnestness.

4. We should combine with firmness a charitable spirit.

5. While active in the propagation of the gospel among our fellow men, there should be a consistent exemplification of religion in our own lives.

6. We should give ourselves to prayer, accompanying all our exertions with ardent supplications for the outpourings of the Holy Spirit. (C. Barry.)

The defence of the faith

I. The cause to re defended. The faith.

1. Christians are not called upon to contend for–

(1) Mere forms and ceremonies.

(2) Mere speculative opinions, though those opinions may refer to some points of Christian doctrine.

2. We are to contend for–

(1) The great facts of the gospel. The incarnation, miracles, sufferings, death, resurrection, etc., of Christ.

(2) The essential doctrines of the faith. The fall of man. Divinity and atonement of Christ. Influence of Holy Spirit. Salvation by faith.

(3) The experimental power and influence of the faith. Practical holiness.

II. The nature of this duty. Earnestly contend.

1. Not with bigoted zeal.

2. Not with secular, carnal weapons.

3. In a Christian spirit.

4. Judiciously.

5. Practically. By example, as well as precept or rebuke.

III. The necessity of discharging this duty.

1. It is enjoined by Divine authority.

2. By contending for the faith you will yourself become more established in it. (Josiah Hill.)

The faith once delivered to the saints

I. What is it?

1. The word faith here must be understood as meaning the objects of faith–all the great doctrines of the gospel which we must cordially believe, and all its holy precepts which we must diligently practise.

2. This faith was once delivered to the saints. It was communicated first to the evangelists and apostles by the teaching of Jesus Christ and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and was by them spread abroad in the world.

II. How are we to contend for it?

1. We must strenuously contend for this faith, as a prize of inestimable value.

2. We must also contend for this faith with great diligence. It should be our daily study and prayer that this faith may be firmly rooted in our own hearts, and in the hearts of all who are placed under our care or under our influence.

3. We must contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, with much anxiety. We must be sober and vigilant, as knowing that we are exposed to many enemies, who would rob us of our faith.

4. We must further contend for this faith with constant perseverance. Surely you would not wish merely to fight some battles well in contending for your Christian faith, and then give up all for lost.

Conclusion:

1. If any additional motives are necessary to persuade you thus to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, consider–

(1) How much your present peace and eternal welfare depend upon this contest.

(2) Consider how strongly you are urged by a principle of gratitude to hand down to others the pure faith of the gospel which you have received from your fathers.

(3) There is another motive which should strongly urge you in this arduous contest: This is the love of Christ and of your brethren. (John Bull, M. A.)

Contending for the faith

I. We are called to contend earnestly. But to contend earnestly does not mean that we are to contend bitterly, fiercely, unkindly. It merely means, that we view the question as we ought to view it; that we are serious where we should be serious; firm where we should be firm; and that, as we know the value of truth, we should be as decided in maintaining it as we have been diligent in seeking it.

II. The object for which we abe directed to contend. We are to contend earnestly; but it is for the faith once delivered to the saints. In other words, we are to contend, not for any notions of our own, not for any private views, personal feelings, imaginary distinctions, but for that which God has revealed. It is not easy to say how much the character of contention is affected by that, which is regarded as its object. If the object is personal, the contention becomes personal. Self-love, in that case, mixes itself with the feelings of the moment; and pride and vanity, and a hundred other evil tempers, are enlisted in the cause, and add bitterness and warmth to the dispute. On the other hand, he who wishes to defend nothing but the faith once delivered to the saints, can contend, and earnestly too, without allowing his earnestness to exceed its proper limits, or become violent and intemperate. The cause in which he is engaged sanctifies the spirit with which it is advocated. The consciousness that he has truth on his side makes him calm. The assurance of Gods word gives certainty and steadiness to his reasoning. (H. Raikes, M. A.)

The permanence of the Christian faith

What are our primary, positive reasons–such as spring from the broad facts which meet us on the forefront of history and human nature–for believing in the permanence of our Christian creed?

1. First, surely we may gather reassurance from the past history of Christianity. Human nature is one and the same beneath all distinctions of race and class. Christianity has already in the past shown a marvellous power so to get down to the permanent roots of human life and to pass in substance unchanged through the greatest possible crisis and most radical epochs of change in human history.

2. Should we not find reassurance in the fact that the panics with which the faith of our own generation has been assailed are storms which the ship of Christian faith is already showing signs that she can weather? For example, it cannot be denied that the horror with which, not wisely perhaps, but certainly not unnaturally, new conceptions of evolution in nature were at first regarded by theologians and Christian teachers is passing away, and they at least are declaring on all sides and in all good faith that they do not find their frankest acceptance at all inconsistent with a Christian belief.

3. Again, if we are tempted to take an over-ideal view of development as the law of the world, and to fear that Christianity by the very fact that it claims finality proves its falsity, is there anything more reassuring than to consider carefully the broad fact that Christian morality has as a matter of history vindicated its claim in this respect. A morality–an ideal of human life, individual and social–promulgated in Syria 1800 years ago, proclaimed in its completeness by a few mostly uneducated men of Jewish birth and training, within the limit of a few years–this ideal has remained through the ages, and almost nobody seriously claims to find it deficient. At any rate those who do, appeal very little to our consciences and better reason. But, then, what a vast admission is here! It means that morality has, under circumstances when such a fact was not at all to be expected, vindicated its finality; each successive generation has but to go back and drink its fill afresh from that inexhaustible source of a moral ideal which is Catholic.

4. And if we are convinced of this, if we are convinced that in this moral and spiritual sphere of human life an ideal promulgated 1800 years ago in an Eastern country has shown every sign of being universal and final, if we are convinced that the law of evolution has here something which in actual experience limits its application, then it seems no great step to ask a person to admit that this finality shall be attributed not to the life merely in ideal and effect, but to what St. Paul calls the mould of Christian teaching which fashions the life. For just as surely as in the lapse of years we identify the Mahommedan character with the Mahommedan creed, and in the creed recognise the condition of the character, just so surely we must recognise the whole organism of the historic Christian system as the condition of the Christian morality. Is there any consideration in the world which can call itself scientific which would justify us in supposing that a life consciously and confessedly moulded by a body of truths can go on existing without those truths? Is it not contradicting all principles of science to imagine that a changed environment of truth will not produce a changed product? The prayerful temper must excite our admiration, but is it not inconceivable that the prayerful temper can be developed except on the basis of a belief in a personal God to whom we can have personal and open access? The temper of penitence we know to be one of the most absolute essentials of spiritual progress. But the temper of penitence is the simple product of a belief at once in the personal holiness and personal love of God, a belief which can become conviction only in the revelation of Christ. (Canon Gore.)

Contending for the faith given to the saints

Here note three things:

1. That faith is a gift.

2. That it is once given.

3. That it is given unto the saints.

I. And first, that faith is a gift, it is evident by the apostles own words where he calleth Christ the Author and Finisher of our faith, as the Athenians were called the inventors and perfecters of all good learning. But the Church hath all her learning, religion, and faith from God; He gave it at the first, and He confirmed it at the last. This doctrine serveth to humble us; to let us see that it is not in our power, that faith is not hereditary: God beginneth it, and increaseth it, and finisheth it.

II. But to proceed to the next point: this faith was once given, once for all, once for ever; which commendeth unto us the constancy of God, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of change; He speaketh, and it is done. There is such mutability in men, that they change like the moon, they alter like the cameleon; but God alters not, but giveth His gifts to His Church once for ever. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Note this word once so often repeated–once God gave the law, once He gave the gospel.

III. Thirdly, this faith is given to the saints. By saints he meaneth the children of God. First, in respect of separation, for they are elected and gathered out of this world. Secondly, in respect of vocation, they were saints by calling. Thirdly, in respect of regeneration. And lastly, in respect of justification or imputation, because the holiness and sanctity of Christ is imputed unto them. In that this faith is given unto the saints we learn that holy things are not to be given to dogs. The songs of nightingales are not for the ears of asses. (S. Otes.)

The faith once for all

Among the testimonies which the sons of genius, in their deep disappointment and bitter want, have given to the solitary superiority of the Christian faith, I know none more impressive than that of Sir Humphrey Davy. His brilliant genius, his practical inventiveness, his great talents, his discovery of four metals, his fortunate surroundings and his pre-eminent distinction conspire to make the entry in his later diary very mournful–namely, the two words very miserable, and to give profound emphasis to his estimate of the Christian faith. He says, I envy no quality of mind or intellect in others–not genius, power, wit, or fancy; but if I could choose what would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing; for it makes life a discipline of goodness, creates new hopes when all earthly hopes vanish, and throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights; calling in the most delightful visions where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, and annihilation.

I. Our first endeavour must be to ascertain and verify the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

1. The treasure. What is it? The faith, that is the phrase. It is a record of certain specific facts about the Lord Jesus Christ–if you please, a creed. To be sure there are creeds and creeds. Men have built around the great citadel of revelation certain out-works of theology which may be mere rubbish and worse than rubbish; and it is well for the citadel itself that the enemies of Christianity should destroy these.

2. The casket, what is it? It is that which contains the treasure.

3. The custodian is the church, the everlasting succession of Christs true, living, human witnesses, who first received this truth from God. The truth was delivered, not invented by man, not reasoned out by mans intellect; delivered, handed by God to man; delivered once for all.

II. It remains to state and unfold the duty of contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

1. It is sure to be contended against. Christ is the Prince of Peace, but He is also a man of war. He came not to bring peace on earth but a sword. Christs own track to His throne lay through thorns and blood. The truth is sure to be contended against. Heretics were Divinely predicted; therefore they are credentials of the faith.

2. It is worth contending for. It destroyed the old polytheistic civilisation. It changed the face of the world. It brought in a new and better era for the race of man. It emancipated the mind. Look back eighteen hundred years to what the world was. Gibbon writes of a sinking world. I use his phrase. There was no promise of a noble future for the race. The home, as we conceive it, was not. The marriage tie had no sacredness. Man as man had no rights, and the individual was sunk in the state. Power, power was the one idea of ancient Rome. A modern French painter has caught the idea and represented it with wonderful fidelity. I mean Gerome; whose canvas shows us the Coliseum with its eighty thousand spectators hungering for the sighs of cruelty. The gladiatorial combat has proceeded, until the wretched victim has fallen at the feet of his more brawny or fortunate conqueror. He is weak, let him die. So said the vestal virgins, and so said ancient Rome. It was not far from that very time that plain, homely man wrote a letter to some people in Rome and said, I am ready so much as in me lies to preach the gospel to you which are at Rome also; for it is power. Here is power against power. It is the power of God against the power of man. It is the power of God unto salvation as against mans power of destruction.

3. It is worth our while to contend for it. Gods great way of making His truth mighty is by putting that truth into living men. His way of getting for His truth currency in the world is by putting it into the mouths and lives of men with hot hearts, making their hot hearts hotter by means of it, and so thrusting it before the unbelieving multitude. It is wonderful how any truth once lodged in a human soul will enlarge and ennoble that soul. Many a scientific thought without any moral aspect has lifted up a man into nobler thinking, and more earnest working, and a higher grade of living. Thoughts essentially moral and religious have still higher developing power. (C. D. Foss, D. D.)

The faith once delivered to the saints

I. Christianity has a creed. There is a body of dogmatic teaching which can be called the faith, the thing to be believed. Indifference to religious truth is sheer folly, to say the least. Do we allow that it makes no difference what a man thinks on the subject of geology provided he is devoted to his favourite science? Do we say that a mans opinion on a point of law is of no consequence so long as he is sincere in advocating it? Far from it. The question we ask in all these cases is, whether the opinions are correct. We know that truth may be one thing, and what a man thinks to be truth a very different thing. Why, then, should men adopt the opinion that on the subject of religion it is a small matter what a man thinks?

II. This body of truth is revealed. It was delivered–divinely, as we know from other statements of Gods Word. It is not a matter of intuition. Intuitions cannot be pleaded in behalf of the common practices of morality even, far less for a complete system of religious faith. It is not a matter of philosophical speculation. It is final, and it is authoritative. It is of great moment to find out exactly what the truth is which has been revealed, for once found we may have a faith which is sure and which binds.

III. It is a complete body of truth. It was delivered once, not once upon a time, but once for all. Nineteenth century sinners are like the sinners of all the preceding centuries, and nineteenth century salvation is the same salvation which Paul preached.

IV. It was delivered to the saints. And so has it come down the line of evangelical succession ever since. The Church and the family have been Gods appointed agencies for perpetuating and spreading far and wide His truth. Do we despise knowledge which comes to us through the channel of tradition? Is the boys belief in the earths figure less real because, instead of a scientific proof of it, he has been told only that it is round like an orange and not flat like a plate? Then why should we undervalue the religious beliefs which multitudes hold because they were taught to hold them, and it has never occurred to them to call them in question or even to verify them. We may trust the Church to act as trustee of the Bible without allowing it to make the Bible, or without accepting doctrines which it teaches outside of the Bible, just as we may trust a servant to go to the druggist to bring some medicine, when we would not allow him to put up the prescription. If, then, the Church is in possession of a definite body of truth–if, moreover, this truth is contained in the Bible–it would seem to follow that any objection to a formulated expression of it is very weak. For the Bible is practically of no use to us unless we are able to impose a meaning on what it says. We have entered into an inheritance of truth because of a pious parentage and a faithful ministry, and we are under solemn obligation to transmit that truth to the coming generation. (The Study.)

Defenders of the faith

I. What are we to understand by the faith which was once delivered to the saints?

1. The faith is Divine in its origin.

2. The faith is adapted to mans moral needs. Three truths force themselves upon our notice when we study man in his moral relations.

(1) The sense of guilt and moral weakness.

(2) The liability to temptation and trouble.

(3) The certainty of death and a future state.

These exist in all men everywhere. The faith responds to the sense of guilt and moral weakness.

3. The faith is complete in its contents–once delivered, i.e., complete. To it nothing can be added. Astronomy may discover worlds of light in the heavens, but it does not add to the universe. Every star was there before astronomers lifted their telescopes skyward. Astronomy may enlarge our knowledge of the heavens and thrill us with new views of heavenly beauty, but it cannot create a new star. Music cannot add a new tone to the scale. The octave is the final measure of possible tones. So with the faith. Theology cannot add to it. The Bible will gain in interpretation, but no new principles can be added to its contents.

II. To whom was the faith delivered? To the saints.

1. Saints are the depositaries of the faith.

2. Saints are the disseminators of the faith.

III. what is our duty in reference to the faith? Contend earnestly, etc.

1. We must hold to it experimentally and consistently. Not to the theory, but to the practice; not to doctrine merely, but to salvation as a blessed reality.

2. We must hold it with courage and resolution.

3. We must contend for it with simplicity and sincerity. (W.Hansom, D. D.)

Contending for the faith

I. what we must contend for. For every truth of God, according to its moment and weight. The dust of gold is precious, and it is dangerous to be careless in the lesser truths (Mat 5:19). There is nothing superfluous in the canon. Better heaven and earth should be blended together in confusion, saith Luther, than one dust of Gods truth should perish. If the Lord call us out to the defence of them, whatever cometh of it we must be faithful. A man may make shipwreck of a good conscience in small matters. Hearken to Satan, and this will be a little one, and that shall be a little one, till we have littled away all the principles of faith. All this is not spoken to justify undue rigours, such as are without any temper of Christian moderation, or those frivolous controversies about trifles, such as have no foundation in the Word. Nor to justify the breaking of Church fellowship and communion, and making rents in the body of Christ, because of difference of opinion in smaller matters, when we agree in the more weighty things. We are to walk together as far as we are agreed (Php 3:16); and externals wherein we differ, lying far from the heart of religion, are nothing to faith and the new creature wherein we agree (Gal 5:6; Gal 6:15). The most weight should be pitched upon the fundamentals and essentials of religion, and when there is an agreement there private differences in smaller matters should not make us break off from one another.

II. Who must strive, and in what manner? I answer, All in their place, and in that way that is proper to them.

1. Private Christians must have a share in this holy contention; their duty is partly–

(1) To search out the truth that they may not fight blindfold, or by an unhappy mistake lavish out their zeal upon fancies which they affect, or ordinances and doctrines of men.

(2) To own the profession of the truth, whatever it cost them.

(3) To honour the truth by their conversations. There are heretical manners as well as heretical doctrines; and there are many that are otherwise of an orthodox belief, yet make others sectaries and disciples of their vices. Therefore Christians are called to hold forth the word of life in their conversations (Php 2:16), and to make the doctrine of God the Saviour comely (Tit 2:10), by glorifying God in that course of life to which they are disposed.

(4) To comprise all in a few words, whatever maketh for the truth, either with God or men, all that must the people do.

2. There is something that the magistrate may do: He is the minister of God for good (Rom 13:4). I cannot see how they can be true to civil interest unless they be careful for the suppression of error. Besides that error is masterly and loveth to give law, therefore, ere it be too late, they should look to the civil peace, for if men be quiet God will not when His honour and truth and worship is neglected.

3. Ministers are to contend for the truth, for by their office and station in the Church they are captains of the people in this war against Satan and his adherents (Tit 1:9). Ministers must contend, partly by preaching, warning the people of the wolves that are abroad (Act 20:29); partly by disputing (Act 15:2; Act 18:28), that by the knocking of flints light may fly out. (T. Manton.)

Contending for the faith

I. Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints implies–

1. That, in opposition to infidels, we exhibit the evidence of the authenticity of the Scriptures.

2. The next step, in defending the faith delivered to the saints, is to maintain the ground that the Bible is not only an authentic record, but that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God; that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. There can be no firmer ground on which to rest our religious belief and our hopes of salvation.

3. We are to contend for those principles of interpretation which will lay open to our view the true meaning of the Scriptures, and not bring to them a meaning derived from our own preconceived opinions.

4. We are to contend for the very system of truth which was delivered to the saints; to maintain it in its simplicity and purity, unadulterated with additions from the speculations of men.

5. Contending for the primitive Christian faith implies a defence, not merely of what is expressly stated in the Scriptures, but also of what may be clearly inferred from the truths revealed.

II. Our subject may be further illustrated by considering some modes of theological discussion, which are not necessarily implied in contending for the primitive Christian faith.

1. A. defence of Scriptural doctrines do not necessarily imply that we prove them to be true by a course of argument independent of revelation. The evidence on which they rest is this, that God, who cannot err, and will not deceive, has caused them to be revealed to us as true. But we have to deal with those who do not admit the authority of the Bible. Is it not necessary on their account to resort to a course of reasoning, to establish religious principles? If you can prove all the truths of Scripture by a course of reasoning independent of Divine testimony, what need is there of inspiration?

2. Contending for the faith delivered to the saints does not necessarily imply that we contend for any particular form of words, different from those of Scripture, in which we or others have thought proper to express this faith.

3. Defending the truths of revelation does not imply, of course, a defence of the philosophical theories or hypotheses which have been proposed to explain the grounds, and reasons, and causes of what is revealed.

4. Contending for the faith delivered to the saints does not imply that we undertake to free it from all the difficulties which may be connected with the truths revealed.

5. Defending the primitive faith does not necessarily imply that we earnestly contend for every point which may be connected even with fundamental doctrines.

6. Contending for the Christian faith does not imply a defence of all the additions which have been made to this faith, with a view to supplying supposed deficiences in the Scriptures. (Jeremiah Day, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. When I gave all diligence] This phrase, , is a Grecism for being exceedingly intent upon a subject; taking it up seriously with determination to bring it to good effect. The meaning of the apostle seems to be this: “Beloved brethren, when I saw it necessary to write to you concerning the common salvation, my mind being deeply affected with the dangers to which the Church is exposed from the false teachers that are gone out into the world, I found it extremely necessary to write and exhort you to hold fast the truth which you had received, and strenuously to contend for that only faith which, by our Lord and his apostles, has been delivered to the Christians.”

Some think that St. Jude intimates that he had at first purposed to write to the Church at large, on the nature and design of the Gospel; but seeing the dangers to which the Churches were exposed, because of the false teachers, he changed his mind, and wrote pointedly against those false doctrines, exhorting them strenuously to contend for the faith.

The common salvation] The Christian religion, and the salvation which it brings. This is called common because it equally belongs to Jews and Gentiles; it is the saving grace of God which has appeared to every man, and equally offers to every human being that redemption which is provided for the whole world.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

When I gave all diligence to write unto you: the apostle here declares the first cause of his writing to them, viz. his own inclination and readiness, according to the duty of his place, (as an apostle), so to do: q. d. Being of myself willing, and earnestly desirous to promote your welfare, when absent from you, by writing unto you.

Of the common salvation; i.e. those things which concern the salvation of us all in common, or that salvation which is common to us all; there being but one salvation for all believers, and one way to it.

It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you; the second reason of his writing, viz. the necessity of it, in respect of the danger they were in, as follows, Jud 1:4.

That ye should earnestly contend; by constancy in the faith, zeal for the truth, holiness of life, mutual exhortation, prayer, suffering for the gospel, &c.; against those that would pervert the gospel.

For the faith; the doctrine of the gospel; faith is taken for the object of faith.

Which was once; either, once for all, because it was delivered by all the apostles as the only unchangeable rule of governing their lives, and obtaining salvation, to which nothing is to be added, and from which nothing is to be taken away; or it implies, that it was therefore delivered to them that they might never forsake it, and that if they do, they miss of their salvation, as being never like to have another way made known to them.

