NOTE: Jude is a very, very important letter for all believers to study and understand. Those who do not understand this book will find themselves in apostate churches. However, those in these apostate churches will think that they are in the correct church, serving God. Study this book deeply and share it with others!

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for "Jude" is Ἰούδας (Judas), which comes from the Hebrew יְהוּדָה (Juhudah), meaning praise. This is also the same name of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Since most commentators do not want to confuse the two, they slightly change the name from "Judas" to "Jude." Jude most likely wrote this book between 67-68 A.D.

The Greek word for "slave" is δοῦλος (doulas), meaning bond-slave. A bond-slave was set free by his owner, but because the slave loved his owner so much, he decided to serve him for life. Since Jesus was virgin born and had no earthly father, then Jude was the half brother of Jesus. However, Jude's humility did not allow him to designate him as such. Jude identified himself in the salutation not as the brother of the Messiah or an apostle of the Messiah, but as a bond slave of the Messiah.

The Greek word for "James" is Ἰάκωβος (Jacobs), usually translated as Jacob. Jude was the full-brother of James/Jacob, as they both were born of the human father, Joseph. James was the first pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was martyred in 44 A.D.

The Greek for "those who are called" is κλητός (klatos), meaning those who were divinely called to salvation. Every person on earth receives a general call, which most reject. The elect receive an efficacious call, which cannot be resisted. This audience is most likely the same audience in which Peter wrote his second epistle. This audience was primarily Jewish messianic believers, as Peter was the apostle to the Jews, while Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles.

The Greek word for "love" is ἀγαπάω (agapaow), a perfect passive participle, meaning those who are divinely loved by God. The perfect passive participle means that God began His love for the believer at a certain time in the past and He will love them forever. God is guarding the believer's eternal security because of His divine love.

The Greek word for "kept" is τηρέω (tayreow), a perfect passive participle, meaning those who are spiritually guarded, kept, and preserved. This participle is in the perfect tense, meaning that the called ones were guarded, kept, and preserved as a onetime action of the past and they will be guarded, kept, and preserved for eternity. This one little Greek participle destroys the false teaching of Arminianism, which teaches that a believer can lose his salvation. This is impossible, according to the Greek languages. Catholics, Anglicans, Free-will Baptists, Methodists, Church of Nazarene, Church of Christ. and most cults and isms falsely teach that one can lose his salvation.

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you!

In this greeting, Jude listed the chronology of salvation. Man is totally depraved and evil. He does not understand God. He does not seek God. If God left man alone, he would die in his sins and burn in the Lake of Fire forever. Therefore, God shows "mercy" on the believer. He awakens his dead spirit of the unregenerate man so that he can hear the gospel and respond to it positively. Once one believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, then they have "peace" with God. They are no longer an enemy with God, but they are a friend with God. After one becomes a friend with God, then God lavishes His "love" upon the believer. 

Condemnation of the False Teachers

1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

The Greek for "friends" is Ἀγαπητοί (agapaytoi), meaning those who are divinely loved by God. Jude is writing to fellow Jewish messianic believers. Jude wanted in his humanity to write about salvation, but the Holy Spirit prompted him to change the subject matter. 

The Greek for "once for all entrusted" is ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ (apex paradotheisay), an aorist passive participle, meaning delivered once and for all. "The faith" possesses the Greek article, emphasizing the apostolic teaching. The apostolic teaching was delivered to the saints "once and for all" in the aorist tense, meaning that this revelation was a onetime completed action of the past. Therefore, there is nothing else that can be added to the apostle's teaching. It was placed in writing for all to study. These two little Greek words destroy the false teachings of the charismatics, who teach that God continually adds divine revelation through modern prophets, tongues speakers, and words of knowledge. Paul told the Corinthians that prophecies and tongues would disappear. The Corinthian generation saw Paul's prediction take place, as these spiritual gifts disappeared before the Temple destruction of 70 A.D.

1:4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you – men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude gave the purpose of his letter and the reason for changing his subject matter. The Greek word for "secretly slipped" in" is παρεισδύω (paradeisduow), an aorist active indicative, meaning that evil men had sneaked into the back doors of the local churches appearing to be true believers, but they were actually apostates who were attempting to divide the church.

The Greek word for "marked out" is προγράφω (prographow), a perfect passive participle, meaning those who were designated beforehand to perform a task. At one time in the past, these men were designated to perform a task and it will continue into eternity. 

