# Jude 01 📖: Contend for the Faith [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Jude Overview]] | [[Jude 01]] | [[Revelation 01]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ## Salutation **Principle**: We are slaves of Jesus. He owns us and that is great news. He is in charge of caring for us. [[#Verse 01.]] 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.  [[#Verse 02.]] May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ## Condemnation of the False Teachers **Principle**: Be aware. Defend the truth from falsehood. [[#Verse 03.]] 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.  [[#Verse 04.]] 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. [[#Verse 05.]] 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.  [[#Verse 06.]] 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. [[Genesis 06]] [[#Verse 07.]] 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. [[Genesis 19]] [[#Verse 08.]]  Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.  [[#Verse 09.]] 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!”  [[#Verse 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.  [[#Verse 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 Apostates' Doom **Principle**: False teachers are doomed. [[#Verse 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;  [[#Verse 13.]] wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved. [[#Verse 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,  [[#Verse 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.”  [[#Verse 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. [[#Verse 17.]] But you, dear friends—recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  [[#Verse 18.]] For they said to you, “At the end of time there will comescoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.”  [[#Verse 19.]] These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit.  ## Exhortation and Benediction **Principle**: Build each other up. [[#Verse 20.]] But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit,  [[#Verse 21.]] maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life.  [[#Verse 22.]] And have mercy on those who waver;  [[#Verse 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. ## Final Blessing **Principle**: God is able to keep us and bring us joy. [[#Verse 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,  [[#Verse 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 ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. - Hebrew- Judah. - Jesus' younger half brother. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. - From the “Assumption of Moses.” ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. - He is not claiming that the Enoch of Genesis wrote this. The person who claimed to write the Book of Enoch called himself the “seventh from Adam.” It was clear this book was written during the second temple period. Jude giving that title is saying it was from the book of Enoch, not the literal person. - Jude including this extra-biblical material is not him saying they are holy Scripture. He is simply using a text that would have been familiar to the audience to make a point. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights The book of Jude is purely apologetic in nature. He says at the beginning that his goal was originally to send encouragement but found it necessary to instruct them to content for the faith. Use of extra-biblical books such as ***Enoch*** and the ***Song of Moses***: - Jude is using these sources to make a point, not to say they are inspired. In the book of Acts, Paul quotes from a philosopher. The point was not to elevate the philosopher to Scripture. The point was to use a common source to make a point. - During the “400 years of silence,” it was not silent concerning writing. Jewish scribes were doing a lot of theology. Books like Enoch came out of this time. The “years of silence” refers to a time when there were not prophets receiving direct revelation from God. 1. Jude calls himself the brother of James (verse 1). Mark 6:3 lists Judas and James among Jesus' brothers. 2. Jude's name in Greek is Judas, the same as Judah in Hebrew. English Bibles use "Jude" to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. 3. The word for contend in verse 3 (*epagōnizomai*) pictures an athlete straining in a contest. It appears only here in the New Testament. 4. Jude often groups things in threes, such as Israel, the angels, and Sodom (verses 5-7) and Cain, Balaam, and Korah (verse 11). 5. The dispute between Michael and the devil over Moses' body (verse 9) is not found in the Old Testament. Early church writers connected it to a work called the Assumption of Moses. 6. Jude 14-15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9, a Jewish writing well known in Jude's day. 7. The word in verse 12 often translated "stains" or "hidden reefs" (*spilades*) can mean rocks hidden under the water that wreck ships. 8. The "love feasts" in verse 12 were shared meals early Christians ate together, often connected with the Lord's Supper. 9. "Wandering stars" (verse 13) translates *asteres planētai*, the source of our word planet. 10. The early historian Hegesippus says Jude's grandsons were brought before Emperor Domitian and released when he saw they were poor farmers. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary - Coming ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is our only Master and Lord (verse 4) who keeps His people (verse 1) and is able to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before God's glory with great joy (verse 24; Philippians 1:6). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jude wanted to write about salvation but had to urge believers to contend for the faith (verse 3). What does contending for the faith look like with humility? 2. Jude reminds us of past judgments on Israel, angels, and Sodom (verses 5-7). Why is it helpful to remember these warnings? 3. Jude calls us to show mercy to those who doubt and to rescue others (verses 22-23). Who in your life needs that kind of mercy? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: Contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. - 📖 verse 4: Some have slipped in, turning grace into a license for immorality and denying Jesus Christ. - 📖 verses 20-21: Build yourselves up in your most holy faith, pray in the Spirit, and keep yourselves in God's love. - 📖 verses 22-23: Show mercy to those who doubt and save others by snatching them from the fire. - 📖 verses 24-25: God is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless with great joy. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 v. 3 → 1 Peter 3:15 – Always be ready to give a defense for the hope you have. - 🔗 v. 3 → 2 Timothy 1:13-14 – Guard the good deposit entrusted to you. - 🔗 v. 4 → 2 Peter 2:1-3 – False teachers who secretly bring in destructive heresies. - 🔗 v. 4 → Romans 6:1-2 – Shall we go on sinning so grace may increase? By no means! - 🔗 v. 5 → Numbers 14:26-35 and 1 Corinthians 10:5 – The unbelieving generation died in the wilderness. - 🔗 v. 6 → 2 Peter 2:4 – Angels who sinned held in chains for judgment. - 🔗 v. 6 → Genesis 6:1-4 – The sons of God and the daughters of men. - 🔗 v. 7 → Genesis 19:24-25 – Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire. - 🔗 v. 9 → Daniel 10:13 and 12:1 – Michael the archangel. - 🔗 v. 9 → Zechariah 3:2 – "The Lord rebuke you, Satan!" - 🔗 v. 11 → Genesis 4:3-8 – The way of Cain. - 🔗 v. 11 → Numbers 22-24 and 31:16 – Balaam's error for profit. - 🔗 v. 11 → Numbers 16:1-35 – Korah's rebellion. - 🔗 v. 14 → Genesis 5:21-24 – Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who walked with God. - 🔗 v. 14-15 → 1 Enoch 1:9 (non-canonical) – The source Jude quotes for Enoch's prophecy. - 🔗 v. 14-15 → Matthew 25:31 – The Son of Man comes in glory with His angels. - 🔗 v. 17-18 → 2 Peter 3:2-3 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5 – Scoffers in the last days. - 🔗 v. 20 → Ephesians 6:18 – Pray in the Spirit at all times. - 🔗 v. 23 → Zechariah 3:2-4 and Amos 4:11 – A burning stick snatched from the fire; filthy garments removed. - 🔗 v. 24 → Ephesians 5:27 and Colossians 1:22 – Presented holy and blameless before Him. - 🔗 [[2 Peter 02#Verse 01.|2 Peter 2:1-3]] - False teachers among the people. - 🔗 [[Numbers 16#Verse 01.|Numbers 16:1-3]] - Korah's rebellion. - 🔗 [[Genesis 19#Verse 24.|Genesis 19:24-25]] - The Lord judges Sodom and Gomorrah. - 🔗 [[Zechariah 03#Verse 02.|Zechariah 3:2]] - The Lord rebuke you, Satan. - 🔗 [[Romans 16#Verse 25.|Romans 16:25-27]] - To the only wise God be glory forever. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Jude 01 - SOAP|Show Mercy to Those Who Are Struggling]] Jude reminds us that we have a Gospel worth defending. We do not have to lean on feelings or experiences, it is a truthful and provable faith. ## 📂 Internal Notes [[Teaching Through the Church Age (Mexico)]]