Delivered unto the saints; viz. by God, not invented by men.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Designof the Epistle (compare Jud1:20,Jud1:21).

alldiligence (2Pe1:5).As the minister is to give alldiligenceto admonish, so the people should, in accordance with his admonition,give alldiligenceto have all Christian graces, and to make their calling sure.

thecommon salvation wrought by Christ. Compare Note,see on 2Pe1:1,obtained LIKE precious faith, This communityof faith,and of the object of faith, salvation,forms the ground of mutual exhortation by appeals to common hopes andfears.

itwas needful for me rather, I felt it necessary to write (now atonce;so the Greekaorist means; the presentinfinitive to write, which precedes, expresses merely thegeneral fact of writing) exhorting you. The reason why he felt itnecessary to write withexhortation,he states, Jud1:4,For there are certain men crept in, etc. Having intended towrite generally of thecommon salvation,he found it necessary from the existing evils in the Church, to writespecially that they should contendfor the faith againstthose evils.

earnestlycontend Compare Phi1:27,striving together for the faith of the Gospel.

once,etc. Greek,oncefor alldelivered. No other faith or revelation is to supersede it. Astrong argument for resisting heretical innovators (Jud1:4).Believers, like Nehemiahs workmen (Neh4:17),with one hand build themselves up in their most holy faith;with the other they contend earnestly for the faith against itsfoes.

thesaints all Christians, holy(that is, consecrated to God) by their calling, and in Godsdesign.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you,…. The apostle calls the persons he writes unto “beloved”; as they were of God, and by him and other saints; and he signifies his diligence in writing to them: and the subject of his writing was,

of the common salvation; which designs either the Gospel, sometimes called salvation, in opposition to the law, which is a ministration of condemnation; and because it is a declaration of salvation, and a means of it; and may be said to be “common”, because preached to all, Jews and Gentiles: or Jesus Christ the Saviour himself, who is also sometimes called “salvation”, because he was called and appointed to it, and undertook it, and is become the author of it; and may be said to be a “common” Saviour, not of all men, but of all his people; of his whole body, the church, and every member of it, and of all sorts of men, in all nations: or else that spiritual and eternal salvation wrought out by him, which is common, not to all men, for all are not saved with it, but to all the elect of God, and true believers in Christ; the love of God is common to them all alike; the choice of them to eternal salvation is the same; the covenant of grace, the blessings and promises of it, are equally shared by them; and they are bought with the same price of Christ’s blood, and are justified by the same righteousness, and are regenerated, sanctified, and called by the same grace, and shall possess the same glory: there is but one way of salvation, and that is not confined to any nation, family, community, or sect among men. The Alexandrian copy and two of Beza’s, and the Syriac version, read, “our common salvation”; and two other of Beza’s copies and the Vulgate Latin version read, “your common salvation”; the sense is the same: it was

needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you], that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; by the “faith” is meant the doctrine of faith, in which sense it is used whenever faith is said to be preached, obeyed, departed, or erred from, or denied, or made shipwreck of, or when exhortations are made to stand fast, and continue in it, or to strive and contend for it, as here; and which is sometimes called the word of faith, the faith of the Gospel, the mystery of faith, or most holy faith, the common faith, and, as here, faith only; and designs the whole scheme of evangelical truths to be believed; such as the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity and sonship of Christ, the divinity and personality of the Spirit; what regards the state and condition of man by nature, as the doctrines of the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity, the corruption of nature, and the impotence of men to that which is good; what concerns the acts of grace in the Father, Son, and Spirit, towards, and upon the sons of men; as the doctrines of everlasting love, eternal election, the covenant of grace, particular redemption, justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, pardon and reconciliation by his blood, regeneration and sanctification by the grace of the Spirit, final perseverance, the resurrection of the dead, and the future glory of the saints with Christ. This is said to be “delivered to the saints”: it was delivered by God the Father to Christ as Mediator, and by him to his apostles, who may more especially be meant by “the saints”, or holy men; who were chosen to be holy, and to whom Christ was made sanctification, and who were sanctified by the Spirit of God; and this faith, being a most holy faith, is fit for holy men, and only proper to be delivered to them, and preached by them; and by them it was delivered to the churches, both by word and writing; and this delivery of it supposes that it is not an invention of men, that it is of God, and a gift of his, and given in trust in order to be kept, held forth, and held fast; and it was but “once” delivered, in opposition to the sundry times and divers manners in which the mind of God was formerly made known; and designs the uniformity, perfection, and continuance of the doctrine of faith; there is no alteration to be made in it, or addition to it; no new revelations are to be expected, it has been delivered all at once: and therefore should be “earnestly contended for”; for could it be lost, another could not be had; and the whole of it is to be contended for; not only the fundamentals, but the lesser matters of faith; and not things essential only, but also what are circumstantial to faith and religion; every truth, ordinance, and duty, and particularly the purity of faith, and its consistency: and this contention includes a care and solicitude for it, to have it, own it, and hold it fast, and adorn it; and for the preservation of it, and for the spread of it, and that it might be transmitted to posterity: and it denotes a conflict, a combat, or a fighting for it, a striving even to an agony: the persons to be contended with on account of it, are such who deny, or depreciate any of the Persons in the Godhead, the assertors of the purity and power of human nature, and the deniers of sovereign, efficacious, and persevering grace: the persons who are to contend with them are all the saints in general, to whom it is delivered; which they may do by bearing an experimental testimony to it, by praying for the continuance and success of it, by standing fast in one spirit in it, and by dying for it; and particularly the ministers of the Gospel, by preaching it boldly, openly, fully, and faithfully, by disputing for it, and writing in the defence of it, and by laying down their lives, when called for: the manner in which this is to be done, is “earnestly”, heartily, in good earnest, and without deceit, zealously, and constantly.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Common Salvation; Monuments of Judgment.

A. D. 66.

      3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.   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.   5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.   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.   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.

      We have here, I. The design of the apostle in writing this epistle to the lately converted Jews and Gentiles; namely, to establish them in the Christian faith, and a practice and conversation truly consonant and conformable thereunto, and in an open and bold profession thereof, especially in times of notorious opposition, whether by artful seduction or violent and inhuman persecution. But then we must see to it very carefully that it be really the Christian faith that we believe, profess, propagate, and contend for; not the discriminating badges of this or the other party, not any thing of later date than the inspired writings of the holy evangelists and apostles. Here observe, 1. The gospel salvation is a common salvation, that is, in a most sincere offer and tender of it to all mankind to whom the notice of it reaches: for so the commission runs (Mar 16:15; Mar 16:16), Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, c. Surely God means as he speaks he does not delude us with vain words, whatever men do; and therefore none are excluded from the benefit of these gracious offers and invitations, but those who obstinately, impenitently, finally exclude themselves. Whoever will may come and drink of the water of life freely, Rev. xxii. 17. The application of it is made to all believers, and only to such; it is made to the weak as well as to the strong. Let none discourage themselves on the account of hidden decrees which they can know little of, and with which they have nothing to do. God’s decrees are dark, his covenants are plain. “All good Christians meet in Christ the common head, are actuated by one and the same Spirit, are guided by one rule, meet here at one throne of grace, and hope shortly to meet in one common inheritance,” a glorious one to be sure, but what or how glorious we cannot, nor at present need to know; but such it will be as vastly to exceed all our present hopes and expectations. 2. This common salvation is the subject-matter of the faith of all the saints. The doctrine of it is what they all most heartily consent to; they esteem it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 1 Tim. i. 15. It is the faith once, or at once, once for all, delivered to the saints, to which nothing can be added, from which nothing may be detracted, in which nothing more nor less should be altered. Here let us abide; here we are safe; if we stir a step further, we are in danger of being either entangled or seduced. 3. The apostles and evangelists all wrote to us of this common salvation. This cannot be doubted by those who have carefully read their writings. It is strange that any should think they wrote chiefly to maintain particular schemes and opinions, especially such as they never did nor could think of. It is enough that they have fully declared to us, by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, all that is necessary for every one to believe and do, in order to obtain a personal interest in the common salvation. 4. Those who preach or write of the common salvation should give all diligence to do it well: they should not allow themselves to offer to God or his people that which costs them nothing, or next to nothing, little or no pains or thought, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. This were to treat God irreverently, and man unjustly. The apostle (though inspired) gave all diligence to write of the common salvation. What then will become of those who (though uninspired) give no diligence, or next to none, but say to the people (even in the name of God) quicquid in buccam venerit–whatever comes next, who, so that they use scripture-words, care not how they interpret or apply them? Those who speak of sacred things ought always to speak of them with the greatest reverence, care, and diligence. 5. Those who have received the doctrine of this common salvation must contend earnestly for it. Earnestly, not furiously. Those who strive for the Christian faith, or in the Christian course, must strive lawfully, or they lose their labour, and run great hazard of losing their crown, 2 Tim. ii. 5. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, Jam. i. 20. Lying for the truth is bad, and scolding for it is not much better. Observe, Those who have received the truth must contend for it. But how? As the apostles did; by suffering patiently and courageously for it, not by making others suffer if they will not presently embrace every notion that we are pleased (proved or unproved) to call faith, or fundamental. We must not suffer ourselves to be robbed of any essential article of Christian faith, by the cunning craftiness or specious plausible pretences of any who lie in wait to deceive, Eph. iv. 14. The apostle Paul tells us he preached the gospel (mind it was the gospel) with much contention (1 Thess. ii. 2), that is (as I understand it), with earnestness, with a hearty zeal, and a great concern for the success of what he preached. But, if we will understand contention in the common acceptation of the word, we must impartially consider with whom the apostle contended, and how, the enlarging on which would not be proper for this place.

      II. The occasion the apostle had to write to this purport. As evil manners give rise to good laws, so dangerous errors often give just occasion to the proper defence of important truths. Here observe, 1. Ungodly men are the great enemies of the faith of Christ and the peace of the church. Those who deny or corrupt the one, and disturb the other, are here expressly styled ungodly men. We might have truth with peace (a most desirable thing) were there none (ministers or private Christians) in our particular churches and congregations but truly godly men–a blessing scarcely to be looked or hoped for on this side heaven. Ungodly men raise scruples, merely to advance and promote their own selfish, ambitious, and covetous ends. This has been the plague of the church in all past ages, and I am afraid no age is, or will be, wholly free from such men and such practices as long as time shall last. Observe, Nothing cuts us off from the church but that which cuts us off from Christ; namely, reigning infidelity and ungodliness. We must abhor the thought of branding particular parties or persons with this character, especially of doing it without the least proof, or, as it too often happens, the least shadow of it. Those are ungodly men who live without God in the world, who have no regard to God and conscience. Those are to be dreaded and consequently to be avoided, not only who are wicked by sins of commission, but also who are ungodly by sins of omission, who, for example, restrain prayer before God, who dare not reprove a rich man, when it is the duty of their place so to do, for fear of losing his favour and the advantage they promise themselves therefrom, who do the work of the Lord negligently, c. 2. Those are the worst of ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, who take encouragement to sin more boldly because the grace of God has abounded, and still abounds, so wonderfully, who are hardened in their impieties by the extent and fulness of gospel grace, the design of which is to reduce men from sin, and bring them unto God. Thus therefore to wax wanton under so great grace, and turn it into an occasion of working all uncleanness with greediness, and hardening ourselves in such a course by that very grace which is the last and most forcible means to reclaim us from it, is to render ourselves the vilest, the worst, and most hopeless of sinners. 3. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness do in effect deny the Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ that is, they deny both natural and revealed religion. They strike at the foundation of natural religion, for they deny the only Lord God; and they overturn all the frame of revealed religion, for they deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Now his great design in establishing revealed religion in the world was to bring us unto God. To deny revealed religion is virtually to overturn natural religion, for they stand or fall together, and they mutually yield light and force to each other. Would to God our modern deists, who live in the midst of gospel light, would seriously consider this, and cautiously, diligently, and impartially examine what it is that hinders their receiving the gospel, while they profess themselves fully persuaded of all the principles and duties of natural religion! Never to tallies answered more exactly to each other than these do, so that it seems absurd to receive the one and reject the other. One would think it were the fairer way to receive both or reject both; though perhaps the more plausible method, especially in this age, is to act the part they do. 4. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness are ordained unto condemnation. They sin against the last, the greatest, and most perfect remedy; and so are without excuse. Those who thus sin must needs die of their wounds, of their disease, are of old ordained to this condemnation, whatever that expression means. But what if our translators had thought fit to have rendered the words palai progegrammenoi—of old fore-written of, as persons who would through their own sin and folly become the proper subjects of this condemnation, where had the harm been? Plain Christians had not been troubled with dark, doubtful, and perplexing thoughts about reprobation, which the strongest heads cannot enter far into, can indeed bear but little of, without much loss and damage. Is it not enough that early notice was given by inspired writers that such seducers and wicked men should arise in later times, and that every one, being fore-warned of, should be fore-armed against them? 5. We ought to contend earnestly for the faith, in opposition to those who would corrupt or deprave it, such as have crept in unawares: a wretched character, to be sure, but often very ill applied by weak and ignorant people, and even by those who themselves creep in unawares, who think their ipse dixit should stand for a law to all their followers and admirers. Surely faithful humble ministers are helpers of their people’s joy, peace, and comfort; not lords of their faith! Whoever may attempt to corrupt the faith, we ought to contend earnestly against them. The more busy and crafty the instruments and agents of Satan are, to rob us of the truth, the more solicitous should we be to hold it fast, always provided we be very sure that we fasten no wrong or injurious characters on persons, parties, or sentiments.

      III. The fair warning which the apostle, in Christ’s name, gives to those who, having professed his holy religion, do afterwards desert and prove false to it, v. 5-7. We have here a recital of the former judgments of God upon sinners, with design to awaken and terrify those to whom warning is given in this epistle. Observe, The judgments of God are often denounced and executed in terrorem–for warning to others, rather than from immediate or particular displeasure against the offenders themselves; not that God is not displeased with them, but perhaps not more with them than with others who, at least for the present, escape. I will put you in remembrance. What we already know we still need to be put in remembrance of. Therefore there will always be need and use of a standing stated ministry in the Christian church, though all the doctrines of faith, the essentials, are so plainly revealed in express words, or by the most near, plain, and immediate consequence, that he who runs may read and understand them. There wants no infallible interpreter, really or conceitedly such, for any such end or purpose. Some people (weakly enough) suggest, “If the scriptures do so plainly contain all that is necessary to salvation, what need or use can there be of a standing ministry? Why may we not content ourselves with staying at home, and reading our Bibles?” The inspired apostle has here fully, though not wholly, answered this objection. Preaching is not designed to teach us something new in every sermon, somewhat that we knew nothing of before; but to put us in remembrance, to call to mind things forgotten, to affect our passions, and engage and fix our resolutions, that our lives may be answerable to our faith. Though you know these things, yet you still need to know them better. There are many things which we have known which yet we have unhappily forgotten. Is it of no use or service to be put afresh in remembrance of them?

      Now what are these things which we Christians need to be put in remembrance of?

      1. The destruction of the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness, v. 5. Paul puts the Corinthians in mind of this, 1 Cor. x. The first ten verses of that chapter (as the scripture is always the best commentary upon itself) are the best explication of the fifth verse of this epistle of Jude. None therefore ought to presume upon their privileges, since many who were brought out of Egypt by a series of amazing miracles, yet perished in the wilderness by reason of their unbelief. Let us not therefore be high-minded, but fear, Rom. xi. 20. Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it, Heb. iv. 1. They had miracles in abundance: they were their daily bread; yet even they perished in unbelief. We have greater (much greater) advantages than they had; let their error (their so fatal error) be our awful warning.

      2. We are here put in remembrance of the fall of the angels, v. 6. There were a great number of the angels who left their own habitation; that is, who were not pleased with the posts and stations the supreme Monarch of the universe had assigned and allotted to them, but thought (like discontented ministers in our age, I might say in every age) they deserved better; they would, with the title of ministers, be sovereigns, and in effect their Sovereign should be their minister–do all, and only, what they would have him; thus was pride the main and immediate cause or occasion of their fall. Thus they quitted their post, and rebelled against God, their Creator and sovereign Lord. But God did not spare them (high and great as they were); he would not truckle to them; he threw them off, as a wise and good prince will a selfish and deceitful minister; and the great, the all-wise God, could not be ignorant, as the wisest and best of earthly princes often are, what designs they were hatching. After all, what became of them? They thought to have dared and outfaced Omnipotence itself; but God was too hard for them, he cast them down to hell. Those who would not be servants to their Maker and his will in their first state were made captives to his justice, and are reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness. Here see what the condition of fallen angels is: they are in chains, bound under the divine power and justice, bound over to the judgment of the great day; they are under darkness, though once angels of light; so horribly in the dark are they that they continue to fight against God, as if there were yet some small hope at least left them of prevailing and overcoming in the conflict. Dire infatuation! Light and liberty concur, chains and darkness how well do they agree and suit each other! The devils, once angels in the best sense, are reserved, c. Observe, There is, undoubtedly there is, a judgment to come the fallen angels are reserved to the judgment of the great day; and shall fallen men escape it? Surely not. Let every reader consider this in due time. Their chains are called everlasting, because it is impossible they should ever break loose from them, or make an escape; they are held fast and sure under them. The decree, the justice, the wrath of God, are the very chains under which fallen angels are held so fast. Hear and fear, O sinful mortals of mankind!

      3. The apostle here calls to our remembrance the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, v. 7. Even as, c. It is in allusion to the destruction of Pentapolis, or the five cities, that the miseries of the damned are set forth by a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone they were guilty of abominable wickedness, not to be named or thought of but with the utmost abhorrence and detestation; their ruin is a particular warning to all people to take heed of, and fly from, fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 1 Pet. ii. 11. “These lusts consumed the Sodomites with fire from heaven, and they are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; therefore take heed, imitate not their sins, lest the same plagues overtake you as did them. God is the same holy, just, pure Being now as then; and can the beastly pleasures of a moment make amends for your suffering the vengeance of eternal fire? Stand in awe, therefore, and sin not,” Ps. iv. 4.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Beloved (). As in 3Jo 1:2.

All diligence ( ). As in 2Pe 1:5.

Of our common salvation ( ). See this use of (common to all) in Tit 1:4 with , while in 2Pe 1:1 we have , which see.

I was constrained ( ). “I had necessity” like Luke 14:18; Heb 7:27.

To contend earnestly (). Late and rare (in Plutarch, inscriptions) compound, here only in N.T. A little additional () striving to the already strong ( contest). Cf. 1Ti 6:12 .

For the faith (—). Dative of advantage. Here not in the original sense of trust, but rather of the thing believed as in verse Jude 1:20; Gal 1:23; Gal 3:23; Phil 1:27.

Once for all delivered ( ). First aorist passive participle feminine dative singular of , for which see 2Pe 2:21. See also 2Thess 2:15; 1Cor 11:2; 1Tim 6:20.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Beloved. Occurring at the beginning of an epistle only here and 3Jo 1:2.

When I gave all diligence [ ] . Lit., making all diligence; the phrase found only here. In Heb 6:11, we find “shew diligence” [] ; and in 2Pe 1:5, “adding diligence.” See note there.

The common salvation. The best texts add hJmwn, of us. So Rev., “our common salvation.”

It was needful [ ] . Lit., I had necessity. Alford, I found it necessary. Rev., I was constrained.

Earnestly contend [] . Only here in New Testament.

The faith. The sum of what Christians believe. See on Act 6:7.

Once [] . Nor formerly, but once for all. So Rev., “No other faith will be given,” says Bengel.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

PART II. OCCASION FOR THE LETTER Covert Apostasy (Verses 3,4)

1) “Beloved” – (Greek – agapetoi) term of Christian affection and endearment.

2) “When I gave all diligence to write unto you” Jude wrote after prayerful, deliberate consideration not impulsively.

3) “Of the common salvation” – is a phrase used which was once to refer to things and conditions of being and behaviour that concern the life of the sanctified, the saved person, Rom 1:16.

4) The term “it was needful”- affirms existence of conditions and circumstances that fully warranted or merited Jude’s giving his time, attention, and advice in writing to the brethren.

5) “And exhort” – (Gr. – parakalon) you” – -in this inspired letter, Jude, in the spirit of the Lord encouraged, besought, and admonished these sanctified, preserved, and called brethren regarding their common (common experience) salvation. Heb 3:13 “Exhort one another daily” 2Ti 4:2 “Exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”. Heb 10:25; Exhorting one another, as ye see the day approaching.

6) “Ye should” – a recognized obligation or duty.

7) “Earnestly contend” to speak out earnestly -to join issue with, to oppose with strong conviction, moral or doctrinal wrong. Jas 4:7-8; 1Pe 5:8-9. Jesus did Mat 4:1-25; Paul did 1Co 15:32; 2Ti 4:7-8.

8) “For the faith” – system of teachings, body of principles Gal 3:26; Php_1:27.

9) “Once (for all) delivered” – by our Lord and by Inspiration 2Ti 3:16-17; 1Co 11:2 “Keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you”, 1Co 11:23. I received of the lord that which I also delivered to you (1Co 15:3.)

10) “To the Saints” (Greek hagiois, holy ones) -The New Testament or new covenant Church in particular, Mat 28:18-20, Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; Joh 17:17; Rom 10:17; Rev 1:1; Rev 1:3; Rev 2:1; Rev 22:16 – “to testify unto you these things in the churches” Rev 22:17, The Bride says come.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3. When I gave diligence. I have rendered the words σπουδὴν ποιούμενος, “Applying care:” literally they are, “Making diligence.” But many interpreters explain the sentence in this sense, that a strong desire constrained Jude to write, as we usually say of those under the influence of some strong feeling, that they cannot govern or restrain themselves. Then, according to these expounders, Jude was under a sort of necessity, because a desire to write suffered him not to rest. But I rather think that the two clauses are separate, that though he was inclined and solicitous to write, yet a necessity compelled him. He then intimates, that he was indeed glad and anxious to write to them, but yet necessity urged him to do so, even because they were assailed (according to what follows) by the ungodly, and stood in need of being prepared to fight with them. (190)

Then, in the first place, Jude testifies that he felt so much concern for their salvation, that he wished himself, and was indeed anxious to write to them; and, secondly, in order to rouse their attention, he says that the state of things required him to do so. For necessity adds strong stimulants. Had they not been forewarned how necessary his exhortation was, they might have been slothful and negligent; but when he makes this preface, that he wrote on account of the necessity of their case, it was the same as though he had blown a trumpet to awake them from their torpor.

Of the common salvation. Some copies add “your,” but without reason, as I think; for he makes salvation common to them and to himself. And it adds not a little weight to the doctrine that is announced, when any one speaks according to his own feelings and experience; for vain is what we say, if we speak of salvation to others, when we ourselves have no real knowledge of it. Then, Jude professed himself to be (so to speak) an experimental teacher, when he associated himself with the godly in the participation of the same salvation.

