Jude 1
HAMMJude 1:2
I send you greeting, and wish and pray for all the blessings of Heaven to be multiplied upon you, particularly that great blessing and virtue of Christian peace and charity.
Jude 1:3
Beloved, I thought it my office to write briefly unto you upon one subject wherein you are nearly concerned, viz. that special promise of Christ (now shortly to be fulfilled among you) of an universal preservation and deliverance (see note [c] Rom. xiii.) that shall befall the Christians, when the unbelieving Jews shall be utterly destroyed; and being to write to you on that subject, there was nothing more necessary for me to begin with than to exhort you to adhere constantly to and contend for the Christian doctrine, (preached uniformly to all by consent of all the apostles, whithersoever they have gone out,) and not to renounce it in time of persecution, as some would teach you.
Jude 1:4
For as it hath been foretold by Christ, Matt. xxiv. 10, that it should, so now it is come to pass, there are come in very slyly into the church false teachers, who shall be destroyed by that notable coming of Christ, (see 2 Thess. ii. 8, &c.) and are for their sins and vileness prophesied of, that they shall be so destroyed, abominable persons, converting the gospel or Christianity into all manner of unnatural lust, and denying Jesus Christ our only Master, our only God, our only Lord, and setting up Simon Magus instead of him, (and of God the Father also.)
[a] before of old ordained to this condemnation] The way to interpret this, as almost any other difficulty in this Epistle, will be by comparing it with the second of Peter, which is almost perfectly parallel to this. There these men are spoken of, ch. ii. 3; and the passage that there seems parallel to οἱ πάλαι προγεγραμμένοι εἰς τοῦτο τὸ κρίμα, is, ἐπάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν, ver. 1, bringing on themselves swift destruction; and, οἷς τὸ κρίμα ἔκπολαι οὐκ ἀργεῖ, καὶ ἡ ἀπώλεια αὐτῶν οὐ νυστάξει, for whom judgment for some while lingereth not, and their destruction doth not nod, ver. 3, which signifies in both places the certain and quick destruction that is likely to come upon those men, who, by complying with the Jews, and professing themselves to be such, to avoid their persecutions, are by the Roman destroyers taken for Jews, and so speedily (soon after this time) devoured. Only in this place is mentioned the πάλαι προγράφισθαι, being formerly set forth, or written of; answerable to which Isaiah 2 Pet. ii. 1, ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσονται ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, among you shall be false teachers, which being an affirmation that there shall be, must be grounded on some prophecy or prediction that there should. And that is clearly to be found in Christ’s prediction of the destruction of the Jews, Matt. xxiv. 10, before which there should come false prophets, all one with the false teachers in St. Peter, (see 1 John ii. 6,) by which the Gnostics are certainly to be understood, (see note [d] on Matt. xxiv.) And therefore at the writing of St. Jude’s Epistle, these being actually come in, he speaks not of them by way of prophecy that they shall come, but applies to them the former prophecy, that they are the men that were before written or prophesied of by Christ in the Gospel of St. Matthew, and so capable of that title. Instead of this, when St. John, 1 John ii. 18, speaks of this very matter, he saith, καθὼς ἠκούσατε ὅτι ὁ ἀντίχριστος ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν πολλοὶ ἀντίχριστοι γεγόνασι, as ye have heard that antichrist cometh, so now there are many antichrists; by which, saith he, we know that it is the last hour: just as St. Matthew had made it a prognostic of the coming of that πανολεθρία or fatal period of the Jews. By this it appears, first, that πάλαι, formerly, here refers to Christ’s time, προγεγραμμένοι, forewritten of, to Matt. xxiv, or the passage there set down, and τὸ κρίμα, judgment, or condemnation, to that great destruction that should fall about that time upon all the obdurate unbelieving Jews, and false teachers, Gnostics, or other abominable Christians, whose sin is set down in the following words, ἀσεβεῖς, impious, &c., their judgment or condemnation in these. As for the word προγράφισθαι itself, it signifies no more than to be