The Greek word for "condemnation" is κρίμα (krima), meaning a negative verdict of a judicial official. The verdict is eternal damnation and the official judge is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for "ungodly" is ἀσεβής (assegais), meaning those who live as though God does not exist. These men make their own rules and are followed by their own sinful nature. They hate Christ, and since Christ is not on earth, they focus their hatred on His believers. Since the head is in heaven, they focus their hatred on the body that is on earth. 

The Greek word for "grace" is χάρις (charis), meaning kindness to God. God showed kindness to the ungodly men by providing His Son to die in their place. 

The Greek word for "license" is μετατιθέντες (metatithentes), meaning a transfer to another party. These ungodly men rejected the gospel of grace and transferred to a different party. What kind of party?

The Greek word for "evil" is ἀσέλγειαν (aselgeian), meaning lewdness, violence, and behavior that is shocking to others. These ungodly men rejected the kindness given by the Lord Jesus Christ and exchanged this grace for a life of lewdness, violence, and shocking behavior.

The Greek word for "deny" is ἀρνέομαι (arneomai), a perfect passive participle, meaning those who continually deny and contradict.

The Greek word for "master" is δεσπότης (despotais), meaning a king, prince, lord, owner, or master. These ungodly men were continually contradicting and denying that the Lord Jesus Christ was a king.

The Greek word for "Lord" is κύριος (kurios), meaning deity. These ungodly men were continually denying that Jesus was deity.

The Greek word for "Jesus" is Ἰησοῦς (Iasous), which comes from the Hebrew word יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua), meaning God is salvation. These ungodly men were continually denying that Jesus was God who provided salvation.

The Greek word for "Christ" is Χριστός (christos), which comes from the Hebrew word מְשִׁיחַ (maschiach), meaning Messiah. The Messiah was predicted in the Old Testament to be a Messianic King who would be both God and man, entering this world by the virgin birth in the form of a Jewish human being from the line of David, but He would be rejected by His own people, crucified, resurrected, providing salvation to both Jews and Gentiles who believed in Him, fulfilling the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, which were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These ungodly men were continually denying these messianic Old Testament prophecies.

Peter had warned about these types of teachers entering the church in his second letter. He was writing in the future tense, because this apostasy had not yet begun. Jude wrote in the past tense, showing that these ungodly men were already active in the local churches. Satan was beginning to place his men inside the local churches in order to destroy and split the infant church before it could become jumpstarted. Satan still does this today. This is why it is important to develop strong elders with deep understanding of Bible doctrine in order to protect the church. Those elders who do not know the original languages will be deceived by English translations, because Satan has a hand in these translations as well. Most English translations are written with denominational bias.

1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude was writing to Jewish messianic believers who knew the historical events of the Exodus. However, he reminded them that although God did save all of the second generation Jews out of Egypt, He did destroy all of those first generation Jews who did not believe His promises. Only Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land, because they were the only ones who believed. Moses and Aaron committed the sin unto death, so they were also not permitted to enter the land.

1:6 You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day.

The Greek word for "keep" is τηρέω (tayreow), an aorist active participle, meaning to spiritually keep or guard a certain area. The fallen angels were to stay, guard, and keep their proper spiritual domain. Their proper spiritual domain was the atmospheric heavens. 

When angels appear on earth, they appear as human men. In Genesis 6, these fallen angels appeared on earth as young men and intermarried with human women.  This action was rebellion against God. The purpose of this action was to pollute the line of man, because according to Genesis 3:15, the Messiah was to be born through the seed of a woman, or a virgin woman. Every woman that intermarried with these fallen angels had removed herself from this position of virginity.

According to Peter, God punished these fallen angels by locking them not in the Abyss, but in Tartarus. Peter must have received this information directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, because the place of their imprisonment was not revealed in the Old Testament. Notice that this imprisonment is "eternal". At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, these fallen angels will be transported to the Lake of Fire to burn forever. The Abyss is a temporary confinement for fallen angels, but the details for temporary confinement are not mentioned in Scripture.

Just as fallen angels will burn in the Lake of Fire forever for their rebellion and unbelief, so will these false teachers who are joining the church.

1:7 So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim were destroyed for the sin of homosexuality, which is unnatural sex that God does not allow. The fallen angels were destroyed for intermarrying with human women, another unnatural sexual act that God has forbidden. Therefore, the false teachers will be destroyed like those who were committing homosexual sins in Sodom, Gomorrah, Adman, and Zeboiim.