And exhort you. Literally, “exhorting you;” but as he points out the end of his counsel, the sentence ought to be thus expressed. What I have rendered, “to help the faith by contending,” means the same as to strive in retaining the faith, and courageously to sustain the contrary assaults of Satan. (191) For he reminds them that in order to persevere in the faith, various contests must be encountered and continual warfare maintained. He says that faith had been once delivered, that they might know that they had obtained it for this end, that they might never fail or fall away.

(190) Then the rendering would be, “Beloved, when I was applying all care to write to you of the common salvation, I deemed (or found) it necessary to write to you, in order to exhort you to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.” Macknight and some others give another meaning to the first clause, and one more literal: “Beloved, making all haste to write to you, concerning the common salvation, I have thought it necessary,” etc. For this haste the Apostle gives a reason in the following verse, “For some men have stealthily crept in,” etc. This is the most obvious meaning of the passage. — Ed.

(191) The meaning of the verb is, to combat for, to strive, fight or contend for. It is a word derived from the games, and expresses a strenuous effort. Our version conveys well its meaning, “earnestly contend for the faith;” or, the words may be rendered, “strenuously combat for the faith;” not with the sword, says Beza, but with sound doctrine and the example of a holy life. — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Jud. 1:3. Common salvation.It does not immediately appear why he uses this epithet common. He may only mean, this salvation which is a matter of common interest to us all. The best MSS. read, of our common salvation; of those things which pertain to the salvation of us all. It is suggested that Jude may intend to distinguish between the faith, or salvation, which is common to all, and the knowledge which was claimed by false teachers as belonging only to a few. Faith once delivered.Faith is objectivethe substance of truth offered to faith. It is assumed that this is well known, and stands within recognised limitations. It was not then embodied in a creed; and we cannot with certainty declare its contents. The apostle Paul frequently refers to a well-known and clearly-defined setting of the primary Christian verities (2Ti. 1:13-14, etc.). Saints.Such they were in their calling; and such they were by their separation through belief of the Christian truth. There is special significance in the term saints here, because Jude has in mind those who were disgracing the Christian profession by moral licence. He means to suggest a contrast.

Jud. 1:4. Unawares.Finding their opportunity in Christian unwatchfulness. Mischievous teachers get into Churches under false pretences. Of old ordained.Reference is to previous prophetic intimations and warnings, and not to Divine decrees. The sentence has been well rendered thus: who were long ago before marked out as on their way to this condemnation. Ordained means written down, or written up; the metaphor may come from the practice of posting up the names of those who had to appear in court for trial. . Condemnation.The denunciation which follows. Their ungodliness is seen in the two things which most distressed the later Christian writers:

(1) the association of the Christian profession with sensual indulgences; and
(2) the teaching of perilous error concerning the person of Jesus Christ. In Lord God, the name God should be omitted. Only one person is meant. Denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jud. 1:3-4

Jud. 1:3. The Common Salvation.It appears that the mind of the apostle was moved, in the first place, to write concerning salvation generally; but on reflection he was constrained to write on one particular aspect, bearing on the temper of the times. The brevity of the epistle testifies that only one special aspect of religion is set forth. It was in view of the general defection among Christians, then so prevalent, he was earnestly moved to write. The case was urgent, as we learn from , arising from the necessity of contending earnestly for the faith. The description given in the epistle of the declension of some, and the false teaching of others, fully sets forth the earnest hope the apostle felt, that a few lines from him might serve the good purpose of conserving the true faith.

I. A designation of the gospel.Common salvation. The gospel had an interest for all. Its integrity was a matter which affected all. Nothing could be of more importance than the general concern which all ought to feel in the matter of the purity of the teaching which was intended to set it forth.

1. Salvation is the great need of all. It supplies a universal want. It reveals clearly the great subjects which have agitated human thought in every ageGod, the soul, moral accountability, and futurity. It also leads mankind to the fountain of blessingGod in Christ Jesus. If life is to answer any special end, and if the soul of man is to attain to any particular satisfaction and happiness, the gospel is as great a necessity to the mind as air is to the body.

2. Salvation is a provision for all. It touches the case of every one. There had been a Jewish exclusiveness even on the part of the apostles; but they were taught to call no man common or unclean, and that God is no respecter of persons. The gospel is free to all, whether Jew or Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, or free. The gospel, like the sun, is Gods great blessing to all men of every clime and time. Jesus is the Son of man, to designate the universality of His mission. He is come to seek and to save the race of man.

II. The sacred trust.Once for all delivered unto the saints. The gospel is in the custody of the Church. 1. The integrity of its doctrines. Those to whom the Spirit has revealed the truth alone can transmit it to posterity. If inspiration has ceased, illumination continues. The gospel as a revelation from God is also taught by Him.

2. The purity of its ordinances. Truth must have forms as channels of transmission. Sacraments and spiritual exercises are essential to the spread of the gospel and the growth of piety. However free Christianity may be in its spirit, it prescribes forms and rites for the welfare of the Church. 3. The consistency of its professors. To walk in the light is the duty of every believer. Christ has ordained that infractions of the laws of His kingdom should receive attention and be visited with discipline. The fruitless and rotten branches must be taken away. The Church has authority to deal with matters of internal order, and also the conduct of its members in the world. The affairs of the kingdom of Christ are now administered by the Church, until He comes.

III. Special duty enjoined.Contend earnestly for the faith. The Church is often thrown into times of particular difficulty, when its efforts are needed to defend its position in the world. The apostolic Church was early called upon to defend its doctrines and practices against false teachers. This is done:

1. By unswerving fidelity to truth. To hold fast that which we have is a duty we owe, not only to ourselves, but to the Church and the world.

2. By a bold confession before men of that which God has done for our soul. Men will be convinced of the efficacy of the means when they see the cure.

3. By being ready to give an intelligent reason for the hope which is in us. The defence of the faith on the ground of truth and justice is a matter that can be accomplished.

Jud. 1:4. The Denial of the Divinity of Christ.The reason is here stated why the apostle chose a particular line to write to the scattered Christians. The case was urgent, because the opposition came not from men who had openly denied the truths of the gospel, but from those who had privily crept into the Church, and were, in name, members of it. The danger was not from without this time, but from within. The use of the three verbs (2Pe. 2:1), (Gal. 2:4), and in the text, plainly shows a systematic conspiracy to subvert the truth. The bold opposition of persecution having failed, the evil one covertly introduced into the Church false teachers. The adroit use of , which follows, indicates the impossibility of hiding the evil designs of these false prophets. St. Jude doubtless refers to the second epistle of Peter, and also to the warnings contained in the writings of St. Paul. The figure is taken from the practice of posting up the names of those who were cited to trial, with a description of their crimes. Every corrupter of the doctrines, and every disturber of the peace of the Church, is a marked man. On the notice-board of justice is written, Wanted, etc. The is fully described in the following verses. The force of , which means to alter a thing from its original use, is brought out in the contrast between the grace of God and lasciviousnessthe greatest abuse of the greatest favour. In the same way we get the full meaning of from . It was not a denying of the truths of the gospel in general, but the central truththe Divinity and the Divine mission of Christ.

I. A great crime.Never was there a time in the history of the Church when this crime should be guarded against more than at present. The days of intolerance are over, and the danger now is of relaxing all obligations as to the truth, and holding that every man is at liberty to believe and teach whatsoever he pleases. The sacred trust committed to the care of the Church is the faith once delivered to the saints. Why should men want to change the truth of the living God? Look into the text, and you have the answer.

1. Because the fear of God is not in their soulungodly men. When the helm is broken, the vessel will drift in every direction. Reverence for God is the first essential of faith in Revelation 2. Because to human appearance sin appears less hideous when committed in the name of religionturning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. This meant the abuse of that liberty which the gospel confers, and the committal of sin that grace might abound.

3. Because the authority of our only Master and Lord is against the licence they would afford the flesh. Take Christ out of the gospel, and any use might be made of it; but give Him His place in the sphere of Divine truth, and the force against sin is irresistible.

II. An awful doom.St. John in the Apocalypse sounds the warning in strong accents: If any man shall add unto them, etc. (Rev. 21:18-19). A few considerations will show that the punishment of those who pervert the truth, and teach so unto others, must be very severe.

1. It is a defiance of Divine authority. God is contradicted. When this is done, moral government is at stake.
2. It is the greatest wrong that can be done to others. If you do not know the way, say so; but to know the way and direct the man to go in the contrary direction is to cause him harm. To tell people that they are on the road to heaven, when it is known that they are going to hell, must be punished.
3. It is an offence against the love of God, who sent His only Son to make us good, and lead us to virtue.W. P.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Jud. 1:3. Doctrinal Contention.As in war they will clear away the houses and the flower-gardens that have been allowed to come and cluster about the walls and fill up the moat, yet the walls will stand, so in all the conflicts that befall Christs Church and Gods truth, the calming thought ought to be ours, that if anything perishes it is a sign that it is not His, but mans excrescence on His building. Whatever is His will stand for ever.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Books of the Olden Time.Who knows anything about the worlds wonders of books that, a hundred years ago, made good mens hearts tremble for the ark of God? You may find them in dusty rows on the top shelves of great libraries. But if their names had not occurred in the pages of Christian apologists, flies in amber, nobody in this generation would ever have heard of them.Ibid.

Influence of Strong Assertion.The consciousness that Christian truth is denied makes some of you falter in its profession, and fancy that it is less certain simply because it is gainsaid. The mist wraps you in its folds, and it is difficult to keep warm in it, or to believe that love and sunshine are above it all the same. Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.Ibid.

Contending for the Faith.What do we observe as a fact in Christian Church history? This. Christian doctrine is evidently a great whole made up of many parts. What we seek to find is the harmonious fitting of the several parts, each being held in its proper proportions. But the Christian faith is subject to attacks on its several positions. The attacks have their special characteristics in each age. They should be met by the whole united force of the Church; the common foe met by a common resistance. There is, however, another process going on continually, as Christs truth is committed to the charge of weak men. Aspects of truth are in constant danger of being pushed to extremes; and important sides and aspects of truth are in constant peril of being neglected and dropped out of sight. And in this way the proportions of truth, the harmonious whole of truth, may be lost. So there is a continual, and ever-repeated call for the activity of those who will reaffirm the truth that is slipping from view, or qualify the truth that is getting exaggerated settings. That may be the good side of what may be misapprehended, and called heresy and schism. It may be questioned in what sense the whole Christian faith was once for all delivered to the saints. All revelations are wholes for the age to which they come; but they are not necessarily wholes to the after-ages of intellectual and moral advancement. The Mosaic revelation was a whole; but in prophetic times its deeper moral features came to view, and the Christian ages have perfected it, fulfilled it, fully realised it. It is a whole now which the Jews of Moses time could not by any possibility recognise. Perhaps we may affirm that finality can belong to nothing that bears relation to finite, but ever-unfolding man; and so we can never really look for more than a faith adequate to an age. If your mothers name were defiled, would not your heart bound to her defence? When a prince is a dethroned exile, his throne is fixed deeper in the hearts of his adherents, though his back be at the wall, and common souls become heroes because their devotion has been heightened to sublimity of self-sacrifice by a nations rebellion. And when so many voices are proclaiming that God has never spoken to men, that our thoughts of His book are dreams, and its long empire over mens spirits a waning tyranny, does cool indifference become us? will not fervour be sobriety, and the glowing emotion of our whole nature our reasonable service?Ibid.

Right Dealing with Unbelief.You may hammer ice on an anvil or bray it in a mortar. What then? It is pounded ice still, except for the little portion melted by heat of percussion, and it will soon all congeal again. Melt it in the sun, and it flows down in sweet water, which mirrors that light which loosed its bonds of cold. So hammer away at unbelief with your logical sledge-hammers, and you will change its shape perhaps, but it is none the less unbelief because you have ground it to powder. It is a mightier agent that must melt itthe fire of Gods love, brought close by a will ablaze with the sacred glow.Ibid.

Defenders of the Faith.This exhortation applies to our circumstances in this period of unsettledness in religious beliefs. It is claimed that the old faith has served its day, and some new faith must take its place. Our opinion is that instead of finding a new faith, we are on our way to a better understanding of the old one. We are concerned about the essential truths of Christianity, and willingly renounce the accretions and interpretations by which those truths have been overlaid and obscured. The indications of our modern unrest point to a change for the better.

I. What are we to understand by the faith which was once delivered to the saints?It is defined as the common salvation. Not the doctrine of salvation, but the salvation itself; it is not a theory, but an experience. Faith is the means, salvation is the end. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (1Pe. 1:9). It was common to all the apostles. They might have particular methods, but they certainly had a general result in view. Salvation was the aim in their teaching. They became all things to all men, that by all means they might save some. This salvation is common to all men, and not a matter pertaining to a particular class. It is available for Jew and Gentile. It is for every one that believeth. The essential truths of Christianity, as contained in the New Testament, constitute the faith once delivered to the saints.

1. The faith is Divine in its origin. It is not a production of human philosophy, but the substance of a Divine revelation. The necessity for a Divine revelation appears in the fact that human opinions are so varied and contradictory. When my heart is burdened with the consciousness of guilt, and my soul cries out in its agony, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I must have a Divine answer. I need to know Gods thought and purpose concerning a penitent soul. The gospel is the Divine answer to human need.

2. The faith is adapted to mans moral needs. Three truths force themselves upon our notice when we study man in his moral relations:

(1) The sense of guilt and moral weakness;
(2) the liability to temptation and trouble;
(3) the certainty of death and a future state. These exist in all men everywhere. These are the bases of moral needs, and to these needs the gospel responds. The faith responds to the sense of guilt and moral weakness. The fact and experience of sin are common to all men. In every land men are wrestling with the great problem, What shall we do to be saved? The gospel is the specific. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. This common salvation includes two thingsdeliverance and safety. It delivers from impending danger by a perfect pardon. It fortifies and strengthens the soul against the temptations of all evil agencies, so that it is enabled to stand in the glorious liberty of the gospel. The faith responds to the liability to temptation and trouble. All, irrespective of position or rank, are exposed to them. The only remedy philosophy offers is stoicism. The gospel discovers One who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Apart from this living Christ, one of the deepest needs of human nature is left unsatisfied. The certainty of death is also answered by this faith. Death and the problem of the future hang like a heavy pall over all heathendom. The religious and philosophical systems of paganism throw no light upon the darkness of the grave. But the gospel of Christ tells of Him who died and rose again as the firstfruits of those who slept, who has abolished death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. It inspires men with hope of immortality. It alleviates human bereavement and gilds the future with radiant hope. Blessed gospel! It meets the deepest needs of the human soul.

3. The faith is complete in its contents once deliveredi.e. complete. To it nothing can be added. New light, hidden riches, sweetest harmonies, may be found in it. Astronomy may discover worlds of light in the heavens, but it does not add to the universe. Every star was there before astronomers lifted their telescopes skyward. Astronomy may enlarge our knowledge of the heavens, and thrill us with new views of heavenly beauty, but it cannot create a new star. Music cannot add a new tone to the scale. The octave is the final measure of possible tones. Gifted musicians may combine the tones in new relations, and thus give the world sweeter song and more thrilling melody; but in all the witchery of music they will never reach beyond the octave of tones. So with the faith. Theology cannot add to it. The Bible will gain in interpretation, but no new principles can be added to its contents. The foundation of our faith is laid in final power away from frost and wave and storm.

II. To whom was the faith delivered?To the saints. The term refers to character, not to official position.

1. Saints are the depositaries of the faith. Not councils, priests, or popes, but holy men are the trustees of this precious gift. The power and the safety of the faith are not in organisation, or popular favour, or political power, desirable as these may be, but primarily in the character of individual Christians.

2. Saints are the disseminators of the faith. Dissemination is the purpose for which the deposit has been made. Saints hold it in trust for the use and benefit of mankind. Truth must be incarnated before it can become an available factor in the worlds evangelisation. God incarnates the gospel in His saints. This incarnation is the secret of successful evangelism. The old prophets were mighty because their hearts were burdened with the word of the Lord. God put His great truths in their hearts, and they were transfigured by the glory of inward truth, and flamed and burned among men. The apostles were resistless evangelists because their souls were thrilled and dominated by the great revelations of Christ, and they could not but speak the things commanded them. The disciples, scattered by persecution, went everywhere. In all their flight they were flaming evangelists. So grew the word of the Lord mightily and prevailed.

III. What is our duty in reference to the faith?Contend earnestly, etc.

1. We must hold to it experimentally and consistently. Not to the theory, but to the practice; not to doctrine merely, but to salvation as a blessed reality. The faith needs not swords to fight for it, but saints to live it. A holy life is the noblest defence of the gospel.

2. We must hold it with courage and resolution. The faith has had to contend for recognition in the world. In the beginning the Jew denied it, the Greek ridiculed it, and the Roman denounced it; but the saints contended for it in spite of all. So now it comes into conflict with the prejudices, selfish interests, and wrath of men. It requires brave, true men to stand by it. The age of chivalry is not yet past. Valiant knights of the Order of the Cross are needed now in defence of the old faith.

3. We must contend for it with simplicity and sincerity. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, etc. Not the weapons of the flesh, not the mere external aids that men are wont to use, not eloquence, learning, wealth, or beautythese, though highly desirable, are not essential. Simple, sincere Christian lives are the irresistible argument for the faith. I do not undervalue apologetics. Its function is to defend the Bible and set forth the evidences of the Divine authority of the Scriptures. All honour to our great apologists for their literary work in defence of our precious faith; but I do insist that an earnest Christian, sincere in heart, true in conduct, pure in speech, and gentle in spirit, is the one unanswerable argument for Christianity. He is the peoples Bible, needing neither commentary nor apology. We are to be defenders of the faith. Pauls saying ought to be the conviction of our heart: I am set for the defence of the gospel (Php. 1:17).W. Hansom, B.D., LL.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

A BELIEVER WHO KEEPS HIMSELF BY CONTENDING FOR A GROWING FAITH

Jud. 1:3

Text

3.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Queries

1.

How many other times does Jude use the word beloved in this letter?

2.

In the use of the word beloved, who does the loving?

3.

If it had not been for this apostasy, would Jude have written to them anyway? What makes you think so in this verse?

4.

What does the text mean when it refers to our salvation as the common salvation?

5.

What, in Jud. 1:3, indicates that Jude changed his mind about the subject of his letter?

6.

What within the verse indicates the new problem is the apostasy?

7.

Put the expression once for all delivered into your own words.

8.

Who are the saints?

Paraphrases

A. 3.

Dear loved ones, I was just ready to write you about the salvation we all share together in Christ when I was moved to change my mind. Now it is imperative that I urge you to fight for the faith in such a way as to defend and retain it; as no other faith will be given to Gods children, for there is no other.

B.*3.

Dearly loved friends, I have been planning to write you some thoughts about the salvation God has given us, but now I find I must write of something else instead, urging you to stoutly defend the truth which God gave, once for all, to His people to keep without change through the years.

Summary

Jude changes his mind about the subject-matter of his letter. Instead of a general letter about salvation, apostasy within the church causes him to urge them to be faithful to the revelation they have received from God.

Comment

Jude dearly loves the saints to whom he writes. The term beloved could refer to Judes love. However there is something complete in the expression that implies beloved by God. It would be difficult to say the term refers either to the love of God or the love of Jude exclusive to the other. They were beloved by both.
Jude was either ready to write to them, or else he had already begun his writing. He was in earnest in the process of planning, or of execution. Perhaps he was just on the point of writing about the need of salvation that all Christians share in common. Such a subject would have been worthy of a letter. One of the most profound books of the New Testament (Romans) is on this subject. But something happened to change Judes mind before the letter could be written.
It may be that fresh news had reached Jude about the apostates within the church, or that recent developments became such that Jude became suddenly alarmed. However he heard the news, he found it necessary (needful) to change his mind and exhort them about the impending danger. Their faith was in danger of being altered or spoiled. Their convictions about the person and divinity of Jesus was to be attacked. Perhaps the attack had already begun!
Note the method of defense used by Jude. Knowledge was the only defense. They were to know first of all what they believed, and why. Their best defense was to contend earnestly for what they believed. In order to firmly implant themselves in this positive stand, they must restudy the revelation already given. They already had the good news concerning Christ. The Gospel revelation had been completed and was delivered for all time to come. There would be no contrary revelation. This had been once for all delivered.

So brethren, know all about your convictions. Know not only what you believe, but why. Give diligence to rightly divide the word of revelation that has been finally and completely delivered.
Not only did Jude urge them to know their own convictions and stand firm on them, but in the following verses Jude assails the apostates directly. Before the enemy of Christ can be properly assailed, however, one must make sure of his own defenses. When an enemy is attacked, he will fight back.
To attack an enemy when one has no position of his own is pointless. If one succeeds in such an attack, then nothing will be left. All positive conviction will have been destroyed and only hopeless chaos and meaningless void will result. This has been the result in too many modern churches of the twentieth century. Men with no positive convictions about the gospel have attacked the faith of the believers in the church. They have won their battle, and the faith of the brethren is destroyed. The church is left void. It is left completely useless, and has no reason for further existence. There is no growth, because there is no positive conviction that appeals to men outside the organization. There is hardly even a spark of life left.
If one loses such an attack, then the enemy, who does have positive convictions, will have won over his attacker. This would be tragic if the attacker were the Christian, and this is Judes point. Establish yourself in the faith so that your position is unassailable. Give diligence to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith . . .
The believer who does this is insuring himself against attacks of the apostate. The believer who knows the Word of God knows all things (that were revealed) once for all. He is thus fortified by true knowledge from God. He is in a position to be kept for Jesus Christ because he contends earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Note the two-fold action: God keeps us (Jud. 1:1), and we contend that we might be kept (Jud. 1:3). The two actions must go together. God wishes that we be kept, and He provides the way. We put ourselves in the way and see to it that we meet the conditions that will insure Gods keeping us. God does not keep anyone against his will. Man not only makes such a choice at the moment of his conversion, but he continues to make a choice daily as for what he will contend and to whom he will be kept.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(3, 4) The purpose and occasion of the Letter.
(3) Beloved.Very unusual at the beginning of an Epistle; Jud. 1:2, is the only other example It indicates, possibly, the writers wish to be brief and get to his subject at once; and, as his subject is a very unpleasing one, he hastens to assure his readers of affection for them, to prevent his strong language from offending them.