set forth, or exposed to public view, (as πρόγραμμα is any thing pasted up upon a door to signify ought, ἔκθεμα, in Phavorinus,) and so we have it used, Gal. iii. 1, οἷς κατ’ ὀφθαλμούς προεγράφη, to whom Christ hath been set forth before their eyes; only by the πάλαι added to it, it is here made to signify prophecy or prediction, somewhat formerly set forth or declared of them. And that not only their sin, their false doctrine, and sly coming in was foretold, but their punishment and destruction also (by this famous coming of Christ to the destruction of his crucifiers) appears, 2 Thess. ii. 8, &c., where St. Paul, foretelling it, most probably refers to some prediction of Christ to this matter. And such is that of Matt. xvi. 25, that they that will save their lives shall lose them, and only they that hold out and continue constant in their con-
[b] denying the only Lord God—] The various readings in this place, some having, but the king’s MS. leaving out, the word Θεὸν, God, deserve to be considered. If Θεὸν, God, be not read, then the whole period will belong to Jesus Christ alone, without any mention of God the Father, and affirm of him that he is our only Master and Lord, referring to his great work of our redemption, by which he thus purchased us unto himself to be his peculiar servants, so as any other false gods or devils, so as Simon Magus, that now set up against him, must never have any part of our honour, or worship, or obedience from him. But if Θεὸν, God, be read, then it will be doubtful which of these two senses is to be affixed to it. For, 1, it may be thus rendered, τὸν μόνον δεσπότην Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Our only Master, God and Lord, Jesus Christ, making those three the several attributes of Jesus Christ; viz. that he is, first, our only Master, secondly, our only God, and thirdly, our only Lord. And this, understood in the catholic sense of the ancient fathers and councils, is a most divine truth, that Christ is our Master by title of redemption, and our only Master, not excluding God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, (for as he and his Father are one, so he and the Holy Ghost are one also,) but all other pretenders, such as Simon, that thus assumed to himself to be that truly which Christ, said he, appeared to be here on earth; and so in like manner, in the same way of interpretation, that Christ is our only God and only Lord. And this interpretation proceeds upon that way of punctuation which is ordinarily retained in our copies, no comma after Θεὸν, God, but all read in one coherent sense, τὸν μόνον δεσποτὴν Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον, our only Master God and Lord Jesus Christ. A second rendering may also possibly belong to it, in case there were, or ought to be, a comma after Θεὸν, God. For then Θεὸν, God, being separated from that which follows, would denote God the Father, and consequently τὸν μόνον δεσπότην, the only Master, must belong to him; which if it do, then it must be affirmed of these Gnostic heretics, the followers and worshippers of Simon, that they did deny God the Father, our only Master, as well as they denied our Lord Jesus Christ. And so indeed we read of him, that he assumed to be that God who appeared to Moses in mount Sinai, and accordingly the statue was erected to him at Rome: and that is the meaning of exalting himself above all that is called God, 2 Thess. ii. 4, and of what Irenæus saith of him, that he affirmed himself to be sublimissimam virtutem, hoc est, eum qui sit super omnia Pater, “the sublimest virtue, that is, him who is the Father above all things;” and that the Jews’ God was one of his angels, and a great deal more. See note [e] on 2 Thess. ii.
Jude 1:5
In respect to whom I desire to put you in mind of what you know sufficiently in the reading the scripture, where all other such knowledge is communicated to you, that when God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, the unbelieving murmurers of those Israelites, those that renounced the God and the Moses which had delivered them, were in the compass of forty
¹ to the called that have been sanctified, τοῖς ἡγιασμ—κλητοῖς. ² Or, beloved: for
the King’s MS. reads ἡγαπημένοις. ³ by. ⁴ I thought it necessary, ἀνάγκην ἔσχον.
⁵ those that were of old set forth for. ⁶ our only Master, God and Lord, Jesus Christ.
