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Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation
To Correct or Encourage?

Do I just keep encouraging my child, servant or follower, or must I instruct them with words of exhortation? Every parent, master, or leader must judge between the value of correction versus positive reinforcement.

Jude, a leader of the church no less loving of the recipients of his letter than the Apostles, faces this familiar dilemma of the parent. I want to encourage you, my beloved children, by acknowledging all of the good things you do. BUT, (Oh, oh, here it comes…) I have this against you.

If this approach of dealing with the church and individual wayward relationships to the Lord and each other sounds familiar, it should. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John exhortation to the seven churches also takes this form.

Like John, Peter, Paul and others, Jude has a close relationship with many individual saints of the church. As a father encourages a son or daughter, so the words of Jude touch the hearts of the hearers of his letter.

They will hear Jude’s letter as words from a beloved mentor. Many know Jude, Servant of Jesus Christ as the brother of James or know of him.

Jude’s greeting:

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jude 1:2 KJV

ἔλεος Mercy to you, Jude writes.

It means kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them. Jude not only knows them but cares about their struggles and community.

When Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, our Lord convicts us that we often fail to show mercy to our fellow man. We too tend to qualify which neighbor we choose for our mercy. Yet like those who questioned the Lord we know which one acted as Christ would act.

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Luke 10:37 CSB

Jude shows the church compassion and mercy, also greeting them with peace and love multiplied. If you are one of those called by the Father you will recognize the same peace of Jesus Christ regardless of what exhortation will follow.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
The words of Jesus Christ, the Good News of John 14:27 NASB

ἀγάπη – Love

Love is much misaligned and misdirected in and by the church. Jude speaks here of agapē [ah-gah’-pay], the love by which all hearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be known.

ἀγάπη – Agape is affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; that visible relationship between Christians. One key reason Jude and others must exhort individuals to such love is so that others will always recognize us as beloved children of our loving Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus warns us in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

Did our Lord not describe this familiar brokenness of the church in these last days? Jude must warn the saints faithful to the Lord.

Jesus added an encouragement to this caution about our potential loss of agape love:

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Jude will exhort believers to keep in Jesus’ love, abide in His love or live as Jesus taught us by His example.

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Encouragement of Jesus – Gospel of John 15:9-10 NASB

Occasion of Jude’s Letter

Jude – NRSV

Jude clearly states the reason for his exhortation replacing unsalted positive encouragement.

3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

His indictment is clear, a warning to the saints to watch out for those ungodly ‘christians’ who have stolen their way into the trust of the church. They pervert grace into licentiousness.

Because now we rarely hear such pointed exhortation, let’s look just a bit closer into the problem outlined in verse 4.
- Certain intruders pervert God’s grace.
  - It’s not everybody or even the majority of the saints.
  - These sinners were marked out beforehand for condemnation, pointing to their same sins from the Old Testament. Jude’s following verses point to these OT examples.
- This is Jude’s and the church’s general condemnation of ungodly persons who turn from the grace of God, as opposed to the repentance possible for those God allows to return to righteousness.
- They pervert the grace of God into licencentious.
  - one of Jude’s two serious indictments
- and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
How can ANY man or woman identified as a ‘christian’ deny Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), Lord God & ONLY lord and master of your mortal and eternal life?

Jude, bondservant of Jesus, would have us ask this question of every hearer of his letter. Who truly serves Jesus Christ as your Master and Lord?

Other Description of Jude’s purpose

The Geneva Bible of 1599 states:

3 He warneth the godly to take heed of such men, 4 that make the grace of God a cloak for their wantonness:

Like licentiousness, wantonness leaves us thinking of an archaic approach to sin rarely mentioned in this day and translated gently for contemporary readers of Jude’s exhortation.

All will agree that Jude urges the saints (all Christians) to contend earnestly or defend the true faith handed down to the church by Christ and through the faithful word of God in the the Old Testament. From there we easily stray when called upon to confront a false claimant of Christ.

