Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jude 1:5
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.
5. I will therefore put you in remembrance ] More accurately, I wish to put you in remembrance, or, to remind you. The language presupposes, like that of 2Pe 1:12, to which it presents a close parallel, the previous instruction of the readers of the Epistle in the faith once delivered to the saints.
though ye once knew this ] The better MSS. give “knew all things,” reminding us of “ye know all things” of 1Jn 2:20. The word is limited in both cases, by the context, to all the essential elements of Christian faith and duty.
how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt ] The MSS. present a curious variation of reading, some giving “the Lord,” some “Jesus,” and some “God.” St Paul’s use of the name of “Christ” in 1Co 10:4 is, in some sense, parallel to that of “Jesus,” which seems, on the whole, the best-supported reading. The reference to the judgment that fell upon Israel in the wilderness takes the place of that drawn from the flood in 2Pe 2:5, and may, perhaps, be traced to St Paul’s way of dealing with that history in 1Co 10:1-10, or to Heb 3:12-19.
afterward ] More literally, secondly, or in the second place.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will therefore put you in remembrance – To show you what must be the doom of such men, I will call certain facts to your recollection, with which you are familiar, respecting the Divine treatment of the wicked in times past.
Though ye once knew this – That is, you were formerly made acquainted with these things, though they may not be now fresh in your recollection. On the different significations affixed to the word once in this place, see Bloomfield, Crit. Digest, in loc. The thing which seems to have been in the mind of the apostle was an intention to call to their recollection, as bearing on the case before him, facts with which they had formerly been familiar, and about which there was no doubt. It was the thing which we often endeavor to do in argument – to remind a person of some fact which he once knew very well, and which bears directly on the case.
How that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt – Compare the notes, 1Co 10:5-12. The bearing of this fact on the case, before the mind of Jude, seems to have been this – that, as those who had been delivered from Egypt were afterward destroyed for their unbelief, or as the mere fact of their being rescued did not prevent destruction from coming on them, so the fact that these persons seemed to be delivered from sin, and had become professed followers of God would not prevent their being destroyed if they led wicked lives. It might rather be inferred from the example of the Israelites that they would be.
Afterward – to deuteron – the second; that is, the second thing in order, or again. The expression is unusual in this sense, but the apostle seems to have fixed his mind on this event as a second great and important fact in regard to them. The first was that they were delivered; the second, that they were destroyed.
Destroyed them that believed not – That is, on account of their unbelief. They were not permitted to enter the promised land, but were cut off in the wilderness. See the notes at Heb 3:16-19.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jud 1:5
I will therefore put you in remembrance.
Truth to be remembered
1. Great is the sin of those who despise repeated truths. A Christian must not have an itching, but a humble and obedient ear. Every truth, like a lease, brings in revenue the next year as well as this.
2. Christians must not only receive, but retain also the truths of God. Our memories must be heavenly storehouses and treasuries of precious truths; not like hour-glasses, which are no sooner full but they are running out. To help us in remembering heavenly truths, let us–
(1) Be reverent and heedful in our attentions, as receiving a message from God.
(2) Love every heavenly truth as our treasure; delight helps memory (Psa 119:16), and what we love we keep.
(3) Our memories should not be taken up with vanities. The memory which is filled only with earthly concerns, is like a golden cabinet filled with dung.
(4) Let instruction be followed with meditation, prayer, conference, and holy conversation; by all these it is hid in the heart the deeper, and driven home more thoroughly (Deu 6:6-7; Psa 119:97).
3. There is a constant necessity of a conscientious ministry. People know and remember but in part, and till that which is imperfect be done away we cannot spare ministerial remembrances.
4. The forgetfulness of the people must not discourage the minister. A boat is not to be cast up and broken in pieces for every leak.
5. The work of ministers is not to contrive doctrines, but to recall them. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.)
Afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Unbelief–its pusillanimity, impiety, and ruinous consequences
(with Psa 78:40):–Of the Church of God in the world, it is true, as of the world itself, that, with much that may be called variety, there is substantial sameness, in all ages, in its condition. In all ages believers have enjoyed the same privileges. Their trials and dangers have also been similar as to their effects; bearing, at one time, on the growth of their knowledge and their faith; and, at another, on the open profession of their attachment to Jesus. When we thus look on the condition of the Church, in one aspect, as being as unchanged by the lapse of time, and yet, in another, as partaking of all the mutability of man and of the world, we are prepared to find that, with circumstances of unfailing security in its condition, it is, nevertheless, not entirely beyond the reach of danger and loss. The Church, and every member of it, true to Christ the Head, is encompassed with Gods favour as with a shield. But unbelief detaches the hold from the Rock of Ages–from an unchangeable Saviour and His unchanging word. In consequence, so far as unbelief prevails in individuals or in Churches, they are exposed to wander, they cannot but fall into sin, and ultimately into ruin.
I. Let us endeavour to apprehend the spirit of our text, and the convictions present to the apostles mind, when he occupied the point of standing from which he contemplates the visible Church. Several things are presupposed in the language of our text. In the salvation of man, memory has its province as well as faith. Knowledge, like the light, must enter the soul, and remove its darkness. But if knowledge be of a vague and indefinite nature, it has no hold on the convictions and no power on the heart. And yet truth, once well known, may fade from the view, and become, although not entirely forgotten, yet practically inoperative in the life. Faded impressions, then, need to be revived, and forgotten truths recalled, so as to be ever present, as a light from heaven, shining on the soul and path of the man, and guiding him in all his purposes and acts, in a world of darkness and sin. The light of Gods truth, pre-eminently so called, is the revelation, not of the purity of His law and nature, nor of the unity of His Godhead and the supremacy of His government, but of the reality and fulness of His grace. It is implied, however, in our text, that, notwithstanding all this manifold grace of God, one and another, and many, may ultimately perish, and that we may receive the grace of God in vain. How many who profess to receive it obviously show that they have never intellectually apprehended its nature, nor felt its influence at all? A sense of grace received has never expanded their hearts in generous love, either to God or man. But our text not only implies the possibility of all this, but assumes it as a fact that grace may be abused to lasciviousness (Jud 1:4); so that those who have externally received grace, may become eminently more godless and wicked than if they had never known of its existence. But what Christian can say that he never needs the exhortation of the apostle, to fear lest a promise being left him of entering into rest, he may come short of it through unbelief?
II. Let us consider the fact to which the apostle specially directs our attention, viewing the sin in the light of the description of it which the Psalmist gives. How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness and grieve Him in the desert! And often did the Lord destroy some of them. But we shall confine our remarks to that one occasion on which the Lord sware that they should not enter into His rest (Num 14:12).
1. In order that we may receive the full benefit to be derived from this alarming example, let us notice the stage in their history when they so grievously sinned against God by unbelief. We find that, in a period of little more than a year, the Lord had brought them from out of the house of bondage in Egypt, through the perils of the wilderness, to the very confines of the land of promise. It would be easy to trace, at least, ten instances of provocation; but it is enough to remark, as displaying the grace and forbearance of God with his stiff-necked people, that in almost every march, or at every stage throughout their journey, they tempted God. God had visited them with marks of His anger, but He still carries them forward, continues to be their God and guide, and the promised land now stretches out to their view. His miracles, which they saw in Egypt and in the wilderness, afforded every confirmation that God was able to fulfil His word; and they had no cause to fear or to be discouraged whatever obstacles might arise. We, like them, are called by God to take possession of blessings guaranteed by the oath of God to Abrahams spiritual seed. The kingdom of Christ, with all its blessings, is brought near to us, affording a rest to the weary and heavy laden traveller of the world. Wherever the gospel comes, every man is called to go up and possess. But this kingdom and its subjects have enemies,–the devil, the world, and the flesh; those who go up to possess the kingdom of God, must engage in conflict with these enemies, and only expect perfect rest in the degree to which the destruction of these enemies is accomplished. The one unrecalled command standing from age to age is, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Sinners! go up and possess; fear not, neither be discouraged; behold the Lord hath set the land before you.
2. Let us next consider how the people treated this command of God. Did they at once obey Gods command? No. Did they positively refuse? Their disobedience did not manifest itself in that manner at first. Moses tells us that the people came near to him and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land by what way we must go up, and to what cities we shall come (Deu 1:22). Some of you may say, Could anything be more reasonable? But you must observe the peculiar circumstances in which the children of Israel were placed. They had the unequivocal command of God to go up. This first hesitation, therefore, to go up, this prudent expedient, was in itself no small sin, and evinced the operation of the evil heart of unbelief. It formed part of the turning back and limiting of the Holy One of Israel of which the Psalmist speaks. But is this conduct of the children of Israel without its parallel among us, in our treatment of the call and the commands of the gospel? Are there no expedients to which we have recourse, by which to modify the authority and uncompromising severity of the Word of God; and by which we are actually, from fear and unbelief, regulating our steps by an ungodly prudence?
3. Let us observe how God deals with those who, by unbelief, had shrunk from the course to which He had called them. Did God instantly visit their transgression with judgment? So far from this, He bore with their abject timidity and dishonouring distrust. He permitted Moses to approve of the proposal of the people to send spies. Accordingly, the twelve rulers go forth to explore the land, and find that it surpasses their most sanguine expectations. Nevertheless, said the spies, the people be strong, the cities walled, and very great; moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
The disheartening effect of this intelligence on the hearts of the people was such that, when commanded to go up, they refused to obey. Persisting in their unbelief of this oath-secured presence of God, the anger of the Lord burned against them. This sin crowned all the past, and was aggravated by every possible enhancement of guilt. It was a rejection of Gods guidance, and a limitation of Gods grace and power. He swears in His wrath that He would destroy all from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against Me; and your little ones which ye said should be a prey, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. Thus it was, that those whom God saved out of Egypt He destroyed in the wilderness. Hence we learn that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God–the Holy One of Israel. In all ages there are some who do not, and who cannot, enter in, because of unbelief. Are any of us of that class?
1. The first lesson which we learn from the admonition of our text is, that it is with the very same God who destroyed unbelieving Israel that we have to do. The greater or less fulness of revelation which God gives of Himself does not affect His nature any more than the obscurity or brightness of a day affects the brightness or nature of the sun.
2. Mark the grace of God as exhibited at the period when He destroyed them who believed not. He permitted the spies to be sent. He bore with the pusillanimity and unbelief of the people; and so He always does in no small degree. But God, although He thus graciously tolerate much unbelief, does not prosper His people in the expedients which they adopt under its influence.
3. You learn from the fact to which our attention has been turned, that faith is not of efficacy, by any arbitrary appointment of God. As the captain who would lead an army to victory must possess their confidence, and as every teacher, who shall be able to educate his disciples, must possess their respect for his ability to instruct–so must the God and Captain of our Salvation possess the unfeigned and unwavering faith of His people.
4. We learn also that unbelief is not a trivial but most heinous sin. It operates at the seat of spiritual life in the heart within–it is only suspicion, doubt, questioning, shrinking, and simple inaction. But as the word, the promise, and the command come from God, it treats the Holy One of Israel with as much contumely and distrust as God lays to the charge of Israel, when they turned back, tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
5. But this passage of Jewish history admits of application to the conduct of communities as well as of individuals. There is ground for apprehension, that the doctrine of Gods decrees, instead of forming a source of comfort and strength in arduous duties, is often abused as an apology for inaction, and operates as a sedative on the moral sensibilities and aspirations of the heart, Now, looking at this passage in the history of the Israelites, we find it was Gods will, and could have been compatible with Gods purposes, that they should have entered into possession of Canaan forty years before the time that the land became theirs.
6. Let sinners, therefore, see that they are, under the gospel, saved to the extent that the children of Israel were, when delivered out of Egypt, and brought to the verge of the promised land. Immanuels kingdom stretches out before them, in the promises and privileges of the gospel, and Gods command to them is, Go up and possess the land. And if any have been so far awakened by Gods Spirit as to understand, in some measure, the better things which God has provided, but are yet halting between two opinions, or turning away sorrowful, from the requirement to yield themselves unreservedly to Christs revealed will and authority, let them know, that, in thus shrinking through unbelief, and returning to the world, they cannot engage in the pleasures and pursuits of the world as they did before, at least for a time. They will experience a misery which may fitly be represented by being driven into the wilderness to wander and drag out a dreary life, as if with Gods oath sounding in their ears, that they shall not enter into His rest. (John Grant.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance] That is, how such persons were proscribed, and condemned to bear the punishment due to such crimes.
Though ye once knew this] The word , here translated once, has greatly puzzled many interpreters. It has two meanings in the sacred writings, and indeed in the Greek writers also. 1. It signifies once, one time, as opposed to twice, or several times. 2. Altogether, entirely, perfectly, interpreted by Suidas , . and of this meaning he produces a proof from Josephus; This appears to be the sense of the word in Heb 6:4: . those who were FULLY enlightened. Heb 10:2: . THOROUGHLY cleansed. See also Heb 10:3 of this epistle. Ps 62:11: . God spoke FULLY, completely, on the subject. St. Jude is to be understood as saying, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye are THOROUGHLY instructed in this.
Saved the people] Delivered them from the Egyptian bondage.
Afterward destroyed them] Because they neither believed his word, nor were obedient to his commands. This is the first example of what was mentioned Jude 1:4.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Though ye once: this may be joined either with the verb following, knew, according to our translation, and the sense is, though ye knew this certainly, as the word once is taken, Psa 89:35, or perfectly and thoroughly, or once for all; or rather, with what goes before, and the words may be read, I will yet once (viz. while I am in this tabernacle) put you in remembrance of this, though you know it; as 2Pe 1:12.
Having saved the people; the people of Israel.
Afterward destroyed them; viz. in the wilderness, by plague, fiery serpents, &c.
That believed not; he sets forth the Israelites unbelief, as the original of all their disobedience and rebellions, and the great cause of their destruction. See Heb 3:17-19; 4:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
(Heb3:16;Heb4:13.)
therefore Other oldest manuscripts and Vulgateread, But; in contrast to the ungodly Jud1:4.
thoughye once rather, once for all. Translate, I wish to remind you,asknowing ALL (namely, thatI am referring to;so the oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers) oncefor all.Asalready they know all the facts once for all, he needs only toremind them.
theLord The oldest manuscripts and versions read, Jesus. SoChrist is said to have accompanied the Israelites in thewilderness; so perfectly is Jesus one with the God of the Israelitetheocracy.
saved brought safely, and into a state of safety and salvation.
afterward Greek,secondly; in the next instance destroyed them that believednot, as contrasted with His inthe first instancehaving savedthem.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once know this,…. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version, read, “knew all things”; but rather it is to be restrained by the following instance of, God’s vengeance on unbelievers; which with others is produced, to vindicate the divine conduct in the condemnation of the above persons, and to show that that is certain, and may be expected, since God has always dealt thus with such persons; and this they knew by reading of the Scriptures; at least they had known it once, though it might now be forgotten by them; and they had known it once for all; they had been perfectly acquainted with it; which is said, lest the apostle should be thought to write to persons ignorant, and rude in knowledge, and to show that he wrote nothing new and unheard of, and so should have the more weight and influence upon them; and he thought fit to remind them of it, though they had known it: it is one part of the work of the ministers of the word to put people in mind of what they have known; which is necessary, because of the inattentiveness of hearers, their forgetfulness, and loss of knowledge, and the weakness of some capacities to take in, and retain things; and if the judgment is not more informed hereby, yet the affections may be afresh raised, and grace be drawn out into exercise, and the mind be established and confirmed. The instance follows,
how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt; that is, the people of Israel, who were the chosen people of God, a special people, above all others, and had peculiar privileges; these the Lord brought out of the land of Egypt, with an high hand, and a mighty arm, and saved them out of their bondage, and delivered out of their oppressions and afflictions: the Alexandrian copy, and some others, the Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, instead of “the Lord”, read “Jesus”: and yet, though they were a special people, and notwithstanding this wonderful deliverance, and great salvation, he
afterward destroyed them that believed not; their carcasses fell in the wilderness by one judgment or another upon them; so that of all that came out of Egypt, but two entered into the land of Canaan: this shows the evil nature of unbelief; and that God will not suffer sin to go unobserved in any; no outward privileges and profession will screen any from divine vengeance; God sometimes makes severe examples of mere nominal professors; nor must false teachers, deniers of Christ, and perverters of his Gospel, expect to go free: moreover, it may be observed, that God may do great things for persons, and yet after all destroy them; great riches and honours may be conferred on some, great natural gifts on others; some may seem as if they had the grace of God, and were brought out of spiritual Egypt, and enjoy great mercies and favours, and have many deliverances wrought for them, and yet at last perish.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To put you in remembrance (). See 2Pe 1:12 (present active infinitive there, first aorist active infinitive here).
Though ye know all things once for all ( ). Concessive perfect (sense of present) active participle as in 2Pe 1:12, but without .
The Lord (). Some MSS. add . The use of here is usually understood to mean the Lord Jesus Christ, as Clement of Alex. (Adumbr. p. 133) explains, Ex 23:20, by (that mystical angel Jesus). For the mystic reference to Christ see 1Cor 10:4; 1Cor 10:9; Heb 11:26. Some MSS. here add instead of .
Afterward ( ). Adverbial accusative, “the second time.” After having saved the people out of Egypt.
Destroyed (). First aorist active indicative of , old verb, to destroy.
Them that believed not ( ). First aorist active articular participle of . The reference is to Nu 14:27-37, when all the people rescued from Egypt perished except Caleb and Joshua. This first example by Jude is not in II Peter, but is discussed in 1Cor 10:5-11; Heb 3:18.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye once knew [ ] . Entirely wrong. The participle is to be rendered as present, and the once is not formerly, but once for all, as ver.
Jude 1:3So Rev., rightly, though ye know all things once for all.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
PART III. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES OF APOSTACY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (Verses 5-7)
1) “I will therefore put you in remembrance” -Memory of past examples of rebellion of angels and men against God’s will and ways are called to mind. Jude would have these sanctified brethren of the faith to recall and recognize that immorality, selfishness, and rebellion against God portends Divine disfavor and Divine judgement on those who do not resist the wrong.
2) “Though ye once knew this” – indicates that lessons learned can be forgotten, must be recalled by God’s children, fallible men, lest they fail in benefits of truth they have been taught. 1Co 10:12 “take heed lest ye fall”, heed to things, truths formerly taught. 2Pe 1:12-13.
3) “How that the Lord . . . destroyed (Greek apolesen) them that believed not” (brought to great loss and suffering).
a) When Israel was saved (delivered) out of Egypt safely . . . though God’s chosen, elect people,(race), they were still creatures of responsible volition or will, responsible for decisions to obey or disobey God.
b) For actions of obedience to God they were individually and nationally blessed. For actions of disobedience they were individually and nationally punished, destroyed, or brought to great loss or suffering. For instance . . .
Individually – Moses was blessed in meekly enduring the unjust criticism against his leadership, day after day, after he had led them out of Egypt’s bondage – he was also punished for striking the rock instead of speaking to it, the second time. Num 20:11-12.
Aaron and Miriam were blessed – he as God’s spokesman for Moses, and Miriam as the leader of a musical band, but Miriam was also stricken with leprosy for joining in complaint against Moses, God’s leader over them, Exo 4:14-16; Exo 4:27-28; Exo 15:20-21; Num 12:1-13.
The two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, were blessed with long life and the honor of leading Israel from the wilderness, after forty long years of judgement, into the promised land – Each of the other ten spies, Elders of Israel, were not permitted to go in because they believed not, trusted not God, and discouraged the hearts of Israel. Num 14:27-45; Heb 3:17-19.
Nationally – All of Israel’s family that put the blood on the door posts and lintels, girded themselves aright, and gave heed to God’s men (Moses and Aaron) were led out of Egypt’s darkness safely, fed on heaven’s manna and received water from the rock – they were nationally delivered and blessed in their acts of obedience to God’s call.
All were judged of the Lord, chastened, suffered because of their later distrust, unbelief, doubt in, and complaints against His will, His voice, and His leaders. Not only were many killed on special occasions for rebellious acts but also because of gross unbelief all the grown men, 20 years of age and up, who came out of Egypt wandered in the wilderness until they died, and went not with their younger family members into the promised land. This is Jude’s first example of the kind of certain Divine judgement ordained to fall upon dividers of God’s people, carping critics, and immoral religious apostates, Num 14:29-35; Num 26:63-65.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. I will therefore put you in remembrance, or, remind you. He either modestly excuses himself, lest he should seem to teach as it were the ignorant things unknown to them; or, indeed, he openly declares in an emphatical manner, (which I approve more of,) that he adduced nothing new or unheard of before, in order that what he was going to say might gain more credit and authority. I only recall, he says, to your mind what you have already learnt. As he ascribes knowledge to them, so he says that they stood in need of warnings, lest they should think that the labor he undertook towards them was superfluous; for the use of God’s word is not only to teach what we could not have otherwise known, but also to rouse us to a serious meditation of those things which we already understand, and not to suffer us to grow torpid in a cold knowledge.
Now, the meaning is, that after having been called by God, we ought not to glory carelessly in his grace, but on the contrary, to walk watchfully in his fear; for if any trifles thus with God, the contempt of his grace will not be unpunished. And this he proves by three examples. He first refers to the vengeance which God executed on those unbelievers, whom he had chosen as his people, and delivered by his power. Nearly the same reference is made by Paul in 1Co 10:1. The import of what he says is, that those whom God had honored with the greatest blessings, whom he had extolled to the same degree of honor as we enjoy at this day, he afterwards severely punished. Then in vain were all they proud of God’s grace, who did not live in a manner suitable to their calling.
The word people is by way of honor taken for the holy and chosen nation, as though he had said that it availed them nothing, that they by a singular favor had been taken into covenant. By calling them unbelieving, he denotes the fountain of all evils; for all their sins, mentioned by Moses, were owing to this, because they refused to be ruled by God’s word. For where there is the subjection of faith, there obedience towards God necessarily appears in all the duties of life.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Jud. 1:5. In remembrance.That which we have in mind is often well and wisely brought up forcibly before our minds.
Jud. 1:6. Angels, etc.There is nothing in the Old Testament to which this can be referred, unless we take angels to be a figurative term for the antediluvians. It is most probably a reference to a tradition which is preserved in the book of Enoch, but whether that book was written before or after the epistle of Jude seems to be uncertain. The passages in the book of Enoch, or the traditions which these passages fix, are as follows: Chap. 7.1, 2It happened, after the sons of men had multiplied in those days, that daughters were born to them, elegant and beautiful. And when the angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamoured of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children. Chap. 15.7Therefore I made not wives for you [angels] because, being spiritual, your dwelling is in heaven. Chap. 18.16Therefore was he offended with them [the angels], and bound them, until the period of the consummation of their crimes in the secret year. (Compare chap. 21.2, 3I beheld a desolate spot, prepared, and terrific. There, too, I beheld seven stars of heaven [angels], bound in it together. These are those of the stars which have transgressed the commandment of the most high God; and are here bound, until the infinite number of the days of their crime be completed. Compare chap, 87.2, 3.) Estate.Principality. The term belongs to the Jewish classification of angels, and refers to their power or rule. Everlasting chains.An evident figure of speech. Everlasting suggests firm gripping, severe rather than merely continuous. For other traditions influencing Jude, see Illustrations.
THE ANGELS AND THEIR FIRST ESTATE
Dean Plumptres Note on Jud. 1:6.St. Judes language, like that of St. Peter, follows the traditions of the book of Enoch, which speaks of fallen angels as kept in their prison-house until the day of judgment; and also those which are represented in the Midrasch Ruth in the Book of ZoharAfter that the sons of God had begotten sons, God took them and brought them to the mount of darkness, and bound them in chains of darkness which reach to the middle of the great abyss. A fuller form of the Rabbinic legend relates that the angels Asa and Asael charged God with folly in having created man who so soon provoke Him, and that He answered that if they had been on earth they would have sinned as man had done. And thereupon He allowed them to descend to earth, and they sinned with the daughters of men. And when they would have returned to heaven they could not, for they were banished from their former habitation, and brought into the dark mountains of the earth. The resemblance between this tradition and that of the Zoroastrian legend of the fall of Ahriman and his angels, and again of the punishment of the Titans by Zeus in the mythology of Hesiod, shows the widespread currency of the belief referred to.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jud. 1:5-6
Privileges are always Conditional.St. Jude is concerned for the maintenance of the Christian life in those to whom he writes. They had been highly exalted in being raised to a spiritual life. Their privilege is intimated in the style of his address to them, in Jud. 1:1. But their fall from privilege was possible; continuance of privilege depended on continuance of faith, and on persistent effort to meet the obligations of privilege. Yet they were in a very perilous way exposed to temptation. It took form as the attractive teachings of men who claimed for them a liberty which was only rightly called licence, and who shook their confidence in the primary Christian truths which they had received from the apostles. The one thing that filled St. Jude with fear was, that they might presume upon their Christian standing and privilege and think themselves secure. There is no more perilous condition in which any man can be placed than that of self-security. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. St. Jude therefore brings some striking and impressive illustrations of the truth that privileges never have been held, and never can be held, apart from conditions. No created being ever yet had absolute possession of any privilege. It can be lost; it can only too easily be lost. In the paragraph before us the illustrations are taken from two sourceshistory and tradition.