⁷ But I desire to, Βούλομαι δέ. ⁸ you which once knew, εἰδόνας ὑμῖς ἅναξ. ⁹ Or,
all things: for the King’s MS. reads πάντα. H h a
Jude 1:6
And the same is observable of the angels, created by God for glory and bliss, and constant obedience to him; but those of them that presently fell, and apostatized from God, were cast out of heaven, and are now bound over to eternal hell, at the present in a dark, miserable state, but such as at the day of doom shall be made much more miserable to them. And the like punishment are the vicious, apostate Christians to expect, a present state of misery and destruction here with the persecuting Jews, and eternal hell hereafter.
Jude 1:7
After the manner that befell Sodom and Gomorrah, and Adma and Zeboim, which were guilty of the same unclean sins that these Gnostics or corrupt Christians are now guilty of, having given themselves up to all unnatural lust, and accordingly were then most notoriously punished with utter destruction by fire and brimstone from heaven, and that but an essay of those eternal flames of hell under which they now are involved, and so may well be a warning to all that fall into the same sins at this time.
[c] eternal fire] The phrase αἰώνιον πῦρ, in all other places, Matt. xviii. 8, and xxiv. 41, 48, signifying the fire wherein the damned are tormented day and night for ever and ever, Rev. xx. 10, it is yet thought probable that in this place, being applied to these cities of Sodom, &c. it should be taken in another notion, for an utterly destroying fire, such being the fire and brimstone that fell on those cities. But for this there appeareth no necessity; but on the other side there is a conjuncture of all circumstances of the context to persuade the understanding it here of the fire of hell, as in all the other places. For, first, it is evident, that Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, signify in this place the inhabitants of those cities; for to those only, and not to the walls and buildings of the cities, belongs the ἐκπορνεύσασαι, having given themselves over to fornication. And then sure those that suffer the vengeance of eternal hell, (and therein are set forth for an example what we Christians, falling into the like courses, are to expect,) are not the walls but the inhabitants also. Now of these it is here affirmed in the present tense, πρόκειται δίγμα, they that thus formerly sinned are set forth a pattern, or an example, (as men which are punished are,) πυρὸς αἰωνίου δίκην ὑπέχουσαι, suffering or undergoing (at the present, when Jude writes it) the vengeance of eternal fire. Of the unbelieving Israelites he had affirmed, ver. 5, that God, ἀπώλεσιν (in the aorist) destroyed them; of the angels, ver. 6, that μὴ τηρήσαντας ἀλλὰ ἀπολιπόντας, having not kept but forsaken their principality, τετήρηκεν, in the preter tense, he hath kept them under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day; and so of these cities in the aorist, ἐκπορνεύσασαι, having given themselves over to fornication, καὶ ἀπέλθωσαι, and having gone— But now in the latter part of the verse it is only in the present tense; they are proposed or set forth a pattern or an example, ὑπέχουσαι, in the present, undergoing, or suffering, the vengeance of eternal fire; either not at all referring by those words to their long ago past destruction by fire and brimstone, which was notorious in sacred story, and so sufficiently intimated in the very mention precedent of Sodom and Gomorrah; or if he did, yet withal considering it as a judgment still continued, then begun as an essay significative of what followed, but still protracted without any release, they still suffer, or undergo, that vengeance of fire, which fire is withal αἰώνιον, never likely to have an end. And this is the exactest and properest notion of these words, which I therefore prefer before any other.
Jude 1:8
And yet for all these examples, these Gnostics, that are led themselves by their own dreams and irrational doctrines, and obtrude them upon the people, first fall into all unnatural, filthy practices; and secondly, teach the doctrine of Christian liberty so as to free all Christians from all authority of master or king (see 1 Tim. vi. 1, &c.); and thirdly, speak contumeliously of the apostles and governors of the church, all that have any superiority above or authority over them, see 2 Peter ii. 10: (which three libertine and insolent doctrines and practices are the peculiar character of those heretics.)