Who are these?

Jude writes, ‘certain men have crept in unnoticed,’ or ‘by stealth’ some versions translate.

Let’s examine Jude’s two-part accusation.

ἀσέλγεια – Licentiousness

Defined: unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence

We tend to think of the sin of these men Jude describes as sexual sin, a sin which may accurately describe just part of their specific acts against God. Yet other sinful behaviors men and women would hide from the saints with whom they worship certainly apply to Jude’s warning.

Jude’s exhortation describes a general conduct thought to be private which would cause a public disgust. These shameless excesses could include gluttony, tyrannical demeanor, greediness and other excesses of the fleshly senses, which include hunting for victims prone to your sins.

You may notice the similarity of the Greek word translated as licentiousness, ἀσέλγεια, and it’s Hebrew root, ἄλφα.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13 KJV

This Greek description as a compound negative participle of Alpha, the word of God and Christ, indicates an antichrist, a description other New Testament writers use of those opposed to the Gospel.

ἀρνέομαι Ἰησοῦς Χριστός – Deny Jesus Christ

This is the most serious of Jude’s two accusations against these antichrists who have found their way into the church, men and women against whom he must warn other followers of the Lord.

Ungodly persons [ἀσεβής] καὶ τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι, that is: “only Master and Lord our Jesus Christ deny.”
- Jesus is our Lord, the LORD God
- The LORD IS our only Master
- Jesus IS the Messiah, the Christ
- We serve ONLY Him.
Many deny the Lord, our personal Master whom we serve as Christians. Ungodly persons may claim Jesus or claim God, yet not serve Him. Many more will claim a god or antichrist because they oppose the LORD.

Jude is not alone in his exhortation for believers. The Apostle John also warns of such antichrists:

… so now many antichrists have come. …They went out from us, but they did not belong to us… I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.
First Letter of John, excerpts from 2:18-19 & 26 NKJV

Biblical warnings from the Old Testament

Next we will continue in Jude’s letter to saints of the first century church with his Old Testament examples. Remember, the Old Testament was the only Bible for Jesus, Jude, James and the Apostles. But feel free to preview these few verses as if you knew only this Bible, still applicable today.
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To be continued...
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July 17, 2019
Jude – Now I will praise the Lord
Who is Jude?

The first thing I want to know about any letter I receive is who sent it to me. So as a leader or member of one of several churches we would want to be certain of the identity of the author of Jude and the authenticity of Jude’s message.

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James
Letter of Jude 1:1a NKJV

To fully understand the identity of the man who’s name is translated in English as ‘Jude” we must look to both the original Greek text and the common name of its Hebrew origin in first century Judea and Galilee.

Ἰούδας

Pronounced: ē-ü’-däs — Most translations of the Greek use Jude, the Latin Iudas and Yehudah in the Hebrew Names Version. The root word of the Greek name is Yĕhuwdah from the Hebrew יְהוּדָה meaning “praised” and translated at Judas. (We understand why after Jesus’ betrayal no man wanted to be known by this name now synonymous with ‘betrayer.’)

In James – Witness of a Converted Brother we learned that Roman names derived from local languages had become Hellenized. James could be Jim, but Judas and Judah easily become, Jude.

Some fathers named their sons after a forefather of their tribe like Judah or Israel. Judah יָדָה is the familiar Hebrew root of both the Greek and English.

Brother of James

Jude means: he shall be praised.

The author of our letter identifies himself as the brother of James.

Jude refers to James, head of the church of Jerusalem, leader of the first century churches who exchanged letters throughout Asia minor, Greece, Palestine and other areas receiving the Good News of Christ. Most Biblical commentators agree that like James, Jude is is also a half-brother of Jesus.

Both James and Jude identify themselves as servants of Jesus, rather than claiming their biological relationship to the Lord. Most kings come to power via their family connection and install relatives in high positions.