When I gave all diligence.Better, in giving all diligence: i.e., in having it much at heart. Wiclif and Rheims are nearly right. The expression is unique in the New Testament2Pe. 1:5 is similar, but the Greek for giving differs in verb and tense from the word used here.

Of the common salvation.The best MSS. insert ourof our common salvation: i.e., of those things which pertain to the salvation of us all. (Comp. Tit. 1:4.) Some would take these words after it was needful for me to write unto you. The Authorised version is better.

It was needful for me to write unto you.Better, I found it necessary to write at once to you, St. Jude had intended to write on general grounds; then the circumstances stated in Jud. 1:4 made him write immediately for the special purpose of warning them against a pressing danger. The at once comes from the tense, which is present in the first clause, aorist in the second. That St. Jude had intended to write a longer letter is pure conjecture, for which there is no evidence.

Contend for.The word is a graphic one, implying standing over a thing to fight in its defence. You must fight as well as build (Neh. 4:16; Neh. 4:18).

The faithi.e., that which is believed by Christians: not the expression of the doctrine, nor the holding of it, but the substance of it.

Once delivered.Rather, once for all delivered. No change in it is possible. (Comp. Gal. 1:8-9.) By the saints are meant all Christians; comp. Act. 9:13 (where see Note), Act. 9:32; Act. 9:41. The word is used advisedly here, in marked contrast to the libertines now to be denounced.

(4) Certain men crept in unawaresviz., into the Church. The certain shows that these men are a decided minority, and has a tinge of depreciation, as in Gal. 2:12. Crept in unawares is analogous to unawares brought in, who came in privily (Gal. 2:4, where see Note), and to privily bring in (2Pe. 2:1). It is this insidious invasion which constitutes the necessity for writing stated in Jud. 1:3. Unfaithful Christians are sometimes regarded as an emergence from within, rather than an invasion from without (1Jn. 2:19).

Close similarity to 2 Peter begins here and continues down to Jud. 1:18; the Notes on the parallel passages in 2 Peter 2 should be compared throughout. In this Epistle the first three and last seven verses are the only portions not intimately related to 2 Peter.

Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.Literally, who have been of old written down beforehand for this sentence; or, perhaps, written up; for the metaphor may come from the practice of posting up the names of those who had to appear in court for trial. The text is a favourite one with Calvinists; but it gives no countenance to extreme predestination views. Of old cannot refer to the eternal purposes of God, but to something in history. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether it can refer to the recent warnings of St. Paul and St. Peter that false teachers should arise: otherwise one would be tempted to refer it to 2 Peter 2 Something more remote from the writers own day seems to be required: either the Old Testament prophets, or the Book of Enoch, quoted below. The Greek word here rendered before ordained is in Rom. 15:4 rendered written aforetime. (Comp. Eph. 3:3.)

To this condemnation.Literally, to this sentence, or judgment; but the context shows that the judgment is an adverse one. This condemnation, viz., the one stated in the denunciations which follow, and illustrated by the fate of those mentioned in Jud. 1:5-7. Note the three-fold description of the men thus written down for judgment: they are ungodly; they pervert Gods grace; they deny Christ.

Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.Turning Christian liberty into unchristian license. Our God, not theirs; they are without God in the world. Wantonness would be better than lasciviousness here, as in 2Pe. 2:18. The Greek word expresses license generally, not merely sins of impurity.

Denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.Rather, denying the only Master, and our Lord Jesus Christ. God is an addition to the original text, and must be omitted. Lord represents two words in the Greek quite different one from the other. The Genevan version is right all but the insertion of God; the Rhemish quite righthaving Dominator, however, for Master. We are once more in doubt whether one or two Persons of the Trinity are mentioned here. (Comp. 2Pe. 1:1.) Certainly 2Pe. 2:1 countenances our taking the only Master as meaning Christ; and the fact that the article is not repeated with Lord is in favour of only one Person being meant. But Luk. 2:29, Act. 4:24, Rev. 6:10 countenance our understanding these words as meaning the Father; and the absence of the article before Lord is not conclusive. The insertion of God is, perhaps, a gloss to insist on this latter interpretation. If it be right, the clause is closely parallel to 1Jn. 2:22 : He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Note the emphatic insertion of our once more: they will not have Him for their Lord; His divine authority was precisely what they denied.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Beloved Thus far the address; now commences the opening of the subject. Note 3Jn 1:1-2.

Gave all diligence Rather, making to myself all earnestness. The earnestness was awakened by alarm at the inroads of the errorists.

Common salvation The gospel salvation, which was common to the whole Christian republic, and so threatened by a common danger.

It was needful Literally, I had a necessity; a necessity to do what, without a necessity, he would not advise, namely, to contend. There are blessed times for peace, but now comes the pressure of contest.

Earnestly contend A term borrowed from the palestric contests, yet also used of real battles. This spiritual contest, now at hand, required not merely quiet Christian life, but a bold maintenance of Christian truth and morals, a refutation and rebuke of error and sin, and an extrusion of the heretical transgressors from the Church of God.

The faith The system of doctrines and morals.

Once That is, once for all; excluding all additions, diminutions, and modifications; and especially such perversions as now threatened to mislead and destroy the Church.

Saints All true Christians, especially the sanctified of Jud 1:1.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write to you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.’

‘Beloved.’ A common address also used by Peter, John and Paul, etc. Love was at the centre of their Gospel, and the church’s teachers came to them with hearts filled with love.

Note his stress on the fact that he had been diligently setting out to write to them about the glorious truths of the Gospel. They are thus people towards whom he feels a pastoral responsibility, and who were presumably expecting to hear from him. But as a result of news that he has clearly recently received, he now feels that he must exhort them to fearlessly defend the true Gospel, that body of truth which had once for all been delivered to God’s people (His saints – compare Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:2).

‘Our common salvation.’ This would seem to emphasise that he was writing to both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Compare Eph 2:11-22. Alternately it may simply be seeing all genuine Christians as one together.

‘To contend earnestly for the faith.’ This may refer to a body of doctrine seen as ‘the faith’, possibly the ‘Testimony of Jesus’ (see 2Ti 1:8; Rev 1:2; Rev 1:9) made up of the reminiscences of the Apostles about the life and teaching of Jesus, and including the inspired ideas based on them as found in Apostolic communications from such as Paul (2Pe 3:15-16), James and Peter. Or it may signify simply that they were to contend for the necessity for belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as the  only Saviour  (Jud 1:4; compare Act 4:12). But either way it clear that it was being denied by these ‘godless men’ who had come in among them.

While we cannot be sure what the false beliefs of these godless men were we do have certain hints;

Firstly Jude’s emphasis on ‘our ONLY Master and Lord Jesus Christ’ (Jud 1:4), and on ‘the ONLY God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord’, suggests that they believed that there was more than one god, and more than one saviour (possibly contrasting the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New, as Marcion would after them, or by including Him in a pantheon).

Secondly he describes them as turning the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jud 1:4). This suggests that they were taking the Gospel of God’s active grace in salvation through faith as an excuse to live licentious lives, possibly on the grounds that it glorified God by providing more sins to forgive and demonstrating the greatness of His unmerited love (compareRom 6:1-2), or on the basis that it demonstrated the unimportance of the flesh, and focused attention on the growth of ‘the spirit’. Possibly the idea was that by keeping the flesh active and busy, the spirit could be freed from its hold in order to develop separately.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jude’s Reason For Writing ( Jud 1:3-4 ).

Jude had seemingly intended to write a letter dealing with the question of ‘our common salvation’, but apparently he had received news about the evil behaviour of people who had come into the church surreptitiously, and were justifying lives of lasciviousness and sexual freedom, and seeing Jesus as but one of many ‘saviours’ through whom they could come to God (‘They deny our ONLY Master and Lord’ (Jud 1:4); compare also ‘To the ONLY God our Saviour’ (Jud 1:25)) .

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jud 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you” Comments – Jud 1:3 reflects the “compulsion” that the author felt in writing this short epistle. In the same way Luke’s opening statement in his Gospel reveals its divine inspiration when he says, “It seemed good to me also,” (Luk 1:3) indicating that he felt led by the Holy Spirit to write his Gospel. Luke had no divine visitation telling him to write it, no dream or vision. He simply felt in his heart that this was the right thing for him to do. Jude had a similar leading to write the epistle of Jude. Another example is when Paul said, “I am convinced in the Lord” (Php 2:24). Paul was led to visit Rome by the Holy Spirit when he says that he “longed to see them” (Rom 1:11), which suggests an inner work of the Holy Spirit. In Act 23:6 Paul “perceived” that part of the Sanhedrin council were Sadducees and part Pharisees, and switched his message of defense. In Act 27:10 Paul says, “Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt.”

Jud 1:3 “and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith” – Comments – In 1989 I was allowed to teach a Bible lesson at a Bible study that my brother had begun in Brown Trail Apartments. The message that I taught was how to believe and stand on God’s Word, and not just to have head knowledge of the Scriptures. Attending this particular Bible study was an associate pastor of the Southern Baptist church that was sponsoring this Bible study. Also attending was a young Baptist seminary student who was terminally, although I did not know it at the time.

After teaching the lesson, I was confronted with challenging question by the Baptist associate pastor. He was having problems with the full Gospel message that I was teaching. He acknowledged that he was supernaturally healed during a meeting several years before, but he doubted that it was God’s will to always heal somebody, since this was how most Baptist churches taught.

Having answered the pastor’s questions, the Baptist seminary student then asked me to pray for him, because he needed a healing. However, it was now 9:00 p.m. and we were tired. But, in faith, I told him that God wanted to heal him that night, and though tired, I proceeded to give him healing Scriptures. When I came to Galatians three, and told him that Christ has redeemed him from the curse of sickness, his eyes lit up and I knew that he was ready to pray.

We prayed the prayer of agreement without any outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, after the prayer, I had to tell him by faith in God’s Word that he was healed. I was shaking on the outside to declare such a statement of faith, but I was bold as a lion on the inside, knowing that God cannot lie.

During the time of ministering healing Scriptures and praying, I had met with much contention from the Baptist pastor. So, as I left this meeting and walked home to my apartment, I prayed, “Lord, I do not want to be contentious.” Immediately, the Lord quickened this verse to me, “Earnestly contend for the faith.” I went into my house, found this scripture in the Bible, and rested on God’s Word.

My brother met this young seminary student a week later in church. Here was his testimony. The night we prayed, his gums had stopped bleeding for the first time. He had been scheduled to have major dental surgery because of this problem. Also, the doctors had given him a short time to live because of severe liver problems. He returned to the doctor after the prayer of faith. He was told that his liver was ok, and he just needed to take particular care of himself.

Praise God for His wonderful Word.

Jud 1:3 “which was once delivered unto the saints” Comments – The phrase “which was once delivered unto the saints” in Jud 1:3 suggests the first-generation preaching of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who were probably martyred by the time of the writing of this General Epistle, excluding the epistles of John. This is exactly what Jude mentions later in his epistle when he tells his readers to “remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Jud 1:17).

More specifically, the faith that was once delivered refers to the fact that the doctrines of the New Testament church were laid down one time, never to be tampered with or altered again. The Lord Jesus Christ laid the foundation of the doctrine of the New Testament in the teachings recorded in the Gospels. The Lord then gave Paul the apostle the task of building and completing this sacred doctrine, which he recorded in the nine Church epistles. This doctrine is settled and forever established, never to be added to again; thus, the phrase “once delivered.” Any doctrine added to or taken away from these sacred writings are to be considered heresy. For example, the addition of The Book of Mormon [36] as the fifth Gospel is to be considered heresy, since the books of the New Testament canon are now closed.

[36] The Book of Mormon, trans. Joseph Smith, Jr. (Lamoni, Iowa: The Board of Publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1917).

Jud 1:4 “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” – Comments – These are those who say that it is not so bad to sin a little, because God’s grace is so great as to forgive and take us to heaven. Those who teach the doctrine of “once saved, always saved” fall dangerously close to this description.

Jud 1:4 “who were before of old ordained to this condemnation” Comments – Jude will give us several Old Testament examples of such people, who were ordained to judgment, men such as Balaam, who deceived the children of Israel into fornication, and Cain, who slew his brother.

Jud 1:3-4 Comments – The Themes of Jude – The phrase “that ye should earnestly contend” in Jud 1:3 reflects the need for the saints to persevere until the end, which is the foundational theme of 2 Peter , 1, 2, 3 John and Jude. The statement, “for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares,” reflects the secondary theme of these General Epistles, which is to persevere against false doctrines from within the Church.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

An exhortation to constancy in faith:

v. 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

v. 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.

Here Jude not only gives his reasons for writing, but also for writing as he did; Beloved, as I was putting forth all earnestness to write to you concerning our common salvation, I felt constrained (instead) to write to you, admonishing you to contend for the faith which once for all has been committed to the saints. Jude had planned to write a letter or a treatise on the great message of salvation, of the love of God in Christ Jesus, on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith which are intended for all men. With this intention he was seriously concerned, to it he was giving all diligence. But he found himself obliged to change his plans, to abandon his intention, and that by certain news that had come to him, which caused him to write, instead, of a danger which was threatening the Gospel in the province where his readers were living. Without going into the discussion of the fundamental doctrines at all, Jude here briefly admonishes the Christians not only to be on the defensive, but also on the offensive, to defend themselves and to contend most earnestly and emphatically for the faith, for the Gospel-truth, as it was, once for all, delivered to the saints in the teaching of the apostles. Wherever the apostles had come, they had communicated to men the joyful news of the salvation of all men through the atoning work of Christ. That was the summary and basis of all their teaching. To this truth, therefore, the Christians must cling, for this they must battle with all the power at their command.

The apostle now describes the danger: For by stealth certain men have slipped in, who long ago have been designated beforehand to this condemnation, ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God to lasciviousness and deny our one Master and Lord Jesus Christ. The false teachers to whom Jude has reference made use of the same tactics that have been employed by their successors ever since. They did not proclaim themselves as the murderers of men’s souls, as liars and deceivers. They crept into the congregations unawares, they slipped in by stealth. Gal 2:4; 1Ti 1:6; 2Ti 2:16-18; they assumed a pious, a sanctimonious behavior; they affected a great zeal for the Gospel. But, as the apostle says, the judgment which characterizes such men, the condemnation which will strike them, has been predicted in Scriptures long ago. Although professing godliness, they were in reality godless; they perverted the free grace of God into lasciviousness, the lust of the flesh; they turned the liberty of the Gospel into the license which their evil nature craved; they became addicted even to public indecency; and they denied both God, the only Lord, and Jesus Christ the Savior. 2Pe 2:1-3; 2Ti 3:2-8; Tit 1:10-16.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Jud 1:3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence, &c. This verse, about the sense of which commentators have strangely disagreed, maybe thus paraphrased: “Beloved, when I was studiously thoughtful about, and earnestly applied to the work of sending an epistle to you, concerning that spiritual salvation, which is common to you and me, and all true believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, and is proposed and recommended in the gospel to the acceptance of all sinners, to whom it is preached with this assurance, that whoever cometh to Christ, he will in no wise cast him out, (Joh 6:37.)I saw this to be a point of such vast importance, and so vehemently struck at in this day of sad defection and of intriguing, as well as of violent methods to overthrow it, that I thought it necessary, under divine suggestion, to write to you about it, and stir you up by every consideration relating to your own safety and comfort and the glory of Christ and of God in him, to exert yourselves, in a humble dependance on divine grace, with the utmost vigour, even, as it were, to an agony of labour and concern ( ), in maintaining, defending, and practising the pure and uncorrupted doctrine of faith in its full extent, with respect to the person, offices, grace, and government of the Lord Christ, which was once delivered by him to his holyapostles, and, by them to the church, consisting of believers that are holy in heart and life; and which was committed as a trust and treasure to them, that they might keep it faithfully, and transmit it to posterity, and not suffer it to be altered, or wrested out of their hands, by any means whatever. I say there is great need that I should write to you about this.”

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jud 1:3-4 . Statement of the reason which determined Jude to write this Epistle: comp. on this 2Pe 1:12 f., 2Pe 3:1 f.

] found at the beginning of an Epistle only here and in 3Jn 1:2 .

. . .] Giving all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, I felt constrained to write to you, exhorting you to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints . Pricaeus, Lachmann, Buttmann put a comma after the first and after the second , so that is connected with , and , etc., is separated from . Most expositors, on the contrary, as Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, de Wette, Wiesinger, etc., connect with the preceding , and unite with . Not only the position of the words, but also the train of thought decides for this latter arrangement; for since, according to Jud 1:4 , the , inducing the author to write this Epistle, consisted in the appearance of wicked men, so it is evidently more suitable to connect with , having special reference to it, than with the general idea , particularly as the contents of the Epistle are anything but a treatise concerning the common salvation. [8] The preceding participial clause states in what condition Jude was when the came upon him; the to write already existed when the entrance of certain ungodly men constrained him not to write generally , but to compose such a hortative Epistle as the present. Some expositors incorrectly think that the had its reason in the (Erasmus: tantum mihi studium fuit, ut non potuerim non scribere vobis); others, that to the the supervened as a new point; so Hornejus: cum summum mihi esset studium scribendi ad vos aliquid de communi nostrum omnium salute, etiam necessitas insuper scribendi imposita fuit, quae autem illa sit, statim addit (so also Calvin and others). De Wette (with whom Brckner agrees) considers that Jude by the first clause expresses that “he had been engaged on the composition of a longer and more comprehensive Epistle (the loss of which we have to lament), when he was for the time called away from that work in order to write the present Epistle;” but the expression does not necessarily involve actual writing. [9]

is only found here in the N. T. (2Pe 1:5 : ; prologue to Ecclus.: ); the meaning is: to be eagerly solicitous about something ; it may refer both to mental activity and to external action; here the former is the case. Luther’s translation: “After I purposed,” is too flat; Meyer’s is better: “since it lies pressingly upon my heart.”

serves, as frequently, for the strengthening of the idea.

The participle , in connection with the aorists , is to be taken as the imperfect participle. Stier incorrectly translates: “when engaged in it I would take diligence.” It expresses the activity which took place, when the action expressed by the finite verb occurred and therefore must not be resolved, with Haenlein, into the perfect or pluperfect.

] states on what Jude intended to write. On , comp. Tit 1:4 ; 2Pe 1:1 . There is no reason to refer the idea, with Semler, to the Jews and Gentiles, as the object common to both.

, not the doctrine of salvation (Jachmann), but the salvation itself, acquired by Christ for the world, and applied to believers. The explanation of Beza: de iis quae ad nostram omnium salutem pertinent , deviates from strict precision, as itself is indicated by Jude as the object of writing. Schott incorrectly explains , state of salvation, possession of salvation .

] Comp. Luk 14:10 ; Luk 23:17 ; 1Co 7:37 . The explanation of Grotius is inaccurate: nihil potius habui, quod scriberem, quam ut, etc. The translation of Luther is too flat: “I considered it necessary;” for in is contained the idea of an objective necessity founded on duty, circumstances, etc. (de Wette, Wiesinger, Schott). The meaning here is: the entrance of false teachers constrained me, made me to recognise it as necessary. On the one hand, Semler inserts a strange reference, paraphrasing it: accidit interea inopinato , ut statuendum mihi esset; and, on the other hand, Schott, who, in order to emphasize the contrast between the two members of the sentence, finds in . the thought expressed that Jude wrote this Epistle unwillingly, contrary to his inclination .

] is closely united to , as indicating the kind of writing to which the author felt constrained by circumstances; therefore no comma is to be put after .

] , a . ., as , Phi 1:27 , connected with the dative of the object which is contended for; Stier: “to fight for the faith;” comp. Sir 4:28 : .

is not = doctrina, system of doctrine ; nor yet does it here denote the subjective quality of the believing disposition; but that which is believed by Christians ( ), the objective contents of faith. Schott is incorrect in explaining it: “the conduct arising from faith;” for the notion of conduct does not suit . The explanation: the way of salvation (Hofmann), is also wanting in correctness; it is not proved by Gal 3:23 .

As the subject to , by whom the communication or transmission was effected, God (Bengel) is not here to be thought of, but the apostles , as Jud 1:17 shows; 2Pe 2:21 ; Luk 1:2 (comp. also 1Co 11:2 ; 1Co 11:23 ; 1Co 15:3 ); yet the author does not name them, because “he is not concerned here with the personal instruments, but with the mode and manner of transmission contained in ” (Schott). are not the apostles (Nic. de Lyra), but Christians.

brings prominently forward the fact that as it once took place, so there is now an end to the ; Bengel: nulla alia dabitur fides. Jachmann incorrectly explains it by , olim, jam , appealing to Jud 1:5 and Heb 6:4 . According to Hofmann’s view, is used “with reference to the preceding intention of Jude to present to the readers a writing having the common salvation as its object;” but this reference is not indicated. [10]

[8] The translation of the Vulgate: omnem solicitudinem faciens scribendi vobis de communi vestra salute necesse habui scribere vobis depraecans supercertari, etc., may also be punctuated in both ways. Lachmann has, in his larger edition of the N. T., punctuated it as he has done in the Greek text; in other editions of the Vulgate, on the contrary, the other punctuation is found.

[9] De Wette incorrectly appeals for this supposition to Sherlock (in Wolf), who thus explains it: dilecti, animus mihi erat, scribere ad vos de communibus doctrinis et spe evangelii ad fidem vestram et Jesu Christi cognitionem amplificandam; jam vero coactum me video, ut hoc institutum deseram et ad cavendum praesens periculum, vos exhorter, ut serio teneatis eam quae vobis tradita est, doctrinam, contra falsos doctores, quos clanculum audio irrepsisse. What de Wette regards as accomplished, or in the act of being accomplished, Sherlock considers only as intended.