1:8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.

The Greek word for "dreams" is ἐνυπνιάζομαι (enupniaszomai), meaning prophetic dreams. These ungodly men were inside the church and claiming that God was speaking to them through dreams. There are false teachers today in the charismatic churches who use this same satanic technique. However, their talk is so smooth and their audience is so Biblically ignorant, that the members believe it hook, line, and sinker.

These ungodly men defiled the flesh, meaning that they were committing fornication and adultery with the women inside these churches. They used these prophetic dreams to seduce women.

These ungodly men rejected the authority of the elders. The elders are given spiritual authority over the members of their churches. This spiritual authority was rejected.

These ungodly men were insulting glorious ones. The Greek word for "insult" is βλασφημέω (blasphaymeow), a present active indicative verb, meaning to continually blaspheme. Blasphemy means to call what is good evil and what is evil good.

The Greek word for "glorious one" is δόξα (dosa), meaning those who possess divine quality, or the splendor of God. The glorious ones refer to those who are actually intrinsically good, pure, and have the divine spark of God manifested inside of them. This does not refer to man, because man is not intrinsically good. He is born with a total depraved and sinful nature. This refers to the good angels who refused to rebel with Satan.

1:9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

The Old Testament does not teach that Michael argued with the devil about the body of Moses. However, this detail is given in The Assumption of Moses, which is an apocryphal Jewish book. Jude is not confirming that this book is canon that is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. Instead, the Holy Spirit allowed Jude to mention that this one quotation of the uninspired book was divine truth. 

This  book states that Satan claimed the body of Moses, because Moses had murdered an Egyptian overseer. Although Michael was an arch angel and Satan was an anointed cherub, Michael did not argue with Satan, because Satan was at one time in a higher angelic position. Instead, Michael called the Lord to rebuke Satan. The point is that false teachers will be rebuked by the Lord, just as Satan was rebuked by the Lord.

1:10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.

The Greek word for "understand" is οἶδα (oida), a perfect active indicative verb, meaning one who sees and understands with spiritual eyes.

The Greek word for "slanders" is βλασφημέω (blasphaymeow), a present active indicative verb, meaning that these ungodly men were continually blasphemying spiritual things that they did not have the spiritual insight to understand. 

These ungodly men could not see or understand the spiritual concepts of the things that they were slandering. They were slandering the apostolic teachings, the elders, the angels, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Greek for "instinctively comprehend" is ἐπίσταμαι (epistomai), a present middle indicative verb, meaning to continually understand things instinctively, like that of an instinctive animal. Since these ungodly men were unbelievers, they did not possess divine viewpoint. Instead, they thought instinctively like animals. Being depraved and totally evil, they could only instinctively think and act like animals 

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion.

The Greek word for "woe" is οὐαί (ouai), coming from the Hebrew word הוי (hoi), meaning an exclamation that a divine penalty is about to be invoked. The ungodly men were about to receive divine punishment.

Cain killed his own brother and chose to follow a path of life without God. These ungodly men were traveling down the same path as Cain.

Balaam was a religious man who was involved in the occult. He attempted to use the occult to curse Israel.  Since God did not allow Balaam to curse what God had blessed, then God controlled the tongue of Balaam. Balaam spoke out blessings for Israel rather than curses. However, Balaam used pretty Moabite girls to seduce Israel into idolatry. His motive was to make profit. These ungodly men were using similar tactics in order to seduce the messianic Jews into false teachings. Their motive was to make personal profit.

God chose Aaron to be priest of Israel, but Korah desired this position. Korah tried to discredit the authority of Moses and Aaron. God destroyed Korah and his rebels by commanding the ground to open up and swallow them. These ungodly men in Jude’s days were like Korah. They were attempting to usurp the authority which was given to the apostles. 

Like Cain, the false teachers did not love their Jewish brothers. Like Balaam, they were motivated by greed. Like Korah, they were guilty of rebellion against God's preordained authority.

1:12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit – twice dead, uprooted;

Dangerous reefs are dangerous rocks that cannot be seen by the captain of the ship. The ship runs into the jagged, unseen rocks and sinks. Listening to these ungodly men is like riding on this ship.

Love-feasts were an early practice of believers eating the Lord's Supper in banquet style. Listening to these ungodly men was like going to the Lord's Supper banquet, but eating small pebbles that were hidden in the food. This type of food  would destroy the stomach inwardly, causing severe pain, vomiting, and death. Listening to these false teachers is like biting into this food and cracking a tooth.