One of the great Jewish controversies Jesus would take no part in was that of the legitimacies of kings and followers of certain political traditions. These political/family controversies had progressed and preceded Jude, James and Jesus by several generations back to the second century B.C.

Maccabees

Source: BibleHub.org (a hammer), This title, which was originally the surname of Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias, was afterward extended to the heroic family of which he was one of the noblest representatives. Asmonaeans or Hasmonaeans is the Proper name of the family, which is derived from Cashmon, great grandfather of Mattathias. The Maccabees were a family of Jews who resisted the authority of Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria and his successors who had usurped authority over the Jews, conquered Jerusalem, and strove to introduce idolatrous worship.

Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias generally called in English the Maccabees, a celebrated family who defended Jewish rights and customs in the 2nd century B.C. (1 Maccabees 2:1-3 {from the Apocrypha, for those unfamiliar with extra-Biblical texts.}

Herodians

The end of the era of the Hasmoneans is probably the most turbulent time in Jewish history. It is hard to imagine a “Jewish” government more antithetical to Jewish principles and ideals than that of Herod and his successors, whose murderous, tyrannical ways would eventually lead to the destruction of the Temple and the beginning of the long exile that Jews find themselves in. – Source: JewishHistory.org

Herod the Great, born in Rome around 70 B.C and known as Herodes Magnus, was appointed a governor at around age 20 (along with his brother) and appointed King by the Roman senate in 37 B.C. He became known as Judah’s great builder and built the Temple in Jerusalem.

During the time of Jesus, James and Jude and continuing into the years of the early church, the Herods wielded much power. Rome finally turned on Jerusalem and their client king appointed to help Rome defend the Empire against enemies east of Palestine. The Herodians failed to control the “Jewish problem,” which caused trouble throughout the Empire.

Bondservant of Jesus Christ

The brother of James could have begun his letter to the church as a ‘brother of the King and Messiah,’ implying his authority of position via his family. The Herodians or Maccabees made familial claims to kingdom leadership, but not these half-brothers of Jesus who had not even followed the Lord prior to His resurrection.

James begins his letter (ἐπιστολή epistle, in greek): ‘James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Jude chooses to identify in the same way as a bondservant of Christ.

Jude would have been known to his readers as the brother of James, leader of the church in Jerusalem, both related to Jesus the Messiah.

Understanding the Servant of Christ

The Bible uses the word ‘servant‘ almost 500 times. A few English translations use the word ‘bondservant,’ a concept we no longer use or understand. Furthermore, many contemporary christians resist this concept of sometime voluntary compliance.

I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
Leviticus 26:13 KJV

עָבַד עֶבֶד – A slave or servant; to work, serve. Also used as form of address between equals.

Genesis 18: KJV

And the LORD appeared unto him [Jacob] in the plains of Mamre: … three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

Jacob served the LORD. We serve the LORD. Jude served Christ, the Lord.

Malachi 4:

About four centuries before Christ (and Jesus’ half-brothers) the prophet Malachi writes:

“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
Malachi 4:4

The closing verses of Malachi clearly point back to Moses and the Law with the Lord calling Moses, “my servant.” James and Jude are servants of Jesus just as Moses was servant to the Lord at Horeb.

עֶבֶד – `ebed

Are you, beloved follower of Christ, first a servant of the Lord?

διάκονος – diakonos

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Command of the Lord Jesus – Gospel of John 12:26 CSB

The servant (from the Greek context) is ‘one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master.
1. the servant of a king
2. a deacon [diakonos], one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use.
3. a waiter, one who serves food and drink
“The greatest among you will be your servant.
The word of the Lord – Matthew 23:11

Abraham was a servant of the Lord. Moses was a servant of the Lord. And like their forefathers in the faith, Jude and James became servants of the Lord first and servants of the Lord’s followers second.