I. The illustration from history.The salvation of Israel from Egypt was a remarkable sign of Divine favour and interest which lifted the nation of Israel into a high place of dignity and privilege. But that privilege did not keep the rebellious members of that community from suffering the just judgment of God. Their privilege provided no security against their suffering the proper consequences of distrust and disobedience. Even when He had saved them, in such a glorious and gracious way, the Lord afterward destroyed them that believed [trusted] not. St. Judes main object is to warn his readers against that party in the Christian community who, by its abuse of Christian liberty, transformed the gospel of purity into a gospel of wantonness, and to give them a safeguard against such. And the safeguard is this: to hold fast the faith once delivered to them, and to remember the consequences of being unbelieving. For this purpose, no warning could be more apposite than the fate of Judes own nation in the wilderness (Plummer).
II. The illustration from traditionIt is quite certain that St. Jude did not get the illustration of the fallen angels from any Scriptures that have come down to our time, or of which we have any intimation. St. Peter indeed refers to the matter (2Pe. 2:4), but he plainly draws his illustration from the same source as St. Jude. A little thought brings home to us the conviction that it is a matter concerning which men may speculate and imagine much, but can know nothing. The nature, estate, possibilities of angels have not been made the subjects of Divine revelation, and we must not attempt to be wise above what is written. Admitting, however, that St. Peter and St. Jude referred to a very familiar tradition of their day, it is important for us to see that their use of it in a way of illustration does not guarantee the historical truth of it. Such as it is, and whatever it is, it can be used to illustrate and enforce truths and principles. These angels were thought of as highly exalted in privilege. But they had no absolute security of the privilege. They went wrong when they presumed on their privilege, and failed to meet the conditions of dependence and obedience on which the retention of privilege depended. In a similar way a modern minister may illustrate, and press home some truth, by the stories in Tennysons Idylls of the King, and his using them in no sense implies his belief in their historic verity. The two illustrations effectively enforce the truth, which is true in every age, that patient continuance in well-doing alone can guarantee the retention of Christian privilege.
Jud. 1:7-11. Denunciation of Moral Mischief-makers.The reference to Sodom and Gomorrah is suggested by the terrible doom of the fallen angels. The connection of thought seems to be thisThose angels fell through sensual self-indulgence, and their miserable condition is appalling; Sodom and Gomorrah fell through sensual self-indulgence, and the present condition of the Sodomite sinners is appalling. And these false and mischievous teachers are tempting you to just that sensual self-indulgence which must as certainly bring a like appalling ruin round to you. Writing thus, St. Jude rouses himself into a very height of moral indignation which makes him pour forth burning words of denunciation. The danger for Christians lay in the attractiveness, personal fascination, of these mischief-makers, and in the subtlety with which they disguised the real purpose they had in view. To St. Jude they were maskers, wolves in sheeps clothing, and with a rough hand he pulls the sheepskins off, and shows us plainly enough the gaunt and hungry wolves within. He bids us look at them as thus fully exposed, and see three thingsthey are irreverent, sensual, covetous.
I. The moral mischief-makers were irreverent.It may be that it was characteristic of these teachers that they tried to undermine the authority of the apostles. We know how St. Paul had to vindicate his claims against them. But it is always a sign of the self-willed teacher, and always a cause for the gravest suspicion, that the tone of a mans ministry is irreverent, either in regard to God or to His servants. The good, sincere man is not irreverent, and cannot possibly be. The self-contained man is almost sure to reveal himself by the tone in which he speaks of dignities. By this fruit you may always know him. They can be no true leaders of men who themselves cannot obey, who despise dominion. (The illustration from Michael is treated in a Suggestive Note.)
II. The moral mischief-makers were sensual.The character of the teaching could be judged by the character of the teachers. Our Lord taught the same truth in the Sermon on the Mount. St. Jude says, See how these teachers of liberty, which is licence, themselves act in relation to their sensual, animal natures. The revelation is an awful one; it reminds of Sodom and its shameful sins. What they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things they are destroyed. The A.V. rendering is altogether more vigorous than the R.V., What they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. The teachers of the pure Christianity must themselves be pure. We have a perfect right to refuse any mans teachings, when he does not match his teaching with his life. Sensual restraint is required by Christianity; sensual licence is the teaching of antichrist. And this truth is as true of the refined sensualities of civilisation as of the coarser and more animal forms that are characteristic of earlier times. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.
III. The moral mischief-makers were covetous.This almost necessarily follows from their self-centredness and self-sufficiency. Covetousness is getting for self, without consideration for the claims of others. The true teacher gets for those whom he teaches; the false teacher gets for himself. The three illustrations taken from Old Testament Scriptures impress this self-centredness which is sure to make a man covetous and grasping. Cain thought what he could get; Balaam considered what would pay; and Core [Korah] aimed to secure personal credit. We are right in testing all would-be teachers by the spirit which they show in doing their work. The Lord pleased not Himself. The apostle said, We seek not yours, but you. No man can ever do the work of Christ if he is possessed and ruled by a passion for serving himself.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Jud. 1:8. The Course of Sin.After citing the above examples of impenitence and punishment, the apostle returns to the of Jud. 1:4, and proceeds to show an exact parallel between them and both the fallen angels and the inhabitants of the Cities of the Plain. To distinguish them, however, a term is applied, the exact application of which is open to a diversity of opinions. Beza, Grotius, and a host of other expositors take the word in a figurative sense, meaning idle and delusive fancies, in the same sense as Joseph was called the dreamer by his brethren. Some such idea is attached to the word in the A.V., where it is qualified by the word filthy. There is nothing in the original to indicate this except the context. In Act. 2:17, we have and your elders shall dream dreams. When Jude calls the false teachers dreamers, it appears to us that the Gnostics of his day claimed supernatural illumination. The apostles claimed inspiration, and to meet this they assumed the same Divine authority. The R.V. has, in their dreamings; but this appears a forced translation of the participle, considering the case and the gender. Once more the apostle refers to their sodomy , which is a strong expression to denote an unnatural method of gratifying lust. By we understand apostolic authority; and by the apostles themselves. Translating according to our viewIn like manner indeed also these, the dreamers, pollute the flesh, set at nought authority, and blaspheme the excellent. The course of sin is much the same in all places and at all times. Its marks are the same on the spirit of the fallen angels, the inhabitants of Sodom, and the false teachers in Asia Minor. The chameleon may change its colours, but not its nature. Whereever sin touches there is a black spot. In the text the course of sin is threefold.
1. The abuse of natural instincts. God has placed in the body appetites and passions. In this respect man is on the same plane as the animal. Singularly enough, the animal is above man in the observance of their requirements. Neither gluttony, intemperance, nor incontinency has invaded the animal creation. Vicar Pritchard, of Llandovery, had a goat, which followed him through the town. At one period he was in the habit of frequenting public-houses. On one occasion some young men forced the goat to drink beer until it was drunk. The next day, when the vicar entered a public-house, the goat remained outside the door, and would on no account enter. The vicar learnt the lesson, and became a reformer of no mean order. The history of sin is read in the perversion of the natural man.
2. The denial of Divine authority. God has spoken in every age and to every man. Nature and Providence, as well as Revelation, have spoken in His name. Inspired men have delivered His commands, but sin has refused every voice, and rejected every message. The denial could not be made effectively without substituting error for truth, and forms of immorality for holiness.
3. The persecution of the excellent of the earth. Every virtue has been assailed in the persons of the virtuous. Every weapon has been used to torture and destroy the godly, in whose life the glory of God shone. If human nature is perverted, if the authority of God is contemned, and if the best characters are destroyed, what must be the consequence? Expulsion from heaven, and an abode with devils in the lake of fire!W. P.
Jud. 1:9. Michael and the Devil.We can hardly suppose that the interview between Michael and Satan was communicated to St. Jude by the Holy Ghost, because such a novel revelation would have rather startled his readers than illustrated the truth he was setting before them. To treat it as a fable without foundation in fact would have weakened the argument of the apostle. Some think that the reference is to Zec. 3:1, And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, etc. But there was no reference then made to the burial of Moses, and the similarity in the expression is too slender a foundation to connect the two. Origen mentions an apocryphal book called , which was extant in his time. That the apostle quoted from that book is not improbable, although there is nothing in the narrative before us to warrant the belief. Then there is the other supposition, that among the traditions held by the Jews there was one relative to a controversy between the two chiefs of the opposing angels about the burial of Moses. As these traditions were largely taught in those days, it may be that the apostle simply reads a lesson to the false teachers from their own teaching. They brought railing accusations against the apostles, which even an archangel dared not, as the higher and final judgment awaits all. An accusation of blasphemy is the strongest, as blasphemy is a sin of the deepest dye, which, when made against the Holy Ghost, is unpardonable. The apostle therefore conveys but one lesson by his reference to the dispute about the body of Moses, viz. that the final judgment is reserved in Gods own keeping.
1. The text teaches that there are two orders of spirits in conflict concerning matters affecting the human race. Not only angels are ministering to the necessities of the saints, and devils using influence to destroy them; but the corner of the veil is lifted up in the text, that we may mentally see the battle-field on which these powerful spirits meet to contend for their side. The fact administers to the strength of our faith. Satan brings accusations against us, as was the case with Joshua; but the angel defends us, and hands over the accuser to a higher judgment.
2. The text teaches that controversy must be confined to its proper limits. This leads us to reflect on the spirit which has too often animated the controversies which have taken place between the polemics of the Church. Men have assumed so much authority as to consign their opponents to a literal fire and an eternal hell. In this they have assumed the function of judge. Michael was right, but he did not go further than controversy. However certain one may feel that he is contending for the truth, he must not utter imprecations on the head of his adversary.
3. The text teaches that judgment belongs to the Lord alone. The term rebuke implies far more than correction or admonition; it means to censure. Here we take it to indicate that God only has the power of final decision, and to Him must the prerogative be ascribed. Omniscience, impartiality, and power belong to Him. Christians must not avenge themselves, for vengeance belongs to the Lord.
4. The text teaches also another valuable lesson, viz. that the strongest side of controversy is an appeal to God. Bring your adversary into the presence of his Maker, and leave him in the Divine balance. He who can refer his matter to Him who is light, and in whom is no darkness, has his cause justified by the fact of his readiness to abide by Gods word.W. P.
Dispute over the Body of Moses.St. Jude evidently refers to something that was familiar to his readers. Now the Bible preserves nothing that can conceivably be twisted into the support of such a legend as this. No tradition, precisely corresponding with this statement, is found in any Rabbinic or apocryphal book now extant, not even in the book of Enoch, from which Jude has drawn so largely in other instances (Jud. 1:6; Jud. 1:14). cumenius, indeed, writing in the tenth century, reports a tradition that Michael was appointed to minister at the burial of Moses, and the devil urged that his murder of the Egyptian (Exo. 2:12) had deprived him of the right of sepulture; and Origen states that the record of the dispute was found in a lost apocryphal book, known as The Assumption of Moses; but in both these instances it is possible that the traditions have grown out of the words of St. Jude, instead of being the foundation on which they rested. Rabbinic legends, however, though they do not furnish the precise fact to which St. Jude refers, show that a whole cycle of fantastic stories had gathered round the brief, mysterious report of the death of Moses, in Deu. 34:5-6. It should be carefully noticed that the name Michael, for an angel or archangel, does not appear until Dan. 10:21. And it is in the book of Enoch that he is prominent, as the merciful, the patient, the holy Michael. Perhaps, however, we are wrong in seeing any reference to the material body of Moses. John Bellamy makes a novel suggestion, which may receive some consideration, as he bases it on a careful examination of the original Greek. He says that the word archangel is a compound word, and means the first messenger. He thinks the reference is to John the Baptist, who was the first messenger of the new dispensation. The word body refers to the Messiah, as foretold in the shadows, types, and figures of the books of Moses; these shadows, types, and figures being called the body of Moses, the whole assemblage of all things that had respect to the manifestation of the Redeemer. The word devil should be translated Satan, an adversary, and really represents the rulers and Pharisees who resisted Johns teaching and Christs. Thus we find that there was no celestial being called by the term archangel, sent down from heaven to dispute with the devil about the fleshly body of Mosesno devil from hell, according to the vulgar opinion hitherto understood, to dispute with an archangel; but that it was the arch-messenger, i.e. the first messenger; and that the word diabolo, rendered the devil, was applied as a collective noun singular to the assembled body of Pharisees, the adversary of the mission of the Baptist, the declared, interested enemy of the gracious Redeemer. Let those who suppose the contention was about the material body of Moses recollect that the material body of Moses had been buried in a valley in the land of Moab about fifteen hundred years, when it was said that Michael and the devil contended about it. A contention for the material body of Moses never took place between these two immaterial beings. Thus mystically John Bellamy deals with the passage; but probably sober-minded Bible students will regard this spiritualising explanation as extravagant and unreasonable, and will prefer the simpler suggestion of a familiar legend, used by way of illustration.H. B. D.
Jud. 1:10. Presumption.Dr. Bloomfield renders this verse as follows: But those fellows, of things such as they have no knowledge of, they speak railingly; and, on the other band, such things as they do knownaturally, or sensually, as the irrational animalsthey corrupt themselves therein. At first sight it would appear that the meaning of the apostle is simply twofold; the holy truths of apostolic teaching, which the false teachers did not comprehend, they treated with scorn; the natural instincts, which they enjoyed in common with the brute creation, they abused. But on looking at the context we are inclined to think that there is a connection between the blasphemy of Divine things and the perversion of natural instincts. The parallel passage in 2Pe. 2:12-13 says: But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Dr. Peile develops the brevity of the expression thus: In those things they first vitiate, then destroy themselves; first vitiate the thing (or doctrine, by abuse), and destroy themselves in that abuse. St. Peter had before said of them: And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. One of the perversions was their covetousness, and through feigned words they made merchandise of the saints. One would infer that they sold indulgences, and pretended to absolve the people from their sins on payment of money. It also appears that there were other practices of such a forbidden nature that no apostle would disgrace his epistle by the mention of the same.
I. The presumption of ignorance.The virulent opposition of the false teachers to the truths taught by the apostles, and their setting up opinions of their own as the standard of morality, was typical of a course of action from which the Church has in every age suffered. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. This class of ignorance is to be distinguished from the absence of knowledge. He who has never heard the gospel must be ignorant of it; but in his case there is no assumption against its truths. On the other hand, false teachers were wilfully ignorant of the principles of Christianity because they were opposed to their corrupt practices. It was what Charnock calls practical atheism. In this age, when religious knowledge is so general, much of the opposition to the teaching of the Church starts from the same source. We must wake up to the fact that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Faith in the truths of Revelation is impossible without a change of heart. The first step is to convert men, and then educate them.
II. The sin of presumption.Those who have presumed to teach religion to others, whether their teaching has been a distorted gospel or some opinion of their own, have led people to the committal of sins far more heinous than is found in the heart of a heathen land. The morality of literal ignorance is far better than that of false teaching. This we have seen in the rise of various sects, some of which survive until the present day. Julian the apostate was a very violent opponent of Christianity, whose teaching led many into various immoralities. In the face of the boldness which is abroad, avowing that certain unnatural and immoral courses are lawful and desirable, the duty of the Church is clear. As the darkness flies from the light, so libertinism will not stand the presence of a high moral character. Therefore we think that the first concern of the Church is to utterly forsake all questionable practices, and confront the world with the virtues of the life of Jesus Christ.Selected.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEACHING ON APOSTASY FROM OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
Jud. 1:5-8
Text
5.
Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6.
And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
8.
Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities.
Queries
18.
Why is Jude asking them to remember something?
19
Does Jude mean they knew everything that God knows?
20.
All of what things did they know?
21.
Does this once for all refer to the same thing as the expression in Jud. 1:2?
22.
Two great facts about the Israelites are mentioned in Jud. 1:5. What are both?
23.
How could both of these facts have a possible bearing on the case Jude is proving?
24.
God knew before that most of these Israelites would not believe. Why did He wait until afterwards to destroy them?
25.
How was the unbelief of the Israelites demonstrated?
26.
To what angels is Jude referring in Jud. 1:6?
27.
How could the angels proper habitation have any relationship to the Christians proper habitation today?
28.
Who is the chief angel among those described in Jud. 1:6?
29.
Has the great day of Jud. 1:6 come yet? To what does it refer?
30.
Will there be people who will join these angels in this condemnation? (See Mat. 25:41).
31.
What was the proper habitation for the angels?
32.
Everlasting bonds suggest the angels are bound to a certain place, or away from a certain place. To what place, or from what place, could these angels have been bound?
33.
If they are bound to this earth, how could this be said to be under darkness?
34.
Does Jud. 1:7 suggest that the angels have committed fornication also? (Read carefully several times).
35.
In what way could the rebellion of Satan against God be termed going after strange flesh? (Note the expression like manner).
36.
Does Jud. 1:7 say, or even indicate, that angels have committed fornication with people?
37.
To what must eternal fire refer?
38.
Just how these men defile the flesh, set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities is clearly set forth in Jud. 1:8. How were they doing these things?
39.
The word dominion refers to authority. Can you think of more than one kind of authority that might possibly be included by the word?
40.
Dignities means literally glories, or glorious ones. Could these dignities be the evil angels? Is it likely?
Paraphrases
A. 5.
Now I wish you would recall these things, to follow what you remember from previous revelation, which was given once for all, how that Jesus delivered a people from the oppression in Egypt, and then destroyed these same people because they refused to believe.
6.
And also the angels who stayed not within the realm of their own jurisdiction, but encroached upon God, He has eternally bound them from heaven away from the light of God even until that great day of destruction.
7.
Like such cities as Sodom and Gomorrah, who with the same kind of action surrendered themselves to the sin of fornication and other lewd lusting, had their fate in eternal fire recorded for our benefit.
8.
In the same way the apostate teaching of these men lead to lusting and fornication, and encroaching upon the rights of God.
B.*5.
My answer to them is: remember this factwhich you know alreadythat the Lord saved a whole nation of people out of the land of Egypt, and then killed every one of them who did not trust and obey Him.
6.
And I remind you of those angels who were once pure and holy, but willingly turned to a life of sin. Now God has them chained up in prisons of darkness, waiting for the judgment day.
7.
And dont forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, all full of lust of every kind including lust of men for other men. Those cities were destroyed by fire and continue to be a warning to us that there is a hell in which sinners are punished.
8.
Yet these false teachers go on living their evil immoral lives, degrading their bodies and laughing at those in authority over them, even scoffing at the glorious onesthose mighty powers of awful evil who left their first estate.
Summary
Like those examples in the Old Testament, these men have done things to reserve for them a place in hell.
Comment
The purpose of the scripture is not only to instruct us concerning the will of God, but to stir up in our memory lest we forget. Peter says the purpose of both his epistles was to stir up their minds through their remembrance, (2Pe. 3:1). Paul instructs Timothy to put them in remembrance, (2Ti. 2:14). So it is not strange that Jude would have us draw lessons from the scriptures imbedded in our own memories.
Here Jude makes use of the vast storehouse of evidence that every man should have: his memory. Without memory there can be no growth, neither spiritual nor scholastic. Without memory the conscience would be dead and mans will would have no purpose. A good memory we should strive for, build up, and treasure.
Memories of trite and unimportant data are of little use, except for the possibility of memory training itself. But memory that builds our treasury of evidence concerning things spiritual brings us many benefits. Jude here asks his readers to remember important events and lessons from the Old Testament. These events will furnish evidence as to the natural result of these apostate teachings, and as to the end of the apostates themselves. If we know the scriptures, we know all things once for all delivered by God for us. By this knowledge we are enabled to discern the spirits, whether they be good or bad. This is Judes purpose in these verses.
Manuscripts are divided as to whether it was Jesus or the Lord that delivered the people from Egypt. The evidence is about equally divided with the advantage being to the reading of Jesus. Many commentators object to reading Jesus here. They claim that Jesus could have had nothing to do with Old Testament events or that Jesus is not mentioned in connection with Jewish history; or, as Plummer states, Jesus is nowhere else in the scripture stated to be the author of anything which took place before the Incarnation.
It is not difficult to conceive that Jesus had to do with the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. Jesus had to do even with the creation of the universe. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. (Joh. 1:3) Jesus has to do with keeping all things in existence, upholding all things by the word of his power. (Heb. 1:3) So it seems that he that descended out of heaven (Joh. 3:13) was busy about the Fathers business before His putting on flesh.
The purpose of the illustration concerning deliverance from Egypt and the eventual destruction of those delivered is to call the lessons to our remembrance. God will not forever tolerate a continual murmuring against His dominion. The Israelites believed not the words of the Lord, and because of their unbelief that which they should have known became the unknown to them. They trembled in the face of the giants and wept when water was not in sighteven before they were thirsty! With evidence of Gods care manifest continually, they still chose to disbelieve He would continue, and insulted Him by doubting His word. They were destroyed.
Another Old Testament apostasy used for an example is the fallen angels. They kept not their first estate (More correctly; kept not their own dignity). The results of their apostasy show the seriousness. Such a terrible apostasy with such serious results would certainly be referred to in other scriptures, and that it is. The parallel with the passage in 2 Peter is not to be discounted. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; leaves no doubt as to the reference. The original fall of the devil and his angels is a prime example of apostasy. What then is the everlasting bonds under darkness? one may ask. These everlasting bonds must be the prohibition of these fallen angels from the presence of God. Like Satan himself, they roam this earth seeking to devour Gods elect; but they are shut off from the light of Gods presence forever. In this fashion they await the final judgment and condemnation where they shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev. 20:10)
There are some who prefer to interpret this passage to mean another period of angels being tested and falling. Although a second testing and falling is not a scriptural doctrine, such an interpretation is given to the account of giants in Gen. 6:1 ff. The expression sons of God in Gen. 6:2 is a reference to angels, it is claimed. Thus the angels saw that women on earth they were pretty, and decided to cohabitate with them. The resultant children of these unholy alliances were giants.
There are a number of problems that make such an interpretation unlikely. For one, the expression sons of God does not have to mean angels. The expression is used of angels in the Old Testament. The expression used in Genesis 6, however, most obviously refers to that which is being described in the context of Genesis 5. Here we find the descendants of Seth described as a righteous people. Of these people were such as Enoch, who walked with God. (Gen. 5:22) The most natural and proper interpretation would be that the sons of God in Gen. 6:2 refer to the righteous descendants of Seth described in chapter five.
Again it is not necessary to invent some physical abnormality nor some unholy alliance with the demon world in order to explain giants. There are many mysteries in this world that the Bible does not explain. The scripture does not attempt to make any explanation of the source of colored pigmentations in the skins of different peoples. Why one people would be brown, another yellow, another white, and another black was not considered by the Spirit a subject worthy of explanation. Likewise, why there should be a nation of pigmies and another of giants differing from the sizes of most peoples is not considered to be knowledge essential to our spiritual welfare.
But why is the word giants used in Gen. 6:2 as a result of these marriages? one may ask. The word in Gen. 6:4 is more properly Nephilim or mighty men. Although the word can mean giants, it also can mean bullies, rough-necks or robbers. These are not the giants that the spies saw in Canaan, for the flood destroyed these men in Genesis 6. Gen. 6:4 calls these Nephilim, mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. From Gen. 6:5 forward we see that these men were renown because of their wickedness, so it seems proper that they were men mighty in wickedness and evil also.
The most natural interpretation of Gen. 6:1-4 is that the descendants of Seth (sons of God) married the daughters of men (beautiful women from the line of Cain) with the result that their children became wicked and evil like their mothers; until finally there was only one righteous family left; Noah and his sons. The passage in chapter 6 is evidently given to explain why only one righteous family remained from Seths line.
The most likely source for the doctrine of angels marrying women is the book of Enoch. The book of Enoch is an obviously uninspired book, containing contradictions within itself and clear contradictions with the scriptures. This apocryphal book dates back to the second century, and some would claim the book actually pre-dates Jude. There is one passage similar in both books, and much similarity of content. It is not clear, however, that Jude quoted Enoch, or that Enoch quoted Jude. Jude in his reference to Enoch is referring to the Old Testament descendant of Adam, for he so states. It is possible that the book of Enoch was not in existence or was not known by Jude at the time he wrote. If so, then it might be claimed that the book of Enoch was a partial quote of the inspired writing of Jude. Many modern scholars today, however, tend to give a late date to Jude and claim that Jude quoted from Enoch.
The book of Enoch has this to say regarding Genesis 6 :
And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: Come, let us choose wives from among the children of men and beget us children . . . And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon . . . and all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants, turned against them and devoured mankind . . . they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. And the women have borne giants . . . Bind Azazel (the leader of those angels) hand and foot and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire (Book of Enoch 6 and 7:1, 9:9 and chap. 10. Extract from commentary on Jude by Wolff, pp 70)
Sodom and Gomorrah is a third Old Testament example of apostasy. This apostasy is probably chosen to point out the sensual nature of the false teaching of the Gnostics as well as the certain destruction to follow. Sodom and Gomorrah in rejecting God became the famous Old Testament example of the devolution of sin described in Rom. 1:28-32. The sinfulness and vileness of giving over to sensuous desires is nowhere more obvious.
The ultimate end (of the Gnostic teaching that it doesnt make any difference what one does since the flesh is sinful anyway) is the same as the end of Sodom and Gomorrah. In like manner says Jude, these philosophers will defile the flesh. Rotten doctrine in public school will make rotten lives in public school children. So the Gnostic doctrine was rotten, and it could make the lives of the Christians who followed it also rotten.
The Gnostic doctrine would also cause Christians to scoff at the authority and dominion of Jehovah, even as the fallen angels had done. And who today would deny that any modern teaching that tends to make Christ less than Lord and to make Jehovah less than the ever existent Creator would not likewise lead Christians to set at nought dominion and rail at glories? Every Christian should be horrified because of this possible result of false teaching.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5-7) We now enter upon the main body of the Epistle. Three instances of Gods vengeance: the unbelievers in the wilderness; the impure angels; Sodom and Gomorrha.