Shepherds without fear have no concern for their flocks. Listening to these false teachers is like being a sheep who is serving an evil and worthless shepherd.

Waterless clouds appear and promise much rain for a drought, but there is no rain inside of them. They look like an answer to the drought, but they only bring disappointment. Listening to these false teachers is like hoping in a waterless cloud during the time of drought.

These waterless clouds provide no sustenance. They are simply carried by the wind, leaving no rain behind them. Listening to these false teachers is like watching the waterless clouds blow away in the wind.

Autumn trees that are twice-dead are fruit trees that do not produce fruit in summer or fall. They are worthless and uprooted, never to be planted again. Listening to these false teachers is like planting a worthless tree that produces no fruit.

1:13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.

Sea waves constantly foam on the beaches, never at peace. Listening to these false teachers is like listening to the restlessness of the foam on the beaches. The foam dissipates quickly and is never seen again.

Wayward stars do not end up in the eternal darkness of the Lake of Fire. Stars are usually a metaphor for angels. In this case, the wayward stars are fallen angels. The eternal destiny of these false teachers will be the same destiny as that of the fallen angels. They will live forever in the eternal darkness of the Lake of Fire.

1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, even prophesied of them, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of his holy ones,

The Book of Enoch is another Jewish apocryphal book that is not inspired. However, the Holy Spirit allowed Jude to mention one quote of the book which was divine truth. Enoch was the seventh generation of Adam. 

The Greek word for "thousands and thousands" is μυριάς (murios), usually translated in English as "myriads", meaning an innumerable number. 

The Greek word for "holy ones" is ἅγιος (hagios), usually translated in English as "holy ones," but it means those who are different from the satanic world system, because they are set apart to perform a specific service for God.

Enoch taught about the Second Coming of the Messiah, even before the flood and the Abrahamic Covenant. This verse shows that the pre-flood people possessed divine information about eschatological matters. The Lord Jesus Christ will return for His saints at the Rapture, but He will return with His saints at His Second Coming. These are two different comings. 

1:15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds that they have committed, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Enoch taught that the Messiah would return to judge everyone on the earth. The Messiah will judge three things at the Second Coming of Christ. First, He will execute judgment on all. Believers will enter into the Millennial Kingdom. Unbelievers will enter into hell, awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment, which will occur 1000 years after the Return of Christ.

Second, the Messiah will convict everyone of their ungodly deeds.

Third, the Messiah will judge men for the harsh words that unbelievers have spoken against Him. The Greek word for "harsh" is σκληρός (sklayros), meaning words that are hard, unbendable, and violent. The Messiah is a King and He will not allow rebellion in His kingdom.

1:16 These people are grumblers and fault-finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain.

The Greek word for "grumblers" is γογγυστής (gogustais), meaning murmurings, such as the grumblings of the Israelites in the wilderness. They grumbled because of their unbelief. These false teachers grumble and murmur in the same way, because of their unbelief.

The Greek word for "fault-finders" is μεμψίμοιρος (mempsimoiros), meaning those who find fault with the Word of God.

The Greek word for "desires" is ἐπιθυμία (epithelia), meaning desires, lusts, and passions. These false teachers do not follow God. Instead, they follow their own passions, which come from their totally depraved and evil nature.

The Greek word for "bombastic" is ὑπέρογκος (huperogkos), meaning the swelled-up words of a braggart. These false teachers gave speeches, bragging about their own individual position with God. This is very similar to the speeches of modern charismatics, who boast of receiving divine information outside of the written Word of God.

The Greek word for "enchanting" is θαυμάζω (thaumozo), meaning to amaze someone out of their senses. These false teachers were amazing their audiences with their flowery and uplifting words so that they could gain profit. This is very similar today to modern mega-pastors using smooth and flattery enthusiastic speeches along with multi-media effects in order to move their audience to fill an emotional high.  

Exhortation to the Faithful

1:17 But you, dear friends – recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude commanded his readers to remember the predictions of the apostles. All of the apostles, especially Peter, predicted the coming of false teachers into the church. Peter made these predictions in 2 Peter 3. Paul also predicted these events (Acts 20:29–30; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1–5, 3:12–4:4). 

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.”