[10] When Hofmann maintains that ver. 4 could only have been written by an apostle, he evidently proceeds too far; for why could not also another besides an apostle have cherished the design to address a writing to Christians respecting the common faith?

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

It hath been thought by some, (and I see no reason to disprove it), that Jude, when he found his mind first directed to write to the Church, intended to have followed the same course as the other Apostles had done, Paul and James; and to have spoken of the common salvation. He had in view, to have dwelt principally upon those subjects which related to the Person, and glory, and offices, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that he found his mind over-ruled by the Holy Ghost, to state rather to the Church, the things which belonged to the latter day apostacy; and, in bringing before them the striking difference between God’s chosen and reprobates, he might exhort them earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Whether this conjecture be right or not, I will not determine; but very certain it is, that the whole burden of this blessed Epistle is directed to this one purpose, in drawing the line, between the faithful and the ungodly. For, from the end of this verse, to the end of the nineteenth verse, (Jud 1:3-19 ) the Apostle only speaks of the mockers of the last times, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts, and whose characters were of old ordained to this condemnation, being separate from the Lord’s own people, sensual, and having not the Spirit. So that, if we take the Epistle into one view, after the exordium, from this verse to the end, the Apostle treats but of the two distinct classes of people; namely, the reprobate, whose features of character he draws at large; and the lord’s people, who are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. To these latter, the Apostle, in a very blessed and affectionate manner addresseth himself, and closeth the Epistle. We will follow the Apostle through both.

But, before we go further, I would beg the reader to consider, with me, what a strength of argument is in this verse, for every child of God to regard, what Jude saith of this holy, and earnest contention, for the faith once delivered to the saints. What that faith is, the New Testament, in the inspired writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles, most plainly, and fully shew. The great and leading doctrines of the Gospel, in the everlasting love of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, more or less, are in every page. The Person, glory, blood shedding, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, with redemption only in his blood, and regeneration only by God the Holy Ghost; these are the bottom, and foundation of all our mercies. To contend for these, and with earnestness, is to contend for the very life of our souls. An indifferency, or coldness to the open profession of these glorious truths in ourselves, or to the denial of them in others, is wounding the Redeemer, in the house of his friends. It is high treason to the Majesty of God. It is traitorously admitting the enemy into our citadel. I leave the reader to his own thoughts, how far the present day is awfully marked with this character; when the general, yea, I had almost said, the universal plan of professors, is to coalesce, and not suffer mere points of doctrine, as they are called, to interrupt the common philanthrophy of the times. What the Apostle Jude would have said, had he lived to have seen it, may be easily gathered from his earnest exhortation in this verse! And what God the Spirit, the Almighty Minister in his Church, always watching over it, shall judge, cannot be difficult to conceive.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3, 4 .] Purpose, and occasion, of the Epistle .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

3 .] Beloved (only found in the beginning of an Epistle here and 3Jn 1:2 ), giving all diligence (the phrase is only found here: see reff. and especially 2 Pet. It implies more than mere earnest desire: a man’s is necessarily action as well as wish: “giving diligence” seems the exact idea required. The participle like other present participles is contemporaneous with the verb to which it is attached, viz. : cf. Joh 9:25 , , “I, who am a blind man, now see”) to write to you concerning the common salvation (thus must the sentence be arranged, and not as Lachm. al., with a comma after , and joining . to the next clause. For thus the participial clause loses all its weight and propriety, and indeed the apodosis likewise: see below.

may mean, concerning the fact of our common salvation, brought in by Christ; or concerning the means of attaining that salvation, i. e. the doctrines and practices by which it is to be forwarded. Perhaps the latter is here preferable. On the idea conveyed by , see reff. and 2Pe 1:1 ), I found it necessary (reff.: not, as E. V., “ it was needful :” nor as Grot., “ nihil potius habui, quam ut :” the was not part of the , but supervened on it owing to the circumstance to be mentioned in the next verse) to write to you (notice the aoriat here following the present before: I was most desirous to write (present expressing merely the general fact of writing) : but I found it necessary to write (at once; to have written, “epistolam absolvere”) ) exhorting ( you ) to contend earnestly for (cf. , Phi 1:27 : the gives the purpose for which the fight is to be waged) the faith (objective here: the sum of that which Christians believe: “fides qu creditur” not “ qu creditur ”) once for all (“particula valde urgens: nulla alia dabitur fides,” Bengel. This is obscured by the “ once ” of the E. V., which represents merely “ olim ,” not “ semel ”) delivered to the saints (i. e. Christians: believers, as in reff. The meaning then of this verse is, that St. Jude, who was before earnestly desirous to write to the Church universal concerning the salvation which is common to us all (De Wette, after Sherlock, supposes that St. Jude was actually engaged on a larger and more general Epistle, and was compelled to break it off by the necessity mentioned. This may have been so: but we can hardly gather so much from the words), found urgent occasion at once to do so, respecting not merely nor directly that common salvation, but one point, viz. the keeping inviolate the faith once for all delivered to God’s people. And the reason of this necessity which arose, now follows).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Jud 1:3-4 . Reasons for Writing . He had been intending to write to them on that which is the common interest of all Christians, salvation through Christ, but was compelled to abandon his intention by news which had reached him of a special danger* [783] threatening the Gospel once for all delivered to the Church. His duty now was to stir up the faithful to defend their faith against insidious assaults, long ago foretold in ancient prophecy, of impious men who should change the doctrine of God’s free grace into an excuse for licentiousness, and deny the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ.

[783]* For this see the Introduction on Early Heresies.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Jud 1:3 . occurs in Jud 1:17 ; Jud 1:20 , also in 2Pe 3:1 ; 2Pe 3:8 ; 2Pe 3:14 ; 2Pe 3:17 , 1Pe 2:11 ; 1Pe 4:12 and James. It is common in the Epistles of John and of Paul, sometimes with attached, as in 1Co 10:14 , Phi 2:12 , and is often joined to , especially in James. The of Jud 1:2 leads on to the here. They are themselves because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts.

. For , see my n. on Jas 1:2 , and cf. 2Pe 1:5 , , Jud 1:15 , , also Isocr. Orat. v. p. 91 b , , Plato, Euthyd. 304 e , . Jude was busy on another subject, when he received the news of a fresh danger to the Church, which he felt it his duty to meet at once. Whether he lived to carry out his earlier design, and whether it was of the nature of a treatise or of an epistle, we know not. It is noteworthy that there is a similar allusion in 2Pe 3:1 to an earlier letter now lost. Compare Barn. iv. 9, .

. Cf. Tit 1:4 , , Ign. Ephesians 1 ., with Lightfoot’s n., Jos. Ant. 10. 1. 3 (Hezekiah besought Isaiah to offer sacrifice) . Bede explains as follows: “omnium electorum communis est salus, fides, et dilectio Christi”. Jude puts on one side the address he was preparing on the main principles of Christianity (probably we may take Jud 1:20-21 as a sample of what this would have been) and turns to the special evil which was then threatening the Church.

. Cf. Luk 14:18 , , Heb 7:27 , al. , also Plut. Cato Mi. 24, . There is a similar combination of and in 3Jn 1:13 . The aor. , contrasted with the preceding pres. , implies that the new epistle had to be written at once and could not be prepared for at leisure, like the one he had previously contemplated. It was no welcome task: “necessity was laid upon him”.

. “To contend for the faith,” almost equivalent to the in Sir 4:28 , see 1Ti 6:12 , , and , Col 1:29 . We may compare , , Rom 2:17 and Clem. Strom , iii., p. 553, . It is possible (as is shown by the following examples) for spiritual blessings, once given, to be lost, unless we use every effort to maintain them. The redemption from Egypt was a fact, as baptism into the name of Christ is a fact, but, unless it is borne in mind and acted upon, the fact loses its efficacy.

. The word here is not used in its primary sense of a subjective feeling of trust or belief, but in the secondary sense of the thing believed, the Truth or the Gospel, as in Jud 1:20 below, Gal 1:23 , , also Gal 3:23 , Phi 1:27 , , where see Lightfoot, Act 6:7 . In the same way is used in a concrete sense for the object or ground of hope (as in Col 1:5 , , 1Ti 1:1 , , Tit 2:13 , ), and for the object of fear, Rom 13:3 , 1Pe 3:14 .

. Used here in its classical sense “once for all,” as below Jud 1:5 , and in Heb 6:4 , , Heb 9:26-27 ; Heb 10:2 , 1Pe 3:18 . This excludes the novelties of the Libertines, cf. Gal 1:9 . The later sense “on one occasion” is found in 2Co 11:25 , , 1Th 2:18 , .

. Cf. Philo M. i. 387, . The Christian tradition is constantly referred to by the Fathers, as by Clem. Al. Str. vii. where we read of (p. 845), . (p. 890), . (p. 896), . (p. 900), (p. 901), and even in the N.T. as in 1Co 11:2 , , 2Th 2:15 , 1Ti 6:20 . . For an account of the gradual formation of the Creed, see A. E. Burn’s Introduction to the Creeds , ch. 2., 1899, and compare the comment in my larger edition, p. 61 f.

. Used generally of Christians who were consecrated and called to be holy, as in 1Co 1:2 , Phi 1:1 , where see Lightfoot. The word contains an appeal to the brethren to stand fast against the teaching and practice of the Libertines.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Jude

THE COMMON SALVATION

Jud 1:3

‘The common salvation.’ – Jud 1:3 .

‘The common faith.’ – Tit 1:4 .

Jude was probably one of Christ’s brothers, and a man of position and influence in the Church. He is writing to the whole early Christian community, numbering men widely separated from each other by nationality, race, culture, and general outlook on life; and he beautifully and humbly unites himself with them all as recipients of a ‘common salvation.’ Paul is writing to Titus, the veteran leader to a raw recruit. Wide differences of mental power, of maturity of religious experience, separated the two; and yet Paul beautifully and humbly associates himself with his pupil, as exercising a ‘common faith.’

Probably neither of the writers meant more than to bring himself nearer to the persons whom they were respectively addressing; but their language goes a great deal further than the immediate application of it. The ‘salvation’ was ‘common’ to Jude and his readers, as ‘the faith’ was to Paul and Titus, because the salvation and the faith are one, all the world over.

It is for the sake of insisting upon this community, which is universal, that I have ventured to isolate these two fragments from their proper connection, and to bring them together. But you will notice that they take up the same thought at two different stages, as it were. The one declares that there is but one remedy and healing for all the world’s woes; the other declares that there is but one way by which that remedy can be applied. All who possess ‘the common salvation’ are so blessed because they exercise ‘the common faith.’

I. Note the underlying conception of a universal deepest need.

That Christian word ‘salvation’ has come to be threadbare and commonplace, and slips over people’s minds without leaving any dint. We all think we understand it. Some of us have only the faintest and vaguest conception of what it means, and have never realized the solemn view of human nature and its necessities which lies beneath it. And I want to press that upon you now. The word ‘to save’ means either of two things-to heal from a sickness, or to deliver from a danger. These two ideas of sickness to be healed and of dangers to be secured from enter into the Christian use of the word. Underlying it is the implication that the condition of humanity is universally that of needing healing of a sore sickness, and of needing deliverance from an overhanging and tremendous danger. Sin is the sickness, and the issues of sin are the danger. And sin is making myself my centre and my law, and so distorting and flinging out of gear, as it were, my relations to God.

Surely it does not want many words to show that that must be the most important thing about a man. Deep down below all superficialities there lies this fundamental fact, that he has gone wrong with regard to God; and no amount of sophistication about heredity and environment and the like can ever wipe out the blackness of the fact that men willingly do break through the law, which commands us all to yield ourselves to God, and not to set ourselves up as our own masters, and our own aims and ends, independently of Him. I say that is the deepest wound of humanity.

In these days of social unrest there are plenty of voices round us that proclaim other needs as being clamant, but, oh, they are all shallow and on the surface as compared with the deepest need of all: and the men that come round the sick-bed of humanity and say, ‘Ah, the patient is suffering from a lack of education,’ or ‘the patient is suffering from unfavorable environment,’ have diagnosed the disease superficially. There is something deeper the matter than that, and unless the physician has probed further into the wound than these surface appearances, I am afraid his remedy will go as short a way down as his conception of the evil goes.

Oh, brethren, there is something else the matter with us than ignorance or unfavorable conditions. ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.’ The tap-root of all human miseries lies in the solemn fact of human transgression. That is a universal fact. Wide differences part us, but there is one thing that we have all in common: a conscience and a will that lifts itself against disliked good. Beneath all surface differences of garb there lies the same fact, the common sickness of sin. The king’s robe, the pauper’s uniform, the student’s gown, the mill-hand’s fustian, the naked savage’s brown skin, each cover a heart that is evil, and because it is evil, needs salvation from sickness and deliverance from danger.

For do not forget that if it is true that men have driven their rebellious chariots through God’s law, they cannot do that without bringing down God’s hand upon them, and they ought not to be able to do it; and He would not be a loving God if it were not so. There are dangers; dangers from the necessary inevitable consequences, here and yonder, of rebellion against Him.

Now, do not let us lose ourselves in generalities. That is the way in which many of us have all our lives long blunted the point of the message of the Gospel to our hearts. That is what we do with all sorts of important moral truths. For instance, I suppose there never was a time in your lives when you did not believe that all men must die. But I suppose most of us can remember some time when there came upon us, with a shock which made some of us cower before it as an unwelcome thing, the thought, ‘And I must.’

The common sickness? Yes I ‘Thou art the man.’ Oh, brother, whatever you may have or whatever you may want, be sure of this: that your deepest needs will not be met, your sorest sickness will not be healed, your most tremendous peril not secured against, until the fact of your individual sinfulness and the consequences of that fact are somehow or other dealt with, stanched, and swept away. So much, then, for the first point.

II. Now a word as to the common remedy. One of our texts gives us that-’ the common salvation.’

You all know what I am going to say, and so, perhaps, you suppose that it is not worth while for me to say it. I dare say some of you think that it was not worth while coming here to hear the whole, threadbare, commonplace story. Well! is it worth while for me to speak once more to men that have so often heard and so often neglected? Let me try. Oh, that I could get you one by one, and drive home to each ingle soul that is listening to me, or perhaps, that is not listening, the message that I have to bring!

‘The common salvation.’ There is one remedy for the sickness. There is one safety against the danger. There is only one, because it is the remedy for all men, and it is the remedy for all men because it is the remedy for each. Jesus Christ deals, as no one else has ever pretended to deal, with this outstanding fact of my transgression and yours.

He, by His death, as I believe, has saved the world from the danger, because He has set right the world’s relations to God. I am not going, at this stage of my sermon, to enter upon anything in the nature of discussion. My purpose is an entirely different one. I want to press upon you, dear brethren, this plain fact, that since there is a God, and since you and I have sinned, and since things are as they are, and the consequences will be as they will be, both in this world and in the next, we all stand in danger of death-death eternal, which comes from, and, in one sense, consists of, separation in heart and mind from God.

You believe in a judgment day, do you not? Whether you do or not, you have only to open your eyes, you have only to turn them inwards, to see that even here and now, every sin and transgression and disobedience does receive its just recompense of reward. You cannot do a wrong thing without hurting yourself, without desolating some part of your nature, without enfeebling your power of resistance to evil and aspiration after good, without lowering yourself in the scale of being, and making yourself ashamed to stand before the bar of your own conscience. You cannot do some wrong things, that some of you are fond of doing, without dragging after them consequences, in this world, of anything but an agreeable kind. Sins of the flesh avenge themselves in kind, as some of you young men know, and will know better in the days that are before you. Transgressions which are plain and clear in the eyes of even the world’s judgment draw after them damaged reputations, enfeebled health, closed doors of opportunity, and a whole host of such things. And all these are but a kind of premonitions and overshadowings of that solemn judgment that lies beyond. For all men will have to eat the fruit of their doings and drink that which they have prepared. But on the Cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore the weight of the world’s sin, yours and mine and every man’s. There is one security against the danger; and it is that He, fronting the incidence of the Divine law, says, as He said to His would-be captors in the garden, ‘If ye seek Me, let these go their way.’ And they go their way by the power of His atoning death.

Further, Jesus Christ imparts a life that cures the sickness of sin.

What is the meaning of this Whitsuntide that all the Christian world is professing to keep today? Is it to commemorate a thing that happened nineteen centuries ago, when a handful of Jews for a few minutes had the power of talking in other languages, and a miraculous light flamed over their heads and then disappeared? Was that all? Have you and I any share in it? Yes. For if Pentecost means anything it means this, that, all down through the ages, Jesus Christ is imparting to men that cleave to Him the real gift of a new life, free from all the sickness of the old, and healthy with the wholesomeness of His own perfect sinlessness, so that, however inveterate and engrained a man’s habits of wrong-doing may have been, if he will turn to that Saviour, and let Him work upon him, he will be delivered from his evil. The leprosy of his flesh, though the lumps of diseased matter may be dropping from the bones, and the stench of corruption may drive away human love and sympathy, can be cleansed, and his flesh become like the flesh of a little child, if only he will trust in Jesus Christ. The sickness can be cured. Christ deals with men in the depth of their being. He will give you, if you will, a new life and new tastes, directions, inclinations, impulses, perceptions, hopes, and capacities, and the evil will pass away, and you will be whole.

Ah, brethren, that is the only cure. I was talking a minute or two ago about imperfect diagnoses; and there are superficial remedies too. Men round us are trying, in various ways, to stanch the world’s wounds, to heal the world’s sicknesses. God forbid that I should say a word to discourage any such! I would rather wish them ten times more numerous than they are; but at the same time I believe that, unless you deal with the fountain at its head, you will never cleanse the stream, and that you must have the radical change, which comes by the gift of a new life in Christ, before men can be delivered from the sickness of their sins. And so all these panaceas, whilst they may do certain surface good, are, if I may quote a well-known phrase, like ‘pills against an earthquake,’ or like giving a lotion to cure pimples, when the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. You will never cure the ills of humanity until you have delivered men from the dominion of their sin.

Jesus Christ heals society by healing the individual. There is no other way of doing it. If the units are corrupt the community cannot be pure. And the only way to make the units pure is that they shall have Christ on the Cross for their redemption, and Christ in the heart for their cleansing. And then all the things that men try to produce in the shape of social good and the like, apart from Him, will come as a consequence of the new state of things that arises when the individuals are renewed. Apart from Him all human attempts to deal with social evils are inadequate. There is a terrible disillusionising and disappointment awaiting many eager enthusiasts to-day, who think that by certain external arrangements, or by certain educational and cultivated processes, they can mend the world’s miseries. You educate a nation. Well and good, and one result of it is that your bookshops get choked with trash, and that vice has a new avenue of approach to men’s hearts. You improve the economic condition of the people. Well and good, and one result of it is that a bigger percentage than ever of their funds finds its way into the drink-shop. You give a nation political power. Well and good, and one result of it is that the least worthy and the least wise have to be flattered and coaxed, because they are the rulers. Every good thing, divorced from Christ, becomes an ally of evil, and the only way by which the dreams and desires of men can be fulfilled is by the salvation which is in Him entering the individual hearts and thus moulding society.

III. Now, lastly, the common means of possessing the common healing.

My second text tells us what that is-’ the common faith.’ That is another of the words which is so familiar that it is unintelligible, which has been dinned Into your ears ever since you were little children, and in the case of many of you excites no definite idea, and is supposed to he an obscure kind of thing that belongs to theologians and preachers, but has little to do with your daily lives. There is only one way by which this healing and safety that I have been speaking about can possibly find its way into a man’s heart. You have all been trained from childhood to believe that men are saved by faith, and a great many of you, I dare say, think that men might have been saved by some other way, if God had chosen to appoint it so. But that is a clear mistake. If it is true that salvation is a gift from God, then it is quite plain that the only thing that we require is an outstretched hand. If it is true that Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross has brought salvation to all the world, then it is quite plain that, His work being finished, we have no need to come in pottering with any works of ours, and that the only thing we have to do is to accept it. If it is true that Jesus Christ will enter men’s hearts, and there give a new spirit and a new life, which will save them from their sins and make them free from the law of sin and death, then it is plain that the one thing that we have to do is to open our hearts and say ‘ Come in, Thou King of Glory, come in!’ Because salvation is a gift; because it is the result of a finished work; because it is imparted to men by the impartation of Christ’s own life to them: for all these reasons it is plain that the only way by which God can save a man is by that man’s putting his trust in Jesus Christ. It is no arbitrary appointment. The only possible way of possessing ‘the common salvation ‘ is by the exercise of ‘the common faith.’

So we are all put upon one level, no matter how different we may be in attainments, in mental capacity -geniuses and blockheads, scholars and ignoramuses, millionaires and paupers, students and savages, we are all on the one level. There is no carriage road into heaven. We have all to go in at the strait gate, and there is no special entry for people that come with their own horses; and so some people do not like to have to descend to that level, and to go with the ruck and the undistinguished crowd, and to be saved just in the same fashion as Tom, Dick, and Harry, and they turn away.

Plenty of people believe in a ‘common salvation,’ meaning thereby a vague, indiscriminate gift that is flung broadcast over the mass. Plenty of people believe in a ‘common faith.’ We hear, for instance, about a ‘national Christianity,’ and a ‘national recognition of religion,’ and ‘Christian nations,’ and the like. There are no Christian nations except nations of which the individuals are Christians, and there is no ‘common faith’ except the faith exercised in common by all the units that make up a community.

So do not suppose that anything short of your own personal act brings you into possession of ‘ the common salvation.’ The table is spread, but you must take the bread into your own hands, and you must masticate it with your own teeth, and you must assimilate it in your own body, or it is no bread for you. The salvation is a ‘ common,’ like one of the great prairies, but each separate settler has to peg off his own claim, and fence it in, and take possession of it, or he has no share in the broad land. So remember that ‘the common salvation’ must be made the individual salvation by the individual exorcise of ‘the common faith.’ Cry,’ Lord! I believe!’ and then you will have the right to say, ‘ The Lord is my strength; He also is become my salvation.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jud 1:3-4

3Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jud 1:3 “Beloved” Jude uses this phrase several times (cf. Jud 1:1; Jud 1:3; Jud 1:17; Jud 1:20). He emulated God’s love and he truly cared for his readers. There are several possible origins of the term.