[d] dignities] What the word δόξαι signifies in this place, and the parallel of St. Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 10, is a little uncertain. Though it be literally rendered glories, in the abstract, yet there is no doubt but that it denotes the persons (the subjects of that glory or greatness) in the concrete, as ἐξουσίαι, powers, Rom. xiii. 1, signifies rulers, or men in power and authority; and κυριότης, 2 Pet. ii. 10, those in whom dominion is vested. But whether these be men or angels, is not so clear. That they are angels is made probable by these arguments: first, because the appearance of angels in the Old Testament is ordinarily expressed by δόξα Κυρίου, the glory of the Lord, the appearances of them being visible in bright shining clouds, as hath oft been said. And so agreeably angels in the plural, or the order or hierarchy of angels considered together, may be called δόξαι, glories, that is, those glorious creatures
HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II.
Jude 1:9
Whereas the chief of the good angels, in a controversy with the prince of devils or evil angels about the temple of the Jews, which God commanded to be re-edified, Zech. iii. 1, did not think fit to give him
[e] body of Moses] What the body of Moses here signifies will easily be discerned by comparing it with the place from whence this controversy of the angel with the devil is here cited, and that is undoubtedly Zech. iii. 1. There we have Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him, or dispute or plead against him, as the standing at the right hand notes an accuser impleading another, (Let Satan stand at his right
Jude 1:10
But these Gnostics, that pretend to know all things, upon this conceit speak contumeliously of those things which are out of their reach, above their knowledge; but in things which nature itself even in irrational creatures, and so in them, teaches them to be unlawful, they against light of nature wilfully engulph and immerse themselves in those things.
Jude 1:11
Woe to them! for three things they are notable for; first, hatred, malice, and persecuting of their fellow-Christians, (whereupon St. John in all his epistles inculcates charity,) even proceeding to murder itself, as Cain did to his brother; secondly, the great villainy that Balaam, to get a reward, insnared the Israelites in (see Rev. ii. 14); and thirdly, the contempt and rebellion against superiors, such as was in Core against Moses and Aaron, (see note [c],) and this will suddenly bring certain ruin upon them, as it did on those other.
[f] the error of Balaam] This expression of St. Jude, τῇ πλάγῃ
Jude 1:12
These are unfit to be admitted (as blemished sacrifices were unlawful to be offered) to your festival Christian meetings, adjoined to the sacrament, (see note [g] 1 Cor. v,) and coming thither they feed there luxuriously; men that make a show like clouds in the air, as if they had much water in them, for the making men grow and bear fruit in godliness, but indeed are empty, and have nothing in them, and consequently are carried about from one vanity to another, as clouds that are easily driven by the wind; trees they are, such as in the autumn, defaced and deprived of their very leaves; as for fruit, they are not of the kind that beareth that; for instead of Christian fruits of purity, &c. these Gnostics bring forth all kind of impurities: and so after their Christianity falling back into these villainies, they are twice dead in sin, once before, then again after their conversion, (see 2 Pet. ii. 22,) and so fit for nothing but eradication, which shall certainly befall them together with the Jews, with whom they comply and join against the Christians.
