Jude · chapter 1 of 1
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Jude is a 25-verse letter that urges believers to contend for the faith delivered once for all to the saints. Ungodly people had slipped into the churches, turning God's grace into license for immorality and denying Jesus Christ. Jude recalls how God judged unbelieving Israel, rebellious angels and Sodom, portrays the intruders with vivid images and ends with praise to the God who is able to keep believers from stumbling.
Jude is one of the shortest and strongest letters of the New Testament. Its author presents himself as the brother of James, and so tradition sees in him a brother of Jesus. He wanted to write about the salvation they share, but had to urge them to defend the faith against the threat of false teachers. It is a call to firmness that is still timely.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, greets those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. He had wanted to write about the salvation they share, but now urges them to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Certain ungodly people have crept in, long ago designated for condemnation, who turn the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (vv. 1-4).
Jude recalls three examples: the Lord who saved a people out of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe; the angels who left their proper domain are kept in eternal chains for the judgment of the great day; and Sodom and Gomorrah, which indulged in immorality, suffer the punishment of eternal fire. Likewise these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones. Even the archangel Michael, contending with the devil about the body of Moses, did not presume to pronounce a railing judgment, but said: The Lord rebuke you (vv. 5-10).
Woe to them! They walked in the way of Cain, rushed for profit into Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. They are blemishes on your love feasts, self-feeding shepherds, waterless clouds and wandering stars. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied that the Lord will come with his holy ones to execute judgment on all the ungodly. They are grumblers who flatter for advantage (vv. 11-16).
The apostles predicted scoffers who cause divisions. The beloved are to build themselves up in their most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep themselves in the love of God, wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life and have mercy on those who doubt. He ends with a doxology: to him who is able to keep them from stumbling and present them blameless with great joy, the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority (vv. 17-25).
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jude asks us to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The Christian faith is not reinvented in each generation: it is received, guarded and defended with firmness and with love.
Certain ungodly people slipped into the churches, turned God's grace into sensuality and denied Jesus Christ. The danger is to assume that grace permits sin, when in fact it demands a new life.
Believers are to build themselves up in their most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit and keep themselves in the love of God, waiting for Christ's mercy. These are concrete habits of perseverance, not just ideas.
God is able to keep his own from stumbling and present them blameless with joy. The letter ends not with the fear of falling but with confidence in the power of God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: As Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. — Jude 1:1
Answer: To contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. — Jude 1:3
Answer: They turned it into sensuality and denied Jesus Christ. — Jude 1:4
Answer: Sodom and Gomorrah. — Jude 1:7
Answer: The Lord rebuke you. — Jude 1:9
Answer: Enoch, the seventh from Adam. — Jude 1:14
Jude asks us to guard the faith we have received. For a church today it means knowing what the Bible teaches about Christ and not being carried away by anyone who turns grace into an excuse to live as they please. A group can ask which simple teachings we need to reaffirm with children, young people and new believers.
Verses 20 to 23 are a practical guide: build yourselves up, pray, keep yourselves in God's love and have mercy on those who doubt. It combines firmness with compassion. We can think of a person in the church who doubts and approach them with humility.
Jude closes with one of the most beautiful doxologies in the Bible: God is able to keep his own and present them blameless. It is a fitting end for the general letters, which encourage believers to persevere in the faith until Christ returns.
He presents himself as the brother of James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, and tradition identifies him with Judas, one of the brothers of Jesus (Matthew 13:55). He is not Judas Iscariot. Jesus' brothers did not believe in him during his ministry, but after the resurrection they became part of the church.
The Old Testament does not tell either story. Jude seems to draw on Jewish traditions of his day and uses them as illustrations, without implying that every text they come from is Scripture. The letter remains part of the Bible for what it teaches about Christ and the faith.