Paul, referring to the church writes to the church at Colossae:

I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known …

Jude writes to the church

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:

To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:1b CSB

Are you a fellow servant of Christ Jesus? If so, know that you are loved by God the Father. Know that by His grace you are kept for Jesus Christ at the day of His victorious return.

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
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To be continued
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July 10, 2019
James – Come now, brothers – 8
Our church receives a pastoral letter from James by messenger. We know James and trust his wisdom and leadership. He addresses us familially as brothers, opening with encouragement, ‘count it all joy when you experience trials.’ Come now, brothers, James urges, be wise, repent and do what the Lord wills.

Unlike the church nearer the end of these last days, those who received James’ letter know well their trusted pastor who writes from Jerusalem.

James knew Jesus as a brother for many years, then finally repented of his sin and disbelief after the resurrection when the Lord appeared to him. Now James and the church must live with the controversies of the day or possibly die for their witness of Jesus.

He addresses these men as brothers (although some contemporary translations include ‘sisters’). Culture dictates that women are included in the church, yet the Lord authorizes only men to lead its course. Also, men address only men and their family as leaders serving the Lord, while women lead other women and children as the Lord wills. All serve Christ.

All leaders of the church, James, the Apostles, Elders and other men must look to the Lord, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit for works of the Lord’s will.

After beginning with his encouragement, ‘count it all joy,’ James calls on the church to seek wisdom from God.

Men who judge

James has pointed to God as One. The Lord God is the only lawgiver. Only our Creator, Almighty God has the complete power to destroy. The Lord also has the merciful power of grace — forgiveness of our sins — and also forgiveness of the sins of all those we tend to judge.

Who are you to judge the Law, James asks? Why would you judge another believer?

Perhaps some disciples of Jesus had judged the half-brothers of Jesus or thought that Saul of Tarsus could never be saved by the Lord. So James asks us to use the wisdom of God with men and allow God to judge.

James 4:

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters.

Of course James had heard Jesus’ teachings before His crucifixion and resurrection. Surely James knew the comforting beatitudes Jesus taught frequently. Blessed are you when…, but also ‘woe to you’ when… (you turn from the Lord God.) James will address some woes as well.
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Blessed are those who mourn,
 for they will be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
 for they will be filled.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
 for they will see God.
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Woe! -אוֹי

James reminds us of blessing from God, but warns of the coming woes to the worldly. This same pattern of warning from Jesus and the Prophets resonates with more familiarity to the church then than now.

Woe! alas! oh! passionate cry of grief or despair

Many first century hearers of the word would have been more familiar with these cautions from Isaiah:

Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Isaiah 3:11, 5:20, 5:21, KJV

Jesus taught this same wisdom of God known through the Prophets.

James warns the church against the woes of the worldly among us, even in the church. He will add more specific woes of the Lord’s opponents to our letter before its conclusion.

Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
James 5:9 CSB

The Vapor of this Life

—what your life will be!

Thy will be done.

What would James have learned from Jesus about expectations for this life?

Our mortal life is a vapor, a passing mist.

For prior to His crucifixion James and others had expected a Messiah quite different from the brother with whom he grew up.

Jesus died as a man of only about thirty-three years, not as an aging conquering king (like David or Herod the Great). Joseph had also died when James was quite young.

James must have recalled, ‘we both had an earthy papa who raised us for a time; but my brother, the Lord taught us to pray only to our Father in heaven, for ‘His Kingdom will come.’

Now, after the resurrection James must have recalled Jesus’ words about prayer.

“Our Father…,” Jesus taught.
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Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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So James writes to the church:

James 4:

13 Come now, you who say,

“Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be!

God knows, James implies, and we all must realize.

Most of the church commutes to work; we trade with the world as merchants of the Lord’s work. Yet what profit to our heavenly treasure from those of the world with whom we trade?

So where will we go? Who should we see and how must we make our plans every day?

Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:15 CSB

Why does James address the church in this way?

Because some merchants become rich in commerce and poor in spirit.

16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Woe to those who boast!