[g] trees whose fruit withereth] Φθινόπωρον is a season of the year: τροπὴ μετὰ τὸ θέρος, saith Phavorinus, the season after the summer; and again, ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς πέντε καὶ δεκάτης Αὐγούστου μηνός, the season beginning from the fifteenth, or, say others, the 22d of August, continued to the same day of December. Thus is the year divided in Sextus Empiricus adv. Mathem. l. 5, c. 1, Ἐν Κριῷ ἑαρινὴ γίνεται τροπὴ, ἐν Αἰγοκέρῳ δὲ χειμερινὴ, ἐν Καρκίνῳ δὲ θερινὴ, καὶ ἐν Ζυγῷ φθινοπωρινὴ, making this to winter as the spring is to summer. And Olympiodorus in Meteor. p. 20, Θέρος εἰς β’ διατρεῖται εἰς θέρος, ὅταν ἥλιός ἐστιν ἐν Καρκίνῳ καὶ Παρθένῳ, καὶ εἰς ὀπώραν, ἡνίκα ἐστιν ὁ ἥλιος ἐν Λέοντι ὅταν ὁ Σείριος φαίνεται· ἡ δὲ ἰξῆς ὥρα Φθινόπωρον καλεῖται, ὡς ἂν μετὰ τὴν φθίσιν γενομένη. By which it appears that φθινόπωρον begins after both parts of summer are ended, θέρος and ὀπώρα, after the dog-star hath done shining, when it draweth toward winter, and the season, though it begins in August, on the 15th or 22d, yet reacheth out to Christmas, that is, to the sharpest and depth of winter, and is so called because it begins from the end of the season of ripe fruit, that is, φθινούσης ὀπώρας. In this sense of the substantive, φθινοπωρινός, the derivative adjective, must signify that which belongs to that time: and so the Arabic interpreter in the new Paris edition of the Bible reads חֲרִיפָה, autumnales, and so St. Hierome also; and so φθινοπωρινὰ δένδρα will be trees in that condition in which they use to be at that time of year, that is, bare, having lost their leaves, and having nothing desirable on them, (like the waterless empty clouds precedent.) So in Cinnamus, after φθινούσης ἤδη τῆς ὥρας, which is the dissolving of the word φθινόπωρον, and description of this season, by the decaying of the beauty of trees, &c., it presently follows, ἄτε τοῦ ἀμφιλαφούς ἐπιλιπόντος ἤδη τοῖς δένδροις, “the leaves” or “shade” (ἀμφίλαφες, κατάσκιον, saith Hesychius) “had now left the trees;” and this a direct emblem of the Gnostics, and quite contrary to the godly man described psalm i. 3, 4, whose leaf doth not wither: and then to these is fitly
c Ἱστορ. γ.
Jude 1:13
Unsettled, fierce, tumultuous people, troubling all the world; and like the sea, in another respect, foaming out those obscenities that they ought to be ashamed of, taking upon them to be teachers, but are
Jude 1:14
To these men belongs that prophecy of Enoch against wicked men, those of the old world, whose excision he foretold, pronouncing fearful destruction against them from Heaven by the ministry of his holy angels, those infinite multitudes and hosts of them which attend and execute the judgments of God,
[h] cometh with ten thousand of his saints] What the coming of God signifies hath oft been said, (see note [o] on Matt. xvi, and note [b] on Matt. xxiv.) executing vengeance upon wicked men; and that coming of his μετ’ ἀγγέλων, with his angels, Matt. xvi. 27, those being the ministers and executioners of his vengeance, and withal his satellitium or guard, whose presence in any place is the only thing to determine God’s omnipresence to one place more than to another. And these are the μυριάδες ἁγίαι, here, (not myriads of saints or holy men, but such as are mentioned Heb. xii. 22, μυριάδες ἀγγέλων, myriads of angels, or, as the Targum on Deut. xxxiii. 2, myriades angelorum sanctorum, where we read only saints, from the Hebrew which reads of holy ones, that is, angels, but I say) his holy myriads, or hosts, of angels, with ten thousands in each, which makes his coming so solemn and so formidable a thing. And thus in the prophecy of Zachary, chap. xiv. 5, where we read, The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee, it is to be read from the Hebrew with all his holy ones, that is, with his guard of angels, and that (it seemeth) here, ποιῆσαι κρίσιν, to execute judgment, and rebuke, &c. That Enoch thus prophesied in his time of these Gnostics under Christ, we are not told; but that he prophesied to them, that is, that his prophecy concerning the excision of the old world, for such sins as these are now guilty of, is very pertinent to them, and fit to be considered by them. Thus we see St. Peter, Ep. 2. ch. ii, applies to them all the judgments that had ever befallen sinners, particularly that in Noah’s time, of which that Enoch prophesied there is no question, and we have these remains of it. First, the name of his son Methuselah. שלח, Sela in Hebrew signifies mission, sending or pouring out waters on the earth, Job v. 10, שלח מים, he sends out waters on the fields; to which, saith Bochart, Arphaxad related when he called his first-born Sela, in memory of the deluge, two years after which Arphaxad was born, Gen. xi. 6. And so in like manner Enoch, that prophesied of this destruction, and foresaw by the Spirit that it would soon follow the death of this his son, he called his name מתו שלח, his death, emission. To this it is considerable what we find in 4 Stephanus Byzant. in the word Ἰκόνιον, where, mentioning Enoch, or Hannoch, he saith of him, that he “lived 300
Jude 1:15
Utterly to destroy all such impious men for all their abominable practices, and all their proud, contumelious language, which the enemies of God and men have spoken against Christ and his apostles and all his faithful members, that for their constancy to the faith are hated, and reproached and persecuted by them.