The Greek word for "scoffers" is ἐμπαίκτης (empaiktais), meaning one who scoffs or mocks another. The Holy Spirit only used this word twice in the Scriptures. The end days are the days preceding the Rapture. There will be many unbelievers mocking the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will laugh and mock and say. "Where is He?

1:19 These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit.

These future scoffers will cause division in the body of Christ. They will be more concerned with serving the satanic world system than they are in serving God. They will be devoid of the Holy Spirit, meaning that they will be unsaved men. 

1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit,

The dear friends are the messianic believers in which Jude is writing. He commands them to build themselves up by mastering Bible doctrine. They are to pray in the Holy Spirit, meaning that they not only need to master Bible doctrine, but their sins must be confessed according to 1 John 1:9. The job of the Holy Spirit is to illuminate the mind so that Bible doctrine can be understood and applied.

1:21 maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life.

The Greek word for "maintain" is τηρέω (tayreow), an aorist active imperative verb, meaning a command to immediately watch over and spiritually guard the love of God. The love of God is agape love, meaning divine love. Believers are commanded to immediately guard the divine love which is inside of them. They can guard the divine love by studying and applying Scripture through a gifted pastor-teacher.

The Greek word for “anticipating” is προσδέχομαι (prosdechomai), a present passive participle, meaning to continually await eagerly in the present time. Believers were to continually anticipate the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ in their present life time. The mercy is the escape of the Great Tribulation. The future mockers will not escape the Great Tribulation. It will come upon them. 

Believers will miss the Great Tribulation by being Raptured into heaven and being present with Christ in their new glorified bodies. God will show them mercy and snatch them off of the earth. Since the present passive participle was used, this meant that the Rapture could have occurred in their present life time, even as they were reading this letter. This Greek passive participle supports the doctrine of immanency. Jesus will not return at His Second Coming until exactly seven years after Israel signs a peace treaty with the Antichrist. Jesus will not return until the Jews cry out, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." The Jews will not make this call until the last day of the Great Tribulation. Therefore, the continual waiting for mercy was the immanency of a different and separate coming of Christ, which is the Rapture.

1:22 And have mercy on those who waver;

Some of the weaker believers may have doubts and concerns, because they were deceived by the teachings of these ungodly men. The mature believers were to be patient with them and show mercy to them. They were to patiently guide them into the Scriptures.

1:23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy on others, coupled with a fear of God, hating even the clothes stained by the flesh.

The Greek word for "snatching" is ἁρπάζω (harpozo), a present middle participle, meaning to continually snatch someone or something from one place to another. This is the same word which is used for the Rapture of the church. The mature believers were to continually snatch the immature believers out of the teachings of these ungodly men whenever possible, especially if they were already caught in their false doctrines.

There was a third group of believers who were actually beginning to teach some of these false doctrines to others. The mature believers were to snatch them out as well, but to be careful not to get their own clothes stained. Getting their own clothes stained meant falling into the snares of the false doctrine,

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence,

The Greek word for "guard" is φυλάσσω (phulassow), meaning a shepherd watching his sheep very closely to make sure that the wolf does not eat them, or a solider watching for the enemy to attack during his military guard. The mature believers were to watch for themselves, because the wolves were out to steal their sheep and devour them as well.

The Greek word for "stand" is ἄπταιστος (aptaistos), meaning being sure-footed as not to stumble. God will sustain the believer and help him to stand and not stumble as far as eternal life. 

The Greek word for "without blemish" is ἄμωμος (amomos), meaning to be spotless and without blemish, like the sacrificial lamb. The mature believer was commanded to be a spotless, unblemished lamb awaiting to be sacrificed for the sins of others. Believers were commanded to stay in this position of innocence until Christ returns. 

The Greek word for "rejoicing" is ἀγαλλίασις (hagaliiasis), meaning to rejoice in ecstatic delight. When Christ returns, the unbelievers will fear and tremble, but the believers will demonstrate ecstatic delight.

1:25 to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

This is a statement against the polytheism of the Greco-Roman culture. There is only one God. He is the only Savior. Salvation comes only through Jesus. Jesus is deity and the Messiah. Jesus is the glory, or the Shekinah Glory, as proven at His transfiguration. God is majestic, meaning that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God is all power, meaning that He is omnipotent. God has all authority, meaning that He has the keys of the kingdom and He decides who gets in and who gets left out. God is before all time, meaning that He is eternal. He was not a created angel. Amen means "Let these things be", meaning the things mentioned in this letter.