1. Old Testament

a. used of Israel (cf. Deu 33:12, who rebelled)

b. used of Solomon (cf. Neh 13:26, who rebelled)

c. used of believers (cf. Psa 60:5; Psa 108:6, who need to be delivered)

2. New Testament

a. common title in 2 Pet. (cf. 2Pe 3:1; 2Pe 3:8; 2Pe 3:14-15; 2Pe 3:17)

b. common title in 1 and 2 John (which also deals with heresy, cf. 1Jn 3:2; 1Jn 3:21; 1Jn 4:1-2; 1Jn 4:11; 2Jn 1:3; 2Jn 1:5; 2Jn 1:11)

c. sometimes used by James (Jude’s brother, cf. Jas 1:16; Jas 1:19; Jas 2:5)

NASB”while I was making every effort to write you”

NKJV”while I was very diligent to write to you”

NRSV”while I was eagerly preparing to write to you”

TEV”while I was doing my best to write to you”

NJB”at a time when I was eagerly looking forward to writing to you”

The term spoud means eagerness or zeal. It is used in 2 Peter twice: 2Pe 1:5 and 2Pe 3:12. Jude felt an urgency to write about one subject, but the Spirit and the circumstances mandated another topic.

“our common salvation” One wonders what this phrase would have meant to Jude’s readers. It is similar to “a faith of the same kind as yours” in 2Pe 1:2. 2 Peter 2 and Jude obviously have some literary connection.

Was the commonality in (1) the person of Christ, (2) the gospel about Christ, (3) the way of receiving Christ, or (4) living for Christ?

We may wish the NT writers had given us more information, but the truth is, we have all the information we need (“faith once and for all given to the saints” Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20). The issue is whether we will respond to what has been given (revelation).

“I felt the necessity to write” This shows the Spirit’s leadership in writing (cf. 2Pe 1:21). Notice that the infinitive “to write” appears twice in Jud 1:3. The first is present tense. Jude was in the process of writing about the common salvation, but something happened (an event, a message, an intensification of evil, etc.) and he had to write (aorist tense), which refers to the book of Jude.

“contend earnestly” This is a present middle (deponent) infinitive. This is an athletic term (this intensified form is found only here) from which we get the English word “agony” (cf. 1Ti 6:12). Believers are to have the ability to articulate their faith before and for others (cf. 1Pe 3:15). In this context it means “to aggressively continue to defend the faith against false teachers.”

“the faith” This term is used here in the sense of the body of Christian truth (cf. Jud 1:20; Act 6:7; Act 13:8; Act 14:22; Gal 1:23; Gal 3:23; Gal 6:10; Php 1:27). It is surprising that Jude mentions this body of Christian truth but then discusses the lifestyle of the false teachers, not their doctrine. Obviously Christianity is both truths about Christ and emulation of the life of Christ. The false teachers of the NT period often tried to separate truth (orthodoxy) from life (orthopraxy). Christianity is not only what we affirm, but how we live out these affirmations.

The term faith (pistis) has several usages in the Bible.

1. in the OT it denotes “faithfulness”

2. in the NT (by context)

a. an initial believing/trusting response to the gospel (i.e., Act 14:27; Act 20:21)

b. godly, daily Christlike living (i.e., Eph 1:15)

c. the doctrines emerging from the preaching/teachings of Jesus and the Apostles (usually with the definite article, i.e., Act 6:7; Act 14:22; Act 16:5; 1Ti 4:6)

“which was once for all handed down to the saints” This is an aorist passive participle. The Greek term “handed down” (paradidmi) meant a passed-on tradition (cf. 2Pe 2:21; 1Co 11:2; 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6). It is used in the sense of “entrusted.” Believers are stewards of the gospel (cf. 1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 1:14; 1Pe 4:10) and will give an account (cf. 2Co 5:10) of how they passed on the faith.

“Saints” always appears in the plural in the NT except once in Php 4:21, but even there it is in a corporate context. To be saved is to be part of a family! We are holy because of our relationship with Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:32). This is our positional standing in justification (cf. Romans 4). Hopefully our position will progress into lifestyle Christlikeness (cf. Eph 4:1; Eph 5:2; and 1Jn 1:7).

SPECIAL TOPIC: INSPIRATION

SPECIAL TOPIC: SAINTS

Jud 1:4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed” False teachers usually come from within the group (cf. 1Jn 2:18-19). This refers to the false teachers who used cunning schemes (cf. Jud 1:8; Jud 1:10-12; Jud 1:16; Jud 1:18-19) in order to manipulate the people of God. Other false teachers are mentioned in the NT in Mat 7:15-23; 2Co 11:13-15; Gal 2:4; Eph 4:14; Col 2:8-23; 2Ti 3:1 ff and of course, 2 Peter 2. See Special Topic at Jud 1:12.

“those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation” This is a perfect passive participle. A similar concept is found in 2Pe 2:3. This may be (1) an allusion to the non-canonical book of I Enoch (cf. Jud 1:14) or (2) an example of Jude’s following OT examples. False teachers have crept in unnoticed throughout history and the tragedy continues (cf. Eph 4:14).

See Special Topic at Jud 1:12.

“ungodly persons” This is the term “godly” (eusebs, cf. 2Pe 2:9 or eusebeia, cf. 2Pe 1:3; 2Pe 1:6-7; 2Pe 3:11) with an alpha privitive (asebs, cf. 2Pe 2:5; 2Pe 3:7; Jud 1:4; Jud 1:15 or asebe, cf. 2Pe 2:6; Jud 1:15). This is a key term in Jude (used six times) and 2 Peter 2. It is also a common designation of rebellion in I Enoch. These teachers are doctrinally false, which led to moral ungodliness. “By their fruit you shall know them” (cf. Matthew 7, 13).

NASB, NKJV”turn”

NRSV, NJB”pervert”

TEV”distort”

This term (metatithmi), in this context, implies to change something (in the gospel) by substituting something else (here, from Greek philosophy). It denotes an intentional change or alteration.

Normally the word means to remove or to transfer (i.e., Heb 7:12; Heb 11:5).

“the grace of our God into licentiousness” Antinomians/Libertines use God’s grace as a license for the flesh (cf. Rom 6:1-23; Rom 14:16; 1Pe 2:16; 2Pe 2:19), particularly sexual exploitation.

The term “grace” can be understood in two ways. First, as the character of God who loves and receives fallen mankind solely on the basis of His provisions and promises. It has been defined as the undeserved and unmerited love, acceptance, and forgiveness of God. Its synonym would be mercy. Second, it may be another way of referring to the Christian faith, like “the faith once and for all given to the saints.”

Whichever is true, these false teachers are exploiting the loving, forgiving character of God for their own selfish purposes, which is the essence of sinindependence from God. These are wolves in sheep’s clothing (cf. Mat 7:15). The tragedy is that God’s people often do not recognize them and even yield themselves to them.

“deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” This is the present middle (deponent) participle meaning “they continue to deny.” Literally, it means “renounce,” which may refer to renouncing Christ by their lifestyle (cf. 1Ti 5:8; 2Ti 3:5; Tit 1:16).

This separation of profession from lifestyle was characteristic of the first-century false teachers. Later Gnosticism (see Special Topic below) asserted that one is saved by secret knowledge of the angelic spheres (aeons) between a high holy god and physical creation. Salvation was an intellectual concern and did not affect one’s lifestyle. Jude and James respond harshly to this disjunction between faith and life (following Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5-7).

There is a Greek manuscript variant in Jud 1:4. The NKJV has “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The oldest and most reliable Greek texts (P72,78, , A, B, and C) do not have “God.” One article seems to identify one person who is (1) master, (2) Lord, and (3) Jesus Christ.

SPECIAL TOPIC: GNOSTICISM

“Master” Literally this is “despot.” This term is also used of Jesus in 2Pe 2:1. If Jesus is master of our lives, we cannot be (cf. Luk 6:46).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Beloved. App-135.

when I gave = making.

the. The texts read “our”.

common. Compare Tit 1:4.

it was needful for me = I had need.

and exhort = exhorting. App-134.

that ye should = to.

earnestly contend. Greek. epagonizomai. Only here. Compare agonizomai. Luk 13:24.

faith. App-150.

once = once for all.

delivered. Greek. paradidomi. See Joh 19:30.

saints. See Act 9:13.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3, 4.] Purpose, and occasion, of the Epistle.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Jud 1:3. ) when I gave all diligence.–, to write-salvation) Antithetical to marked out before (fore-written) to judgment: Jud 1:4.-, concerning) Here is the design of the Epistle: Jud 1:20-21. There is a close agreement between the beginning and the end of the Epistle.-, common) by equally (like) precious faith: 2Pe 1:1. The ground of mutual exhortation.-, salvation) Even severe admonitions tend to salvation.- ) I could not but.- , to write to you with exhortation) Of all kinds of writing, Jude judged exhortation to be most salutary at that time. The word, to write, is in close connection with exhorting. Exhortation is introduced in Jud 1:17-18. This is the express design of the Epistle.-, that ye contend) It is a double duty, to fight earnestly in behalf of the faith, against enemies; and to build ones self up in the faith: Jud 1:20. Comp. Neh 4:16-18.-, once for all) The particle expresses great urgency: no other faith will be given. Comp. in the second instance [subsequently, afterward], Jud 1:5.-, delivered) from God.- ) to all the saints, who are such (i.e. holy) by reason of their most holy faith: Jud 1:20. Construe this with delivered.-, the faith) by which we arrive at salvation: Jud 1:20-21.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Jud 1:3-4

OCCASION FOR WRITING THE EPISTLE

(Jud 1:3-4)

3 Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.–The word “beloved,” with which the verse begins, is an indication of the warmth of feeling which characterized the writer toward those primarily addressed. It occurs often in the apostolic writings (Rom 1:7 :2Co 7:1; Php 2:12, etc.), being used by Paul, Peter, John and Jude. The author had, for some time, been contemplating a treatise, perhaps had already begun composition thereof. The theme on which he proposed to write was “the common salvation.” While medi-tating thereon, information suddenly came to him that those to whom he proposed to write were being threatened by special dan-gers occasioning his immediate attention. He accordingly sus-pended his proposed treatise and wrote without delay to exhort his brethren “to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”

That which prompted a change in the writer’s plans was news that false teachers had appeared among the saints, seeking to lead them astray. These teachers are particularly described later in the Epistle, and their doctrines revealed. His object was, there-fore, to stir his readers to immediate resistance; to impel them to reject these teachers and repudiate their teaching, and to defend with all their might the faith which had been delivered them. A number of vitally important considerations appear in this passage, and some especially relevant to our time.

(1) Jude was not indifferent to the interests of these who were his beloved brethren. (2) He gave “diligence” (exercised him-self) immediately in their behalf. (3) As important as the original theme was–the common salvation–the appearance of false teach-ers made it obligatory that it should for the time be suspended, and warnings and exhortations issued. (4) The saints were admon-ished to contend earnestly for the faith which had been delivered. (5) We must never be indifferent to, or unmindful of those who would lead the faithful away from the truth. False teachers ever-more constitute a threat to the peace and security of the saints, and must be resisted and refuted. The scriptures, a complete and infallible deposit of truth are available and constitute an effective means for such confutation.

The “common salvation” about which the author had in-tended to write is so styled because it is available to all and denied to none who comply with the conditions thereof. Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female are entitled to its blessed provisions, and share in its manifold benefits. In Tit 1:4, reference is made to the common faith where, as here emphasis is given to the fact that all Christians are participants as distinct from the alleged knowledge claimed by false teachers as belonging to only a few.

To “contend earnestly” (epagonizesthai) is, literally, to wrestle, and as here figuratively used, denotes the extreme efforts which are to characterize the faithful in their defense of the truth, how-ever formidable and numerous its enemies may be. These efforts are, it is surely unnecessary to add, of a moral and persuasive na-ture only; all forte of a physical nature being expressly forbidden the faithful. When Peter sought to defend the Lord with a sword he was rebuked for his pains; and in bidding him sheathe it, he forevermore made it clear that his followerers are not to fight with carnal weapons in his behalf. But, if men are forbidden to fight in his defense, in whose defense may they properly fight? “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (Joh 18:36.)

The “faith” for which Jude’s readers were thus earnestly to contend, put objectively here for the gospel, is the sum of all that which Christians are to believe and obey. Cf. Act 6:7, where it is said that “a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith,” and Gal 1:23, where Paul is affirmed to have preached “the faith of which he once made havoc.” Faith, a part is thus put for the whole, because belief is basic to the system of Christianity, the proper exercise of which determines the salvation of those who embrace it.

This faith has once for all (hapax) not simply formerly as the King James’ Version implies, but for all time been delivered to the saints. The meaning is that the truth is delivered for all time ; it is a permanent deposit, it will never be superseded, emended or modified. As it now stands it is a perfect, adequate, complete and inviolable deposit of truth, providing the means with which to confute the gainsayer, and resist the advocate of false doctrine. This deposit of truth was infallibly delivered, through the inspira-tion of the Holy Spirit (Gal 1:11; 2Pe 1:21), and no part of it is superfluous or unnecessary. “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” (2Ti 3:16-17.)

4 For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old written of before hand unto this condemnation, The occasion for the concern which Jude felt, and the immediate reason why he wrote the Epistle is here revealed: false teachers had appeared among the saints; they had slipped in unawares, and were thus all the more dangerous because they were unrecognized. These teachers are described as “certain men,” but not otherwise identified; they had “crept in privily,” i.e., they had entered, as it were, by a side door (pareisedusan) and without revealing their true motive of seducing the saints. Peter, in describing these same teachers, predicted that they would “bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon them-selves swift destruction. ,And many shall follow their lascivious doings, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2Pe 2:1-2.)

The appearance of these men was not unanticipated; it had been predicted–written beforehand–that they would appear to plague the church, and their condemnation had already been announced. These words, often cited by Calvinists in their efforts to defend the doctrine of reprobation by arbitrary decree, fall far short of the effort because in them there is nothing to justify the conclusion that this condemnation was unconditional, or, that it was announced in eternity, or, that it was determined without regard to the moral character of those thus condemned. The word “ordained,” appearing in the King James’ Version, has properly given way to the more accurate rendering, “written of before hand,” literally, placarded or set forth (progegrammenoi), compare the word programmed; and this was from of “old” (palai), a word never used of an eternal decree, but always of something occurring in time. All that may properly be deduced from this statement is that from ancient times condemnation had been declared upon all who did as these men were doing, i.e., leading the saints astray.

The divine law, existing from the beginning, condemned these men and all others who violated it, and no more than this was intended by the inspired writer. Who the writer, or writers, were who made this prediction is not stated. Obviously, the period must be projected into the Old Testament when this condemnation was placarded; but to what period of Old Testament prophecy, or to what prophetic writer of that period does not appear. The fact that Enoch is mentioned and his prophecy cited, lends support to the view that it was the writer’s intention to attribute to him this announcement. (Cf. verse 14.) The kind of men these were the writer next describes.

Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lascivi-ousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. –They were, in character, ungodly (asebeis); they were utterly without piety or reverence, boldly blasphemous of anything reli-gious. Possessed of this character, they did not hesitate to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and to deny the only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The “grace” of God is salvation (Eph 2:8-9), vouchsafed to man through the gospel; this gospel, these men perverted by interpreting it as actually allowing or supporting the practice of lasciviousness, gross fleshly indulgence. The words of the writer here are similar to those in 2Pe 2:18-19, where the apostle there described these teachers as pretending to magnify the grace of God on the basis of Christian liberty but in reality were living base and licentious lives in positive disobedience to the teaching of all the inspired writers. See then comments there, and cf. 1Co 6:9-18; 1Jn 3:7-10. Such teaching and practice were a denial of Jesus Christ the Lord, both in doctrine and life. The doctrine, of making Christian liberty an excuse for ungodly living, is a pernicious and persistent one, and has been advocated often since the apostolic age. To all who affect such John solemnly declares, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1Jn 2:4.) And Paul inquired, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? a query which he immediately answered, “God forbid.” (Rom 6:1.)

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by E.M. Zerr

Jud 1:3. The definition “thoughtful activity” has been offered the readers for the word diligence. Jude says he used it in writing this epistle which indicates its importance, also the trustworthiness of him as an author. Common salvation means a plan of salvation that is offered to all people alike, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. Earnestly contend. Both words are from EPAGONIZOMAI, which Thayer defines with the single word “contend”; it means that Christians should “face the foe” wherever he is met. The faith means the New Testament in which the common salvation is revealed. Once delivered to the saints. This denotes that the plan was put into the hands of men (who are saints; Christians) and that once is as often as it had to be revealed.

Jud 1:4. Crept in unawares means they came in some underhanded manner to get advantage over the disciples. Ordained is from a Greek word that means they were predicted in old times, that they would do the things that would bring this condemnation. They misused the grace (favor) of God by making it seem to support their lasciviousness (filthy desires). It would be expected that such characters would deny Jesus Christ because he would condemn their wicked deeds.

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by N.T. Caton

Jud 1:3.-Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you.

Just what the apostle meant by giving all diligence may be gathered from some things subsequently mentioned. I take it that he desires them to understand that it had been his intention to write them, possibly taking more leisure and bestowing more pains, but from some circumstances that then surrounded them, he was induced to write in haste.

Of the common salvation.

Not common as being of little importance, but common in the sense that it was for all-Jew and Gentile-for all people. Salvation is a deliverance from evil. In this instance it relates to a deliverance from the state of guilt and dominion of wrong-doing in this life, and includes the eternal deliverance in the world to come. All this is included in the gospel plan of salvation, and is offered to every son and daughter of the human race.

It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you

The necessity for so writing and exhorting at this time is given in the succeeding verse.

That ye should earnestly contend.

Not to violence. This is not included in the exhortation. Earnestly contending may only include properly urging and maintaining in the face of opposition. The thought is, that when opposition arises you are not to observe silence, and say and do nothing for the gospel, but in earnestness and in all sincerity you are to contend as God requires at your hands, to show strenuously by your speech and by your godly walk that there is truth in the profession you make. What they were earnestly or strenuously to contend for is told us in the next clause.

For the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

A figure of speech is here used-faith in the place of the whole scheme of human redemption. Paul so uses the term in his letter to the churches of Galatia. (Gal 3:23-25.) So here the doctrine and precepts of the gospel exhibiting God’s love to the children of men, and the provisions made therein by him whereby we can become his children, all are included in the word of faith. For this they were to strenuously contend, and for this only, without additions, adulterations, or changes of any kind or character whatever. And they are not exhorted to contend for anything else-this, simply this, no more, no less.

Once delivered.

The scenes of Pentecost being kept before the mind, none need to be led astray. There the full blaze of gospel light burst upon an astonished world. The faith was delivered to the saints there and then. No full delivery was made until then; none other need be expected. What was then delivered will never have any additions. God has spoken, the sacrifice was once made. Many, after long and prayerful study of the Bible containing God’s revelation to his creatures, have tried to formulate a brief exposition of the scheme of human redemption. To the careful and God-loving and God-fearing student of the blessed volume, it appears certain that God designed, by his revelation, to communicate to the children of men his existence, his authorship of the world, and all things therein contained-his object in the creation of man to be for his glory and man’s good; the fall of man and the necessity for the adoption of a plan by which he might be reclaimed, and again come into a blessed union with his Creator; and after years of development the coming of the promised one, his sojourn on earth, his crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension to heaven-after having made special provisions for the furtherance of God’s will concerning man, and the establishment of his kingdom or church on earth, and the final proclamation of the terms upon which man can be brought again into the favor of his God, and how to live in this life, that in the world to come the enjoyment of a blessed immortality shall be his-if this be the object of God in giving us the blessed book, it is but reasonable to suppose that from it we can gather in epitome a view of the whole scheme or plan. This, as suggested, many have done. Generally, it is said that the scheme is divided by infinite wisdom into two parts-the part which the divine mind designed that God was to and has performed, and a part which the same divine mind requires man to perform, and upon man’s compliance with what is exacted of him, what further God will do in that event. The conception is all from the divine mind, and superinduced by divine love and mercy, and, coming from that source, is perfect and not the subject of modification on the part of man, however exalted he may be in wisdom and intelligence. The sermon of Peter on Pentecost, when the kingdom of Christ on earth was set up, contains in outline the whole scheme. That the eye may aid the mind in grasping that outline, we say that a careful study of that sermon will show that the scheme of redemption presents-

1. Facts.

2. Commandments.

3. Promises.

The facts contain in minute form what God has done to make our salvation possible; things, of course, which we could not do for ourselves. These embrace a Savior, one that was with the Father and became incarnate-his life, death, burial, resurrection, and therein the atonement for sin. The commandments embrace what man on his part must do to be good. These are

1. Faith in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Repentance for past sins, and therein a determination to do what is right carried out in a reformation of life.

3. A confession by the mouth of the faith of the heart.

4. Immersion into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in obedience to Christ’s command.

The promises embrace what God will do for those who obey, as follows:

1. Remission of past sins.

2. Gift of the Holy Spirit.

3. Heirship in God’s family resulting, in case of continued fidelity, to a home in blessedness after death.

Thus it is easily to be seen that these facts that are given to be believed, and the commandments which are given to be obeyed, and the promises which God has given to be enjoyed by the obedient, Present in miniature the whole scheme of human redemption. They present both the divine and the human side of the plan for man’s recovery from sin. In short, this epitome tersely brings before our vision the faith once delivered to the saints, and for which we are exhorted by Jesus to earnestly contend. This is the revelation as it is made, and will not be again repeated. No adding to or taking from can for a moment be thought of or tolerated. Just as delivered, so it is to be embraced and strenuously contended for, if the Lord’s approbation is sought.

Jud 1:4.-For there are certain men crept in unawares.

The reason for the haste in writing and the urgency of the exhortation are here given. Unawares, or slyly, certain men, false teachers, had crept into the church. The word “unawares” implies that the character of these certain men that crept in was not known, otherwise they might have been rejected, kept out, or failed to obtain recognition as members of the body of Christ. The writer, in his description of these men-while he denominates them as ungodly, which is a general description-proceeds to lay two specific charges against them, and this is necessary that thereby the brethren may the more easily identify them and detect their ungodly approaches:

1. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.

2. Denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now these which slyly crept into the church use the favor which God designed to bestow through this agency to its perversion. They insist that all manner of lewd practices are allowable to the sanctified in spirit; such practices are only of the flesh, and do not disturb their spiritual relations with the Master. These practices may be, and are, forbidden to those not of the one body, but to the sanctified it is different. These that slyly crept into the church further insist that Christ had not come in the flesh, because, say they, the flesh is sinful, necessarily, naturally, and without the possibility of change. Macknight seems to think that the denying relates to a denial in the face of persecution, and the denial being made to avoid the punishment under persecution inflicted. This view can not account reasonably for the apostle’s haste in writing, and his anxiety to warn against this class of false teachers. That this can not be the correct view is further evident from some additional characteristics given elsewhere in the epistle, some of which ,we now proceed to enumerate:

1. They were of old ordained.

2. Their condemnation was fixed.

The coming of this class was foretold; at the time of such foretelling, their condemnation was also asserted. As an inspired writer, Jude, further along, asserts that Enoch, before the flood, made known this class and the certainty of their punishment.

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by Donald Fream

Jude changes his mind about the subject-matter of his letter. Instead of a general letter about salvation, apostasy within the church causes him to urge them to be faithful to the revelation they have received from God. He explains that these ungodly men secretly came in to deceive by changing Gods grace to vile action and faith in Jesus to denial of Him. These are men who were condemned to eternal punishment.

Jude dearly loves the saints to whom he writes. The term beloved could refer to Judes love. However there is something complete in the expression that implies beloved by God. It would be difficult to say the term refers either to the love of God or the love of Jude exclusive to the other. They were beloved by both. Jude was either ready to write to them, or else he had already begun his writing. He was in earnest in the process of planning, or of execution. Perhaps he was just on the point of writing about the need of salvation that all Christians share in common. Such a subject would have been worthy of a letter. One of the most profound books of the New Testament (Romans) is on this subject. But something happened to change Judes mind before the letter could be written.

It may be that fresh news had reached Jude about the apostates within the church, or that recent developments became such that Jude became suddenly alarmed. However he heard the news, he found it necessary (needful) to change his mind and exhort them about the impending danger. Their faith was in danger of being altered or spoiled. Their convictions about the person and divinity of Jesus was to be attacked. Perhaps the attack had already begun!

Note the method of defense used by Jude. Knowledge was the only defense. They were to know first of all what they believed, and why. Their best defense was to contend earnestly for what they believed. In order to firmly implant themselves in this positive stand, they must restudy the revelation already given. They already had the good news concerning Christ. The Gospel revelation had been completed and was delivered for all time to come. There would be no contrary revelation. This had been once for all delivered.

So brethren, know all about your convictions. Know not only what you believe, but why. Give diligence to rightly divide the word of revelation that has been finally and completely delivered.

Not only did Jude urge them to know their own convictions and stand firm on them, but in the following verses Jude assails the apostates directly. Before the enemy of Christ can be properly assailed, however, one must make sure of his own defenses. When an enemy is attacked, he will fight back.

To attack an enemy when one has no position of his own is pointless. If one succeeds in such an attack, then nothing will be left. All positive conviction will have been destroyed and only hopeless chaos and meaningless void will result. This has been the result in too many modern churches of the twentieth century. Men with no positive convictions about the gospel have attacked the faith of the believers in the church. They have won their battle, and the faith of the brethren is destroyed. The church is left void. It is left completely useless, and has no reason for further existence. There is no growth, because there is no positive conviction that appeals to men outside the organization. There is hardly even a spark of life left.

If one loses such an attack, then the enemy, who does have positive convictions, will have won over his attacker. This would be tragic if the attacker were the Christian, and this is Judes point. Establish yourself in the faith so that your position is unassailable. Give diligence to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith . . .

The believer who does this is insuring himself against attacks of the apostate. The believer who knows the Word of God knows all things (that were revealed) once for all. He is thus fortified by true knowledge from God. He is in a position to be kept for Jesus Christ because he contends earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Note the two-fold action: God keeps us (Jud 1:1), and we contend that we might be kept (Jud 1:3). The two actions must go together. God wishes that we be kept, and He provides the way. We put ourselves in the way and see to it that we meet the conditions that will insure Gods keeping us. God does not keep anyone against his will. Man not only makes such a choice at the moment of his conversion, but he continues to make a choice daily as for what he will contend and to whom he will be kept.

There is something about the manner of expression that indicates the apostates have slipped in with stealth and deliberate intention to deceive. This is not a brother who has made a mistake, but a crafty deceiver who intends to lead the brother to make a mistake. These are like the false brethren in the Galatian church who unawares brought in, came privily to spy out our liberty. (Gal 2:4) By the practice of cunning craftiness and sly deception of men they lie in wait to deceive (Eph 4:14).

Such a clever enemy demands our utmost care and defense. His craftiness makes his camouflage hard to spot. He may have come out from among us, or he may have come in from outside. Like a mole he remains underground where he undermines the very faith of the brethren. His doctrine makes a life of loose-living seem proper: Who can say the Christian is not supposed to enjoy the good things of life? If God did not intend for us to sin a little, drink a little, lust a little, then He would not have allowed these things on earth! Besides that, we all sin a little . . . even the best of us. God certainly will not blame us for a little sin, for did He not give us all the same kind of a body with its appetites? Surely God will not expect us to become psychotic by restricting and inhibiting the desires which He gave us and which we all have in common.

On and on the argument goes. Such cleverness and subtle cunning tempts the elect of God to be ensnared in the tangled web of sinful disobedience, until finally he is defending that which once he preached against.

Their condemnation was before of old declared. The same expression is used in Heb 1:1 and translated times past. When was this declaration of their condemnation made? The first and most likely answer seems to be found in 2 Peter chapter two. Yet both this passage and the one in Jude refer to Old Testament scriptures that reveal, by their examples, a condemnation. Immediate references are made to such Old Testament historical examples. The indication is that the same judgment received by the devil and his angels, by Sodom and Gomorrah, and by the Egyptians that laid spoil on the Israelites is the judgment (condemnation) that shall be given to these apostates.

It is also proper to note the judgment (condemnation) pronounced upon the ungodly men who are deceiving apostates, and not upon the saints of the church who are contending earnestly for the faith. The church certainly suffers because of the intruders, but it is the intruders who are under condemnation. Of course, one may argue that the church members who aid and agree with the intruders in their apostasy will also share with them in their judgment; but the judgment rightly belongs to the intruders. How careful Gods people must be not to share the sin of apostasy and thus share the judgment of apostasy!

Just as dangerous as leading the Christian in a life of loose-living, is the teaching that robs the saint of his faith in the person of Jesus. They deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. This particular phase of the apostasy may not appear to immediately harm the brethren, but in the long run it is the most venomous of all. The seed of doubt strikes at the very roots of the church, the foundation of the gospel, There is no teaching in the Christian system that has more importance than the teaching concerning who is this man Jesus.

The fact that Jesus is our only Master makes our relationship to Him and our understanding of who He is all the more important.

Lasciviousness describes conduct that is shameless and shocking to public decency. It is descriptive of petulant wantonness, or even licentious lechery. The apostasy is of such a nature that the good, acceptable, and complete will of God (Rom 12:2) is changed into something vile and repulsive to the general public. This is the most repugnant of all apostasy in that wholesomeness is changed to corruption. It is no wonder that the warning appears so strong.

Jesus here is identified as Lord, the very fact denied by the apostates. Gods ruling power is indicated by the word. The Christians respect and submission to the rule of God makes the transformation of his life and the salvation of his soul the proper result of Gods grace. Truly blessed is the man who regards God as his absolute Lord.

That we are the servant of him whom we obey is an established fact of scripture. This is the Lord relationship. He is our Lord when we submit to Him as such. Otherwise, He is the Lord but not our Lord. The confession that Jesus is our Lord is an indirect objection to owning any other party as Lord. The man who submits to the appetites of the flesh and the deceptions of the devil by such also submits to his flesh and to the devil as his lord. As such, he has submitted himself to the very ones who will destroy his soul and bring him misery in even this life.

Apostasy of life is a result of apostasy of doctrine. The life we see, but the doctrine we believe. The most apparent problem in the church is the problem of life; but the most subtle is the problem of doctrine. Recognition and submission to the right Lord is the only foundation upon which the right life can be built.

True, the right doctrine does not guarantee the right life. One can recognize the fact of Jesus lordship and still not submit himself to the Lord. Many people will recognize the fact of the gospel but refuse to lay hold upon salvation. This in no way invalidates the importance of right doctrine. Jesus is the only absolute Lord and the only universal Lord, and this fact must be admitted and proclaimed before the problem of the right life can be adequately dealt with. Complete recognition of Christ as Lord is made with the life as well as with the lips.

A second fact denied by the ungodly men was that the man Jesus was the Christ promised in the Old Testament. The divinity of the Christ promised in the Old Testament was admitted, but the Gnostics claimed that no man could possess any more than a spark of the Divine; not even God Himself could put on sinful flesh. Thus, they said, Jesus was not the Christ, for such was an impossibility.

Denying the divinity of Jesus was not limited to the Gnostics. Just who was this man Jesus is the prime consideration of all Christianity and the quarrel of the modernist in religious circles today, To denounce unbelief is to denounce a large segment of religious leaders as well as many professing Christians. The fact that Jesus is the Christ is the confession of faith admitted by all true Christians and is the real mark of division.

The Messiahship of Jesus demands our recognition of Him as Lord and King. He is greater than Abraham, Moses and Solomon. He was more than a man in whom God dwelt, for He was God in the flesh. Jesus said concerning His own Person: This generation is an evil generation; it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Ninevah shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. (Luk 11:29-32).

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by Burton Coffman

Jud 1:3 –Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

While I was giving all diligence … means that Jude was actually engaged in writing a treatise on “our common salvation.” For possible reasons why this might have been overruled by God, see in the introduction.

Common salvation … This has the meaning of the salvation which is offered to all people alike, upon the same conditions, from the same source, and entailing the same obligations. This salvation is not common in the sense of being ordinary, being on the other hand the most precious treasure ever made available to the sons of earth.

I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you … Not further instructions, but exhortation to heed the truth already received was the great requirement of the day; and Jude accepted the challenge. As to the incident that might have led to this change in his plans, we are not told; but it may be surmised that news from churches in which he was vitally interested might have been the decisive factor.

Beloved … The only other example of a New Testament book beginning with this particular word is 3 John 1:1:2. “As Jude’s subject was a very unpleasant one, he hastens to assure his readers of his affection for them, to prevent his strong language from offending them.”[5]

Exhorting you to contend earnestly … There are very important deductions which are mandatory in such a declaration, the first being the possibility of apostasy. As Mayor put it, “It is possible (as shown by the following examples) for spiritual blessings once given to be lost unless we use every effort to maintain them.”[6] Another deduction is that hostility to the truth exists and will continue to exist throughout history. What is meant is that Christians shall vigorously fight for and defend the truth. Barclay pointed out that the Greek word used here “contains the root of our English word agony. The defense of the faith may well be a costly thing; but that defense is a duty which falls on every generation of the church.”[7]

For the faith … What is this? We reject the notion of some, like that of Dummelow, to the effect that the faith as used here applies merely to the fact “that our common salvation is the work of Christ.”[8] While true enough as far as it goes, much more than that is meant here. “It means that alone which is contained in the Bible.”[9] “It means the sum of that which Christians believe.”[10] “The faith here implies a recognized body of teaching such as we know emerged from Peter’s early sermons.”[11] Therefore, Caton is correct in including in the meaning all of the basic New Testament requirements of faith, repentance, confession, and baptism into Christ of all who would be saved initially, and the ethical, moral and religious obligations of Christians, including their faithful observance of the Lord’s Supper, along with the reception and cherishing of the earnest of the Holy Spirit, as necessarily manifested in their subsequent lives.[12]

Here again, in the New Testament usage of faith, it means, as so frequently in other New Testament passages, as Alford put it: “Faith means the faith which is believed, not the faith by which we believe.”[13]

Once for all delivered … The use of the Greek word [hapax] carries the meaning of “once only and forever.” The gospel delivered to mankind was not a piecemeal revelation, “here a little and there a little” as in the Old Testament, but the full message in its entirety and completeness as delivered through Christ to the apostles. The word ([Greek: hapax]) is the same as in such New Testament expressions as “appointed to man once to die,” “Christ offered himself once,” etc. See fuller comment on this word in my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 164. Russell’s comment on this phrase was: “The gospel was delivered not in part, but as a complete whole.”[14]

There is hardly any other message of the New Testament that has greater relevance for our own times than this. The revelation of Christ through the apostles is complete, inviolate, sufficient, eternal, immutable, and not subject to any change whatever. Jesus made his sayings to be the dogmatic foundation of Christianity as evident in the sermon on the mount (Mat 7:24-25) and in the great commission (Mat 28:18-20). People who desire to know God, walk in the light, have eternal life, etc., should heed such passages as 2 John 1:1:9, always remembering that the truth was “first spoken by the Lord” (Heb 2:3), and that all of those religious doings which cannot pass the test of having been “first” spoken by Jesus Christ should be rejected.

[5] Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 508.

[6] J. B. Mayor, Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 255.

[7] William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 179.

[8] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1063.

[9] James MacKnight, MacKnight on the Epistles, Vol. VI. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprint, 1969), p. 191.

[10] Delbert R. Rose, op. cit., p. 428.

[11] David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1275.

[12] N. T. Caton, Commentary on the Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude (Delight, Arkansas: Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1897), p. 202.

[13] Delbert R. Rose, a quotation from Alford, op. cit., p. 432.

[14] James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 612.

Jud 1:4 –For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God unto lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

There are certain men crept in privily … These evil persons were the reasons for Jude’s writing this letter. Just how he came to have this information is not specified; but presumably, he had received either some letter regarding it, or had been visited by one who knew the facts. It would appear that such people were apostate Christians, rather than rank outsiders. “In New Testament times, many of the enemies of the church were an emergence from within, rather than an intrusion from without.”[15]

Whatever had been their beginnings, the evil men were at that time “ungodly,” a favorite word with Jude. The Greek word [@asebeia] (ungodly) “is found 4 times in Romans 3 times in Timothy and Titus 1 time in 1 Peter 2 times in 2Peter, and 6 times in Jude.”[16] “They had corrupted the concept of the grace of God so as to make it a cover for blatant immorality.”[17] These heretics are here indicted in four charges: (1) they entered secretly; (2) they were prophetically consigned to doom; (3) they are ungodly; and (4) they deny Christ. As Wallace said, “To deny is positively to disbelieve what Christ testified about himself.”[18]

Lasciviousness … “This implies Gnostic antinomianism, which connotes sexual debauchery.”[19] Such errors were clearly connected with the abuse of Paul’s teachings regarding the grace of God; and the urgency with which Jude here undertook the refutation of it indicates that no great time had lapsed since Paul’s letters of Romans, Galatians and Ephesians had appeared, thus corroborating the approximate date we have assigned to this letter.

Who were of old written of … Macknight explained the meaning of this thus:

Jude means that the Scriptures relating the doom of Sodom, the punishment of angels, etc., whose sins were the same as those of these wicked men, were to be understood as examples of the punishment God would inflict upon them.[20]

[15] Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 509.

[16] Delbert R. Rose, op. cit., p. 432.

[17] Ibid.

[18] David H. Wallace, op. cit., p. 18.

[19] Ibid.

[20] James MacKnight, op. cit., p. 192.

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by Gary Hampton

The Believer and the Faith (Jud 1:3)

Jude showed the feeling of warmth he had in connection with those to whom the epistle was addressed when he called them “beloved.” Apparently, he had already been planning to write an epistle on the “common salvation,” but turned to the more urgent problem, that is dealt with in the writing, called to his attention. He had heard of false teachers and the spreading of their doctrines. He then wrote to prevent the addressees from being lead astray and to urge them to the defense of the gospel.

The word translated “contend earnestly” literally means “to wrestle” and indicates the type of strong defense that should be made for the gospel in the face of any foe. The word here translated “faith” is said by Vine to be “by metonymy, what is believed, the contents of belief, faith” (W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words). That faith was delivered “once for all,” which Vine says means, “of what is perpetual validity, not requiring repetition.” All of that which Christians believe has been delivered for all time (Jud 1:3).

Apostates Described (Jud 1:4)

Jude explained that false teachers were the cause of his writing. Woods says the idea of “crept in unnoticed” is that of entering in by the side door, without revealing their motive of leading the saints astray. This description might be compared with Gal 2:4; 2Ti 3:6 and 2Pe 2:1-2. These false teachers were the ones who were written of before, probably in the Old Testament. What was written concerning them is described as being “marked out for this condemnation” (Jud 1:4).

The false teachers were likewise described as “ungodly men,” which seems to indicate they were not pious or reverent. These were the same type of men that reaped their reward at the time of the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (2Pe 2:5-6). Being of such a nature, they turned the grace of God, which is salvation (Eph 2:8-9), into a support of gross fleshly indulgence. Thayer says “licentiousness” is unbridled lust, excess and shamelessness. As Woods points out, there is similarity between these men and those in 2Pe 2:18-19.

There is some question as to the meaning of the words “only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The A. S. V. puts “the only Master, and our Lord Jesus Christ” in a footnote as a possible rendering. Some think it refers to the Father and the Son. The title “Master” is applied to Christ in 2Pe 2:1, and the characterizing word “only” is used more properly of God, as it is in verse 25 of this book. (See The Pulpit Commentary for a fuller discussion.)

Commentary on Jud 1:3-4 by David Hersey

Jud 1:3 –Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

When Jude was planning this epistle, his first intention was to write to them about their “common salvation” meaning uniform and pertaining to all mankind generally. The salvation pertaining to them is therefore the same one which is available to us today as well. There have been no changes, no alterations or deviations from that since it was made available in the first century. As Christians today, we know that we can be saved today in the same way Christians were 2000 years ago.

Jud 1:3 –“I was very diligent to write to you”

Because of circumstances which had arisen, Jude was compelled to change the content of his letter from what he intended at first to address something of much greater importance. This letter was written as a matter of urgency and as we will see in the next verse, its purpose was altered to combat the doctrines of false teachers. This was such a dire matter that the entire theme of Jude’s epistle centered around false teachers. It was so urgent, that when Jude finished what he had to say about them, he chose not to take the time to include anything of his original intended content, choosing to end the epistle right there.

The application we need to make from this today is that spreaders of false doctrine are dangerous to the body of Christ and that there is an urgency necessary in a right response to it.

Jud 1:3 –“exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”

Jude jumps immediately to the theme of his epistle following his short and succinct introduction. Let us call to remembrance that Jude is a man from the working class of Jews. He is not going to engage in long winded rhetoric, rather he is going to get right to the point. And he’s going to phrase his words in simple and direct terms, easily understood and to the point, which is precisely what he did. We’re barely past his greeting when we see his readership being urged to contend earnestly for the faith.

The words “earnestly contend” is translated from the Greek word “epagonizomai” which contains the root of our English word agony. Agonize earnestly and urgently for the faith. This means the system of faith under which we live and labor. It is the sum of that which Christians believe.” “The faith” here implies a recognized body of teaching which is inclusive of what we believe and how we should respond to that belief. “The Faith” means much more than the faith by which we believe, rather, it means the system of faith which is believed and responded to.

The system of faith under which all Christians live is to be contended for as in a conflict. It means much more than confronting error. It covers the entire range of the believers response to the calling. Contending for the faith first means seeking it diligently as we read in Heb 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. One cannot contend for something one knows nothing about. An effective contender is prepared beforehand for the confrontations ahead. It would be ineffective contender indeed who would contend for something he knew little about.

The prepared Christian is then to be ready and willing to earnestly contend for the faith. To strive for, to wrestle for, to agonize for, to compete for and to defend the faith of Jesus Christ. Christians cannot just set on the fence of righteousness, rather they have to make a stand. It is easy to abstain from evil. Most Christians have no problem at all with abstaining from drunkeness, murder, robbery and other obvious forms of sin, but it is more difficult when we are commanded to make a stand for and defend our faith against those who would slip in stealthily and try to pervert it.

There are Biblical guidelines associated with how one contends. Contending does not mean being outwardly contentious or quarrelsome. Paul wrote in Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. Paul wrote concerning the conduct of Christians in Tit 3:2, “…to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” 2Ti 2:24-25, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth”. Contending for the faith does not mean being contentious. Many well meaning brethren carry this idea to a level which is not supported by the whole body of teaching in scripture regarding this matter. While it is important that we contend for the faith, it is equally important that we contend according to the guidelines established for Christian conduct. As with anything, there is a proper way and an improper way of accomplishing this biblical directive.

This verse of scripture is not to be understood as the authority to go beyond what is written. There are guidelines for Christian behavior and it is important that we observe these guidelines at all times, even when contending for the faith. This concept of proper Christian behavior is brought up later in the epistle of Jude. It is clear through consideration of what the whole letter of Jude teaches that he did not mean for this to be taken as authority to step outside the bounds of proper Christian behavior. This is further expounded on in our study of Jud 1:9 concerning railing accusations.

Jud 1:3 –“the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”

“once for all” is translated from the single Greek word “hapax” which is used twice in Jude’s epistle. This word carries the meaning of “once only and forever.” Peter wrote in 2Pe 1:3, “as His [Jesus], divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”. The gospel was not delivered to mankind in bits and pieces but as the full message in its entirety and completeness, delivered through Christ to the apostles. The gospel was delivered not in part, but as a complete whole. There is hardly any other message of the New Testament that has greater relevance for our own times than this. The revelation of Christ through the apostles is complete, inviolate, sufficient, eternal, immutable, and not subject to any change whatsoever. People who desire to know God, walk in the light and inherit eternal life, should heed such passages as 2Jn 1:9, always remembering that the truth was “first spoken by the Lord” (Heb 2:3), and that all religious doings which cannot pass the test of having been “first” spoken by Jesus Christ should be rejected.