Jude 1:16
These are proud, presumptuous persons, that refuse to be governed, always unsatisfied and querulous at their present condition, following their own lusts without any restraint of laws, even of nature itself; talk great high things of their Simon and Helena, as superior to the makers of the world; crying up some men’s persons as deep, perfect, knowing men, to the despising of all others; and all this to get gain by it, to avoid persecutions from the Jews.
[i] great swelling words] What is meant by the λαλεῖν ὑπίρογκα, here, may best be guessed by comparing it with Dan. xi. 36, where we have the same phrase, λολήσει ὑπίρογκα. There the context will sufficiently interpret it: The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak (marvellous, we render) high swoln things against the God of gods. There doing according to his will is casting off all fear or care of laws or justice; his exalting and magnifying himself above every god is his atheistical despising of all religion, whether the true or the false, the Jewish or heathen worship; and his speaking the high swoln things against the God of gods is undervaluing the God of Israel, the only true God, and setting up somebody else, as superior to him; the same that is said of the Gnostic heresy, and their leader Simon, 2 Thess. ii. 4, that he opposeth, and exalteth himself over, or against, all that is called God, or worship. The same phrase is again used, Dan. vii. 8, στόμα ὑπίρογκα λαλοῦν, a mouth speaking great, or swelling, or lofty things. To one or both these passages of Daniel this place of St. Jude seems to relate, joining these two together, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh, ὑπίρογκα, high swoln words, as Dan. xi, doing according to his will, and speaking high swoln words, &c. And therefore we have here reason to take it in the same sense that there it appeareth to be used in; and though here be not mention of the God of gods, against whom these stout things are spoken, yet to supply it
• Chil. ii. Cent. 8. Adag. 19.
Jude 1:17
For the fortifying you against these seducers do you remember what was foretold by Christ, Matt. xxiv. 10—12, and from him oft repeated by the apostles, particularly St. Peter, 2 Peter iii. 3.
Jude 1:18
That before the coming of that fatal vengeance on the Jews, there should be an eminent defection among Christians that should fall off to the hating and reproaching all orthodox, constant professors, (see note [a] 2 Peter iii,) and give themselves up to all impious living.
Jude 1:19
These despise and scorn and separate from all others, as being much more perfect than others, calling themselves the spiritual, and all others mere animal men, that have nothing of the Spirit in them: whereas indeed they themselves are the animal men, and have nothing of the Spirit to which they so pretend, far from any thing of true Christianity or spirituality; and so their sensual actions convince.
[k] sensual] ψυχικός signifies here those that have no taste of any higher principle in them but of the sensitive soul, that suffer those affections to carry them away, to rule and have dominion over them. Contrary to these are the πνευματικοί, spiritual, they that move by an higher principle, that having the assistance of God’s Spirit, and divine revelation, do act and move accordingly. From hence it is that heretics, that pretend to greater purity than other men, and so separate from all others also, have generally desired to discriminate themselves from all others by calling themselves πνευματικοί, the spiritual, and all others ψυχικοί, animals. And so particularly did the Gnostics and their followers in Irenæus; they forsooth were the spiritual, φύσει πνευματικοί, naturally spiritual, and had no need of any of those graces and gracious actions which were required to other men, and by their ἀπολύτρωσις, a kind of baptism they had, became invisible to the judge; and all the sins they could commit could no more pollute them than the sunbeams could be defiled by shining on a dunghill, or gold by being in a kennel, the very character (a little improved) of these here, ver. 18, walking after their godless lusts.