(5) I will therefore put you in remembrance.Or, But I wish to remind you. The but indicates opposition to the impiety of those just mentioned.
Though ye once knew this.The best MSS. and versions compel us to substitute all things for this, and we must translate, because ye have once for all (as in Jud. 1:3) known all things. You have once for all been taught all that I want to say to you; so that I need only remind you, there is no need to instruct. (Comp. Rom. 15:14-15, where see Notes; 2Pe. 1:12; 1Jn. 2:21.) All things probably has special reference to Old Testament history, as what follows seems to show.
How that the Lord.How that depends upon remind, not upon have known. There is very strong evidence in favour of substituting Jesus for the Lord; a most remarkable reading, showing how, in Christian language, the Man Jesus had become identified with the Eternal Son. The use of Christ in 1Co. 10:4, though less striking, is similar.
Having saved the people.Or, perhaps, having saved a people. A whole nation was rescued. The order of the three examples of signal punishment is in 2 Peter chronological: impure angels, flood, Sodom and Gomorrha; here not. But the order here is quite intelligible. St. Judes main object is to warn his readers against that party in the Christian community who, by its abuse of Christian liberty, transformed the gospel of purity into a gospel of wantonness, and to give them a safeguard against such. And the safeguard is this: to hold fast the faith once for all delivered to them, and to remember the consequences of being unbelieving. For this purpose, no warning could be more apposite than the fate of Judes own nation in the wilderness. This palmary instance given, two others follow, probably suggested by 2 Peter.
Afterward destroyed.Better, secondly destroyed. Wiclif, the secunde tyme; Rheims, secondly. The Lord twice manifested His power on Israel: (1) in mercy; (2) in judgment. The reference is almost certainly to Num. 14:35; Deu. 1:35, &c. The destruction of Jerusalem can scarcely be meant, whatever date we assign to the Epistle, although the striking reading, Jesus for the Lord, gives some countenance to such an interpretation. The most obvious meaning is, that the people destroyed were those who, in the first instance, were saved. Had the destruction of Jerusalem been intended, the reference would probably have been more clear.
(6) And the angels which kept not.Rather, because they kept not. The construction is similar to that in Mat. 18:25, Forasmuch as he had not to pay. (See Note on Jud. 1:8.) This second instance of the impure angels has nothing to do with the original rebellion of Satan, or fall of the angels. The reference is either to Gen. 6:2, or (more probably), to passages in the Book of Enoch. (See Excursus at the end of this Epistle.)
Their first estate.The Greek word has two meanings: (1) beginning, which our translators have adopted here; (2) rule or power, which would be better. Wiclif has prinshood; Rheims, principalitie. The word is translated rule (1Co. 15:24) and principality (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; Eph. 3:10; Eph. 6:12; Col. 1:16; Col. 2:10; Col. 2:15; Tit. 3:1). The term belongs to the Jewish classification of angels, and here refers rather to their power over things earthly than to the beginning of their state. The two meanings are but two views of the same fact: their power or dignity was their first estate. Some explain the word of the power of God over the angels; but both wording and context are against this.
Their own habitation.Their proper home. By leaving heaven and coming down to earth, they lost their power over the earth. (Comp. Miltons Paradise Lost, Book 5)
He hath reserved.Better, He hath kept, in ironical contrast to which kept not just above: the same Greek word is used in both cases. This ironical contrast does not exist in the parallel passage, 2Pe. 2:4. Would a writer, quite willing to copy, have failed to copy this? On the other hand, what more natural than that St. Jude should add a forcible touch?
In everlasting chains.Speculations as to how this and 2Pe. 2:4 are to be reconciled with such texts as Luk. 22:31, 1Pe. 5:8, which speak plainly of the freedom and activity of Satan, and Eph. 6:12, Rom. 8:38, Col. 2:15, which imply numerous agents akin to him, are not very profitable. The reality of powers of evil may be inferred, apart from Scripture, from their effects. That some of these powers are personal, some not, some free, some not, and that all are to be defeated at last, seems to be implied in Scripture; but its silence is a rebuke to curious speculation. Enough is told us for our comfort, warning, and assurance. It consoles us to know that much of the evil of which we are conscious in ourselves is not our own, but comes from without. It puts us on our guard to know that we have such powers arrayed against us. It gives us confidence to know that we have abundant means of victory even over them.
Under darkness.The Greek word occurs only here, Jud. 1:13, 2Pe. 2:4; 2Pe. 2:17, and possibly Heb. 12:18. A separate English word, such as gloom, is desirable for these passages.
The great day.So called Rev. 6:17 (comp. Rev. 16:14), and nowhere else in the New Testament. Perhaps it comes from Joe. 2:31; Mal. 4:5. St. Johns expression is the last day (Joh. 6:39-40; Joh. 6:44; Joh. 6:54; Joh. 11:24; Joh. 12:48; and nowhere else). The day of judgment, that day, and the day of the Lord, are other common expressions.
(7) Even as.Or, possibly, how, like how that in Jud. 1:5, depending upon put you in remembrance. Sodom and Gomorrha are typical instances of divine vengeance both in the Old and New Testament (Isa. 13:19; Jer. 50:40; Rom. 9:29).
And the cities about them.Adma and Zeboim (Deu. 29:23; Hos. 11:8).
In like manner.We must read, in like manner to these, and arrange the sentence thus: Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, giving themselves over to fornication in like manner to these. Who are meant by these? Not the ungodly men of Jud. 1:4, which would anticipate Jud. 1:8; nor the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, which would be somewhat clumsy in the Greek; but the angels of Jud. 1:6. The reference is again to the impurity of certain angels in having intercourse with the daughters of men, of which there is so much in the Book of Enoch. This sin of the angels was strictly analogous to that of the people of Sodom.
Going after strange flesh.Strictly, going astray after other fleshi.e., other than is allowed; leaving natural for unnatural uses.
Are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.It would be possible to take of eternal fire after example, thus: are set forth as an example of eternal fire in undergoing punishment. (Comp. Wis. 10:7.) The punishment of the submerged cities is perpetual; moreover, there are appearances as of volcanic fire under them. The Greek for undergoing occurs here only in the New Testament; but comp. 2Ma. 4:48.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Put you in remembrance Parallel to 2Pe 3:1, “I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.”
Once For all knew, by their early knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures. The well-known truths had long slumbered in their memories, but must now be aroused to meet the crisis of their fulfilment. Jude now gives a triad of similar cases of guilt, followed by condign punishment, recorded in the Old Testament scriptures. FIRST EXAMPLE. The Israelite people.
The Lord Here we are surprised by the fact disclosed to us by modern scholarship, that the true reading is doubtless not Lord, but Jesus. Somewhat similarly we have the unexpected Christ in 1Co 10:2-4, and Heb 10:28-31. Yet Jesus here is the more surprising as it is the more purely human name of the Lord than Christ. Some would read Joshua, of which Jesus is the Greek form, as in Heb 4:8; but Joshua did not save and then destroy the people. We have, therefore, the conclusion that to Jude, the maternal brother of Jesus, Jesus was Jehovah.
Destroyed them For sins, and especially lusts. From the Phenicians or Canaanites came the rites of Ashtoreth, in which courtezans were the priestesses, houses of license were the temples, obscene images were the idols, and debauchery was the worship. Against this fulness of iniquity the religion of Jehovah was arrayed, and when Israel apostatized thereto Jehovah destroyed him.
Believed not Adhered not to the pure worship of Jehovah, but yielded to the seductions of idolatrous lust.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who believed not.’
His first example is of an Israel who had been ‘saved’ out of the land of Egypt. He wants them to remember what happened to those people who had supposedly been saved out of Egypt. Apart from a few they had refused to believe.
The only incident in Exodus to Deuteronomy which speaks of the people ‘not believing’ is when they were faced up to entry into Canaan and refused to go forward. See Num 14:11; Deu 1:32; Deu 9:23. They had left Egypt ‘believing’ (Exo 14:31), but on their refusing to advance on Canaan God declared, ‘how long will they not believe in Me?’ Furthermore in Deu 9:23 Moses declares, ‘when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you”, then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you believed Him not nor listened to His voice’. And the same is true in Deu 1:32 in context. So this is the great incident of specific and stated unbelief in the life of Israel.
And what was the result? That God swore that apart from Moses, Caleb and Joshua (who had believed) every adult from twenty years old and upwards (Num 14:29) who were involved in the unbelief would die in the wilderness. And that was what happened. They died to the last man (Deu 2:16). ‘He destroyed those who believed not’.
The lesson is clear, that, whatever the claims about having ‘been saved’, without a true belief that responds to God Himself, a God active to save, the God of the Old Testament as well as the New, all who do not believe will perish.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jud 1:5 “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this” – Comments – We see Peter giving his readers the same statement.
2Pe 1:12, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.”
Jud 1:6 Comments Jud 1:6 and a similar verse in 2Pe 2:4 tell us about a group of angels who are presently chained in darkness in Hell, or Tartaros, or the bottomless pit who can no longer move about on earth.
2Pe 2:4, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”
The Book of Jubilees indicates that these angels that are now kept in everlasting chains in darkness are not the group of angels that fell with Satan from heaven. Otherwise, there would not be so many demons that are presently moving about on earth today. It tells us that these are the angels that we read about in Gen 6:1-7 who married the daughters of men and conceived giants upon the earth. It says that God took these wicked angels and bound them in the depths of the earth until the Day of Judgment.
“And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants. And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth – all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil continually. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders, and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner of evil before His eyes. And He said that He would destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created. But Noah found grace before the eyes of the Lord. And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are (kept) separate. And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven. And He said ‘My spirit shall not always abide on man; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and twenty years’. And He sent His sword into their midst that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to slay each other till they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth. And their fathers were witnesses (of their destruction), and after this they were bound in the depths of the earth for ever, until the day of the great condemnation , when judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their works before the Lord.” ( The Book of Jubilees 5.1-11) [37]
[37] The Book of Jubilees, translated by R. H. Charles, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English With Introductions and Critical and Explanatory Notes to the Several Books, vol 2, ed. R. H. Charles, 1-82 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 20.
It is interesting to note that this parallel passage in 2Pe 2:4 is joined to the following verse by the conjunction “and” by mentioning the destruction of the world and the salvation of Noah.
2Pe 2:5, “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”
This is because in passage in The Book of Jubilees quoted above, the destruction of the world by a flood and the casting down of these wicked angels were a part of the same event of judgment from God.
Jud 1:6 Comments – My wife once asked me why could God not just come down to earth and reveal Himself so that everyone would see that He is real. People would be able to know that there is a God in Heaven and then serve Him instead of following all of their false religions. I thought a minute and answered, “The angels in heaven were in the presence of God and some of them rebelled. Being able to see God does not insure that someone will serve Him, as demonstrated by the fallen angels.”
We also see in Rev 20:7-10 how Satan will be released after a thousand years of being bound and will again deceive nations while Christ Jesus is ruling them from Jerusalem. So, even some people will rebel against the Lord after seeing Him on His throne in Jerusalem.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Examples of the judgment of God:
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, 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. The apostle offers a number of illustrations from the Old Testament to show that the Judgment will finally come upon all deceivers: But I desire to remind you, since you are perfectly aware of it all, that the Lord, having delivered the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those that did not believe. The examples of God’s wrath and punishment which Jude intended to refer to had, of course, been included in the instruction which the readers had received in the doctrine of Scriptures. Therefore Jude feels that it is but necessary for him to remind them of a few in order to bring out his point; it was not necessary to write at length. There was, first of all, the illustration from the history of the children of Israel. God had indeed delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, brought them out of the land of Egypt with great might and with an outstretched arm. But when they were afterwards disobedient and refused to believe the words which He spoke to them through His servant Moses, He kept them in the wilderness for forty years until all those had been destroyed and perished that had left Egypt as adults.
A further example of God’s wrath and punishment is that of the evil angels: And angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He has reserved for the Judgment of the great day, with everlasting bonds under darkness. In the beginning God made all His creatures good, including the angels, Gen 1:31. But certain of His angels were not satisfied with their position, with their office, with their dignity. They rose up in rebellion against the Lord and left the habitation which the Lord had given them. The punishment of the Lord, therefore, came upon them with almighty force: they are being reserved, or kept, in everlasting chains under darkness, in a state of confinement from which they cannot escape. With God’s permission they may move around in the world, but they are still under the doom from which there is no escape; they have been cut off forever from true fellowship with God, from the hope of salvation, 2Pe 2:4.
A third illustration is taken from the book of Genesis: Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having glutted themselves in fornication in like manner as these men and gone after other flesh, are set forth for an example, sentenced to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. So unspeakably filthy were the transgressions of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah that they have become synonyms for all that is unmentionably debased in human nature. And the cities nearby, Adamah and Zeboim, Deu 29:23; Hos 11:8, followed their example and became guilty of like excesses in unnatural fornication, not even hesitating to cohabit with beasts. The curse of the Lord, therefore, Deu 27:21; Lev 18:23; Lev 20:15-16, descended upon these cities and their inhabitants. Fire from heaven fell down and destroyed their possessions even to the last stone, and to this day the Dead Sea is a warning sign of the fierceness of God’s vengeance, just as the transgressors are suffering the pains of everlasting fire in hell.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jud 1:5. Though ye once knew this, Though ye fully, or perfectly. See Jud 1:3. The Christians to whom St. Jude writes, had formerly been of the Jewish religion, and were therefore well acquainted with the Old Testament, from their hearing it read in the synagogue every Sabbath-day. It is intimated in the latter clause, that the grand corrupters of the gospel referred to, were guilty of unbelief or disobedience to God; in which if they persisted, all their Christian privileges would not prevent their destruction.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jud 1:5 . From this verse to Jud 1:7 we have three examples, as representations of the judgment which threatens those mentioned in Jud 1:4 . Compare with this 2Pe 2:4-6 .
] is used metabatically (as a mere particle of transition); not in order to put in contrast to (Jud 1:3 ), which is only to be justified by the explanation of Schott, that “Jude intends not properly to exhort the readers, but by he means only that he will remind them.” is not the subject, but the object to ; comp. 2Pe 1:12 (Rom 15:15 ).
[ ] ] is either in an adversative sense = (de Wette); or, which is to be preferred on account of , the statement of the reason of , Nicolas de Lyra: commonere autem vos volo et non docere de novo; et subditur ratio; Bengel: causa, cur admoneat duntaxat: quia jam sciant, semelque cognitum habeant; so also Wiesinger and Schott.
is not to be united per hyperbaton with ; also not = first, so that corresponding to it would be = secondly, and both referred to (Jachmann); but belongs to , and to . Hornejus incorrectly explains by: jampridem et ab initio (Arnaud: vous qui l’avez su une fois); it has here rather the same meaning as in Jud 1:3 , rendering prominent that a new teaching is not necessary (de Wette, Stier, Wiesinger, Fronmller, Schott, Hofmann).
; according to Nicolas de Lyra = omnia ad salutem necessaria; better: everything which is an object of evangelical teaching, here naturally with particular reference to what directly follows, to which alone the of the Rec. points. [15]
( ) ] belongs not to , but to .
With the reading ( ) (Stier calls it: “without example, and incomprehensibly strange”) Jude here would speak from the same point of view as Paul does in 1Co 10:4 (comp. also 1Pe 1:11 ), according to which all the acts of divine revelation are done by the instrumentality of Christ, as the eternal Son and revealer of God. The name , by which Christ is designated in His earthly and human personality, is, however, surprising; but Jude might have so used it from the consciousness that the eternal Son of God and He who was born of Mary is the same Person (comp. 1Co 8:9 ; Phi 2:5 ). With the reading certainly the more natural which de Wette-Brckner and Hofmann prefer, whilst Wiesinger and Schott consider as the original a designation of God is to be understood.
] That by this the people of Israel is meant is evident; the article is wanting, because Jude would indicate that Israel was saved as an entire people, with reference to the following . [16]
] is to be retained in its proper meaning, and to be explained neither, with Nicolas de Lyra and others, as = post (Arnaud: de nouveau, ensuite, aprs), nor, with Grotius and Wolf, as = ex contrario . It indicates that what was said in the preceding participial sentence, namely, the divine deliverance of the people from Egypt, is considered as a first deed, to which a second followed. The definite statement of what this second is, is usually derived from the preceding , and by it is accordingly understood a second deliverance; but there are different views as to what deliverance is meant. In this commentary the deliverance of the people from the wilderness was designated as this second deliverance, which certainly occurred to the people, yet only so that those who believed not did not attain to it, but were destroyed by God in the wilderness (so in essentials, Stier, Brckner, Wiesinger). On the other hand, Schmidt ( bibl. Theologie , II.), Luthardt, Schott, Hofmann understand by it the deliverance effected by Christ; whilst they regard as the punishment falling on unbelievers, the destruction of Jerusalem, or the overthrow of the Jewish state. But both explanations are arbitrary; for, first, it is unauthorized to refer only to and not to ; and, secondly, in the principal sentence a deliverance is not at all indicated. [17] Whilst, then, Jude thinks on the deliverance from Egypt as a first deed, he does not mention a deliverance, but the destruction of those who believed not, as the second deed following the first. But this second is not indicated as a single deed, and therefore by it is to be understood generally what befell the unbelieving in the wilderness after the deliverance from Egypt; what this was is expressed in the words . It is arbitrary to refer this, with Ritschl, only to the history recorded in Num 25:1-9 ; and still more arbitrary to refer it, with Fronmller, to the Babylonish captivity (2Ch 36:16 ff.). Compare, moreover, with this verse, Heb 3:16-19 .
] On , with participles, see Winer, p. 449 f. [E. T. 606 f.]; comp. Jud 1:6 : . It is to be observed that in the corresponding passage, 2Pe 2 , instead of this example, the deluge is named.
[15] Schott, indeed, explains correctly; but he erroneously thinks that with indicates “this knowledge is meant as a knowledge effected by a definite individual act,” and that is to be understood of the instruction given in Second Peter.
[16] Calvin observes: nomen populi honorifice capitur pro gente sancta et electa, ac si diceret, nihil illis profuisse, quod singulari privilegio in foedus assumpti essent; but were this correct, a would at least have been added.
[17] Against Winer’s explanation, p. 576 [E. T. 775]: “the verb connected with should properly have been ( . . .); the Lord, after having saved, the second time (when they needed His helping grace) refused them this saving grace, and left them to destruction.” But there is nothing indicated in the context of a state of being in want of grace.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Jud 1:5-15
Contents:Three examples of the punitive justice of God, typical of the judgment awaiting those deceivers, introduced as a warning, Jud 1:6-8; more particular description of their sins. An exclamation of woe, Jud 1:11, followed by additional details of their character, and an application to them of a prophecy of Enoch.
5I will17 therefore18 put you in remembrance, though ye19 once knew this,20 how that the Lord,21 having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed22 them that believed not. 6And the angels23 which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved24 in everlasting chains25 under darkness unto the 7judgment of the great day. Even as26 Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner,27 giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange28 flesh, 8are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise29 also these filthy dreamers defile30 the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.31 32 9Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst33 not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10But these speak evil of those things34 which they know not: but what they know35 naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,36 and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12These are spots in your feasts of charity,37 when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about38 of winds; trees whose fruit withereth,39 with out fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for 14ever. And Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied40 of these, saying, Behold the Lord41 cometh with ten thousand of his saints,42 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince43 all that ar44 ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against13him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Jud 1:5. But I will remind youbelieved not.This connects with 2Pe 1:12, although there the reference is not to historical facts, but to doctrines. In like manner the words,you who know all things once for all revert to that passage as well as to , 2Pe 3:17. (cf. Appar. Crit., N. 5). It is inadmissible to connect with , or to take it in the sense of once, formerly, from the beginning; it rather has here its usual meaning, you have heard it once for all and stamped it on your memory; you need not any new instruction on that head; but it is matter of urgent necessity for you to be reminded of it, earnestly to deliberate upon it, and to apply what has taken place to events as they occur. It is not related to the following . If we adopt the reading , all that is necessary is to connect it with the sequel, to the historical facts, and hence not to take it as at 1Jn 2:20. [ . Remembering that Jude wrote against the Gnostics (the men of knowledge), who laid claim to superior knowledge, and on that pretence beguiled their hearers into corrupt doctrines and licentious practices (2Pe 1:2-3), the words seem to have an implied antithesis, and while affirming of his readers that they had all the knowledge necessary to their salvation (1Jn 2:20), put them on their guard against the pretended superiority of knowledge of the Gnostics. See Wordsworth in loc.M.].Huther says on the reading that it unfolds the same view as 1Co 10:4, and that the name of Jesus in this connection may be accounted for by the popular character of a parenetic Epistle. neither=afterward, nor=on the contrary (Grotius). Forced is also the explanation of Winer, pp. 642, 643: The Lord, after having delivered them, did, on a second occasion (when they were in need of His helping grace), refuse them His delivering grace and destroy them. Equally unnatural is that of Huther: God did reveal Himself to His people in two ways, the first time as a Deliverer, the second time as Judge, that is in the latter instance as Judge of the unbelieving who did not trustfully and obediently rely upon His promise. Similarly Stier: After Gods deliverance and pardoning there is also a second time surely following in the case of the unworthy. No, it is said, He destroyed them the second time, and should be referred to two judgments of destruction, once, when the people, with the exception of a few, perished in the wilderness, and again to the Babylonish captivity, Num 14:23; 2Ch 36:16, etc. The corresponding passage in 2 Peter (2:2) specifies the example of the flood; Jude wished to select a still stronger example, exhibiting a two-fold destruction of the chosen people. Notwithstanding the former wonderful deliverance, the people were twice destroyed. Had this Epistle been written after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jude might have added a . [Notwithstanding Fronmllers emphatic assertion to the contrary, we feel constrained to advocate the view recommended in Appar. Crit., note 6. It is more telling in point of fact and more congruous in point of doctrine; it is perfectly sound in point of grammar, and the charge of its being forced and unnatural is arbitrary and unsupported by reasons.M.]
Jud 1:6. And the angelsdarkness.The allusion in 2Pe 2:4 is here more fully explained. If it could be proved that Jude had before him the book of Enoch, which repeatedly adverts to the coming down of the angels in order to contaminate themselves with women, we should not be warranted to think here of the first fall in the world of spirits. But this presumption is not certain. See note on 2Pe 2:4.
Their first estate.Huther explains of the dominion, originally assigned to them; others (e.g., Calvin, Grotius) of their original condition, estate, cf. Joh 8:44. Both ideas may be combined as Stier [and others] do. [In that case we have primam dignitatem, Carpz. al.M.]
Their own habitation, not heaven in general, but their own dwelling of light assigned to them by the Creator. Their fall and guilt seem to have been the consequence of their leaving that habitation and arbitrarily going beyond the sphere allotted to them. There is no explicit reference to Satan, but , which points to incitement from without, may allude to him. Delitzsch: They made themselves at home on earth and exchanged the power belonging to their vocation in heaven with an earthly exhibition of power usurped for the sake of selfish sensual indulgence.
For the judgment of the great day, i.e., for the last judgment at the end of the world; an amplification of 2Pe 2:4; cf. Act 2:20; Rev 6:17; Rev 16:14.
With everlasting bonds.Peter has only chains (bands) of darkness, cf Jud 1:7. The book of Enoch has this variation: Bind them for seventy generations under the earth until the day of judgment, then shall they be removed to the lowest depths of fire.
Under darkness.De Wette: In the depth of the under-world, in the abyss. Rev 20:2-3. At the same time the reference to the inward, spiritual darkness of the love of evil, must not be overlooked. See 2Pe 2:4. [Clement of Alex. says,that the chains in which the evil angels are now confined, are the air near this earth of ours,(vicinus terris locus, caliginosus ar), and that they may well be said to be chained, because they are restrained from recovering the glory and happiness they have lost.
Wordsworth: This passage is cited by Origen in Mtt. tom., XV., p. 693, and in Rom. lib. 3., vol. IV., p. 510, where he calls this Epistle Scriptura divina, ibid, lib., V., p. 549.M.]
Jud 1:7. How Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.To the two examples taken from the past history of Israel and the invisible world, Jude, again agreeing with Peter, adds a new example, taken from the heathen world, of a punitive judgment the consequences of which still remain.
The cities around them, an addition to 2Pe 2:6. Admah and Zeboim. Deu 29:23; Hos 11:8.
In like manner as these men, may be connected with Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, the inhabitants of those cities; as the sin of those cities is generally known, it cannot be thought strange that it is indirectly adverted to. It is less known of the other two cities, hence the selection of this word. Bengel refers to the false teachers, Jud 1:4, but he thereby anticipates the thought of Jud 1:8. The majority of modern expositors believe the reference to be to the fallen angels, who, according to the book of Enoch, sinned in like manner. See on 2Pe 2:6. We cannot believe that Jude or Peter considered fables of apocryphal books, like those contained in the book of Enoch and the Gospel of the Twelve Patriarchs, and which cannot be substantiated by Genesis 4. to be true,(see Evangel. Kirchenzeitung, 1858, p. 35, sq.), although Jude refers to them and confirms some of their statements. [Bengels construction, which is also that of Wordsworth and others, seems to be more natural and less artificial than that recommended by Fronmller. The anticipation of the thought of Jud 1:8, is no valid objection. Jude first points out the analogy in general terms and then develops it. The very sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were those of some of the Gnostic sects. See the description of the Nicolaitans in Iren. 1:20; Theodoret haer. fab., 1. Epiphan. haer. 25.M.]
