Jude 1

Jude 1:1

Judas, not Iscariot, but the brother of James the less, and kinsman of Jesus Christ according to the flesh, sent forth by his immediate commission to preach the gospel to those Jewish Christians who, in the judgment of charity, appear to have been set apart by God the Father, as his chosen in his eternal purpose of love, and in consequence thereof preserved in Christ from dying in their sins, and effectually called to partake of all the blessings of the gospel in time and eternity

Jude 1:2

Wishes the most tender compassion and favour of a gracious God, and peace with him and with one another, and the best prosperity of every kind, and all the excellent fruits and rich manifestations of his special and distinguishing love in their utmost fulness

Jude 1:3

My dear Christian brethren, when I, with much thought and care, applied myself to write somewhat to you concerning that spiritual and eternal salvation which answers the circumstances of every sinful man, and is offered in the gospel to all that hear it; and which all believers, Jews and Gentiles, share of:—directed by the inspiring Spirit of God, I found it peculiarly necessary with the utmost earnestness to stir you up to the most fervent zeal, active diligence, and careful concern, to maintain, defend, and practise, the pure and uncorrupted doctrines of the gospel, concerning the person, offices, righteousness, grace, and government, of the Lord Christ, which have been by him, through his holy apostles, delivered to all his followers, who are holy in heart and life, as a trust and treasure to be by them faithfully kept and fully and purely transmitted to posterity

Jude 1:4

For, according to the ancient purposes and predictions of God, there have clandestinely, by craft and flattery, crept in among you impious and heretical men, who, under pretence of embracing the Christian religion, represent the doctrines of God’s grace as an encouragement to wanton and lascivious practices; and who, by their doctrine and conduct, plainly undermine the whole authority of God’s law, and reject the gospel doctrine concerning the divine person and offices of Christ, as the Prophet, Priest, and King, of his church, and his gracious salvation of men from their sins to holiness and happiness

Jude 1:5-7

To deter you from the smallest regard to, or compliance with, these seducers, seriously remember how your Hebrew ancestors, after God had miraculously delivered them from their Egyptian bondage, were almost every one of them cut off by terrible judgments in the wilderness for their disobedience and unbelief;—and how the highly dignified angels, who revolted from God by sin, were cast down into hell, and are, by the curse of his law, and their own wickedness and misery, reserved, like condemned and chained prisoners, till the last judgment; when their torments shall be completed, and they, with all apostates and impenitent unbelievers, shall depart into the most tremendous everlasting punishment!— And in what a fearful manner God, by fire and brimstone from heaven, destroyed the Sodomites and their neighbours of Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, for their unnatural lust, men with men; and set them and their country as an emblem of that everlasting destruction which is prepared for wicked angels and men

Jude 1:8

In like manner these proligate seducers delude themselves and others with their foolish and impure imaginations, indulge their fleshly lusts, and even pollute their bodies, by unchaste dreams and lewd practices: and contemn, revile, and rail against, all government and governors in church or state, so far as they tend to restrain their exorbitant vices. 9, 10. Yea, though Michael, that eminent chief of the holy angels, when disputing with the devil about the burial or concealment of the body of Moses from the Israelites, who would have readily worshipped it, did not venture to return the reviling and opprobrious language of that foul spirit, but solemnly left him to the righteous judgment of God, for his attempting to draw his people into the most flagrant sin against his divine majesty, crown and dignity;—these daring pretenders fear not to vilify the most excellent things, civil or sacred, of the proper use, design, and benefit, of which they are totally ignorant;—and even in such things as by the light of nature they cannot but know to be unlawful, they act as if they had no principle of reason to direct and govern them, and in a perverse, sensual, and brutal, manner debase themselves beneath human nature

Jude 1:11

The most dreadful curses must therefore suddenly overtake them;—for, like Cain, they envy, hate, and are disposed to murder, such as deserve their highest respect;—like Balaam, for the sake of worldly honour or wealth, they are ready to act the most treacherous, hypocritical, malicious, and destructive part against the people of God;—or, like Korah and his companions, they set up themselves in the most daring manner against the governors whom God has appointed in church or state, and shall, in a most awful form, be at last swallowed up into everlasting flames

Jude 1:12

They are a scandal, reproach, and an infectious defilement, to your feasts, civil and sacred, while, fearless of guilt or punishment, they labour only to gratify their luxurious appetites;—and, while they put on false appearances, as if they would be most refreshing, useful, and comforting, to mankind, they are quite destitute of any real goodness: unstable as clouds, they are driven about by their own lusts and passions from one error and vice to another, and become more and more dead in sins, and hopeless of recovery