James equates our business braggings as evil. And worse, because you know Christ, you know what is good. Yet for some to whom he writes, James warns, ‘your works are evil.’

17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

Do you know sin? And does the fruit of your salvation blossom into right works as the Lord requires?

Jesus and others warn that the wolves of the world cunningly watch the sheep of the Shepherd. Although it is their place to watch over us, some oppress us.

The rich (who may even employ or trade with us) sometimes oppress others of the church, he writes. And James’ implied question to the ‘saints’: ‘Are you one of these, brother?’

Even the world opposed to Christ sees your works and wounds His bride the Church by the false witness of the hypocrite.

James 5:

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.
James 5:1 CSB

There it is again, ‘come now,’ James implores directly.

Is he talking to me — a Christian, an upstanding financial supporter of our gathering?

James is not addressing the world here, only the worldly of the church who would claim Christ Jesus.

Once again his tone will reflect that of familiar prophets of old.

2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.

Some indictment!

A few hearing James’ letter may think:

Perhaps Pastor James had best back off some, so as not to offend other rich supporters of our church who make our work possible. Did Jesus ever talk to His followers like this?

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19:23 CSB

But what of their tithe to the church? (At least I think all of that money more than I can imagine must be a tenth of their income.)

These are the business owners, the merchants of our church, respected by the businesses and communities we serve.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.

οὐαί – Woe to you, warns Jesus. – Luke 6:24

‘What do you who are bosses say to yourself, brothers,’ James would ask the hearers of his letter? Don’t you realize that you cannot treat your brothers or your neighbors of the world in a worldly manner when you continue to claim Christ Jesus?

4 Indeed the wages of the laborers … which you kept back by fraud, cry out…

…and the outcry of [your employees] has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
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I take some liberties here contemporizing & combining English translations and authoritative commentary.
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5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire.

Your glutinous heart feasts, as in the day of slaughter for an ox unaware of its last day, its blood destined for the altar of judgement.

You have condemned.

The just man you murder.

A righteous man from whom you claim compassion does not resist you when you show him no mercy.

You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
Your gold and silver … will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.
James 5:3c,ab excerpt NKJV

The Harvest Approaches

“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows — 
Matthew 24:36a CSB
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“Then two men will be in the field; 
one will be taken and one left. 
“Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill; 
one will be taken and one left.
“Then two men will be in the field; 
one will be taken and one left. 
“This is why you are also to be ready, 
because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
--- Matthew 24:40-42,44 CSB
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“Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.
“But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’…
Matthew 24:46-48a CSB

Of course, James preaches the same warnings to the rich as he certainly heard his brother Jesus teach.

“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 24:51

Therefore, be patient

James preaches to the faithful, ‘Woe to the rich.’ Do not count yourself with them. We will all face the judgement when Jesus returns. Now he encourages the most faithful, most worshipers of Jesus who suffer at the hands of many in this brief life.

7 Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.

The farmer waits for precious fruit. He waits first for rain and endures to wait for the late rains before the harvest.

8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

The fruit of patience in the church
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9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, 
so that you will not be judged. 

Look, the judge stands at the door.
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10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience.

11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured.
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You have heard of Job’s endurance 
  and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about
—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
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Come now

James’ letter to the church about our works sounds so much like Jesus.

—what your life will be!

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will … do this or that…’”

How do you know that the Lord will give you more time?

“Come now, you rich,

Weep and groan with anguish .. because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.

It’s an invitation, a forceful rebuke to some in the church:

“Come now, repent and receive our Lord’s mercy.”

Make your covenant with the Lord and He will accept you through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

“Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.” – Genesis 31-44

As Laban, father-in-law to Jacob, reached out in peace, so does your Father in Heaven reach out to the lost sheep of Israel. James, half-brother of the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus, writes to the church from Jerusalem.

Come now, —the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Count it all joy when the world tries your patience.
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To be continued...
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May 23, 2019