, although not used elsewhere in the New Testament, is of frequent occurrence in the LXX., where it is generally applied to spiritual whoredom, but also to physical in Gen 38:24 for . is intensive, and denotes extravagant lust. The idea transcending the limits of nature belongs to what follows.
Gone after strange flesh, ; , to go after, literally, Mar 1:20; then tropically. Peter uses the term , 2Pe 2:10. See note there. It is evident that this term cannot apply to angels, who have no flesh.
Are set forth, etc.; [literally: lie before the eyes, ante (oculos) jacent.M.] The parallel passage, 2Pe 2:6, has a different turn,having made [set, institutedM.] them an example. There we have , here . The Dead Sea is to this day a testimony of that catastrophe; ruins of the sunken cities were perhaps still visible in the days of Jude at low-water; but this is not the case now, although such a myth of travellers is occasionally circulated. See Zeller Bibl. Wrterbuch, p. 510.
should be construed with ,(de Wette), not with . Stier: They suffer a punishment intended to serve as an example and type of eternal fire. Cf. Wis 10:7 [On the construction with , Wordsworth offers the following exposition: As Sodom and Gomorrah suffer the vengeance of a fire that consumed them finally, so that they will never be restored, as long as the world lasts, so the bodies and souls of the wicked will suffer, as long as they are capable of suffering, which, since they are immortal, will, as Tertullian says: be forever, erimus iidem, qui nunc, nec alii post resurrectionem: Dei quidem cultores, apud Deum semper, profani ver in pnam aque jugis ignis habentes est ips natur ejus, divin scilicet, subministrationem incorruptibilitatis. Apol. 48.M]. De Wette says that subterraneous fire is presumed to be beneath the sea that covers the cities. May this not be a false presumption?, 2Ma 4:48; 2Th 1:9. [On the Eternity of future punishment, see Bp. Taylors Sermon on Christs advent to judgment, part III., . 6.M.]
Jud 1:8. Now in like manner, etc. has at once illative and adversative force. Now, in like manner, howeveri.e., without taking warning from those Divine judgments.
These dreamers also, refers back to Jud 1:4. , on account of and should be construed both with and . This sets aside various false interpretations, which make reference to voluptuous dreams, nocturnal pollutions, etc. As differs from in that the former denotes a confused state of soul, an abnormal influence of the imagination on the bodily organs, whereas the latter designates a clear and sometimes most significant dream, so is designed to portray that state of the soul in which the Ego is controlled and held captive by the power of ungodly, sensual impulses. Stier: Their inner man is benumbed, blinded, absorbed by gloomy visions, dreamy and holden with sleep. Cf. Isa 29:10.
[Bengel: Uno verbo hominum mere naturalium indoles graphice admodum descripta est. Somnians multa videre, audire, etc., sibi videtur; concupiscentia agitatur, gaudio, angore, timore, rel. At nescit imperare sibi in isto statu: sed qualis est imago in somnio ex imagine orta, talis hominum illorum conditio. Hinc, omnibus licet rationis nervis adhibitis, concipere nequeunt, filios lucis vera libertate, in luci expergefactos, perfrui.
Hornejus: Tam insipientes sunt, ut quasi lethargo quodam sopiti non tantum impure vivant, sed etiam qu non norunt tam audaciter vituperent.
Arnaud: Cependant ceux-ci, comme des gens qui agissent sans savoir ce quils font, comme sils rvaient, pour ainsi dire..M.]
Defile the flesh, i.e., their own and strange flesh. The idea has a turn somewhat different from 2Pe 2:10, to which Jude here alludes. Peter speaks of the lust, Jude of its gratification. In the sequel also Jude goes farther than Peter, a circumstance noteworthy with regard to their relation to each other. stronger than ; see on 2Pe 2:10. Jud 1:11. In like manner 9 contains an expansion of and deviation from 2Pe 2:11. The attempt of interpreting that passage by the verse under notice leads to confusion and forced meanings.
Jud 1:9. But Michael, the archangel, etc.A comparison showing the daring and criminality of their blaspheming. They dare to do something against the lordship and the glories (see on them note on 2Pe 2:11), which even Michael, the archangel, did not venture to do against Satan. The Hebrew Michael signifies,Who is like God, and denotes the humility and greatness of this Prince of angels, as well as the standard of all his actions, cf. Exo 15:11; Psa 89:7-8. He is called one of the chief Princes, Dan 10:13; the great Prince standing up and fighting for the children of the people of God, Dan 12:1; cf. Rev 12:7; 1Th 4:16. In the book of Enoch, where however the incident mentioned is not recorded, we read of him (as cited by Huther): Who (set) over human virtue, governs the nations. Jude supposes his readers familiar with this incident. The Jews had from ancient times various traditions of the burial of Moses, of a contest about his soul. According to Oecumenius, the tradition ran that God had charged Michael the archangel with the burial of Moses; that Satan opposed him, bringing an accusation against him relating to the murder of the Egyptian; in consequence of which he was unworthy of such honourable burial. Jude, like Paul, 2Ti 3:8, probably drew from this tradition, the Spirit of God directing him to extract the truth from those traditions. It is therefore not necessary to assume here a special revelation vouchsafed to Jude. Origen, Epiphanius and others refer to a book called The Ascension or Removal of Moses, but that book is doubtless of a later origin, and it is more probable that Jude made use of oral tradition rather than of that book.
Contending with the devil. ; , to get into dispute, to separate and disagree, particularly to carry on a dispute in law. The words show that it was a verbal altercation. Stier: The powers of heaven and hell contended consequently for the, body of the man of God after his death.
Dared not, etc.Huther: From fear of the original glory of the devil. Better,from profound dread of the majesty of God. , cf. Act 25:18, to give a sentence of condemnation against one. =, 2Pe 2:11, words of insult, anger, or words of satire and mockery. Stier remarks, that even Father Luther did occasionally transgress in this respect and speak far too defiantly against the enemy.
The Lord rebuke thee.The Angel of the Covenant addresses these words to Satan in Zec 3:2; cf. Act 23:3.; 2Ti 4:14. The enemy himself has betrayed the secret that he may be overcome by the words,The Most Merciful rebuke thee. Bengel: Modesty is an angelic virtue.
Jud 1:10. These, however, etc.Jude now passes from the particular expression of that daring disposition to the general. They speak evil, in general, of all things which they know not. For is not=, but=qucunque. The reference is to the whole sphere of things invisible and heavenly, including the . They are held by the delusion of materialism, that only that is real which may be seen with the eyes and touched by the hands, cf. Col 2:18.
But those things which they understand., apparently stronger than , is an ironical expression. The things they thoroughly understand, viz., the objects and means of sensual enjoyment, they use for their destruction, and really understand nothing of their nature and effects.
Naturally, as the brute beasts; , go together. Their understanding does not go beyond that which the instincts of nature, the instinctive desire of food and procreation, teach brute beasts. But they sink even beneath them because of their own free will and deliberation, they prostitute in carnal indulgence those powers of the soul which ought to introduce them to God and heavenly things. The parallel passage, 2Pe 2:12, reads: They speak evil of the things that they understand not, with this difference, however, that Peter not only states the additional particular of the destiny of the brute creation, but connects also with , whereas here it goes with . It is evident that Jude made free use of the passage in Peter.
Therein do they ruin themselves, cf. 2Pe 2:12; Ps. 49:13, 21.
Jud 1:11. Woe unto them, etc.An utterance of woe, of frequent occurrence in the speeches of our Lord, expressive of pain and indignation, and conveying the threat of punishment, cf. Mat 11:21; Mat 18:7; Mat 23:13; Mat 24:19; Mat 26:24; Mar 14:21; Mar 13:17; Luk 6:24-25; Luk 11:42; Luk 17:1. Bengel: The only passage where this Apostle alone utters a woe for three reasons. Paul says, 1Co 9:16 : Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. The expression occurs repeatedly in the book of Revelation, Rev 8:13; Rev 9:12; Rev 11:14; Rev 12:12; Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:19. 2Pe 2:14, has cursed children, lit. children of malediction. Jude paraphrases it by,woe unto them, which threatens them with the curse. Jude, in addition to the example of Balaam, which we have in 2 Peter, produces the examples of Cain and the company of Core as types of the mind and judgment of those persons. He adverts rather to the order of the matter than to the order of time.
They walked.De Wette: Their career is regarded as already completed, the author prophetically foreseeing their end. This contains a hint in favour of the genuineness of the Epistle.
The way of Cain; , cf. Act 14:16; Act 9:31; the Dative of the direction in which [see above App. Crit., note 20.M.], cf. 1Sa 15:20; LXX., Tob 4:5. It is not difficult to find the point of comparison. It is acting upon mere natural instincts, on the selfish impulses of nature (cf. , Jud 1:10), in contempt of the warnings of God in the conscience and in His word. De Wette stops at the idea that Cain is here mentioned as the archetype of all bad men. Too general. Calov and others understand it of spiritual murder by deceiving the brethren, or of fiery persecution, so Lyra. Arbitrary. Schnecken, burger refers to the moral skepticism of the deceivers, since in the later writings of the Jews, Cain is represented to have said: There is no Judge, no other world, no reward for the righteous, no punishment for the wicked. Farfetched. Stier: Selfish, hateful envy of the pious brother, because his piety was pleasing to God, consequently to God and man at one and the same time, the resistance of an evil conscience which is defiant instead of humbling itself, the root of the Cainite sin from which full hatred develops with fearful velocity into the act of murder. Huther: In comparing these false teachers with Cain, Jude intends to describe them as resisting God from envy of the grace shown to believers. But this is not the description of those deceivers.[Wordsworth: Specially applicable to some classes of the Gnostics, who dared impiously to affirm that Cain was made by a power superior to that of the Creator; and who acknowledged Esau, Korah and the Sodomites, and all such, as their own kindred. See Iren. 1, 31. (Stieren), 1, 35, p. 113 (Grabe). Cf. Tertull., Prscr. c. 47; Clem. Alexandr., Strom. 7, p. 549; Hippolyt., Phil. p. 133; Epiph., Hr. 38; Theodoret, Hret. fab. c. 15; Philostr. c. 2; Tillemont, II., p. 21. These false teachers destroy like Cain; they love lucre and allure to sin like Balaam; they make divisions in the Church of Christ like Korah. Catena, p. 164, and cf. Bede on 1Jn 1:6.M.]
And in the error of Balaam, etc.Peter has,They went astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Jude gives this in a contracted form. See 2Pe 2:15-16. , cf. 2Pe 2:18; Jam 5:20; Eze 33:16, LXX. Huther: Vicious life averted from the truth. Not= , but the Dative of direction in which, like and with , 2Pe 2:15; in the direction of erring.
Has drawn them along [they rushed headlong, see Appar. Crit., note 20.M.]; , Middle, to stream forth like a torrent without a dam (Bengel), to suffer oneself to be carried away like the Latin effundi in venerem, in libidines. At the same time we may think of the meaning of , to slip and fall, Psa 63:2. [The force of the Greek verb is rather to pour oneself out in a torrent. See Loesner, p. 583.M.]. .The explanation,They threw themselves into the error of Balaam for hire (= or ), is false; so is that of Schnecken burger: They threw themselves into the error of Balaam in expectation of reward. De Wettes rendering also is very forced: Through the seduction of Balaams reward they poured themselves out in vice. In that case we ought to have . should rather be taken in apposition with , a brief allusion, which is easily explained on the supposition that Jude had before him 2Pe 2:15. The point of comparison lies first in selfishness and avarice, then in seduction to unchastity.
In the gainsaying of Core they perished., to contradict, to quarrel, to offer resistance, used in LXX. for , cf. Joh 19:12; Heb 6:16; Heb 7:7; Heb 12:3. , cf. Num 16:32; Num 26:10. It was an insurrection against the Lord and His representatives under the cover of right and religion. Huther: They lost themselves in the gainsaying of Core. He thinks that both the parallelism of the three clauses and the Preterite of the verb favour such a construction. The last reason proves nothing (see above), and the first is counterbalanced by the circumstance that is not used in the sense of losing oneself into a thing, of entangling oneself. Mat 10:6 is not a parallel passage. Grammatical usage permits no other explanation than this: they perished in the gainsaying of Core, by offering like resistance to God and His holy ordinances. Stier sees a gradation in the words way, error and gainsaying. The end and the beginning of the whole way is illustrated at the very commencement of history in the case of Cain, the rushing progress in the way of error is especially exhibited in the case of Balaam, the final insurrection and provocation of judgment is typified in Korah. Huther calls to mind that opposition to God sprung, in the case of Cain, from envy, in that of Balaam, from covetousness, in that of Korah from pride; Jud 1:12 gives a further delineation of these deceivers, similar to 2Pe 2:13; 2Pe 2:17. [Irenus, IV., 43, ed. Grabe: The doom of those who rise against the true faith, and excite others against the Church of God, is to be swallowed up by the earth, and to remain in the gulf below, with Korah, Dathan and Abiram.M]
Jud 1:12. These are spots in your love-feasts, etc. , in your love-feasts, not, as Luther renders, in your alms, the exhibitions of love. The early degeneracy of the love-feasts connected with the Lords Supper is evident from 1Co 11:20, etc. [Hippolytus, Ref. Hres., p. 172, states that the Simonians said that their promiscuous were and .M.].; or really denotes a rock or a cliff, from , while , the word used by Peter, means both a cliff and a spot. De Wette and Huther favour the literal sense: It is these who are cliffs in your love-feasts, i.e., on which these feasts split, or good morals suffer shipwreck (cf. 1Ti 1:19). It is more simple to understand it of the seductive, dangerous power of these men. But we agree with Stier in preferring the sense of stain, spot, because, as he remarks, grammatical usage might easily change in words of such near affinity; these words having a common root might be used more or less loosely, and the parallel in 2 Peter favouring it. Possibly both (Peter and Jude) alluded to Deu 32:5. [Aretius: non solum est glarea, hoc est, ferr species qu maculas facile relinquit, sed est etiam concavum saxum in littore maris, seu lacuum ac fluminum, in quam concavitatem tanquam in commune receptaculum sordes aquarum confluunt. Mack. (Scott, Bloomf.): The word properly signifies rocks in the sea, which, when they the above its surface, appear like spots. Oecumen., Theophyl. ( ), Lightoot, Wetstein, Whitby, Meyer, de Wette, Schleusner, Huther, Peile, Lillie, Alford, Wordsworth, al., all agree in rendering rocks. It is the only sense in which it occurs in ancient authors; it is, moreover, in better unison with the other metaphors by which Jude describes the false teachers (clouds, trees, waves, wandering stars) than spots. On these grounds we prefer rocks to spots.Wordsworth:These may be well said to be , where the Church looks only for peace and safety, as in a deep and placid harbor. The words scopulus, , Charybdis, Euripus barathrum, etc., are thus applied frequently to persons. See Floruas, 4, 9, where Antony is called a scopulus; and Aristoph. Equites, 248, , , and Anthol., 2, 15. 1, , where treacherous persons are compared to . Horat., Ep. I., 15. 31,
Pernicies et tempestas barathrumque macelli,
Quicquid qusierat ventri donabat avaro.M.]
. De Wette objects to supplying , and translates carousing together without fear; so Stier. But since 2Pe 2:13 has , and thus gets a better sense, moreover since otherwise would be superfluous, it is perhaps better to render: They carouse with you, push themselves to your love-feasts. It is singular, however, that they not only would do so with impunity, but that Jude does not insist upon separation. The same objection, however, arises at 2Pe 2:13, and is not so very difficult to be met. [It is to be regretted that Fronmller has withheld the solution of the difficulty. The only one we are able to supply is that these false teachers abused the well-known liberal hospitality of the early Christians by clandestinely appearing at their love-feasts. The insertion of is against the weight of MSS. evidence, and discountenanced by the majority of versions and reliable exegetes.M.]
Without fear.The most natural construction is to take with , not with (Stier), which would isolate the former too much. They are so insolent as to dread neither correction nor expulsion, and still less the monitions of their own conscience. Bengel misses the sense by rendering,To feast together is not wrong per se, therefore, ought to be connected with this verb (.).
Feeding themselves.Jude refers to Eze 34:2; Eze 34:8,Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, cf. Isa 56:11. We learn from this circumstance that those deceivers set up as guides and leaders of the flock, and that they sought the wool of the sheep, not the sheep themselves, cf. 1Pe 5:2. [Alford:Using the not for their legitimate purpose, the realization of the unity of Christians by social union, but for their own purposes, the enjoyment of their lusts and the furtherance of their schemes.M.]. The remark of Huther, that there is no other hint of said adversaries having filled the ecclesiastical office, is perfectly true, but that does not exclude their setting up as teachers and leaders. The true point of view is displaced if is restricted to the agap and expounded (as de Wette does),They take their fill while they suffer the poor (the majority, the flock) to want, 1Co 11:21. , in that sense, would be an inappropriate term. The sequel also does not relate to the agap.
Clouds without water, driven fast by winds.[Alford:Driven out of course by winds; he reads (with A. B. C. K., al.), borne out of their course, hither and thither.M.]. In 2Pe 2:17 another figure, viz.: wells without water, precedes the parallel to this, while here one is added which is wanting there, viz.: dead trees. De Wette, who applies the figure to the agap, is certainly wrong in saying that these men added largely to the agap, without sharing their contributions with the poor. No, the reference is rather to the promise and boasting of great and profound knowledge, but it is idle show and vapour, cf. Pro 25:14. They are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and cannot satisfy the wants of those who thirst for the truth. Huther:The figure delineates the inward spiritual emptiness of those men, who on that account are unable to do good, but it seems also to intimate their deceptive ostentation, which has been pointed out by Calvin. The reference to doing good, however, belongs not to this, but to the next figure. and point unmistakably to their arrogated teaching and leading., driven about, fitfully driven to and fro. [See above Appar. Crit., note 22.M.] Peter has .
Late autumnal trees, etc., from and ; signifies the hottest season of the year; when that is over (), the , late autumn, the beginning of winter, sets in; the adjective denotes, therefore,late-autumnal, not fruit spoiling, as Stier renders, contrary to grammatical usage. [The best account of this word is that given by Lillie in loco, which is here transcribed: According to Passow (as translated by Liddell and Scott), Isaiah , 1,the part of the year between the rising of Sirius and of Arcturus. not so much . autumn as our dog days, or at most the end of summer;, and then, because this was the season of fruit, it stands, 2, for the fruit itself, esp. tree-fruit;and hence also the verb is to gather fruits. , again is used, 1, intransitively, to decay, wither, and, 2, transitively, to corrupt, destroy. Joining the two words, each in its first signification, we have , autumn, or more commonly, senescens auctumnus et in hyemem vergens (Steph. Scap.), late autumn, the fall of the year (L. and S.); and , belonging to that seasonwhich are the only meanings of those compounds which the lexicons recognize as classical. In that sense, accordingly, is the Adjective taken here, in connection with , by Wicl. (harvest-trees without fruit), Tynd., Cranm.,(without fr. at gathering time), Castal.,(autumnales infructuos), Thom.,(auctumnal trees without fruit), Dav.,(aut. trees stripped of their fruit); and apart from that connection, by Rhemish; Vulg., and its followers generally, Dutch, French, Swiss, margin; Engl., Ann., Hamm.; Cocc.; Beausobre and LEnfant, margin; Bengel, Moldenh; Hnlein (erroneously cited by Huther), Meyer, Gerlach, Barn.; de W.; Peile,(trees on the wanefallen into the sere and yellow leaf), Huther;Wahl, Robinson, Green,(autumnal, sere, bare), Schirl. The same interpretation is allowed also by Zeg., Wits., Gill, Laurm., Rosenm., Trol.,(without leaves, [which is also Wesleys version],as trees are in autumn), Bloomf.;Schleusn. The second significations of and , however, appear combined in the use, according to Phavor., of to denote (hence Clarke: galled or diseased trees; an etymology and sense allowed also by Wits., Laurm., Trol., cankered;Schleus.), and in Pindars use of . Liddell and Scott do, indeed, mark this last word as a pecul. fem. of , which they explain to mean autumnal. But in the passage referred toPyth., 5, 161, 162, evidently does not mean that, but rather the blighting influence of these wintry blasts, and so it is explained by the best commentators of Pindar. Heyne translates thus: fructibus exitialis ventorum hibernus flatus; and the most recent editor, Prof. Schneidewin, has the following note: , auctumus, annus dicuntur pro iis qu giguntur iis temporibus. Jam sensus: Valeas viribus et consilio etiam in posterum, ne ventus brumalis tibi perdat temporis fructus. If it be said that the common version requires the noun to be taken in its second signification and the verb in its first, it may be replied, 1, that this acknowledged secondary meaning of the noun is its meaning in the only place where it is found in the New Testament, viz.: Rev 18:14;2, that the intransitive use of the verb is by far the more frequent;and, 3, that the verb retains this intransitive sense in other analogous cases of composition; e.g., , applied by Pindar, Pyth., 4, 471, to an oak from which the limbs had been lopped; and , with wasting limbs (L. and S.). While, therefore, our present form may not, in the one or two instances where it is found elsewhere, bear the meaning here ascribed to it, I concur nevertheless in the remark of Grotius: Si usum vocis respicias, dicit arbores auctumnales. Sed magis respicitur vocis, ut dicat eos similes esse arboribus, quarum fructus perit illico. This sense, moreover, is more in harmony with the design of the writer, which is to describe the characteristic and inward spiritual desolation of these wicked men ., and it lays a firmer basis for the dreadful climax whereby he effects that object, cf. Mat 13:22; Luk 8:14, etc.M.] They stand there, like late-autumnal trees, which have no fruit but only dry leaves. They deceive our expectations, as the baren fig-tree, Mat 21:19; Luk 13:6, and are therefore ripe for the curse and woodmans axe. As we expect the clouds to yield water, so we expect the trees to yield fruit. The former relates to their teaching, the latter to their life. Bengel:Trees, as they appear at the end of autumn, without fruit and leaves, cf. Isa 1:30. Jude thinks of persons, who year after year are like late-autumnal trees. This is not a weak, but a very striking description, whereas, if we follow the etymology, the addition of would be superfluous.
Unfruitful.Not whose fruit has been taken off, as de Wette, but without fruit [or better, incapable of yielding fruit.M.]
Twice dead, not=wholly dead, which is arbitrary, for the figure is taken from trees which have at different times suffered fatal injury by frost or from insects. Stier: By nature we are through the fall altogether dead trees; now these persons, having received the grace of regeneration, have died a second time (2Pe 2:20). This is the second death in guilt and punishment. Others (like Grotius) erroneously interpret these words of the first (earthly) and the second (post-terrene) death, seeing death had not yet affected them in either respect. [Wordsworth: So these men are trees, which died twice, because these men having been once dead in trespasses and sins, arid raised to life in baptism, have relapsed and apostatized into the death of sin, and so have died twice; and because by their sins they have incurred the second death. See Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6; Rev 20:14; Rev 21:8, where it is said that the second death is the penalty of the unbelieving, abominable, and fornicators. Oecumenius: , , . De Wette illustrates by bis dat qui cito dat, and Horaces pro quo bis patior mori. Alford refers to the double death in a tree, which is not only as it seems to the eye in common with other trees, in the apparent death of winter, but really dead: dead to appearance and dead in reality.M.]
Uprooted, not trees dug out and thus eradicated, but such as still remain in the earth, shaken loose by their roots, and thus incapable of shedding leaves and bearing fruit. Figurative description of men torn loose from this vital foundation and the communion of the Church, no longer moved by the Holy Spirit, having ceased to do good works, and doomed to the penalty of the obdurate, cf. Joh 15:6; Mat 3:10. [Arnaud: Tous ces mots sont des mtaphores energiques pour montrer le nant de ces impures, la lgret de leur conduite, la sterilit de leur foi et labsence de leurs bonnes murs.M.]
Jud 1:13. Raging waves of the sea [German,wild waves, better than raging, so Alford.M.]. The Apostle probably thought of Isa 57:20 : But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, cf. Wis 14:1. is elsewhere used of wild beasts. The figure describes their passionate conduct, their rushing against divinely-ordered barriers, their inward impurity and hurtfulness, cf. Psa 46:4. The figurative expression of Isaiah has a literal application in the Epistle.
, properly to foam over, cover with foam, foam out. , an emphatic Plural, as 1Pe 4:3, all kinds of shame proceeding from the evil treasure of the heart. Huther: Shameful lusts, which they exhibit in their wild, immoral life.
Wandering stars, etc. , wandering stars, from ,, cf. 5:11; 2Ti 3:13. [Alford: Comets, which astonish the world for awhile and then pass away into darkness.Those professing Christians, by their profession of being lights in the world, instead of letting that light shine on more and more into the perfect day, are drifting about in strange errors of doctrine and practice, until it will be utterly extinguished in eternal darkness.M.]. It is difficult to see why the reference to comets, which were known to the people in ancient times, should be pronounced arbitrary (Huther). That have no regular course, and depart from the sun (of righteousness). Meyer. So also de Wette and Stier; the latter says: If a star loses or deviates from its place or course, it either falls forthwith down dark, or, and, that is the sense here, it roves awhile with deceitful light until it reaches the point and catastrophe, which God has appointed. The word again contains a reference to men, that set up for lights of the Church, cf. Rev 1:20; Dan 12:3; Php 2:15. So Oecumenius. We must not think of authorized teachers, but remember that men, in order to gain distinction in those Churches, had to render themselves prominent by the light of knowledge; de Wette interprets the metaphor of the outward splendour of the luxury and perhaps also of the authority of those men; Huther applies the metaphor to unstable men, driven hither and thither by their carnal appetites, whose life presents the strongest contrast to the calm, well-ordered life of Christians. But this does not explain the term .Bengel observes: It has recently been discovered that planets are opaque bodies that shine with borrowed light. Jude was enabled to intimate this in virtue of Divine illumination. But the reference is neither to planets nor their opacity.