Jud 1:4 –For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “For” used in this manner introduces an explanation of the previous statement and such is the case here. Men had crept in unnoticed, meaning to align themselves alongside in a stealthy manner. The ASV translates this as crept in privily.

Jud 1:4 –” who long ago were marked out for this condemnation”

Their actions had been prophesied prior to this fulfillment. What is noteworthy here is that Jude is speaking in the past tense which explains the urgency of his letter. That which had been prophesied had come to pass and he was pointing it out to his readership. Jude did not refer back to the specific prophecy in this case which leads one to the possible conclusion that his readership already knew of it and that the urgency of the situation precluded unnecessary explanations.

Peter prophesied concerning those who would be teachers of false doctrine among them in 2 Peter 2 which starts out with some similar wording to how Jude presented their actions, “But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction”. Peter goes on in chapter 2 to deliver some of the harshest words of condemnation to be found in regard to false teachers as can be found in scripture with the exception of what Jude was about to say about them. Peter prophesied of it and Jude revealed that it had happened. Peter, a fisherman by trade, like Jude was from the working class of Jews. Having no formal education, his manner of expression is going to be direct, simple and to the point and it certainly was. A reading of 2 Peter 2 concerning false teachers leaves no doubt the Apostles’ disdain for, and the condemnation awaiting those who would pervert the doctrine of Christ. We will see that Jude’s attitude and condemnation for false teachers is in no way diminished from that of Peter’s.

It should be noted here that Peter was certainly not the only apostle who forewarned others about the coming of false teachers. Paul gave instructions to Timothy concerning this in 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1 as well. And Paul’s utter disdain and condemnation for them is no less direct and pointed than either Jude or Peter’s. False teachers and their doctrines are thoroughly and adamantly condemned in scripture by all who dealt with it by inspiration.

The situation at hand was occurring in the latter half of the first century but the practical application for us today is timeless in the kingdom of Christ. The first century Christians indeed had their false teachers but they were not alone in this. There have been 2000 years worth of false teachers since then and when we look out among those today who claim Jesus Christ as their savior we see an entire host of denominational divisions of the body of Christ each believing and practicing a variant form of the gospel.

Those of us today who seek to serve God acceptably need to take the warnings in Jude seriously and take a hard look at themselves to make sure they don’t fall into the same condemnation. False teachers as a whole do not realize they are false teachers. They don’t set out purposing in their hearts to destroy Christians. For the most part they believe they are right and that they are doing God’s will. They are often sincere, pleasant to be around and genuine in their presentation. They have no idea that they are on the road to destruction and that those they take with them are likewise doomed. This makes it necessary for us to be knowledgeable in the truth, competent in its defense and effective in its preservation. We must first be grounded and rooted in the faith before we can identify and reject false teaching. It is our responsibility to see to it that our house is in order concerning the faith (1Th 5:18, 1Jn 4:1). Hopefully we will be able to instruct those in error out of darkness and into the light of truth and certainly we should seek to do this whenever the occasion permits.

Jud 1:4 –“ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ”

Ungodly men is translated from the Greek word “asebes” which means irreverent, impious or wicked. Jesus taught as recorded in Luk 11:23, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth”. The range of the wicked covers a broad spectrum from those who are unconverted sinners in the world to those who professing piety and claiming Christ as their savior go about perverting the truth. It is easy to spot a murderer or a thief. It is harder to spot someone who is disguised as a man of God who teaches another gospel. The fact that Jude indicated that they had “crept in privily” strongly suggests that these individuals showed up as representatives of Christ in some fashion but were perverting the truth instead of teaching correctly. These Christians would have had no trouble spotting alien sinners and they would not have been able to creep in stealthily as Jude indicated. This infiltration of false teachers was much more insidious in nature meaning they appeared harmless at first but in actually were with grave and serious effect.

Jud 1:4 –“ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness”

Here we have a clue that might help us connect these false teachers with a known group in history who did this very thing. The doctrine in view came to be known later as Antinomianism. The word ‘antinomian’ means against law being a compound word, ‘anti – against’ and ‘nomos – law’. Basically it held the view that Christians are exempt from the demands of the law of Christ by reason of their reliance upon divine grace alone for salvation. Although this doctrine is not found in Scripture, it is evident that Paul’s teachings were perverted to support this doctrine. Paul was aware of this and he pointedly corrected this misconception in his letter to the Romans. In Rom 3:8 we see Paul writing, “and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just.” Not only had Paul’s teaching on grace been corrupted, but his teaching on the subject brought about some slanderous accusations and this is what He was dealing with and denying here. He was not finished with this correction to those who misapplied his teachings for in Rom 6:1 he reinforced it by writing, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? and then again in Rom 6:15, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid.” There was an erroneous doctrine built around Paul’s teachings on grace, law and justification in the first century which led many to the false conclusion that Christians are saved by Grace alone apart from any workings of man whatsoever. This teaching opened the doors for any kind of behavior one may want to engage in and still feel secure in God’s grace.

This false teaching was so prevalent and gained such a following that two other inspired writers addressed it. Peter warned his readership of those who would pervert the teachings of Paul in 2Pe 3:15-16, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all (his) epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as (they do) also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

James, the brother of Jesus Christ in his epistle chose to devote an entire section to the rebuttal of this false doctrine which had arisen. Starting in chapter 2 and verse 14, James launched an entire treatise on justification by faith and works instead of by faith only. In this we see such phrases as Jas 2:17, “Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself”. And in Jas 2:20-22, James goes on to write, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;” And then in Jas 2:24, James deals what should be the death blow to the doctrine of salvation by grace or faith alone, “Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith” or as translated in KJV and the NKJV as “faith only”.

There were at least two groups who arose directly from the perversion of Paul’s teaching in the first century. The Gnostics and the Nicolaitans both arose in part from Antinomianism which advocated a return to sub-Christian morality, hence the words from Jude regarding the turning of the grace of God into lewdness or lasciviousness as translated in the KJV and ASV. They were using and corrupting Paul’s teachings on grace and law to justify sexual depravity.

The Gnostics and the Nicolaitans believed that matter was irredeemably corrupt therefore fleshly passions could be indulged without inhibition. Not only did they accept sexual depravity, they actually encouraged it because they felt the spiritual side of man shined brighter because of it. They felt that their engaging in sexual sin made God’s grace shine ever more brightly, which prompted the words from Paul in Rom 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” The creed of Gnostic antinomianism was: “Give to the flesh the things of the flesh and to the spirit the things of the spirit.” They erroneously taught and practiced that the darker their behavior, the brighter God’s grace shows forth.

By the time the book of Romans was written, Paul already knew his teachings had been mishandled. He went out of his way in the book of Romans to make sure he was not misunderstood. As shown earlier, Paul directly mentioned the fact that he had been accused of teaching that Christians should do evil so that good could come in Rom 3:8. This is what the Antinomian Gnostics were teaching and they had crept into the church with this unholy doctrine and were propagating it. Other statements of Paul such as Rom 6:1; Rom 6:15 demonstrate further that Paul was indeed aware of the perversion of his teachings. So with that in mind, we’ll take a look at Paul’s teachings on law and grace right in the book of Romans itself.

Rom 3:20-26, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Paul gives a parallel teaching in Gal 2:15-16–“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

In the first century, one of the biggest problems facing the Christians was that of Judaizers creeping into the church. These were Jewish Christians so hung up in the traditions and ordinances of the Mosaic law that they tried to bind certain deeds of the old law to Christians living under the new law. The entire book of Galatians was written in response to Judaizing Christians who were doing just this thing. This was a problem within the church which had to be dealt with. In Gal 5:4 Paul gives us the consequences for appealing to the law of Moses for justification, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Where the Antinomian Gnostics were going wrong was to interpret Paul’s references to the abrogated and abolished law of Moses as applying to all of God’s laws under the Christian dispensation. What they were doing was to claim that Paul’s teaching on law and grace abrogated not only the law of Moses but all of God’s law in general. This is accomplished by pulling Paul’s teachings on law and grace out of the entire body of his teachings and building a doctrine around a fragment of what he taught. Now the Antinomians took this one step further than many do today in that they actually taught that the more debased a Christian acted, the more it caused God’s grace to abound.

Even with all the scriptural evidence at hand, when we look out into the denominational world today, we still see the doctrine of salvation by faith alone on the merits of God’s grace. This doctrine is almost as old as Christianity itself realizing its origins in the first century and continuing on until today. People still take Paul’s teachings on grace and faith and twist them to mean something they do not. The overwhelming majority of those today claiming Jesus Christ as their savior adhere to this belief. They believe that Christians are justified by faith alone and that works of righteousness are simply evidence of their faith or a result of their faith. They believe Paul taught that one is justified by grace alone through faith alone. If this were true, then what on earth did Paul mean in Rom 2:5-11, “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek”. And also in light of this perverted doctrine, what could Paul have possibly meant when he wrote “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 2:12-13).

When considering the teaching of any inspired writer it is vital to consider all of what they taught regarding any topic. Picking verses out of the overall teaching and building a doctrine around it is a good way to end up on the wrong side of God’s truth.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:9 – his saints Pro 28:4 – but Isa 26:2 – truth Jer 9:3 – valiant Act 9:29 – disputed Act 14:22 – exhorting Act 15:2 – Paul Act 19:8 – disputing Act 24:24 – the faith Rom 1:12 – by the mutual Rom 15:15 – I have 2Co 7:7 – earnest 2Co 11:29 – and I burn Gal 2:5 – we Gal 2:11 – I withstood Gal 5:1 – Stand Eph 4:5 – one faith Eph 6:20 – boldly Phi 1:27 – in one Col 2:6 – received 1Th 2:2 – much 1Th 5:1 – ye 2Th 2:15 – the traditions 2Ti 1:13 – Hold 2Ti 2:24 – must Tit 1:4 – the common Tit 1:9 – Holding Heb 13:9 – carried 1Pe 5:12 – exhorting 2Pe 1:12 – I will not Rev 2:13 – denied

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jud 1:3. Whilst I was giving, or using, all diligence; either inwardly in purpose, finishing one work and postponing another; or outwardly in actually writing what was not finished (de Wette). The latter is rather favoured by the tense of write (which is present, not aorist); but the former is probably the correct view. Anyhow, it was his purpose to write on the great truths of the Gospelthe common property of all who believe.

I felt constrained to write and exhort you to fight for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. A richer evangelical epistle would have been more welcome to the writer; but, like Paul, he had to meet the needs of those for whom he ministered; hence his words are full of rebuke against the teachers who were leading them astray, and of loving warning to themselves. The word to fight, or strive earnestly, means to stand over and defend to the utmost, even to agony; the faith, not quite the doctrines of Scripture, still less their belief of them, but the Gospel, as believed by Christian men. Once for all delivered points to the completeness and unchangeableness of the Gospel, and to the fact that no new revelation was to be expected. The doctrine of development subsequent to the apostles is not the doctrine of Scripture. We may gladly admit, as Boyle puts it, that there are passages whose full meaning is reserved to resolve some yet unformed doubt, or to confound some error that hath not yet a name, or to throw fresh light on admitted truths. There is, in fact, no definable limit to our profounder insight into the Gospel; but additions to the Gospel itself Scripture disowns. Traditions post-apostolic are now entitled to no other deference than is due to their intrinsic reasonableness, or to their consistency with what is already revealed.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. A courteous and loving compellation, Beloved; people should study to render themselves fit objects of their pastor’s love.

Observe, 2. How his love towards them put upon writing to them with all diligence: love must be the spring and fountain of all our ministerial performances; all services without love, are as sacrifices without fire. Christ first enquired after Peter’s love, before he urged him to labour; God will reward no services to our people, but what have been done in love.

Observe, 3. The excellency and weightiness of the subject about which he was to write, it was concerning the common salvation; so called, not as if it were a salvation common to all persons, good and bad; but because common to all believers, who have a joint title to it, and a common interest in it; the salvation which the gospel reveals, is a common salvation; it is common in regard of the purchaser of it, Christ, our common Saviour; in regard of the price paid for it, the precious blood of Christ; in regard to the way and means by which it is obtained and secured, and that is faith; and in regard of the earnest of it, and longings after it, the Holy Spirit of God is common to all believers, and gives them a pledge, an earnest of, and sets them a breathing after and longing for, this salvation.

Observe, 4. The exhortation itself, Earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, that is, for the sincere doctrine of the gospel delivered by Christ. Once delivered; that is, once for all so as never to be changed or altered more, no new rule of faith is evermore to be expected; and therefore the articles of faith added to the apostle’s creed by the council of Trent, can be no articles of Christian faith, because never delivered by Christ or his apostles, and never known to many Christians long after their decease.

Learn, That it is the duty of Christians at all times, but especially in times of error and seduction, to contend earnestly for that pure and uncorrupted faith which is contained in the gospel.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

The Believer and the Faith

Jude showed the feeling of warmth he had in connection with those to whom the epistle was addressed when he called them “beloved.” Apparently, he had already been planning to write an epistle on the “common salvation,” but turned to the more urgent problem, that is dealt with in the writing, called to his attention. He had heard of false teachers and the spreading of their doctrines. He then wrote to prevent the addressees from being lead astray and to urge them to the defense of the gospel.

The word translated “contend earnestly” literally means “to wrestle” and indicates the type of strong defense that should be made for the gospel in the face of any foe. The word here translated “faith” is said by Vine to be “by metonymy, what is believed, the contents of belief, faith” (W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words ). That faith was delivered “once for all,” which Vine says means, “of what is perpetual validity, not requiring repetition.” All of that which Christians believe has been delivered for all time ( Jud 1:3 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Jdg 1:3. When I gave all diligence Or made all haste, as literally signifies, Jude being informed of the assiduity, and perhaps the success, with which the false teachers were spreading their pernicious errors, found it necessary to write this letter to the faithful without delay. To write to you of the common salvation The salvation from the guilt and power of sin, into the favour and image of God here, and from all the consequences of sin into eternal felicity and glory hereafter; a salvation called common, because it belongs equally to all who believe; to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; to men of all nations and conditions; designed for all, and enjoyed in part by all believers. For the same reason Paul terms the faith of the gospel, the common faith, (Titus i, 4,) because an opportunity of believing is afforded to all. Here the design of the epistle is expressed, the end of which exactly answers the beginning. It was needful for me to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend Yet humbly, meekly, and lovingly, otherwise your contending will only hurt your cause, if not destroy your souls; for the faith All the fundamental truths of the gospel. In the circumstances in which the faithful were when Jude wrote this letter, an exhortation to hold fast and maintain the true doctrine of the gospel against the false teachers, was more necessary and profitable for the disciples, than explications of the particular doctrines of the gospel. By strenuously contending for the faith, the apostle did not mean contending for it with fire and sword, but their endeavouring, in the spirit of meekness and love, to establish the true doctrines of the gospel, by arguments drawn, not only from the Jewish Scriptures, but especially from the writings of the evangelists and apostles, which were all, or most of them, published when Jude wrote this letter. In the same manner they were strongly to oppose and confute the errors of the false teachers. The word properly signifies, to strive as in the Olympic games, that is, with their whole force.

Once delivered to the saints By , once, Macknight understands formerly, the word being used in that sense, Jdg 1:5. But Estius and Beza adopt the common translation, supposing the meaning of the clause to be, that the faith spoken of was delivered to the saints once for all, and is never to be changed; nothing is to be added to it, and nothing taken from it. By the saints Jude first means the holy apostles and prophets of Christ, (in which sense the word saints is used, Colossians 3:26, compared with Eph 3:5,) to whom the Lord Jesus delivered the doctrine of the gospel in all its parts, including the truths which men were to believe, and the precepts they were to perform, together with the promises of present and eternal salvation made to the believing and obedient, and the threatenings denounced against the unbelieving and disobedient. This doctrine the apostles and evangelists delivered to their hearers in their various discourses, and consigned it to writing for the instruction of future ages. Hence it is evident that the faith for which Christians are to contend strenuously, is that alone which is contained in the writings of the evangelists, apostles, and Jewish prophets. Now as they have expressed the things which were revealed to them in words dictated by the Spirit, (1Co 2:13,) we are to contend, not only for the things contained in their writings, but also for that form of words in which they have expressed these things, lest by contending for forms invented and established by human authority, as better fitted to express the truth than the words of inspiration, we fall into error. See 2Ti 1:13. Judes exhortation ought in a particular manner to be attended to by the ministers of the gospel, whose duty more especially it is to preserve the people from error, both in opinion and practice. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

ARGUMENT 1

THE PRIMITIVE FAITH

3. Contend earnestly, is epagoonizesthai from agona, the arena in which the gladiators fought a man or a wild beast till bloody death ended the conflict. Hence you see the climacteric force of this inspired exhortation to strive with all our power of soul, mind and body, to hold fast the truth as it is in Jesus, revealed in the Bible, and preach it to all the world. Oh, how we need a universal rally on this line at the present day! So few churches are now willing to see the truth as it is in Jesus. The popular preacher must let go his grip and drift compassless and chartless on the dubious sea of sinning religion till engulfed in the fearful maelstrom of irretrievable woe.

4. For certain men who long ago have been written down for this condemnation, ungodly, having changed the grace of our God into impurity, even denying our only Sovereign, yea, our Lord Jesus Christ. The foreknowledge of God is illimitable, apprehending the untrammeled choice of every human being, and consigning all to their eternal destiny, pursuant to the election of their own free will relative to the things appertaining to life and godliness. Jude here, in the clear illumination of the Holy Ghost, has his eye on the coming millions of counterfeit preachers, transforming the grace of God unto impurity, i.e., propagating anti- holiness religion as a substitute, or the spiritual purity proclaimed by every inspired apostle. The denial of Jesus Christ is now the rejection of the Holy Ghost, His Successor and Revelator. Joh 16:7. We must keep in mind the divine unity, remembering that Satan is no fool, but he always adapts his artillery to the enemy on the field. During the Fathers dispensation he turned all the battering rams of earth and hell against the divine Fatherhood, i.e., monotheism in contradistinction to the polytheistic idolatries of the heathen nations. During the Sons dispensation, Satan stirred earth and hell till he killed Him, pushing the battle with all possible energy through the early centuries against the Christhood of Jesus. As we are now living in the last dispensation, i.e., that of the Holy Ghost, now in charge of the world, calling all nations to the glorious privileges of the heavenly bridehood, preparatory for the coming Christ and the glorious millennial reign, all the artillery of the pandemonium, augmented and utilized by the arts and sciences in the hands of wicked men, are turned against the divine personality, office and work of the Holy Ghost. Thus Satan is fighting in his last ditch, destined soon to suffer signal and final defeat in his war against the Holy Ghost, as during his terrible and prolonged campaigns against the Father and Son. Then apocalyptic angels will descend, arrest him like a common criminal, and lock him up in hell. It is a misnomer to talk about the fight against holiness. It is simply the devils old fight against God now in the person of the Holy Ghost. Oh, how few churches at the present day will tolerate a Holy Ghost meeting, and how very few let the Holy Ghost rule them! Surely we are living in the last days, when the lukewarm Laodicean church hastens to her awful doom, when the Lord will come and spew her out of his mouth. Oh, how important that all true hearts rally under the blood-stained banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, responsive to the leadership of the Holy Ghost.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1:3 {1} Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the {d} common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should {e} earnestly contend for the faith which was {f} once delivered unto the saints.

(1) The goal of this epistle, is to affirm the godly as opposed to certain wicked men both in true doctrine and good conduct.

(d) Of those things that pertain to the salvation of all of us.

(e) That you should defend the faith with all the strength you can muster, both by true doctrine and good example of life.

(f) Which was once given, that it may never be changed.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

II. THE PURPOSE OF THIS EPISTLE VV. 3-4

Jude explained his reason for writing this letter to introduce what follows and to impress the urgency of his subject on his readers.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Most Spirit-led preachers have felt exactly how Jude said he felt in this verse. It is enjoyable to talk about salvation and other positive subjects. Nevertheless occasionally a particular situation compels us to speak about a danger that God’s people need to appreciate. The presentation of this subject must sometimes be quite negative. Delivering such a message is not as pleasant a task.

The faith delivered to the saints is the special revelation of God that Scripture contains and the apostles preached (cf. Gal 1:23; 1Ti 4:1). Jude’s readers needed to struggle to maintain this faith as a champion athlete labors to dominate and to subdue his or her challengers (cf. 1Ti 6:12; 2Ti 4:7-8).

"To ’contend earnestly for’ (epagonizesthai) is an expressive compound infinitive which appears only here in the New Testament. The simple form of the verb (agonizomai), which appears as ’agonize’ in its English form, was commonly used in connection with the Greek stadium to denote a strenuous struggle to overcome an opponent, as in a wrestling match. It was also used more generally of any conflict, contest, debate, or lawsuit. Involved is the thought of the expenditure of all one’s energy in order to prevail." [Note: D. Edmond Hiebert, "An Exposition of Jud 1:3-4," Bibliotheca Sacra 142:566 (April-June 1985):144.]

This unique compound verb pictures a person taking his or her stand on top of something an adversary desires to take away, and fighting to defend and retain it. [Note: G. F. C. Fronmüller, "The Epistle General of Jude," in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, 12:5:13.]

"These efforts are, it is surely unnecessary to add, of a moral and persuasive nature only; all force of a physical nature being expressly forbidden the faithful. When Peter sought to defend the Lord with a sword he was rebuked for his pains; and in bidding him sheathe it, he forevermore made it clear that his followers are not to fight with carnal weapons in his behalf." [Note: Guy N. Woods, A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles of Peter, John, and Jude, p. 385.]

"Jude has two major concerns-that they [his readers] will not be led astray by false teachers. He prays that they will instead take the initiative and contend for the faith." [Note: Cedar, p. 250.]

"The final argument for faith in the world is not the argument of words, but the argument of life." [Note: G. Campbell Morgan, Living Messages of the Books of the Bible, 2:2:203.]

"Indifference to error is a sign of false liberalism and humiliating weakness." [Note: Nathaniel M. Williams, "Commentary on the Epistle of Jude," in An American Commentary on the New Testament, 7:8.]

The phrase "once for all delivered" stresses the unalterable and normative character of this faith.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)