Jude 1:1-4

Jude 1:1-4

As disciples, we must live lives of astute alertness and vigilant attention. Our enemy has been using the same basic temptations since the garden of Eden. The powers of darkness will dress these differently for each age, but the lies and strategies are generally the same. 

Jude begins by being very clear about the relationship he has with the Lord: bond-servant. This carries both the description of absolute obedience and loving relationship. With the ownership and service of a slave, that is an extension of the master, and the love that binds him to his Lord, Jude will contend for the orthodox faith. Jude would like to write a description of our wonderful faith, perhaps what we might call a theology; but he feels compelled to write a polemic. Have no doubt about it, the evil faced by the early church, the evil faced by the church in every age, has the same source as the evil of the Old Testament times. Jude will show the evil for what it is, describe its results, and argue for the once and for all faith delivered for the saints. 

Jude warns the church that they have already been infiltrated. The presumption of most churches is that they are essentially good, filled with sincere believers who, although they sin occasionally, are basically godly people. Jude calls the church to question that assumption. 

In this book Jude frequently uses triplets, and he has a triplet for the false teachers who are in the church. 1, they are marked for condemnation, 2, they use grace as a license to sin, and 3, they deny Christ. When anyone joins that long line of false teachers that stretches back to the first sin, they join the company of the condemned. There is no other option for them. With great consistency these teachers find ways to use their “new understanding” of faith to indulge in their chosen sin. Ultimately they deny and reject the Savior Jesus Christ and the salvation He brings. The example of this practice is sadly long. From the strict ‘conservatism’ of Mormonism to the hard ‘liberalism’ of the Episcopal Church, there is always the permission for sin and the rejection of the faith. The arguments for evil all sound very appealing. But they always lead one away from the faith “once and for all delivered” from God by His Son to the saints. In reality all the arguments of the false teachers are anti-arguments, anti-scholarship, anti-compassion, and anti-love. 

“Help me, Lord, to remain faithful to the faith once and for all delivered for the saints. AMEN”