To whom [better, for whom.M.] the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.Cf. the parallel passage, 2Pe 2:17, and the commentary on it. Stier: The comets, as unstable, disrupted ruins, may be hastening forward to a final darkness among the slags of the last process of reconstruction.
Jud 1:14. But of [for.M.] these also prophesied Enoch, the seventh from Adam..Now follows a prophecy of Enoch of these people. , with reference to them; see Winer, p. 244, cf. Luk 18:31. should be connected with , not with . As other prophets, so Enoch also, the most ancient of prophets.
The seventh from Adam, cf. Gen 5:18. There are really only five patriarchs between Enoch and Adam, viz., Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Jared, but Adam is included as the first. This designation, although omitted by commentators, occurs repeatedly in the book of Enoch; e.g., we read, Enoch 93:3: I, as the seventh, am born in the first week, while judgment and justice were delayed; cf. Enoch 60:8: In the seventh week there shall arise an apostate generation; Enoch 37:1, traces back the genealogy of Enoch to Adam, not for the sake of embellishment, but in order to remove all doubt as to his personal identity. The epithet the seventh cannot be without meaning; Calvin thinks that it is intended to denote the great age of this prophecy; others see in it a secret, mystical meaning. Bengel: Every seventh is the most esteemed. Stier: The seventh from Adam is personally a type of the sanctified of the seventh age of the world (of the seventh millennium, of the great earth-sabbath), therefore he prophesies for this time. Menken: The number seven was esteemed in the ancient world as an important signature pointing to the sacred and mystery. The fact that after sin and death had freely exerted their unhappy power during the first six generations, in the seventh generation mankind appeared in the person of one man (who had led a godly life, and was taken by God to God without seeing death) in a state of high completeness and blessed freedom from death, has a kind of prophetico-symbolical significance, and intimates that mankind in general, after having duly completed its course and fought its battle under the oppression of sin and death through six long world-periods, shall appear in the seventh world-period in a state of higher completeness, in a more Divine life and more blessed freedom from death. The seventh world-period is the Kingdom of God on earth. To Adam, the first, was revealed and promised the appearance and advent of the Lord, as a Helper and Saviour; to Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was revealed the last advent of the same Lord, Helper and Saviour, as a Judge and Avenger, and he was the first prophet, who spoke and taught this among men. [The number seven is sacred above all; Enoch is seventh from Adam and walks with God; Moses is seventh from Abraham; Phineas is seventh from Jacob our father, as Enoch was seventh from Adam. And they correspond to the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, the day of rest. Every seventh age is in the highest esteem. Wetstein, citing Rabbinical writings, p. 737. Wordsworth deems it worthy of remark, that Enoch lived as many years as there are days in a solar year, viz., 365, and was then translated (Gen 5:24.)M.]. The words which follow are found almost literally in the above-mentioned apocryphal book of Enoch, which was formerly known only by fragments and notices of the early fathers, but has recently been discovered in an thiopic translation and translated from the thiopic into German. It became known in Europe about the close of the last century. Winer, Dorner and others ascribe its authorship to a Jew of the first century of the Christian era; Ewald places its date at the end of the second century before Christ. A new edition and translation of this book was published by D. Dillmann in 1853, who pronounces it to have been written about B. C. 110. The book consists, according to the careful investigation of the last-named scholar, of three parts: 1. The proper and original book of Enoch, which constitutes the greatest part of this apocryphal work. 2. Of historical additions for the elucidation of several doctrines and ideas from the pen of another author, who wrote not long afterwards. 3. Of so-called Noachian additions connected with other interpolations made by a third author, belonging at least to the end of the first century B. C. The passage in question is rendered by Dillmann thus: And behold, He comes with myriads of saints to execute judgment on them, and He will destroy the ungodly and judge all flesh in all things which the sinners and the ungodly have committed and done against Him, Jud 1:9. Considering that the variations between the Epistle and the book of Enoch are not inconsiderable, and that the book of Enoch is not expressly cited, there is still room to doubt whether Jude knew that book. But the tradition of Enochs prophecy he must at all events have known and considered true as to its kernel. [There is an English translation by Archbishop Lawrence, with an introduction and notes, which passed through three editions, 1821, 1833, 1838, but has been completely superseded by that of Dillmann, with an introduction and commentary, published at Leipzig in 1853. See Introduction 7.M.]
Behold the Lord came with His holy myriads.Now follows the substance of the prophecy., the Aorist, because Enoch speaks in a vision, in which the future appears to him as present [really a prophetic past.M.], as in Isa 9:6; Isa 53:4. The thiopic text of the book of Enoch seems to have the Present.
With His holy myriads; . In them, i.e., to be glorified in them, as 2Th 1:10, and with them. Myriads, literally ten thousands, then absolutely, many thousands. The book of Enoch in other similar passages with reference to Daniel 7, uses the terms thousand times thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand; so Enoch 40:1; 71:10. In Deu 33:2, Jehovah is represented as revealing Himself from Sinai, shining forth from among many thousands of saints. According to Zec 14:5, He will come to judgment with all His saints, cf. Mat 25:31; Rev 5:11. The term denotes not only angels, but also the elect from among men; cf. Heb 12:22; 1Co 6:2.With His, . They belong to Him, stand before His throne, and wait for His commands.
Jud 1:15. To give judgment, etc. . Joh 5:27; cf. Gen 18:25; to execute it in fact. [The term here and in the references seems rather to denote the functions of the Judge, than those of the executor.M.]
To convict all the ungodly; , the composite form intensifies the idea, which is their thorough and absolute conviction, not their punishment; the reference is to inward conviction in the conscience. [I doubt whether this interpretation is exhaustive; the conviction of course begins with the conscience, but the intensive nature of the composite seems to imply a conviction that shall bring the convicted to judgment, and entail the execution of the judicial sentence.M.]
Wherein they were ungodly; used transitively, cf. 2Pe 2:6. Winer, p. 236. The guilt of ungodliness is here made very prominent, the same word being used four times, cf. Zep 3:11.
Of all the hard speeches; , hard, dry, rough, indigestible [?M.], used figuratively of daring, impious blasphemy; cf. 1Sa 2:3; Mal 3:13; Num 16:26. Differently, Joh 6:60. This involves even greater guilt than the works which were the result of their ungodly disposition; hence they are named first. In the above-cited passage from the book of Enoch, nothing is said of such hard speeches; but soon after we read: Ye have reviled His greatness with arrogant, blasphemous speeches of your unclean mouth; ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace, Enoch 5:4; cf. Enoch 46:7.
Against Him.Although they did not believe that all their ungodly speeches were aimed at Him.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Those who know the book of Enoch, with its absurd fancies and its coarse notions of the heavenly world, must revere more strongly than ever the chasteness and truth of our canonical writings, and be grateful to the Church for rejecting such clumsy fabrications. In that book we read, e.g., of the giants or tyrants mentioned in Genesis 6, that the women with whom the angels had intercourse, conceived and brought forth great giants 6000 feet [German: 3000 Ellen.M.] in height. These ate up all the produce of men, until men were unable to sustain them any longer. Then the giants turned upon the men to devour them, etc. The book is full of the coarsest materialism, stating as irrefragable facts that there are in heaven particular receptacles for the winds, for hail, snow and rain, for thunder and lightning, that there is a literal cornerstone of the earth, and that the sky is supported by columns. Here is something to learn for the modern friends of an extreme realism.
2. The guilt of the heavenly spirits that apostatized from God is the more aggravated, because in their case there was no temptation from without, as in that of men.
3. Those deceivers confirm the old, but in most instances not sufficiently acknowledged truth, that the decisions of the will are not so much the result of thinking and perceiving, as, on the contrary, thinking and perceiving the result of the decisions of the will. Demosthenes (Olynth., II., 32) already declared that persons accustomed to do mean and bad acts cannot understand a great and powerful thought, and that the thoughts and intentions of men are the reflections of their manner of life.
4. In reading the account of corruption given in this Epistle, we have to apply the rule belonging to the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the events described in them take place at different times and stages of development before they meet their final and highest fulfilment.
5. The whole development of evil, as well as of good, grows like a tree, the very beginnings of which contain the same kind in the germ, and foretell the end; but the Spirit of God has, with prophetic vision, described to us the events and delineated the persons for the future. Stier.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Our curiosity should not lead us to seek to penetrate the mysterious incidents of the apostasy of angels; we should rather take warning from so much of it as is clear.The necessity of continuing in grace, lest somebody spoil us of our crown.Whoso rejects the light here and does not walk in the light now, will hereafter dwell in eternal darkness.Whatever is spoken or written against the servants of God, the Eternal Judge will consider as spoken or written against Himself.
H. Rieger:It is an old experience of constant and multiform repetition, that the most licentious men are generally also the most impatient of all checks emanating from human sources, that they decry all government and authority as an invention of the devil, and abuse, the liberty of the Gospel as a cloak of maliciousness. [Sensuality and lawlessness go together.M.]Those who walk in the way of Cain hypocritically observe the externals of religion and its exercise, but are at mortal enmity with whatever aims at the spirit and the truth, and thus end with being driven away from the face of God.
Starke:It often happens that the more good God does to man, the more man wanders away from God, Deu 32:15. But if men resist the goodness of God, He has recourse to severity and justice, Rom 2:4; Rom 11:22.Unbelief is certainly the greatest sin, and the source of all other vices.Heaven is a many-mansioned house, Joh 14:2. Thank God that through Christ we may once more return to our first home, whereas the devils have left their habitation forever, 2Co 5:1-2.The life of heaven is a state of liberty, light and peace; the life of hell is a state of confinement, darkness and perpetual fear of more punishment.Sins that cannot be named in decency, or on account of ignorance, are yet so common among Christians that a preacher does not know whether he ought to speak of them, or be silent, Eze 8:8-9.O! the mad blindness of men, that will not grow wise by other peoples injury, but will persist in their daring even to the extent of being made examples of the Divine judgment, 2Ch 30:8; Eze 13:4-5.Although some governments are not what they ought to be, men ought to honour in them the image of God, Ex. 22:38.True zeal, be it never so great, is always humble and modest, whereas false zeal is defiant and passionate, Rom 10:2.Jesus uttered His woes on none more than on false teachers and hypocrites, Mat 23:13. They have the heart of a Cain, a Balaam and a Korah.Gold and honours are two hooks with which the devil fishes and catches many thousand souls for his kingdom, Joh 13:2; 1Ch 22:1.All the feasts of Christians ought by rights to be love-feasts, Neh 8:10.Can there be anything more unhappy than being rooted out and separated from the communion of the life of Christ? Col 2:7.Think ye that the pagans were allowed to revile their gods, as God is, without let or punishment, blasphemed among Christians? But have patience, Jesus will summon those mighty blasphemers to His bar, and avenge the insult that has been heaped upon Him.
[Literature on Jud 1:9;
Hecht, Joannes, Disputatio inauguralis de certamine Michalis cum Diabolo de corpore Mosis, 4to., Jen., 1853.
Nieremberg, N., Exercitatio exegetico-polemica de Angelica super corpore Mosis discrepatione, 4to., Ratisbon, 1682.
Bachmann, I. G., De certamine circa corpus Mosis, Crit. Sac, Thes., 2, 794.
Hensel, M. Z., De certamine Archangeli Michalis cum Diabolo de corpore Mosis, Crit. Sac, Thes., 2, 797.
Calmet, A., La Mort et la Spulture de Moyse, Dissertations, Commentaire, 8, 753.M.]
Footnotes:
[17]Jud 1:5. [, to wish, to desire. Its force ought to be brought out in a stronger form than the ambiguous I will.M.]
[18] Jud 1:5. [, not=therefore, but=but.
Khner: most generally has an adversative force, and hence can express every kind of contrast. In respect to its signification, it ranks like the Latin autem, between the copulative connectives (, ) and the adversative (, etc.), since it contains both a copulative and adversative force, and hence either opposes one thought to another, (adversative), or merely contrasts it (copulative). Hence it is very frequently used in Greek, where the English uses and. The new thought being different from the preceding is placed in contrast with it.
Winer (pp. 472. 473): never means therefore, then; nor for, nor does it ever serve as a mere copula or particle of transition.M.]
[19]Jud 1:5. [. The force of the second is lost in E. V.; it is emphatic, and the emphasis ought to be brought out. But I wish to remind you, you who M.]
[20]Jud 1:5. [ has a Present sense. They know it once for all, certainly, fully. This thorough knowledge of theirs is the motive of Judes reminding them. They know it now; not that they knew it once and have now forgotten it.M.]
[21] Jud 1:5. Lachm., Tisch. read , . So Vulgate. Stier says, that this would be unexampled, unintelligible, remarkabl; that the dark Epistle had been much corrected and glossed. De Wette agrees with Lachmann, following A. B. C. and other authorities, but not in respect of . [The reading is also sustained by Cod. Sin., several Cursives, Copt. Syriac. It is on many accounts preferable to .
instead of is the reading of A. B., several Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Sahidic, thiopic and Armenian verss.; also of Didymus, Cyril, Jerome, Cassian, and received by Griesb. and Lachmann. In point of doctrine, it agrees with that of Paul. Cf. 1Co 10:1-11; Heb 3:7-19; Heb 4:1-2.M.]
[22] Jud 1:5. [, the second time, again not afterwards, as in E. V. The first thing was deliverance, the second destruction. So Engl. Annot., Stier, Peile, Huther, Wordsw., Lillie.M.]
[German: But I will remind you, you that have known this once, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, for the second time destroyed those who believed not.
Translate: But I wish to remind you, you who know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, the next time destroyed those who believed not.M.]
[23]Jud 1:6. [. The omission of the Article here contrasts angels with men, of whom Jude has spoken in the previous verse. . . . specifies the particular class of angels in question.M.]
[24] Jud 1:6. [, says Huther, stands in sharp opposition to . Hence the same word ought to be used in order to bring out the opposition.
[German:And the angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath kept for the judgment of the great day with everlasting bonds under darkness.
[Translate:And angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath kept with everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.M.]
[25]Jud 1:6. [, Abl. instr. With everlasting bonds. E. V., 18 times out of 20 (the other exception being Mar 7:35, string) has bands or bonds. Lillie. Calvin: Quocunque pergant, secum trahunt sua vincula et suis tenebris obvoluti manent. Interea in magnum diem extremum eorum supplicium differtur. Milton, Par. Lost. IV., 75: Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell.M.]
[26]Jud 1:7. [ connected with , viz.: I wish to remind you. how Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.M.]
[27]Jud 1:7. [ =in like manner as these men.M.]
[28] Jud 1:7. . Nowhere else does E. V. translate , which occurs 98 times, by strange. Lillie.M.]
[German:How Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having whored themselves out in like manner as these, and gone after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
[Translate:. having given themselves over to fornication in like manner as these men, and gone after other flesh, are set forth, etc.M.]
[29]Jud 1:8. [, omitted in E. V., has adversative force, and should be rendered by some such word as yet, however, etc.M.]
[30]Jud 1:8. [ ., on the one hand, on the other. Calvin:Notanda autem est antithesis, quum dicit eos carnem contaminare: hoc est, quod minus prstanti habet, dehonestare: et tamen spernere quasi probrosum, quod in genere humano maxime excellit.M.]
[31] Jud 1:8. [Cod. Sin. has .M.]
[German:Now in like manner these dreamers also defile the flesh, and thus (dabei=therewith, at the same time) reject the dominion and revile the majesties.
[Translate:In like manner, however, these dreamers also on the one hand defile the flesh, on the other reject lordship and speak evil of dignities.M.]
[32]Jud 1:9. Lachm. reads: ; but we prefer, with Stier, the common reading.
[33]Jud 1:9. [ , did not dare, or dared not, better than durst not of E. V. The former is Lillies rendering, the latter that of German version.M.]
[34] Jud 1:10. has distributive force, and is variously rendered qucunque (Vulg.), quotquot (Laurm.), qu et quanta (Wordsw.), omnia qu (Bengel), whatsoever things (Kenr., Lillie).
. state an antithesis, which should be brought out.M.]
[35] Jud 1:10. [ is stronger than of the first clause, cf. Mar 14:68; the former is to understand, the latter, to know.
[German:These, on the contrary, revile those things which they know not; but those things which they understand naturally, as the brute beasts, even therein do they ruin themselves.
[Translate:These, however, on the one hand, speak evil of whatsoever things they know not, on the other, whatsoever things they understand naturally, as the brute beasts, in those they corrupt themselves.M.]
[36] Jud 1:11. [ ; the construction of this difficult clause, which has the most weighty authorities, is that which takes as a Dative of the direction in which (Dodd., Mack. Thom., Scott, Stier, Peile, Wahl, Robins., Wordsw., Lillie), and = , or Oec.s ; (so Wic., Tynd., Cran., Reims, vss.; Grot., Beng., Bloomf., Stier, Winer, Robins., Wordsw., Lillie. al.). See Winer, p. 219, 30, 10, e.M.]
[German:Woe unto them, for they have walked in the way of Cain, and the error of Balaam with his hire has drawn them along, and in the gainsaying of Korah they have perished.
This can hardly be called a translation; it is a paraphrase, which takes considerable liberty with the grammar of the original. Translate:Woe unto them, for in the way of Cain they walked, and in the error of Balaam they rushed headlong (Beng.: effusi sunt, ut torrens sine aggere; Green, Lillie as here), and in the gainsaying of Core they perished.M.]
[37] Jud 1:12. Lachm. reads instead of , and supplies before . Stier also prefers on internal grounds the reading in their love-feasts. is less authentic here than in 2 Pet.
[ , A. B., Cod. Sin., G., Syr., Lachm., Tisch. Cod. Sin. has the reading (**) , which Tischendorf characterizes thus: **improb. . usque .M.]
[38]Jud 1:12. Tisch., al. read , driven fast. The sense is not essentially different [i.e., from , which is certainly an unauthentic reading. A. B. C., Sin., Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch., Words., Alford, Lillie are all in favour of the former. Cod. Sin. has .M.]
[39] Jud 1:12. [Sin., for .M.]
[German:These are spots in your love-feasts, carousing together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, driven fast by winds, late-autumnal trees, unfruitful, twice dead, uprooted.
[Translate:These are rocks in your love-feasts, carousing together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, borne along by winds, late-autumnal trees, unfruitful, twice dead, uprooted.
For reasons see below in Exegetical and Critical.M.]
[40]Jud 1:14. (Sin., ). But for these also prophesied Enoch, better than But of these (German), and E. V.M.]
[41]Jud 1:14. Sin., .M.]
[42]Jud 1:14. Sin., . German inserts between brackets after myriads (of angels).M.]
[43]Jud 1:15. Lachm., Tisch. read simply: [following A. B., Cod. Sin., which latter has the variation: ; and omits afterwards .M.]
[44] Jud 1:15. restored by Tischend. in his last edition, after A. B. G. K., while Lachmann omits it.
[German:To give judgment against all, and to convict all ungodly ones of all their ungodly deeds, wherein they have shown themselves ungodly, and of all the hard speeches, which the ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
[Translate:To exercise judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, wherein they were ungodly (Lillie), and of all the hard speeches which sinners spake against Him.M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
5 7 .] Examples of Divine vengeance .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
5 .] First example : unbelieving Israel in the wilderness. Cf. Heb 3:16 to Heb 4:5 . But (solemn contrast to the conduct just mentioned) I wish to remind you, knowing as ye do (better here than “although ye know,” on account of . “Causa, cur admoneat duntaxat; quia jam sciant, semelque cognitum habeant.” Bengel. The E. V. is doubly wrong: in rendering as an aor. part., “ though ye knew ,” and in giving to the signification of “ olim ,” “ once ”) once for all (i. e. having once for all received the knowledge of) all things (all that refers to that of which I am speaking: the of the rec. was a good explanation: but is more forcible, and carries with it a latent admonition, to apply other examples for yourselves), that Jesus (critical principles seem to require this remarkable reading. It is not entirely precedented by 1Co 10:4 : for there St. Paul uses not the personal human name, but , in which there is no such difficulty. The only account to be given seems, that the Person designated by the two names being the same, they became sometimes convertibly used in popular exhortation. On the fact see Exo 14:19 ; Exo 23:20 ; Exo 23:23 ; Exo 32:2 ; Isa 63:9 , where however note the remarkable rendering of the LXX), having saved the people (perhaps “ a people :” is not one of those words of which we can say that they are constantly found without the art. where yet their meaning is definite: cf. Act 15:14 , Rom 10:21 , 2Co 6:16 , Heb 8:10 , 1Pe 2:9 (10). But we are never safe in strictness on this point in these later Epistles; and especially when an objective case is thus thrown forward into emphasis, which emphasis often does the work of the definite article) out of the land of Egypt, secondly (not as E. V., “afterward:” still less with Grot., Wolf, “ ex contrario :” but it indicates a second deed of the Lord, His first-mentioned having been the deliverance out of Egypt. By this the former aor. part. is marked as being not contemporary with but antecedent to the aor. verb following) destroyed them that believed not (viz. by forbidding their entrance into the land of promise (cf. Heb 3:18 ), and slaying them in the wilderness. This example is not mentioned in 2Pe 2 , but instead of it, the judgment of the flood).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Jud 1:5-13 . Illustrations of Sin and Judgment Derived from History and from Nature . The judgment impending Over these men is borne witness to by well-known facts of the past, and may be illustrated from the phenomena of nature. God showed His mercy in delivering the Israelites from Egypt, but that was no guarantee against their destruction in the wilderness when they again sinned by unbelief. The angels were blessed beyond all other creatures, but when they proved unfaithful to their trust they were imprisoned in darkness, awaiting there the judgment of the great day. The men of Sodom (lived in a land of great fertility, they had received some knowledge of God through the presence and teaching of Lot, they had been lately rescued from captivity by Abraham, yet they) followed the sinful example of the angels, and their land is still a prey to the fire, bearing witness to the eternal punishment of sin. In spite of these warnings the heretics, who are now finding their way into the Church, persist in their wild hallucinations, giving themselves up to the lusts of the flesh, despising authority, and railing at angelic dignities. They might have been taught better by the example of the archangel Michael, of whom we are told that, when disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, he uttered no word of railing, but made his appeal to God. These men however rail at that which is beyond their knowledge, while they surrender themselves like brute beasts to the guidance of their appetites, and thus bring about their own destruction, following in the wake of impious Cain, of covetous Balaam, and rebellious Korah. When they take part in your love-feasts they cause the shipwreck of the weak by their wantonness and irreverence. In greatness of profession and smallness of performance they resemble clouds driven by the wind which give no rain; or trees in autumn on which one looks in vain for fruit, and which are only useful for fuel. By their confident speaking and brazen assurance they seem to carry all before the; yet like the waves bursting on the shore, the deposit they leave is only their own shame. Or we might compare them to meteors which shine for a moment and are then extinguished for ever.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Jud 1:5 . , . [786] Cf. 2Pe 1:12 , , 2Pe 1:13 , , 2Pe 3:1 , , Rom 15:14 , , . The word justifies : they only need to be reminded of truths already known, so that it is unnecessary to write at length. The repeated contrasts the readers with the libertines of the former verse. The words in themselves might be taken ironically of persons professing (like the Corinthians) to “know all things,” but the broad distinction maintained throughout the epistle between and (the Libertines) forbids such an interpretation. If we read with some MSS., it suggests something of anxiety and upbraiding, which may be compared with the tone of St. Paul in writing to the Galatians. See, however, the following note for the position of . Instead of some MSS., have . The former finds some support in Enoch i. 2, “I heard everything from the angels,” xxv. 2, “I should like to know about everything,” Secrets of En. xl. 1, 2, “I know all things from the lips of the Lord I know all things and have written all things in the books,” lxi. 2 (quoted by Chase in Dict. of the Bible ). It should probably be understood of all that follows, including the historical allusions, implying that those addressed were familiar not only with the O.T. but with rabbinical traditions: so Estius “omnia de quibus volo vos commonere”. Bede’s note is “omnia videlicet arcana fidei scientes et non opus habentes recentia quasi sanctiora a novis audire magistris”. In what follows he takes with , “ita clamantes ad se de afflictione Aegyptia primo salvavit humiles, ut secundo murmurantes contra se in eremo prosterneret superbos Meminerimus ilium sic per aquas baptismi salvare credentes, ut etiam post baptismum humilem in nobis requirat vitam.”
[786] On the readings see Introduction.
, , [ ] .] For text, see Introduction on Readings. Clement in his Adumbrationes gives the paraphrase “Quoniam Dominus Deus semel populum de terra Aegypti liberans deinceps eos qui non crediderunt perdidit”.
has given rise to much discussion. According to the reading I have adopted, it contrasts the preceding saving with the following destruction . The deliverance from Egypt was the creation of a people once for all, but yet it was followed by the destruction of the unbelieving portion of the people, i.e. by all but Caleb and Joshua (Num 14:27 ; Num 14:37 ). So in 1Co 10 . we have the privileges of Israel allowed, and yet all was in vain because of their unbelief. There seems less force in the connection of with : would have been more suitable. For the opposition to , cf. Heb 9:28 , , Theoph. Autol. ii. 26, , , Liban. ap. Wetst. , .
I am inclined to think that the article before is an intrusion, as it seems to be before in Jud 1:12 . Omitting it, we can take with , getting the sense: “In the 1st case of unbelief (in Egypt) [787] salvation followed; in the 2nd (in the wilderness) destruction,” lit. “when they, a second time failed to believe, He destroyed them”. If this was the original reading, it is easy to understand the insertion of as facilitating the plural construction after . We may compare the solemn utterance in Heb 10:26 , , and the belief, apparently based upon it, in the early Church as to sin after baptism.