Jude 1:20
But you, my brethren, persevering and growing in faith, according to that doctrine of truth and purity delivered to you, ver. 3, and keeping to the public assembly, where the Holy Spirit useth to assist, (and where he that hath the gift of prayer performs that duty, see Ephes. vi. 18,) and joining with him constantly,
[l] praying in the Holy Ghost] It is sufficiently known that the apostles, and those that were by the Holy Ghost set apart for the planting of the church, had many miraculous gifts, especially χαρίσματα or graces; not every one all, but one one, another another. Among these, saith St. Chrysostom, there was in these first times χάρισμα εὐχῆς, the gift of prayer, as also the gift of healing, of singing, prophesying, &c., 1 Cor. xiv. 26, (see note [g] on Ephes. vi.) This, saith he, was bestowed εἰς Ἰνα τινὰ, upon some one, who did pray for the rest, and ask those things which were useful for them, and teach others how to form prayers. Some of these special prayers thus conceived, and frequently used by them, which were fit for the common perpetual use of all Christians, were received and kept by those whom they thus taught, and are they which the ancients mean by the liturgies of St. James, &c., which, or some other in that disguise, (or rather those with some other later mixtures,) are still used by the Greek church on solemn days. These extraordinary χαρίσματα, as long as they lasted, are here called (as other special gifts of the Spirit also are) Πνεῦμα Ἄγιον, the Holy Ghost, and Πνεῦμα, Spirit, Ephes. vi. 18, the immediate moderator, as it were, of all the petitions of the church at that time. But when those extraordinary χαρίσματα ceased, it is clear there was need of somewhat else to supply that place, and that would not be (in any reason) to let every man pray as he would, (for, for the preventing of that and the ill consequents of it, it was, that the χάρισμα εὐχῆς, gift of prayer, had before been given,) but set prepared forms, for the daily
Jude 1:21
Continue in your zeal and constancy toward God, and in your hope and dependence on him for mercy to preserve you here, and to bring you to bliss eternal.
22, 23. And for others, that are any way corrupted by these false teachers, deal with them after different manners, as their condition requires: those that waver and are unsteady, rebuke, and so recover them out of their danger with mildness; do not cast them out of the church, deal mildly and mercifully with them, receive and pardon them: and for others that are entangled and corrupted by these seducers, deal with them as the angel did with Lot; proclaim the terrors of the Lord unto them, the approaching destruction that will suddenly overtake them; hasten them to fly for their life, to get out of this Sodom, this sinful, abominable and formidable condition, as men that are ready to have the vengeance of Heaven fall upon them; and these men snatch as out of a fire, which will singe them if they stay but one minute in it, and will devour them if they make any longer abode there, and bring them to a hatred of all the beginnings and least degrees of impurity and uncleanness; as when a man would avoid the infection of the pestilence, he will fly from, and not dare to touch, any garment of an infected person: (see Rev. iii. 4.)
Jude 1:24
Now to him who is able to support you from apostatizing, and having done so, to present you to himself, at his appearance to destroy his enemies, such as shall be accounted blameless before him, and to have matter of rejoicing and triumph, not of sadness or fear from that coming of his;
Jude 1:25
To him whose dispensations and methods of economy are so infinitely wise, and those so wonder-
²⁶ Or, And some being wavering, rebuke, others save, (or, rescue,) snatching them out of the fire, and on others have pity with fear, (or, in fear:) for the King’s MS. reads Kal οὐδὲ μὲν ἐλέγχεται διακρινομένους· οὐδὲ δὲ σώζεται ἐκ πυρὸς ἀρτάζοντες· οὐδὲ δὲ ἐλεῖτε ἐν ῥόβῳ. ²⁷ Or, only God our Naviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority before all the ages, and now, and to all ages. Amen. For the King’s MS. reads μόνῳ Θεῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ Κυριοῦ ἡμῶν δόξα, μεγαλοσύνη, κράτος, καὶ ἐξουσία πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ νῦν, καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνες. Ἀμήν.