Jude 1:13

In the most turbulent, pernicious, and noisy, manner they, to their own shame, throw out their furious reproaches and malicious slanders against the doctrines, ministers, and followers, of Christ,—and their corrupt principles and vicious inclinations. Under all their pretences to be noted lights for the direction of others, themselves are utterly ignorant of real religion, and wander from the truth and holiness of the gospel, and run about spreading their wicked principles, temper, and courses, till at last they shall be plunged in the eternal horrors of that misery, despair, and damnation, which God has prepared for them as their just punishment. 14, 15. It was partly with respect to such persons that the famous Enoch foretold Christ’s glorious coming, attended by his saints and angels, to the last judgment,—publicly to convince, expose, and condemn to eternal punishment, all ungodly persons, for their premeditated, malicious, and wicked, deeds, and for their virulent speeches which they have thrown out against his person, gospel, and cause, and upon his members and faithful servants for his sake: 16. Which conduct exactly tallies with that of the seducers I am now warning you against,—for these secretly murmur against God and his providence, against magistrates and ministers, against Christ and his followers and ways, and are continually finding fault and openly quarrelling with all his doctrines and dispensations, being quite dissatisfied with their own state and condition in the world,—and with restless minds are pursuing their own vicious inclinations to unlawful pleasures; and, at the same time, talking in lofty and unintelligible strains, and with high pretences to knowledge and religion,—speaking the most excessively vain and conceited things of themselves, and extravagantly flattering, caressing, and extolling, such as are of their own party, however vile, especially if they be rich, or ready to grant them some worldly advantage, to gratify their covetous or luxurious temper. 17, 18. Now, my dearly beloved brethren in the Lord, beware of being stumbled at the rise of such seducers, or their scornful derisions of every thing sacred, or their abandoned practices, since our Saviour and his apostles have given you such plain and express warnings of them

Jude 1:19

For these are the very persons of whom you have been warned,—men that make factions and divisions in the church, alienating themselves from the true apostles, servants, disciples, and doctrines, of Christ, and forming separate parties of their own sentiment, as if they were more holy than others;—whereas they are entirely governed by their animal appetites, lusts, and passions, and are entirely destitute of the enlightening, purifying, and sanctifying, gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit

Jude 1:20

But, guarding against being misled by men of such corrupt principles and practices, persevere with integrity and faithfulness in your holy profession, and, by all proper and appointed means, endeavour to promote your own and your fellow Christians’ spiritual establishment and advances in grace, holiness, and comfort, upon that foundation of faith which is laid in the doctrines of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and upon that principle of faith in you which purifies the heart, works by love, overcomes the world, and derives all grace out of Christ’s fulness, to enable you to grow up to all perfection in him, who is the head;—and continue habitually instant in prayer, under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit to help your infirmities

Jude 1:21

And thus constantly endeavour to approve yourselves to God as those that sincerely and fervently love him and delight to keep his commandments;—and, in order hereunto, study to maintain a sweet and experimental sense of his special love to yourselves—looking, hoping, and longing, in a prepared state and frame, for the final manifestations, fruits, and effects, of the grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in that merciful sentence he shall then pass upon you, unto your complete deliverance from all sin and sorrow, and admission to all the blessings of eternal life. 22, 23. And, in order to your own and others’ edification in faith and holiness, great care and prudence must be used in dealing with such as have been seduced into any sin or error. Such as have been shaken and drawn aside through inadvertence, ignorance, and weakness, must be treated with great tenderness, meekness, condescension, endearing kindness, and compassionate concern, to recover and establish them.—Others, that have gone further lengths, and appear obstinate and hardened, must be more sharply dealt with; and their sin and danger must be set before them in the most alarming manner from the word of God, and needful censures be inflicted upon them;—in all which, the utmost care must be taken to have no fellowship with them in their polluting courses. 24, 25. Now to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose character I have represented as peculiarly suited to your encouragement and relief under your present troubles,—and who has almighty power originally in himself as God, and all official authority and qualifications as Mediator, and, having graciously undertaken it, is as willing as able to preserve you from apostasy, and from irrecoverably stumbling into error or wickedness, and, after your state of warfare is accomplished, to present you to himself and his Father perfectly holy and unblemished, and completely accepted in his immediate presence, and glorified together with him in joy unspeakable, and amidst the triumphant and ecstatic joys of all the established angels and ransomed saints,—even to this God our Saviour, who, together with the Father and Spirit, is infinitely, originally, essentially, and communicatively, the only wise God,—be ascribed all the glory of his divine nature and attributes as God, and of all his love, grace, designs, undertakings, and performances, and all the grandeur of his heavenly majesty, as God man Mediator,—together with universal rule and government, might and authority, over all persons and things in the kingdom of providence and of grace, now, henceforth, and for evermore

It is an expressible honour to be a faithful servant of Christ; to be divinely chosen, united to, and preserved in, Christ: and unbounded grace, mercy, and peace, await such in time and eternity. With diligent care ought ministers to instruct their hearers concerning the salvation of their souls, indefinitely offered in the gospel, and bestowed on all that believe; and to stir them up to an earnest concern, stedfast adherence, and fervent zeal, for the truths of the gospel.—Impostors abound in every age, and dare to plead God’s word and grace in favour of their vilest abominations. Yet, when warned by the fate of ancient Hebrews, fallen angels, filthy Sodomites, murderous Cain, hypocritical Balaam, and presumptuous Korah, what can such apostates expect less than the eternal damnation of hell! But no warnings, no good examples, avail with men hardened in desperate wickedness;—they will still rush forward, in their impure, lustful, rebellious, insolent, reproachful, brutish, proud, fearless, discontented, course; dishonouring God and seeking to please men, while they are plaguing his church. Great need then have Christians to regard the inspired warnings given against such, and to endeavour to make daily progress in knowledge, faith, fervent prayer, and holy love to Christ and his people, and in expectation of an eternal gracious reward. And with tender care, and holy, but prudent, zeal, ought they to reclaim such as have been ensnared. Infinite is the mercy that in this ensnaring world all the saints are in the hand, and under the care, of Jesus Christ as their keeper, and that all their preservation and happiness certainly redounds to his glory