[787] Cf . Exo 2:14 ; Exo 4:1 ; Exo 5:21 ; Exo 6:9 ; Exo 14:11-12 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jud 1:5-7
5Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Jud 1:5 “Now I desire to remind you” We need to be reminded over and over again of the truths of God, even the basics (cf. Jud 1:17; 2Pe 1:12-13). Jud 1:5-7 form one sentence in Greek.
NASB”though you know all things once for all”
NKJV”though you once knew this”
NRSV”though you are fully informed”
TEV”for even though you know this”
NJB”though you have already learnt it once for all”
There is a question among English translations as to which word the adverb “once” (hapax) should relate
1. to “knowing” or
2. to “saving”?
Does the verse teach that the readers are fully informed or that the Israelites of the exodus were fully informed? The first option is explained in two ways: (1) Jude is using a Greek idiomatic phrase or (2) Jude is referring to the work of the Spirit in leading believers into truth (cf. Joh 14:26; Joh 16:13; 1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27). The second option has in its favor (1) the use of “subsequently” (or “in the second place” ) and (2) the manuscript variations of later scribes who moved “once” in the hoti clause.
It seems to me that option two (cf. UBS4, NRSV, and TEV) fits the context best, but not the best and oldest manuscript tradition. This may be an allusion to the “New Covenant” of Jer 31:31-34.
“Lord” Because of the fact that NT authors regularly relate Jesus with YHWH, the OT covenant title for Deity, there occasionally occurs an ambiguity as to which person of the Trinity is being addressed. This has caused Greek manuscript variations in both Jud 1:4-5. Some Greek texts add “God” after “master” in Jud 1:4 (cf. NKJV). This term (despotn) normally refers to the Father in the NT, but in 2Pe 1:1 it refers to Christ.
This same ambiguity affects Jud 1:5. There is a wide variety of variations in the Greek manuscripts:
1. “God Christ” in P72
2. “Lord” in
3. “Jesus” in A, C
4. “the Lord” in C*
5. “the God” in the Vulgate
The best solution is that “Lord” is referring to YHWH’s activity in the Exodus, although some theologians believe that “the angel of the Lord,” who led Israel, could have been the pre-incarnate Christ (cf. 1Co 10:4).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ANGEL OF THE LORD
“saving a people” This use of the term “save” (sz) refers to physical deliverance (its OT sense, cf. Jud 1:5; Jas 5:15), not spiritual salvation (its NT sense, cf. Jud 1:23). The Israelites were “called” and “chosen” to be God’s people.
“subsequently destroyed those who did not believe” This obviously refers to some historical account from the OT books of Exodus and Numbers (the exodus and wilderness wandering period). Hebrews 3-4 uses this same period as an example of apostasy. The problem is to which event it refers.
1. the first rebellious attempt to enter the Promised Land
2. another period of rebellion
3. Korah’s rebellion
4. Ba’al worship at Shittim
Does this term “destroyed” imply (1) physical death or (2) eternal death? If physical death, then it refers to those who refused to believe the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, the generation of fighting men (20 to 50 years of age) who left Egypt but balked at entering the Promised Land and died in the wilderness (cf. Numbers 14). If eternal death, then it probably refers to those who died on the border of the Promised Land, on the plains of Moab at Shittim, where some of the Israeli people participated in fertility worship with the women of Moab. It seems that all three of Jude’s OT examples involve sexual sins (cf. 2Pe 2:2; 2Pe 2:13-14; 2Pe 2:18). The context fits option #1 best.
SPECIAL TOPIC: DESTRUCTION (APOLLUMI)
Jud 1:6 “angels” Jude adds “angels” to his lists of those who initially worshiped and later rebelled against YHWH and were thus destroyed or judged. But which “angels?” Some information is given to describe this particular group of angels.
1. they did not keep their own domain
2. they abandoned their proper abode
3. they will be kept in eternal bonds under darkness for judgment day
4. “sinned” (2Pe 2:4)
5. “committed them into Tartarus” (2Pe 2:4)
6. “committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment” (2Pe 2:4)
Which angels in the OT rebelled and sinned?
1. angels as powers behind pagan worship
2. the lesser angelic beings, called by specific demonic names in the OT. Examples: Lilith (cf. Isa 34:14), Azazel (cf. Lev 16:8), and goat demons (cf. Lev 17:7).
3. the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 (often discussed in intertestamental apocalyptic writings, I Enoch 86-88; 106; II Enoch 7,18; II Baruch 56; Jubilees 5)
4. angels mentioned in an example from a Jewish apocalyptic inter-testamental writing (because of Jude’s use of other books of this kind in Jud 1:9; Jud 1:14)
SPECIAL TOPIC: “THE SONS OF GOD” IN Genesis 6
NASB”who did not keep their own domain”
NKJV”who did not keep their proper domain”
NRSV”who did not keep their own position”
TEV”who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority”
NJB”who did not keep to the authority they had”
There is a play on the tense of the verb “keep” in Jud 1:6. The angels did not keep their place (aorist active participle) so God has kept them in a place of imprisonment until judgment day (perfect active indicative). Those angels who violated God’s will faced both temporal and eschatological judgment, just as the rebels of Israel during the wilderness wandering period and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ARCH
NASB”but abandoned their proper abode”
NKJV”but left their own habitation”
NRSV”but left their proper dwelling”
TEV”but abandoned their own dwelling place”
NJB”but left their appointed sphere”
These angels left (aorist active participle) their heavenly domain and went to another (earth). This fits the angelic interpretation of Gen 6:1-4 very well. This act was a willful rejection of God’s will and authority.
“in eternal bonds” This is literally “chains.” Chains are used on angels in I Enoch and Satan is bound with a “great chain” in Rev 20:1-2. The term “eternal” may mean “powerful,” “adequate,” “sure,” not literally eternal, because these angels are only held until judgment day, when other means of incarceration shall be used (cf. Rev 20:10; Rev 20:14-15). The point is, some are imprisoned now, so as to control their evil activities.
“under darkness” The term Tartarus (not used in Jude, but present in the 2Pe 2:4 parallel) was used in Greek mythology for the holding place of the Titans, the half divine, half human giants. This fits the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6. I Enoch describes the new abode of these rebellious angels (cf. I Enoch 10:5,12) as eternal darkness. How different from heavenly brilliance (glory). The rabbis divided Sheol into “Paradise” (for the righteous) and Tartarus (for the wicked). The term “abyss” (cf. Luk 8:31, Rev 9:1; Rev 11:7; Rev 20:3) is synonymous with the metaphors of darkness used in Jud 1:13 b.
“the great day” This is another way of referring to Judgment Day (cf. Mat 25:31-46; Rev 20:11-15), the day when God will hold all conscious creation responsible for the gift of life (cf. Php 2:10-11; Isa 45:23; Rom 14:10-12).
Jud 1:7 “Sodom and Gomorrah” This is the third OT example of rebellion that involved sexual activities outside of God’s revealed plan of marriage
1. the Canaanite fertility worship at Shittim (cf. Numbers 25)
2. the attempt by angels to mix the orders of creation (cf. Gen 6:1-4; 2Pe 2:4)
3. the homosexual activity of Sodom and Gomorrah toward angels (cf. Genesis 19; 2Pe 2:6)
SPECIAL TOPIC: HOMOSEXUALITY
“and the cities around them” These cities are listed by name in Deu 29:23.
“same way” This is an ACCUSATIVE which relates grammatically to the angels (cf. Jud 1:6), not “the neighboring towns.” It has been speculated that Jude used these OT illustrations because as angels took women in Genesis 6, so here men tried to take angels (cf. Gen 18:22; Gen 19:1). If so, this would be another example of the attempt to mix the orders of creation. However, to me it seems that the inhabitants of Sodom did not know these were angels and thought them to be men (cf. Gen 18:22).
“gross immorality and went after strange flesh” This is in reference to “different kind of (heteros) flesh.” This may relate to (1) the angels and women according to Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews 1.3.1 or (2) the homosexuality (cf. Rom 1:26-27) so prevalent in the area of Sodom.
“are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire” Jude uses these OT examples as a clear warning to his readers. Beware of sexual exploitation by anyone.
The NT speaks clearly of eternal punishment (cf. Mat 18:8; Mat 25:41; Mat 25:46; 2Th 1:9; Heb 6:2; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:11; Rev 20:14-15; Rev 21:28; and also I Enoch 54:1). This subject is difficult to discuss because the Bible does not give much information about heaven or hell. It affirms their reality, but does not reveal specific information, usually describing them in metaphorical language. Jesus uses the “valley of the sons of Hinnom,” which was just south of Jerusalem and was used by the Israelis under Manasseh for the worship of Molech, the Canaanite fire god who required child sacrifice. The Jews, out of shame and regret for their own participation in these fertility rites, turned this locality into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. Jesus’ metaphors of fire, smoke, and worms came from this place, Gehenna.
This place of torment was not created for mankind, but rebellious angels (cf. Mat 25:41). Evil at all levels will be removed and segregated from God’s creation. Hell is the Bible’s way of describing this permanent divide.
Before I leave this topic let me express the pain with which I approach this subject. This is the only suffering in the Bible that is not redemptive. This is not the will of God for anyone. It is a result of willful, continuous rebellion, both angelic and human. It is an open, bleeding sore in the heart of God that will never heal! God’s willingness to allow free will among His creatures results in some painful, eternal losses.
The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. II, p. 379 mentions that Jude’s description of the punishment of these angels is very similar to I Enoch 10:4-6,11,13; 12:4; 15:3; 19:1. This seems to confirm Jude’s familiarity with this inter-biblical Jewish apocalyptic work.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
will. App-102.
put . . . in remembrance. Greek. hupomimnesko. See Joh 14:26. knew. App-132.
LORD. App-98. Some texts (not the Syriac) read “Jesus”. Compare 1Co 10:4.
People. Greek. laos. See Act 2:47.
land. App-129.
afterward. Literally the second time, or in the second place.
destroyed. Greek. apollumi. See Joh 17:12.
believed. App-150.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5-7.] Examples of Divine vengeance.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Jud 1:5. , to remind) In an active sense.- , though you know) The Accusative Absolute, as Act 26:3. The reason why he only admonishes or reminds them is, because they already know it, and have ascertained it once for all. This expression answers to that of Peter, knowing this first.-) once for all: Jud 1:3, note.-, having saved) There is an antithesis in, destroyed.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Jud 1:5-7
SECTION TWO
EXAMPLES OF CONDEMNATION
(Jud 1:5-7)
5 Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.–Three examples, of the divine vengeance upon evil-doers are offered by the sacred writer to support his premise that those who disobey shall receive the just recompense of reward. The first of these involved matters perfectly familiar to those to whom he wrote, events looming large on the historical horizon of the Israelite people. In proof of the fact that punishment of the wicked is certain and sure, Jude directed attention to the condem-nation visited on the people of Israel after they had been provi-dently delivered from the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. The refer-ence here parallels Paul’s description of the judgment executed upon those people in 1Co 10:1-11. Israel was delivered and pre-served in the wilderness (1Co 10:1-4), yet, despite their many evidences of God’s goodness and graciousness to them, rebelled, and in their grievous sin against him were severely punished. See the same theme alluded to in more detail in Psalms 68. The sins of the people of Israel during this period were exceedingly nu-merous and grave. Their constant and determined murmuring their faithlessness in the promises of Jehovah; their unwillingness to go into the land of Canaan; the idolatry of the golden calf; their gross fleshly corruption, are matters duly recorded in great detail by the sacred historian. All of this is summed up under the basic sin of unbelief. The application intended by Jude is that regard-less of how secretly men may work, God will eventually ferret them out and deliver them over to the condemnation they deserve. Israel, a mighty nation, perhaps two millions strong, was saved out of Egypt and then the majority of its people, because of unfaithful-ness, were destroyed. Though they engaged in the formalities of religion and complied in outward fashion with the ritualism required, they were unwilling to adopt the principles of righteousness into their hearts and lives. They were opposed to the idea of God ruling the heart, the life, and the nation and they died under the divine and irresistible judgment of God. The implication is that if half a million men were executed for violation of God’s law through their disobedience, then these false teachers who were teaching, in principle, that for which these multitudes -suffered death, would not escape!
6 And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds un-der darkness unto the judgment of the great day.–The second instance which the author offers to prove his thesis that the pun-ishment of the wicked is inevitable, is that of the angels who sinned. See at length on this a similar reference in 2Pe 2:4, and the notes there. Angels are created beings. These to whom Jude alludes “kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation.” “Principality” (arche) is a term descriptive of office or position this, these angels abandoned. though for what reason or reasons, the writer does not say. There is much speculation on this theme, and Isa 14:12-15 is often cited in this connection, a passage obviously primarily applicable to Babylon, but by many believed to have a secondary application to the fall of Satan. As a result of their abandonment of their proper position, these wicked angels are “kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” The great day alluded to here is the judgment day described in Mat 25:41. These wicked angels will suffer punishment, along with evil men, and in everlasting bonds under darkness they await the judgment clay. The writer’s meaning is, If the angels which sinned do not escape the ven-geance of God, so neither will the false teachers referred to in verse 4.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.–The third instance of evil-doers being summarily punished which Jude cites is that of Sodom and Gomorrah “and the cities about them.” The nature of the horrible and unspeakable sin of which these cities were guilty and the terrible punishment visited upon them because of it is set out in detail in Genesis 19. The “cities about them,” i.e., about Sodom and Gomorrah, were Admah and Zeboim. Zoar, a fifth city in the same general vicinity, was spared from the judg-ment visited upon the others through the intercession of Lot in order that he might have a place to which to flee. (Gen 19:22.) Sodom and Gomorrah,Admah and Zeboim, and the desolation which came upon them for their sin, is alluded to by Moses in Deu 29:23.
A fanciful theory, and with many adherents today, is that the antecedent of “these” in this verse is the “angels” of verse 6, and that Jude here describes the sin of the angels as fornication and the lust for “strange flesh.” In support of this view, reference is made to Gen 6:4, where the phrase “sons of God” is interpreted to mean “angels of God,” and the conclusion is thus drawn that the Nephilim, there described as “mighty men that were of old, men of renown,” resulted from co-habitation between angels and earthly women! In some manuscripts of the Septuagint Version, a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, begun about the third century before the Christian era, instead of the reading, “sons of God,” “angels of God” appears. Moreover, it is alleged that the pronoun toutois (these) is masculine gender, whereas Sodom and Gomorrah are neuter, and thus do not agree ; and since a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number,
In refutation of this interpretation, the following considera-tions should be noted: (1) The word “angels” in the Septaugint manuscripts alluded to is not a translation of the original Hebrew text, but an unwarranted interpretation injected from Alexandrian influences. (2) Toutois, dative plural of houtos, has the same form in both masculine and neuter gender; hence, the objection based on the gender of the pronoun fails. (3) In determining the antecedent of a pronoun, where two or more are grammatically possi-ble, the nearer one is to be selected. (4) Toutois (these) refers to that which is nearer in the context. The translators, had they intended to refer to a more distant antecedent, would have sup-plied those instead. (5) The sin which the angels committed was in leaving their proper habitation and in not keeping their princi-pality. There is nothing said in the reference to their sin of any sexual deviation or co-habitation of women by them. (6) The word “Nephilim” occurs in Num 13:33, where the reference is obviously to the offspring of men, and not angels. (7) The “Neph-ilim” were not angelic beings of monstrous prodigies resulting from a crossing of species, but gigantic human beings, men of great renown physically. (8) It is an immutable and inviolable law of reproduction that everything brings forth after its own kind. This law is announced and affirmed repeatedly in the book of Genesis. (Gen 1:11-12; Gen 1:21; Gen 1:24, etc.) The Lord himself affirmed that an-gels are sexless beings and never marry. (Luk 20:35.) It fol-lows, therefore, that any interpretation of Jud 1:6, which makes the sin of the angels the same as that which characterized the cities of the plain–fornication and unnatural sexual indulgence–is fanci-ful, erroneous, and absurd. See 2Pe 2:4, and the comments there.
These cities, in the condemnation which befell them, serve as examples of what happens to those who disobey God. The verb “set forth” (prokeintai) means to lie exposed, as a corpse laid out for burial. The word example (deigma), from a word occurring only here in the New Testament, means to exhibit or show, and as used here to indicate the demonstration which the cities of the plain afford to the vengeance inevitable to those in disobedience. They suffered the punishment of “eternal fire,” not that the fire which consumed them is eternal, but that their punishment was so utter and so permanent that the nearest approach to it will be seen in the destruction which shall be characteristic of those who suffer the eternal fire. Their destruction thus stands as a symbol of that which shall eventually be the lot of all ungodly men.
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by E.M. Zerr
Jud 1:5. The importance of reminders is again indicated, for these brethren had known of the history of the Israelites. The point is that it is not enough to start serving the Lord, but it must be continued or He will judge his people.
Jud 1:6. This has the same point as the preceding verse. These angels had a favorable estate at first, but left their own habitation (their proper domain). These are the angels that sinned in 2Pe 2:4, and they are kept in everlasting chains under darkness which means Hades; they will be judged at the last day.
Jud 1:7. Even as denotes that the people of Sodom and Gomorrha will also be punished at the last day. Suffering the vengeance refers to the future judgment day. The last word means a sentence unto punishment the same as 2Th 1:9. The destruction of those cities was for this world only and did not constitute the eternal fire, for that is to come at the day of judgment. But their destruction in Genesis was intended as an example for the warning of others, and when that calamity came upon them they were given this sentence to be carried out at the last day. Strange flesh refers to their filthy immorality as described in Rom 1:27.
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by N.T. Caton
Jud 1:5.-I will therefore put you in remembrance.
I call your attention to the fact, which you all know, while the Lord saved the Hebrews-that is, brought them out of bondage, a great exhibition of his loving-kindnessyet even after this he destroyed them because of their unbelief. If this be God’s dealings with men who refuse to obey, what think you will be the reward of those who pervert the truth of God? Of the certainty of the punishment that awaits these false teachers, listen while I give you further illustrations of God’s dealings with the wicked and disobedient.
Jud 1:6.-And the angels which kept not their first estate.
Here, it is asserted as a fact, that heavenly messengers at some time in the past had sinned, deliberately left the habitation assigned them; and, although higher in many respects than man, God visited punishment upon them. They were cast out, and by him are reserved, bound as strongly as chains can bind, and kept under darkness until that great day which God has fixed, when their final doom will overwhelm them.
Jud 1:7.-Even as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Cited by a former writer, it is now urged again by Jude to show the certainty of the punishment that awaits the ungodly. But one single righteous man was found in these cities. Their wickedness was so exceedingly great and so utterly disgusting, naught but the swift destruction by fire could, in the wise judgment of God, adequately punish.
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by Donald Fream
Like those examples in the Old Testament, these men have done things to reserve for them a place in hell.
The purpose of the scripture is not only to instruct us concerning the will of God, but to stir up in our memory lest we forget. Peter says the purpose of both his epistles was to stir up their minds through their remembrance, (2Pe 3:1). Paul instructs Timothy to put them in remembrance, (2Ti 2:14). So it is not strange that Jude would have us draw lessons from the scriptures imbedded in our own memories.
Here Jude makes use of the vast storehouse of evidence that every man should have: his memory. Without memory there can be no growth, neither spiritual nor scholastic. Without memory the conscience would be dead and mans will would have no purpose. A good memory we should strive for, build up, and treasure.
Memories of trite and unimportant data are of little use, except for the possibility of memory training itself. But memory that builds our treasury of evidence concerning things spiritual brings us many benefits. Jude here asks his readers to remember important events and lessons from the Old Testament. These events will furnish evidence as to the natural result of these apostate teachings, and as to the end of the apostates themselves. If we know the scriptures, we know all things once for all delivered by God for us. By this knowledge we are enabled to discern the spirits, whether they be good or bad. This is Judes purpose in these verses.
Manuscripts are divided as to whether it was Jesus or the Lord that delivered the people from Egypt. The evidence is about equally divided with the advantage being to the reading of Jesus. Many commentators object to reading Jesus here. They claim that Jesus could have had nothing to do with Old Testament events or that Jesus is not mentioned in connection with Jewish history; or, as Plummer states, Jesus is nowhere else in the scripture stated to be the author of anything which took place before the Incarnation.
It is not difficult to conceive that Jesus had to do with the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. Jesus had to do even with the creation of the universe. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. (Joh 1:3) Jesus has to do with keeping all things in existence, upholding all things by the word of his power. (Heb 1:3) So it seems that he that descended out of heaven (Joh 3:13) was busy about the Fathers business before His putting on flesh.
The purpose of the illustration concerning deliverance from Egypt and the eventual destruction of those delivered is to call the lessons to our remembrance. God will not forever tolerate a continual murmuring against His dominion. The Israelites believed not the words of the Lord, and because of their unbelief that which they should have known became the unknown to them. They trembled in the face of the giants and wept when water was not in sight-even before they were thirsty! With evidence of Gods care manifest continually, they still chose to disbelieve He would continue, and insulted Him by doubting His word. They were destroyed.
Another Old Testament apostasy used for an example is the fallen angels. They kept not their first estate (More correctly; kept not their own dignity). The results of their apostasy show the seriousness. Such a terrible apostasy with such serious results would certainly be referred to in other scriptures, and that it is. The parallel with the passage in 2 Peter is not to be discounted. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;- leaves no doubt as to the reference. The original fall of the devil and his angels is a prime example of apostasy. What then is the everlasting bonds under darkness? one may ask. These everlasting bonds must be the prohibition of these fallen angels from the presence of God. Like Satan himself, they roam this earth seeking to devour Gods elect; but they are shut off from the light of Gods presence forever. In this fashion they await the final judgment and condemnation where they shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev 20:10)
There are some who prefer to interpret this passage to mean another period of angels being tested and falling. Although a second testing and falling is not a scriptural doctrine, such an interpretation is given to the account of giants in Gen 6:1 ff. The expression sons of God in Gen 6:2 is a reference to angels, it is claimed. Thus the angels saw that women on earth they were pretty, and decided to cohabitate with them. The resultant children of these unholy alliances were giants.
There are a number of problems that make such an interpretation unlikely. For one, the expression sons of God does not have to mean angels. The expression is used of angels in the Old Testament. The expression used in Genesis 6, however, most obviously refers to that which is being described in the context of Genesis 5. Here we find the descendants of Seth described as a righteous people. Of these people were such as Enoch, who walked with God. (Gen 5:22) The most natural and proper interpretation would be that the sons of God in Gen 6:2 refer to the righteous descendants of Seth described in chapter five.
Again it is not necessary to invent some physical abnormality nor some unholy alliance with the demon world in order to explain giants. There are many mysteries in this world that the Bible does not explain. The scripture does not attempt to make any explanation of the source of colored pigmentations in the skins of different peoples. Why one people would be brown, another yellow, another white, and another black was not considered by the Spirit a subject worthy of explanation. Likewise, why there should be a nation of pigmies and another of giants differing from the sizes of most peoples is not considered to be knowledge essential to our spiritual welfare.
But why is the word giants used in Gen 6:2 as a result of these marriages? one may ask. The word in Gen 6:4 is more properly Nephilim or mighty men. Although the word can mean giants, it also can mean bullies, rough-necks or robbers. These are not the giants that the spies saw in Canaan, for the flood destroyed these men in Genesis 6. Gen 6:4 calls these Nephilim, mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. From Gen 6:5 forward we see that these men were renown because of their wickedness, so it seems proper that they were men mighty in wickedness and evil also.
The most natural interpretation of Gen 6:1-4 is that the descendants of Seth (sons of God) married the daughters of men (beautiful women from the line of Cain) with the result that their children became wicked and evil like their mothers; until finally there was only one righteous family left; Noah and his sons. The passage in chapter 6 is evidently given to explain why only one righteous family remained from Seths line.
The most likely source for the doctrine of angels marrying women is the book of Enoch. The book of Enoch is an obviously uninspired book, containing contradictions within itself and clear contradictions with the scriptures. This apocryphal book dates back to the second century, and some would claim the book actually pre-dates Jude. There is one passage similar in both books, and much similarity of content. It is not clear, however, that Jude quoted Enoch, or that Enoch quoted Jude. Jude in his reference to Enoch is referring to the Old Testament descendant of Adam, for he so states. It is possible that the book of Enoch was not in existence or was not known by Jude at the time he wrote. If so, then it might be claimed that the book of Enoch was a partial quote of the inspired writing of Jude. Many modern scholars today, however, tend to give a late date to Jude and claim that Jude quoted from Enoch.
The book of Enoch has this to say regarding Genesis 6 :
And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: Come, let us choose wives from among the children of men and beget us children . . . And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon . . . and all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants, turned against them and devoured mankind . . . they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. And the women have borne giants . . . Bind Azazel (the leader of those angels) hand and foot and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire (Book of Enoch 6 and 7:1, 9:9 and chap. 10. Extract from commentary on Jude by Wolff, pp 70)
Sodom and Gomorrah is a third Old Testament example of apostasy. This apostasy is probably chosen to point out the sensual nature of the false teaching of the Gnostics as well as the certain destruction to follow. Sodom and Gomorrah in rejecting God became the famous Old Testament example of the devolution of sin described in Rom 1:28-32. The sinfulness and vileness of giving over to sensuous desires is nowhere more obvious.
The ultimate end (of the Gnostic teaching that it doesnt make any difference what one does since the flesh is sinful anyway) is the same as the end of Sodom and Gomorrah. In like manner says Jude, these philosophers will defile the flesh. Rotten doctrine in public school will make rotten lives in public school children. So the Gnostic doctrine was rotten, and it could make the lives of the Christians who followed it also rotten.
The Gnostic doctrine would also cause Christians to scoff at the authority and dominion of Jehovah, even as the fallen angels had done. And who today would deny that any modern teaching that tends to make Christ less than Lord and to make Jehovah less than the ever existent Creator would not likewise lead Christians to set at nought dominion and rail at glories? Every Christian should be horrified because of this possible result of false teaching.
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by Burton Coffman
Jud 1:5 –Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Though ye know all things once for all … Here again is (Greek: [@hapax]), indicating that the Christian knows the whole message once and for all, finally, before he is even converted. In the sense of its basics, the Christian faith is not an exploration, but an acceptance, but not so much after that acceptance a learning, as it is a doing. Barnett defended the RSV as superior in their rendition of this as, “Learn one lesson, and you know all.”[21] This applies to the “common salvation” and the “faith once for all delivered” rather than to the Old Testament examples Jude was about to cite.
Saved a people out of… Egypt … By bringing up the example of the Israel of the Exodus, Jude taught that, “The goodness of God will not hinder him from punishing the wicked under the new dispensation, any more than it hindered him from punishing them under the old.”[22]
The information which Jude states in this verse as being known “once for all,” according to Wheaton, is “catechetical instruction given prior to baptism,”[23] which corresponds with the meaning suggested in discussion of it above.
Afterward destroyed them that believed not … Here the New Testament habit of using “belief” to cover a whole family of related things is clear enough. The Israelites were destroyed for idolatry in worshipping the golden calf, their fornication with the Midianites, their murmuring and complaining, etc.; but all of this is summed up as “they believed not.”
[21] Albert E. Barnett, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1956), p. 326.
[22] James MacKnight, op. cit., p. 194.
[23] David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1275.
Jud 1:6 –And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
It is disgusting that some so-called Christian commentaries read like an exegesis on the apocryphal book of Enoch, rather than a discussion of the sacred New Testament. There is not any reference whatever in this place to Gen 6:1 ff and the wild and speculative tales about angels having intercourse with women, producing a nation of giants, and a lot of other fembu which is not even hinted at in this verse. For the moment, we shall leave it at that, but a fuller discussion will be given under Jude 1:1:14.
Angels that kept not their own principality … These were the angels of Satan mentioned by the Saviour in Mat 25:41. There is nothing in this verse that might not be inferred from what Jesus said there, especially by a person who had been reared in the same home with Jesus! That those angels of the devil had indeed rebelled is clear from the fact of their belonging to the devil; and these words are a legitimate statement of such an inference.
He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness … All that we said under the preceding paragraph applies here. An apostle of Jesus Christ had already given Jude all of the authority he needed for making such a statement as this. Peter said, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2Pe 2:4).
Rose stressed the willingness of some to see this as a reference to the superstition that “the angels came down to earth, cohabited with women, producing a half-human, half-demonic race of beings called giants in Gen 6:4.” He firmly rejected such a view, saying that, “For this writer, Jesus sufficiently refutes the idea that angels could possibly commit fornication with humans (Mat 22:30).”[24] Full agreement is felt with Rose; and, besides that, “angels” are not even mentioned in the Genesis passage. The commentators have simply dragged the Book of Enoch into their misunderstanding of this passage.
The judgment of the great day … “This expression occurs in Rev 6:17, and nowhere else in the New Testament.”[25] This is to be identified with John’s “last day” (Joh 6:39-40; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:54; Joh 11:24; and Joh 12:48). Other New Testament expressions for that great final occasion are “that day,” “the day of judgment,” and “the day of the Lord.”
[24] Delbert R. Rose, op. cit., p. 436.
[25] Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 510.
Jud 1:7 –Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these having given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
Sodom and Gomorrah … These were the wicked cities whose shameful sin is embalmed in the very name of one of them, a full account of which may be found in Genesis 18 and Genesis 19. These are a second illustration drawn from the Old Testament of once privileged people who were destroyed for their wickedness. The plain of Sodom was well-watered, evidently being one of great fertility, as indicated by Lot’s choice of it.
And the cities about them … These words are scarcely noted by some, but without this notice the next clause is unintelligible. Which were these cities “round about” Sodom and Gomorrah? They were “Admah and Zeboim, the two being mentioned along with Sodom and Gomorrah in Deu 29:23.”[26]
Having in like manner with these … has the meaning that all four of those wicked cities including Zeboim and Admah were guilty of “fornication” and the deviations associated more generally with Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude reveals here that Zeboim and Admah were similarly guilty with Sodom and Gomorrah. Failure to note this has led some commentators to interpret this as meaning that they committed fornication and went after strange flesh (Sodomy) like the angels![27] Of course, Jesus said that, “In heaven the sons of God shall be as the angels of heaven who neither marry, nor are given in marriage,” (Mat 22:30), indicating that angelic life is utterly different from life on earth.
Suffering the punishment of eternal fire … That this verse is not a reference to the angels is clear in the distinction of the two punishments. That of the angels was their reservation “under darkness” until the judgment; that in this verse, being the punishment of the wicked cities, is “suffering … eternal fire,” a plain reference to the divine visitation against Sodom and Gomorrah. Such a punishment suggested to Jude the “eternal fire” mentioned by Jesus as the punishment of the wicked, of which the physical destruction of the cities was but a preliminary type of the ultimate overthrow of the wicked in hell.
[26] James MacKnight, op. cit., p. 196.
[27] Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 510.
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by Gary Hampton
Apostasy in Old Testament History
In Jud 1:5, Jude submitted his first bit of evidence to prove evildoers will be condemned. He said he wanted to remind them, though, as the American Standard Version has it, they knew all things “once for all.” When Jude says they “knew this,” it seems he was telling them they knew all things pertinent to this problem and simply needed to have it called to their attention. Paul discussed the same events in 1Co 10:1-11. The Hebrew writer, possibly also Paul, dealt with this in Heb 3:16-18. Israel had been brought out of Egypt by the hand of God. They were a mighty nation. Yet, only two of those above the age of twenty were allowed to enter the promised land. The basic category of the sins that the people committed was that of unbelief. If God would punish all of the members of that chosen nation, save two, it is easily seen that the false teachers would reap their reward.
Angels who sinned were presented by Jude as the second bit of evidence that God will punish evildoers. Again, there is a similar reference in 2Pe 2:4. These angels left their “offices” or “positions,” which is the literal meaning of the word translated “proper domain.” They were put in bonds from which they will never escape. They are being held in bondage until the day of judgment when they will be judged along with all evil men (Jud 1:6; Mat 25:41).
The third piece of evidence comes from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Admah and Zeboim were cities near there which would have likewise been considered cities of the plain. The city of Zoar, which was in the area, was spared when Lot interceded for it so he might have a place of refuge. The whole story is told in Gen 19:1-38 (Deu 29:23; Jer 20:16; Isa 13:19; Rom 9:29). Woods says the words “set forth” mean “to lie exposed” like a corpse laying out for burial. Further, the word “example” means to “exhibit” or “show.” These cities, then, illustrate the vengeance the Lord takes on people of this kind. Their sins are similar to those listed in Rom 1:24-32. It was truly a terrible sin and the punishment was equally terrible. Their punishment was so permanent that it is likened unto eternal fire. These examples leave little hope for false teachers (Jud 1:7).
Commentary on Jud 1:5-7 by David Hersey
Jud 1:5 –But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Here we see another usage of the Greek word “hapax” which means once for all time and never requiring anything in addition. The ASV provides a better translation of this phrase, “Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all”. These Christians knew everything they needed to live their lives in accordance with God’s will. The faith, as Jude referred to it was not for them in any way fragmentary or incomplete. Those who had crept in stealthily had worked to assimilate themselves and their beliefs into the system of faith that Jude’s readers were completely aware of beforehand. Jude was telling them here that they should go back to the basics and remember the things they had been taught. There’s no new revelation, these people coming in did not have anything new to add to what was already delivered. Nothing has changed, everything concerning the faith of Jesus Christ had been delivered and sealed up for all of time.
The application for us today is the same. There has been no new revelation since “the faith” was delivered. It was delivered in its entirety, once for all time, leaving nothing whatsoever out that is needful for the Christian life. Christians today can take comfort from the fact that they can follow the doctrine of the NT exactly and have full confidence that they are living in accordance with the whole will of God. Jude communicated this to them in this letter and the message to them applies to “the faith” as it pertains to every generation of Christians that lived since that time.
Jud 1:5 –“the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. “
This is in reference to the well-known accounts of the Israelites delivery from Egyptian bondage amid the plagues and the institution of the Passover feast. The Israelites were destroyed for idolatry in worshipping the golden calf, their fornication with the Midianites, their murmuring and complaining and their lack of faith when it came time to enter Canaan. Their destruction had nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not they had a mental acknowledgement of the facts.
In scripture it is often the case that the word “believe” in various forms is used to represent the sum or the whole of the thoughts being conveyed. This is a form of speech known as a synecdoche where a part of something is used to represent the whole. Jude used the word “believe” as a synecdoche to cover a whole family of related things, in this case the rebellion and disobedience of the Israelites.
This was the first of three examples Jude would use to put his readership into remembrance of what fate befell those of their predecessors who rebelled against the will of God. The warning is clear enough. The punishment inflicted upon them for rebellion should serve as a grim example of what would happen to any in that time who would similarly turn the grace of God into something it was not.
Jud 1:6 –And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
These angels mentioned here are the same angels of Satan mentioned by Jesus in Mat 25:41. These angels of the devil rebelled against the directions of God and were cast out of heaven. It is a well-known fact that there are spiritual forces that operated in opposition to God. If there had not been such forces, there would have never been temptation the garden and man would have never fallen. Satan most definitely set himself up in opposition to God and he was not alone in his rebellion.
The angels bound in everlasting chains of darkness has a parallel mention in 2Pe 2:4-5 where we read, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment”. In this verse, we see Peter use the Greek word “tartaroo” which is transliterated into the English word “Tartarus” which is a reference to the deepest abyss of Hades, the realm of the dead where all who die await the final day of Judgment. From the teaching of the rich man and Lazarus, we learn that this Hadean realm has two areas separated by an impassable gulf or void of some sort. On the one side we see the rich man in Jesus’ illustration being in a place of extreme torment and being able to see across to those on the other side but unable to pass. Those to whom the rich man appealed were in another area altogether which is described in scripture as “Abraham’s bosom” (Luk 16:22).
We know this a place of rest and paradise because in Act 2:27, we find these words in regard to an ancient prophecy of David concerning the Messiah, “For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption”. From this passage we learn that after Jesus died, he his spirit was sent to the Hades. We know that He was not sent to Tartarus because of what He said to the thief while dying on the cross as recorded in Luk 23:43, “And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”. From these handful scriptures we draw the conclusion that there is a place, called Hades in scripture, where those who die go to await judgment. This place has two areas, one for the righteous dead who “have fallen asleep in Christ” (1Co 15:18-19), and abide in a place of comfort and rest while the unrighteous dead share the fate of the angels who sinned and are kept in chains of darkness and torment until the judgment of the great day of the Lord.
In this context of Jude, we see the second of three groups of those who align themselves in opposition of God’s righteousness. None of these groups of people fared well as a result of their rebellion. And in the following verse we see yet another group of the unrighteous and in this example we learn of the eternal fate awaiting all of them at the coming of the great day of the Lord and the final judgment.
Jud 1:6 –“the great day”
Jesus spoke of that day in His teachings as recorded for us in Joh 5:28-30, “for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation”. It should be here noted that in the words of our savior, the determining factor as to the final destiny of man is over whether they did good or did evil. There is nothing here mentioned from the teachings of our Lord concerning one’s faith or belief. The decision over one’s destiny is based on how they lived their life and not in just what they believed. The Hebrew writer made it clear that faith and belief are an inseparable element from the acceptable Christian walk. Heb 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”. While faith and belief are essential components, so also is doing good in the kingdom of Christ. None of these things in and of themselves will ever result in eternal life, rather all of them coupled with the mercy and grace of God will.
Jud 1:7 –“as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
The third and final example of those who rebelled against God’s righteousness are presented here in the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. These two cities and the surrounding ones had given themselves over to homosexuality. A study of these cities reveals that they were so corrupted and carried over by this abomination that the men of the Sodom surrounded the house of Lot where two angels sent from God lodged for the night with the intent of forcing homosexual rape on them. These were the very angels sent by God to destroy Sodom if at least ten righteous souls could not be found. Only four were found and only three escaped, Lot and his two daughters (Genesis 19). In chapter 19, verses 24-25, we read of the fate that befell these corrupt cities, “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”
It is interesting that the scriptures mentioned that what grew on the ground was likewise burned up. It is believed that the ancient site of Sodom and Gomorrah has been found. The evidence of the destruction is consistent with the Biblical account. Of great interest is that scripture describes this place as a fertile location in Gen 13:10-10, “And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar”. The plains on which Sodom and Gomorrah were built were like a garden paradise. It’s not like that now. The plains of Jordan are a sun baked wasteland. The destruction of these cities was such that the region never recovered from the desolation. Looking at the present appearance of the area, it is hard to imagine it was ever a well watered area that was described as being like the garden of the Lord.
Jud 1:7 –” are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
All three of the examples given here by Jude served as a warning to those who would pervert the doctrine of Christ. The effect was to illustrate in the minds of the readers an association between rebellion to God and the fate of real life examples of those who did. The earthly suffering they endured was but the beginning of their woes. The vengeance they suffered on earth was temporary. The vengeance they are to suffer beyond this world is eternal and without end. These people are doubtless counted among those who are incarcerated in Tartarus, suffering in chains of darkness, awaiting the final judgment of God, to be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. Their fate, like that of the angels that sinned is set and certain. They are without hope and doomed to spend an eternity in hell fire from which there is no escape. Their situation now is dire indeed, but all they have to look forward to is worse.
These unfortunate and unwise souls though dead, speak to us today as examples of the seriousness about which God views apostasy and false teaching. Having it compared to the illustrations Jude chose, could not speak more clearly. In all of scripture it is hard to find a more graphic example of God’s wrath being poured out on people and to have this imagery associated with the activities of false teachers is intended to send a clear message to the readership. One’s approach to the truth of God’s word needs to be sure and serious. Failure to correctly believe and teach God’s will is going to have disastrous results. The application for us today is the same. Nothing has changed. God’s grace is wonderful and His mercy is incomparable, but none of these qualities in the nature of God will help those who pervert the teachings of Christ which being recorded by inspiration, collectively make up what is referred to by Jude as “the faith”.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Redeeming Love
Unto him that loveth us and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.Rev 1:5-6.
John is writing to the seven churches of Asia, representative of all churches in all time. He salutes them in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, though employing unusual phraseology, coined in his own mint and very precious. While setting forth the work and glory of Christ as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, he can contain himself no longer. He cannot deliver his message till he has relieved his heart, and he pours forth, as from a fountain of thanksgiving aspiring heavenward, the anthem of the Church of the redeemed belowUnto him that loveth us!
An utterance like this gathers up so many experiences in itself; it implies so much, reminds us of so much, suggests so much. In the story of the Roman Empire we read of the banquet in which, because the rarest wines were not costly enough, the guests drank from goblets in which priceless pearls had been dissolved. But how richly filled is the chalice containing the thanksgivings of saints, forgiven, cleansed, and fitted for lofty service; and who can estimate the significance of the praises they offer to their Saviour for His redeeming grace? And best of all, such a text, while reminding us of our sins and our redemption, our trials and deliverances, our evil and its mastery, our low estate and the rank to which Christ has raised us, leads entirely away from self and fastens all our attention on another Figureto Him be glory for ever!
Like Christian who, encountering the perils of the Valley, found there also the delivering power of the Lord of the Hill, the soul redeemed and restored cannot but sing,
O world of wonders! (I can say no less)
That I should be preservd in that distress
That I have met with here! O blessed be
The Hand that from it hath delivered me!
Dangers in darkness, devils, hell, and sin
Did compass me, while I this vale was in:
Yea, snares, and pits, and traps, and nets did lie
My path about, that worthless silly I
Might have been catchd, entangled, and cast down.
But since I live, let Jesus wear the Crown.
The text is an ascription of praise unto Him whose love is
I.An Unceasing Lovewho loveth us.
II.An Emancipating Lovewho loosed us from our sins.
III.An Enfranchising Lovewho made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father.
I
The Love that is Ever with Us
Unto him that loveth us.
So the true text reads. Some copyist, who was thinking more of grammar than of Christian experience, thought it must be a mistake, and altered it to loved. Or perhaps St. John himself first wrote loved and then bethought him: Why should I say loved when He loves us still? At any rate, this is the conviction of the Early Church: the Jesus whom they had known not only loved them while He was their Companion on the earth, but loves them still, shares therefore in that further quality of the Godhead of which St. John writes elsewhere: God is Love, and gives to that quality just what each man requires to find in itpersonal direction towards himself. Thus Jesus is the link between the universal God and the individual soul. What without Him would be incredible, not only becomes credible, but is actually realized through Him. God loves me: I know it by referring myself to the historical Jesus: and when that is so, He has for me the value of God.
1. Love begins with God.That is where our hopes are born. That is the background in which we find the warrant for all our confidence and all our faith. God loves us. All effective reasoning concerning human redemption must begin here. God loves! The beginning is not to be found in us, in our inclinations and gropings and resolvings and prayers. These are essential but secondary. The primary element is the inclination of God. Omnia exeunt in mysterium, says Sir Thomas Browne; all things issue in mystery. But also all things issue from mystery; by which we mean not the incomprehensible, but the all-comprehending; not the unintelligible, but the self-sufficing and self-explaining; not the blackness of darkness, but the blaze of truth with excess of light.
We cannot get behind Divine love as a cause. In Deuteronomy (Rev 6:7) Israel is told that Jehovah loved His peoplebecause He loved them. The Christian hymn says the same thing. He hath loved, He hath loved us, we cannot tell why; He hath loved, He hath loved us because He would love. The Jews were chosen, not because of their numbers, not because of their warlike virtues, not because of their religious instincts or amenability to religious teaching, but because God loved them. A Syrian ready to perish was their father, but God made of them a nation to whom all the world has been, and still is, indebted. That does not mean that Divine love is irrational, arbitrary, capricious; but it does mean that for personal beings love is a primary fact, a source, a fountain, an ultimate explanation, beyond which it is well not to strive to passespecially the unworthy, the wayward, and the evil; all they can do is to sing
Who for me vouchsafed to die,
Loves me stillI know not why!
The fire which warms the hearthstone is not original; it is derivative, and refers us back to the sun. The candle with which we search for the lost piece of silver is not original and originating; it is borrowed flame from the great altar-fires of the sun. Earths broken lights, a candle here, a lamp there, a fire yonder, all index backwards, and point us to the great originating centre of solar light and heat. The lamps and candles and fires that burn in human life, everything that is bright and genial and aspiring, have reference backward to some creative and beneficent source. We love, because he first loveth us. He first loveth! That is the primary quantity, and every kindly feeling that warms the heart, every pure hope that illumines the mind, were begotten of that most gracious source.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Apostolic Optimism, 237.]
2. This love never leaves us.The past tense expresses a blessed truth, but loveth includes allpast, present, and future; it is a timeless word, bringing with it fresh breezes from across the ocean of eternity. It is not a single act that is here indicated, but a state abiding. For this loveth is the timeless present of that Divine nature, of which we cannot properly say either that it was or that it will be, but only that it for ever is; and the outgoings of His love are like the outgoings of that Divine energy of which we cannot properly say that it did or that it will do, but only that it ever does. His love, if one may use such a phrase, is lifted above all tenses, and transcends even the bounds of grammar. He did love. He does love. He will love. All three forms of speech must be combined in setting forth the ever present, because timeless and eternal, love of the Incarnate Word.
The great poems of the world have been love-poems; they have been poems of love betrayed, or unrequited, or they have been thunders wailed out over a dead and buried love. But the greatest love-story of all is of One who loves for ever because He lives for ever. The Lord Jesus Christ has awakened a passionate love in unnumbered hearts, but among them all not one sweet, dead, disappointed facelike Elaines confronting Lancelot at the river-gate of Arthurs palaceupturned in mute appeal, has ever reproached the Crucified for having offered to Him in vain an unmeasured affection. The love of the living has been offered to the living, and only a living Lord could have awakened and satisfied a love which has been poured out at His feet like spikenard. It is this consciousness of being loved that gives ever deeper meaning and ever gathering volume to the great doxology, Unto him be the dominion for ever.
When Sir James Mackintosh lay dying, his friends by the bedside saw his lips slightly moving, and as one of them desired to catch, if possible, the last words of the great and good man, he leaned over, and applying the ear close, heard him saying, Jesus, love, the same thing; Jesus, love, the same thing.2 [Note: A. H. Drysdale, A Moderators Year, 99.]
There is a highroad which I knew full well away in the distant North, and a gladsome, shining river keeps it company. Their tracks remain in closest fellowship. They turn and wind together, and at any moment you may step from the dusty highway and drink deep draughts from the limpid stream. There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. Here is the hard, dusty highway of the individual life, and near it there flows the gladdening river of the Eternal Love. It turns with our turnings, and winds through all the perplexing labyrinths of our intensely varied day. We may ignore the river; we cannot ignore it away. Thrice blessed are they who heed and use it. They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. The inspiring resources are always just at hand. The river of love runs just by the hard road. It never parts company with the highway.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Apostolic Optimism, 239.]
3. We can set no limit to the extent of this love.Unto him that loveth us. The words become especially beautiful if we remember that they come from the lips of him whose distinction it was that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. It is as if he had said, I share my privilege with you all. I was no nearer Him than you may be. Every head may rest on the breast where mine rested. Having the sweet remembrance of that early love, these things write I unto you that ye also may have fellowship with me in that which was my great distinction. I, the disciple whom Jesus loved, speak to you as the disciples whom Jesus loves. He is speaking of One who had been dead for half a century, and he is speaking to people none of whom had probably ever seen Jesus in His lifetime, and most of whom had not been born when He died. Yet to them all he turns with that profound and mighty present tense, and says, He loveth us. He was speaking to all generations, and telling all the tribes of men of a love which is in active operation towards each of them, not only at the moment when St. John spoke to Asiatic Greeks, but at the moment when we Englishmen read his words, Christ that loveth us.
When we extend our thoughts or our sympathies to a crowd, we lose the individual. We generalize, as logicians say, by neglecting the particular instances. That is to say, when we look at the forest we do not see the trees. But Jesus Christ sees each tree, each stem, each branch, each leaf, just as when the crowd thronged Him and pressed Him, He knew when the tremulous finger, wasted and shrunken to skin and bone, was timidly laid on the hem of His garment; as there was room for all the five thousand on the grass, and no mans plenty was secured at the expense of another mans penury, so each of us has a place in that heart; and my abundance will not starve you, or your feeding full diminish the supplies for me. Christ loves all, not with the vague general philanthropy with which men love the mass, but with the individualizing knowledge and special direction of affection towards the individual which demands for its fulness a Divine nature to exercise it. And so each of us may have our own rainbow, to each of us the sunbeam may come straight from the sun and strike upon our eye in a direct line, to each of us the whole warmth of the orb may be conveyed, and each of us may say, He loved me, and gave himself for me.
Let us now turn aside and look upon this great sight, of Love that burneth with fire, yet is not consumed; of Love that having poured out its soul unto death, yet liveth, to see of that souls long travail and to be satisfied with it. Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. When were Loves arms stretched so wide as upon the Cross? When did they embrace so much as when Thou, O Christ, didst gather within Thy bosom the spears and arrows of the mighty to open us a Lane for Freedom!1 [Note: Dora Greenwell, The Patience of Hope (ed. 1894), 130.]
He loveth us. That covers past, present, and future. The love of our Redeemer stretches from eternity to eternity. It had no beginning, and will have no ending. It is unchanged, unmodified, untouched, either by lapse of time or variation of circumstance. Utterly inexhaustible, it flows incessantly in undiminished and undiminishable tide into the lives towards which it is directed.
Immortal Love, for ever full,
For ever flowing free,
For ever shared, for ever whole,
A never ebbing sea.2 [Note: Hector Mackiunon: A Memoir, by his Wife (1914), 181.]
II
The Love that has Made Us Free
And loosed us from our sins by his blood.
This work is described by two different words in A.V. and R.V.washed and loosed. These are two figures for one fact. There is but the difference of a single letter in the Greek, and not a letter of difference in the reality, though the point of view differs. The one word regards sin as defilement, the other as bondage. The one thanksgiving rejoices in our being purified, the other in our being freed. The same Divine act accomplishes both ends; and at one time we may rejoice in the thought that the old foul self may be made clean, at another in the delightful consciousness that our chains are snapped, the dungeon walls broken down, and the slave is emancipated for ever.
1. The notion of bondage underlies the metaphor of loosing a fetter. If we would be honest with ourselves, in our account of our own inward experiences, that bondage we all know. There is the bondage of sin as guilt, the sense of responsibility, the feeling that we have to answer for what we have done, and to answer not only here but also hereafter, when we appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. Guilt is a chain. And there is the bondage of habit, which ties and holds us with the cords of our sins, so that, slight as the fetter may seem at first, it has an awful power of thickening and becoming heavier and more pressing, till at last it holds a man in a grip from which he cannot get away.
Sin finds men out in the form of Temptation. Temptation is the result of constantly yielding. A constant doing passing into a habitit really comes to be a predisposition to do what we have done before over again, and this is temptation. We have built up the muscle-fibre of temptation by constantly using it. Some day Tennysons lines will be true, that our character is a part of all we have met. Look at the brain. It is made up, as you know, of countless cells and processes. If an intellectual process runs through our brain once, it leaves comparatively no effect. But say it over a hundred times, and a footpath is worn through the brain; the hundred and first time will be easy. Say it a thousand times, and lo! through all the cellular structure of the brain there is for ever laid a thoroughfare upon this one intellectual idea, and temptations and sins march to and fro in endless procession along the beaten track. Men do not commit two different kinds of sin. You have your own favourite sin, and I have mine, and as it grows the trick is intensified, the path more beaten still, and the end is Death. One thing kills a man, and if you are guilty of one sin, your doom is sealed. Therefore guard against making a thoroughfare. Decide once for all to close the thoroughfare by gates which shall last for ever. Let that evil thought never pass that way again.1 [Note: The Life of Henry Drummond, 478.]
2. But we have an Emancipator. He loosed us from our sins. This proclaims not a mere cleansing, but a liberation; not the remission of penalty only, but the removal also of moral bondage. Sins bondage is one of the strongest forces in life; for sin, like a tyrant, subjugates memory, deteriorates moral strength, and increasingly destroys a mans power of resistance and action. And to such as are fast bound in its remorseless grip, this Evangel proclaims liberty to the captives, such liberty indeed as befits and enables men to serve God in holiness and righteousness.
I think I have never coveted happiness, but freedom of spirit I have earnestly desired, freedom from that burden which crushes joy and sorrow boththe mere dead weight of care and of remorse. And I believe God, who gave me this desire, has in some measure fulfilled it, and will fulfil it more in spite of my rebellion. The spirit of freedom, of peace, of a sound mind, is, I am sure, given to us. We are only to remember its presence and to walk in it.
The Spirit does make intercessions within us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, and if the sense of personal sins presses them out, they do extend, I trust, to the whole universe; they are groans for its redemption and not for ours only. The word redemption, all the past which it implies, all the future which it points to, has for me a wonderful charm. I cannot separate the idea of deliverance from the idea of God, or ever think of man as blessed except as he enters into Gods redeeming purpose, and labours to make others free.
The bondage of circumstances, of the world, but chiefly of self, has at times seemed to me quite intolerable; the more because it takes away all ones energy to throw it off, and then the difficulty of escaping to God! of asking to have the weight taken away! Oh there is infinite comfort in the thought that He hears all our cries for rescue, and is Himself the Author and Finisher of it.1 [Note: Life of Frederick Denison Maurice, i. 520.]
3. He loosed us from our sins by his blood. Christ is the Emancipator, and the instrument by which He makes us free is His blood. The teaching of Scripture is that the death of Christ was necessary for the remission of mans sin. The explanation of that necessity may be beyond us; a full explanation is certainly beyond our powers at present. But not only is the fact made clear in Scripture, the reasons are not obscurely shadowed forth. And we are taught that without such death God could not Himself righteously forgive sin, and that its bands could not be loosed, because the chief bondage which holds an unforgiven sinner under the wrath of a holy God cannot be relaxed by mere fiat, by the single word, Go free! It is not that the Father is angry and the Son steps in to save us from His wrath, as if there could be schism in the Godhead. It is, God so loved the world that He gave His Son to save it, and Christ so loved the world that He loosed the bands of its sins by His blood. As without shedding of blood there was no remission under the Jewish law, so without the death of the cross there is no redemption for a sinful world. A Saviour who stopped short of death would have lacked the power to loose man from sin, in relation either to God or to the powers of evil or to his own moral and spiritual constitution.
Any simple statement of the Gospel had a great attraction for him, and the simpler it was he enjoyed it the more, if it was not controversial but the genuine utterance of the heart. The account of redemption from the lips of an African woman, a slave, impressed him deeply; he liked to repeat it in conversation, and on one occasion at a meeting for prayer, he stood up and said without further remark of his own: I have never heard the gospel better stated than it was put by a poor negress: Me die, or He die; He die, me no die. 2 [Note: A. Moody Stuart, Recollections of the late John Duncan, 193.]
Some of the great artists of the Crucifixion have painted the cross as reaching into the skies, exercising a cosmic influence for the world upon which its foot rests, whilst its top touches and moves the very heavens. There is such a painting by Luino at Lugano, and another by Guido Reni at Rome. The head of the suffering Christ in the latter is often reproduced, but the whole of the picture should be seen to understand the artists thought. And so the power of the Cross touches the burden of sin which we sinners carry on our shoulders at a thousand points, loosening it at every one and so causing it to fall away from our shoulders in the way Bunyan describes. Freed from condemnation in the sight of God, we are freed altogether: it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? We are freed from the bondage of law, from the thraldom of the devil, from the power of evil habit, from the fear of death and that which follows after death.
Neither passion nor pride
Thy cross can abide,
But melt in the fountain that streams from Thy side.1 [Note: W. T. Davison, Strength for the Way, 29.]
III
The Love that has Given Us Citizenship
And he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father.
1. Here the Revisers adopted, not the reading that would give the smoothest and simplest English, but the reading that had the highest support in the Greek text. And so they substituted a kingdom for kings. This substitution places the promises of the new dispensation in direct connexion with the facts of the old. The language of St. Peter and St. John was no novel coinage. It was merely an adaptation to the Israel after the spirit of the titles and distinctions accorded of old to the Israel after the flesh. There was a holy nation, a peculiar people, a regal priesthood, before Christianity. It was only enlarged, developed, spiritualized, under the gospel. The foundation passage in the Old Testament on which the language of both Christian Apostles alike was moulded is the promise made to the Israelites through Moses on Sinai, If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. Thus the mention of the kingdom links Sinai with Zionthe old with the new.
If we lose the idea of the kingdom we lose with it the most valuable lesson of the passage. A kingdom denotes an organized, united whole. It implies consolidation and harmony. It is not enough that we should realize the individual Christian as a king; we must think of him as a member of a kingdom. The kings of this world are constantly at war one with another. Self-aggrandizement and self-assertion seem natural to their position. Solitariness, isolation, independencethese are ideas inseparable from the kingly throne. But this is not the conception of the true disciple of Christ. He is before all things a member of a body. In the Kingdom of Christ indeed all the citizens are kings, because all are associated in the kingliness of Christ. But they are citizens still. They have the duties, the responsibilities, the manifold and complex relationships of citizens. This Kingdom of God, this Church of Christ, exists for a definite end. Its citizen-kings have each their proper functions, perform each their several tasks, contribute each their special gifts to the fulfilment of this purpose.
The Kingdom of God cometh to a man when he sets up Jesus Cross in his heart, and begins to live what Mr. Laurence Oliphant used to call the life. It passes on its way when that man rises from table and girds himself and serves the person next him. Yesterday the kingdom was one man, now it is a group. From the one who washes to the one whose feet are washed the kingdom grows and multiplies. It stands around us on every side,not in Pharisees nor in fanatics, not in noise nor tumult, but in modest and Christ-like men. One can see it in their faces, and catch it in the tone of their voices. And if one has eyes to see and ears to hear, then let him be of good cheer, for the Kingdom of God is come. It is the world-wide state, whose law is the Divine will, whose members obey the spirit of Jesus, whose strength is goodness, whose heritage is God.1 [Note: John Watson, The Mind of the Master.]
2. We were made not only a kingdom, but also priests. The two ideas are not carelessly united. Indeed they cannot be separated. The uniting bond is the words, unto God. One may be a king without being a priest, but not a king unto God. Human life is a Divine thing. It has no coherence, no meaning, no use or end except as it is brought under the laws of God. A man does not find himself, he does not get upon the track of true living, until along with self-culture he combines the rule and habit of servicemaking the most of others as well as the most of himself.
(1) The priest has direct access to God.All of us, each of us, may pass into the secret place of the Most High, and stand there with happy hearts, unabashed and unafraid, beneath the very blaze of the light of the Shekinah. And we can do so because Jesus Christ has come to us with these words upon His lips: I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. The path into that Divine Presence is blocked for every sinful soul by an immense black rock, its own transgressions; but He has blasted away the rock, and the path is patent for all our feet. By His death we have the way made open into the holiest of all. And so we can come, come with lowly hearts, come with childlike confidence, come with the whole burden of our weaknesses and wants and woes, and can spread them all before Him, and nestle to the great heart of God the Father Himself. We are priests to God, and our prerogative is to pass within the veil by the new and living Way which Christ is for us.
There were many Old Testament customs that were the chrysalis of some beautiful winged truth, to be set free at the touch of Christ. The shell had to be shattered, that such spiritual treasure as Judaism held might become available for the world. That was what Christ meant when He said He came not to destroy, but to fulfil. Priesthood was abolished in the narrow exclusive sense by making all believers priests.1 [Note: F. C. Hoggarth.]
(2) The priest is appointed to offer sacrifice.In one sense the sacrifice is offered already; our High Priest offered Himself once for all upon the altar of the cross, and in that sacrifice none other may share. Yet as our deepest sufferings in His cause fill up that which is lacking of his afflictions, so our sacrifices are participations, such as men may make, by union with Him, in the one great act of obedience whereby He reconciled us to His Father. We offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Even in the Old Testament there is the suggestion that God had some pleasure in the smell of the sacrifice. Gradually, through the influence of the prophet in Israel, there grew up a spiritual conception of sacrifice. Micahs protest (chap. 6) and the Psalmists confession (Psalms 51) represent the final teaching of the Old Testament on the matter. This spiritual idea of sacrifice runs throughout the New Testament; e.g., I beseech you therefore, brethren to present your bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). We ought then to offer our conduct as a holy sacrifice to Him. There is also in the New Testament the idea that the new altar, as Hatch says, is that of human need. We give to God in giving to our brother-man. All service that alleviates human suffering, emancipates the enslaved, saves the children, is a sacrifice. To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Love has only one measureits willingness to sacrifice itself. Loves general law is to seek to do good to others, by service, toil, suffering, both passively and actively. What does a mother endure for her child? Sleepless nights, without food, as she soothes the suffering of her little one and wins back life and health to the child by the offering and sacrifice of her own health and life. What of Father Damien, and others like him, who became lepers to save lepers? Sister Kate Marsden, too? They give themselves to remove the curse of leprosy, or at least to remove the darker curse of leprosy. It is love undertaking on anothers behalf, by means of sacrifice, to win for them some good. There is nothing great and noble and praiseworthy in the world, but this principle of love is at the root of it.1 [Note: John Brown Paton, by his Son (1914), 372.]
(3) The priest is a mediator representing God before men, and representing men before God. As our Lord Jesus Christ represents God to men, and we, being one with Him, also stand as being, in a secondary sense, Gods representatives, so He is perfect man, and in Him the whole of our race is summed up, and we, after a partial manner, may also appear in Gods sight on behalf of our fellow-men. They do not need to approach God through us, yet we can voice their wants even when they themselves do not know them. We cannot bear the burden of a worlds sin, under which our Saviour bowed, but we can by our prayer and intercessionand that, rightly understood, is no light burdenmake the silence of our fellows articulate at the throne of grace.
Man is sometimes spoken of as a priest in relation to nature; as George Herbert puts it
Man is the worlds high-priest: he doth present
The sacrifice for all; while they below
Unto the service mutter an assent,
Such as springs use that fall, and winds that blow.
But this is a poets graceful fancy. The truth of the text lies in the relation of the Christian to God and his fellow-men. There is no human priest in Christianity to come between God and any single human heart; the only Mediator is He who is Son of God and Son of Man, a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Yet every Christian is to be a priest unto God, as himself offering spiritual sacrifices and helping to interpret God-in-Christ to man and to bring men to the God and Father whom he has learned to love and serve.1 [Note: W. T. Davison, Strength for the Way, 33.]
The whole function of Priesthood was, on Christmas morning, at once and for ever gathered into His Person who was born at Bethlehem; and thenceforward, all who are united with Him, and who with Him make sacrifice of themselves; that is to say, all members of the Invisible Church become, at the instant of their conversion, Priests; and are so called in 1Pe 2:5 and Rev 1:6; Rev 20:6, where, observe, there is no possibility of limiting the expression to the Clergy; the conditions of Priesthood being simply having been loved by Christ, and washed in His blood.2 [Note: Ruskin, The Construction of Sheepfolds, 15 (Works, xii. 537).]
Priests, priests,theres no such name!Gods own, except
Ye take most vainly. Through heavens lifted gate
The priestly ephod in sole glory swept,
When Christ ascended, entered in, and sate
(With victor face sublimely overwept)
At Deitys right hand, to mediate
He alone, He for ever. On His breast
The Urim and the Thummim, fed with fire
From the full Godhead, flicker with the unrest
Of human, pitiful heartbeats. Come up higher,
All Christians! Levis tribe is dispossest.3 [Note: E. B. Browning, Casa Guida Windows.]
Redeeming Love
Literature
Cunningham (W.), Sermons from 1828 to 1860, 146.
Davies (J. L1.), The Work of Christ, 72.
Davison (W. T.), Strength for the Way, 16.
Drysdale (A. H.), A Moderators Year, 95.
Eames (J.), The Shattered Temple, 33.
Genner (E. E.), in A Book of Lay Sermons, 91.
Griffin (E. D.), Plain Practical Sermons, ii. 20.
Haslam (W.), The Threefold Gift of God, 155.
Holden (J. S.), The Pre-Eminent Lord, 165.
Jowett (J. H.), Apostolic Optimism, 237.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Sermons on Special Occasions, 191.
McIntyre (D. M.), Life in His Name, 199.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Epistles of John to Revelation, 126.
Macpherson (W. M.), The Path of Life, 182.
Maurice (F. D.), The Doctrine of Sacrifice, 276.
Menzies (A.), in Scotch Sermons, 1880, p. 259.
Meyer (F. B.), The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life, 51.
Munger (T. T.), Character through Inspiration, 118.
Nixon (W.), in Modern Scottish Pulpit, i. 211.
Rattenbury (J. E.), Six Sermons on Social Subjects, 81.
Scott (C. A.), The Book of the Revelation, 30.
British Weekly Pulpit, iii. 481 (J. Robertson).
Christian World Pulpit, liv. 369 (J. H. Jowett); lvi. 38 (G. Littlemore); lx. 49 (C. Gore).
Church of England Magazine, lxviii. 240 (E. T. Cardale).
Homiletic Review, lv. 459 (A. Wood).
Preachers Magazine, xxv. 416 (F. C. Hoggarth).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Reciprocal: Exo 14:30 – the Lord Num 14:29 – carcases Num 14:37 – died Num 26:65 – They shall Deu 1:32 – General Deu 2:14 – until all the generation Jos 22:20 – General 1Sa 4:3 – it may save Psa 78:21 – the Lord Psa 78:22 – General Psa 95:8 – in the Psa 106:24 – they believed Pro 24:32 – I looked Eze 20:38 – they shall Mat 12:44 – he findeth Mat 13:47 – and gathered Mat 25:2 – General Joh 6:49 – and are Rom 11:21 – if God 1Co 10:5 – General 2Th 2:12 – they 1Ti 4:6 – thou put 1Ti 5:15 – General 2Ti 1:6 – I put Tit 3:1 – Put Heb 2:2 – every Heb 3:17 – whose Heb 3:19 – General 2Pe 1:12 – though
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jud 1:5. The importance of reminders is again indicated, for these brethren had known of the history of the Israelites. The point is that it is not enough to start serving the Lord, but it must be continued or He will judge his people.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jud 1:5-7. In these verses we have examples of the judgment spoken of in Jud 1:4. It is only necessary, says the writer, that I should remind you of facts with which you are already familiar. You have been instructed in the Gospel; you have accepted what is a revelation of righteousness as well as of love; and you have once for all had the perception of all that is essential to salvation, whatever may be said by those false teachers who boast of their profounder knowledge and superior wisdom (gnosticism as it came to be called): how that the Lord having saved a people (an entire nation, His own) out of the land of Egypt, the next thing he did was to destroy them that believed not. These words may refer to the destruction mentioned in Num 25:1-9, or it may refer to their entire history which is, in brief, salvation and judgment, true of them at first, and true of them even to the close.
Jud 1:6. A second example is taken from angels, those who kept not their dominion, their rule (or principality, as in Rom 8:38, a form of the same word; or their original, their first estate, a meaning less in accordance with Scripture usage). They were placed over material creation as rulers under God, but they left their proper office and abode, and set up a kingdom of their own (Col 1:13), and are therefore kept under darkness unto judgment of the great day. Who they were and how they sinned has been much questioned. The notion that they are the sons of God mentioned in Gen 6:4, and that they fell through fleshly desires, is affirmed in the Book of Enoch; and some have thought this explanation to be the meaning of the passage in Genesis. But it is very doubtful whether Jude quotes the Book of Enoch; and if he does, he certainly differs not unfrequently from its teaching. The passage in Genesis, moreover, refers rather to the intermarriage of the descendants of Seth and of Cain. Further, this interpretation is inconsistent with what is said by our Lord of the angelic nature, and it is, besides, an anticipation of the sin mentioned in the next verse. Probably, therefore, the verse points to a sin of another kind, and to an earlier time. Miltons account is probably nearer the truth (cp. 1Ti 3:6).
Jud 1:7. A third example is taken from the Gentile cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, having given themselves over in like manner as the people of those cities did, or as these false teachers have done, and having gone after strange (different) flesh; practising shame, man with man, and even man with beast. How true this is of the tendency of some teaching may be seen in classic writers, and in such testimony as Irenaeus gives of the practices of the Nicolaitans (Jud 1:20).
they lie before the eyes of men (either in the region they once occupied or in their history) an example and a proof of eternal fire, still suffering as they do the punishment [of their sin]; or it may be taken, an example and a proof [of what I am affirming], suffering as they do the punishment of an eternal fire. The argument is either analogical or positive. As Sodom and Gomorrha suffered the punishment of a fire that consumed them utterly, so that they will never be restored, so the wicked will suffer as long as they are capable of suffering. This is analogical. Or, as Sodom and Gomorrha are really suffering the punishment of which the fiery overthrow of their cities was the symbol, so shall these men be punished. This is positive, and is favoured by all those passages in which death is used not as material death only, but as continued lifethe cessation not of being but of well-beingthe destruction which is not annihilation.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In this, and the following verses, our apostle, to deter them from following the pernicious ways of these seducers, sets before them the several examples of God’s judgments inflicted in former times upon persons guilty of such crimes as these seducers were stigmatized for, and guilty of; he begins with the Israelites in the wilderness; as they perished through unbelief, after they were brought out of Egypt, so shall revolters perish, notwithstanding their baptism, and fair beginnings.
Learn hence, 1. That God’s judgments inflicted on some, are, and ought to be, warnings unto all.
2. That God’s ancient judgments were ordained to be our warnings and examples; his holiness is the same as ever, his justice the same, his hatred of sin the same, and his power to revenge it the same as ever; his judgments now may be more spiritual, but they are not less terrible.
Learn, 3. That unbelief will as certainly bring destruction upon Christians now, as it did upon the Israelites of old. Did God destroy them that believed not his power then? no less will he destroy them that believe not his power now.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Apostasy in Old Testament History
Angels who sinned were presented by Jude as the second bit of evidence that God will punish evildoers. Again, there is a similar reference in 2Pe 2:4 . These angels left their “offices” or “positions,” which is the literal meaning of the word translated “proper domain.” They were put in bonds from which they will never escape. They are being held in bondage until the day of judgment when they will be judged along with all evil men ( Jud 1:6 ; Mat 25:41 ).
The third piece of evidence comes from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Admah and Zeboim were cities near there which would have likewise been considered cities of the plain. The city of Zoar, which was in the area, was spared when Lot interceded for it so he might have a place of refuge. The whole story is told in Gen 19:1-38 ( Deu 29:23 ; Jer 20:16 ; Isa 13:19 ; Rom 9:29 ). Woods says the words “set forth” mean “to lie exposed” like a corpse laying out for burial. Further, the word “example” means to “exhibit” or “show.” These cities, then, illustrate the vengeance the Lord takes on people of this kind. Their sins are similar to those listed in Rom 1:24-32 . It was truly a terrible sin and the punishment was equally terrible. Their punishment was so permanent that it is likened unto eternal fire. These examples leave little hope for false teachers ( Jud 1:7 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Jdg 1:5. I will therefore put you in remembrance, &c. I will remind you of some examples of Gods judgments against such persons. cumenius observes, that by proposing the following examples of the destruction of sinners from the Old Testament history, the apostle designed to show, that the God of the Old Testament is the same with the God of the New, in opposition to the Manicheans, who denied this; also to prove that the goodness of God will not hinder him from punishing the wicked under the new dispensation, any more than it hindered him from punishing them under the old. In this passage Jude has mentioned two of the instances of the divine vengeance against atrocious sinners, which Peter took notice of, 2Pe 2:4-5, (where see the notes,) and in place of the third instance, the destruction of the old world, he hath introduced the destruction of the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness. Though ye once knew this Were informed of it, and received it as a truth; that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt By a train of wonderful miracles; afterward destroyed them that believed not That is, destroyed the far greater part of that very people, whom he had once saved in a very extraordinary manner. Let no one, therefore, presume upon past mercies, as if he were now out of danger. Jude does not mention the various sins committed by the Israelites in the wilderness, such as their worshipping the golden calf, refusing to go into Canaan, when commanded of God, their fornication with the Midianitish women, their frequent murmurings, &c., but he sums up the whole in their unbelief, because it was the source of all their sins.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ARGUMENT 2
THE SECOND BLESSING ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
5. But I wish you to remember, once knowing, all things, that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt destroyed them that believed not the second time. This verse is the strongest Scripture in the Bible for the second blessing, literally sweeping all possible controversy from the field and positively revealing the undeniable fact that our faith is put to a second test, in which failure is final and fatal. This statement of the Holy Ghost is so fortified by the example of Israel, as to be perfectly luminous even to the most stupid mind and absolutely uncontrovertible by all the logic of earth and the sophistry of hell. You all know how wonderfully God saved Israel from Egyptian bondage when He led them through the sea. You remember well the sad faltering of their faith at Kadesh-Barnea, in consequence of which they passed under the curse, forfeiting Canaan and bleaching their bones on the burning sand. Unfortunately to deuteron, which means the second time, was lost out of this important passage during the Dark Ages, so it does not appear in the English. The construction of this Scripture is unmistakable. God having saved the people at the Red Sea responsive to their faith, destroyed the same in the wilderness because of their unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea. There is but one possible conclusion, i.e., that the faith of every soul is put to a second decisive crucial test. Though your faith stood the test of conversion, when you had to believe for pardon or abide in condemnation, God will test you again, when you must believe for sanctification or lose your soul. Heb 12:14.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Jud 1:5-7. Three examples are given as revealing the doom of such evil-livers: the faithless Israelites in the wilderness, who were destroyed; the fallen angels, who are kept in bonds under darkness until the Judgment Day; and the Cities of the Plain, which suffered the punishment of eternal fire.
Jud 1:6. The sin of the angels was twofold: (a) they kept not their own principality, the sphere allotted to them by God (Deu 32:8, Enoch 18:13, 21:3)the sin of pride or disobedience; (b) they left their proper habitation, they came down to earth (Gen 6:1-4*; Enoch, passim)the sin of lust; the fall of the angels through lust is one of the main subjects in Enoch. The tradition as to their punishment is derived from Enoch (cf. 10:4, 12, 54:3). (For the use of Enoch by Jude, see the parallels quoted by Chase.) The whole passage should be compared with 2Pe 2:1-9, which is based on it.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
1:5 {4} 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.
(4) He presents the horrible punishment of those who have abused the grace of God to follow their own lusts.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
III. WARNINGS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS VV. 5-16
"The brief epistle of Jude is without parallel in the New Testament for its vehement denunciation of libertines and apostates." [Note: Hiebert, Second Peter . . ., p. 185.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
A. Previous Failures vv. 5-7
Jude cited three examples of failure from the past to warn his readers of the danger involved in departing from God’s truth. Divine judgment on flagrant evildoers is no novelty.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The example of certain Israelites v. 5
Jude’s introductory words were polite (cf. 2Pe 1:12) but also a reminder that what he now said was fact beyond dispute. His readers knew these things "once for all" because God had delivered them "once for all" in Scripture (Jud 1:3; cf. 1Jn 2:20-21).
After God redeemed Israel and liberated the nation from bondage in Egypt, the people failed to continue to believe God’s promises and to trust in His power (cf. Num 14:11; Deu 1:32). God judged those who failed by destroying them in the wilderness. He let that generation die rather than bringing the unbelieving apostates into the Promised Land. Some of the false teachers in Jude’s day evidently were Christians. That is a reasonable conclusion since Jude compared them to the redeemed Israelites. They too were turning from continuing trust and obedience to God, and God would judge them as well.
"This allusion to Israel in the wilderness makes it very plain that Jude’s opponents were once orthodox Christians who had gone wilfully [sic] astray into error." [Note: Green, p. 164.]
Other interpreters believe Jude was referring to those Israelites who had never really believed in Yahweh in this verse. [Note: E.g., Edwin Blum, "Jude," in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 12 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 389.]
Jude primarily wanted to point out the behavior of these false teachers, not to identify whether they were believers or unbelievers. Unbelief always results in some kind of destruction whether the unbeliever is lost or saved. God definitely destroyed these unbelievers physically. He also destroyed them eternally if they were unsaved.
"Jude insists that the Saviour can also be the Destroyer." [Note: Sidebottom, p. 85.]