Here’s how the study works: Read the chapter mentioned in the heading several times during the week and share any words, thoughts, verses that stood out to you. Having a week for a chapter creates the opportunity to reread it several times and make additional comments as you feel inclined as well as make comments on other people’s insights.
Jude, unlike John, gives us some specifics in regard to evil behaviour:
v.4 pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality; deny Jesus Christ; v.7 sexual immorality and perversion; v.8 reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings v.16 grumblers and faultfinders; boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage v.18 scoffers.
To everyone else we are to show mercy (v.23).
Jude, unlike John, gives us some specifics in regard to evil behaviour:
v.4 pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality; deny Jesus Christ; v.7 sexual immorality and perversion; v.8 reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings v.16 grumblers and faultfinders; boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage v.18 scoffers.
To everyone else we are to show mercy (v.23).
Jude also gives us examples of ungodly behaviour: v.7 Sodom and Gomorrah; v.11 Cain, Balaam and Korah.
Jude also gives us examples of ungodly behaviour: v.7 Sodom and Gomorrah; v.11 Cain, Balaam and Korah.
v.24 He is able to keep us and present us faultless. Something we are unable to do ourselves.
v.24 He is able to keep us and present us faultless. Something we are unable to do ourselves.
I find v.4 to be a thought provoking verse: …who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorallity…
I find v.4 to be a thought provoking verse: …who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorallity…
sorry i’m so late to this party. as the weather gets inversely colder here in the northern hemisphere, the pizza delivery business gets busier and busier. but i have read through jude a time or two this week and been mulling it over and your thoughts as well.
just want to say i really enjoy these studies, susan. thanks for being so faithful to host them and publish your thoughts even when no one else is able to “drop in” for the week.
on to jude…
there is so much in this little letter. i have to be honest. the warnings from jude and peter and paul about false prophets and false teachers and “divisive” people and what not are so hard for me to read. because on the surface, according to the interpretations i have been taught over the years, they seem to be talking about me. and i ponder them often and pray. at the very least, i know i am not “devoid of the spirit.” although i would enjoy a good love feast “without fear.” but then again, didn’t jesus do that very same sort of thing?
i find it inetresting here that jude uses 2 examples to prove his points here that seem to me to be examples of oral tradition in the jewish community. sodom and balaam. the analogies he gives here, when compared against the rest of the biblical record, don’t fully add up for me. so i’m wondering if it was popular belief? or if there was information they passed on to one another that we no longer have?
examples: we have already talked about my problem with feeling like balaam is getting a bad rap. likewise, i know what jude has said here is the popular interpretation of why god destroyed sodom. but god already gave us his reasoning through ezekiel. while the next verse in ezekiel does talk about “abominations” as well, it doesn’t seem to be the ONLY reason as is the popular version.
jude also talks about michael arguing with the devil over the body of moses. an obscure and lone reference to the event.
ahhh! time has gotten away from me and i must leave for work now. hope to find time to come back and add to this.
(no time to proofread, i hope everything is legible and makes sense!)
sorry i’m so late to this party. as the weather gets inversely colder here in the northern hemisphere, the pizza delivery business gets busier and busier. but i have read through jude a time or two this week and been mulling it over and your thoughts as well.
just want to say i really enjoy these studies, susan. thanks for being so faithful to host them and publish your thoughts even when no one else is able to “drop in” for the week.
on to jude…
there is so much in this little letter. i have to be honest. the warnings from jude and peter and paul about false prophets and false teachers and “divisive” people and what not are so hard for me to read. because on the surface, according to the interpretations i have been taught over the years, they seem to be talking about me. and i ponder them often and pray. at the very least, i know i am not “devoid of the spirit.” although i would enjoy a good love feast “without fear.” but then again, didn’t jesus do that very same sort of thing?
i find it inetresting here that jude uses 2 examples to prove his points here that seem to me to be examples of oral tradition in the jewish community. sodom and balaam. the analogies he gives here, when compared against the rest of the biblical record, don’t fully add up for me. so i’m wondering if it was popular belief? or if there was information they passed on to one another that we no longer have?
examples: we have already talked about my problem with feeling like balaam is getting a bad rap. likewise, i know what jude has said here is the popular interpretation of why god destroyed sodom. but god already gave us his reasoning through ezekiel. while the next verse in ezekiel does talk about “abominations” as well, it doesn’t seem to be the ONLY reason as is the popular version.
jude also talks about michael arguing with the devil over the body of moses. an obscure and lone reference to the event.
ahhh! time has gotten away from me and i must leave for work now. hope to find time to come back and add to this.
(no time to proofread, i hope everything is legible and makes sense!)
and yes, “have mercy.” he actually tells us twice. which is almost a strange contrast to the bold statements and near “railing judgements” that he seems to be offering in his warnings.
you know i think i hit almost everything in my last comment now that i reread it. what stands out the most to me in this is the picture of the ungodly. i would like to study it more in depth. because i know the picture i have always been given, and it just doesn’t quite seem to fit.
passages like this seem to be difficult to understand because depending on your perspective, he can be describing several different groups of people.
two opposite groups of people could each look at the other, and think that he is not talking about them but rather the “other guys.” it seems as if very few are willing to see themselves as the “bad guy.” i think its always easier to villify someone else.
which is why passages like these cut me so deep. i want to live in a manner that pleases god, and i think these men definitely had a relationship with the true god, and i like to hear their perspective and try to ruminate over the things they said. especially warnings.
hmmm. i think i just might have to do a study about warnings such as this.
sorry for the rambling. just thinking out loud here!
and yes, “have mercy.” he actually tells us twice. which is almost a strange contrast to the bold statements and near “railing judgements” that he seems to be offering in his warnings.
you know i think i hit almost everything in my last comment now that i reread it. what stands out the most to me in this is the picture of the ungodly. i would like to study it more in depth. because i know the picture i have always been given, and it just doesn’t quite seem to fit.
passages like this seem to be difficult to understand because depending on your perspective, he can be describing several different groups of people.
two opposite groups of people could each look at the other, and think that he is not talking about them but rather the “other guys.” it seems as if very few are willing to see themselves as the “bad guy.” i think its always easier to villify someone else.
which is why passages like these cut me so deep. i want to live in a manner that pleases god, and i think these men definitely had a relationship with the true god, and i like to hear their perspective and try to ruminate over the things they said. especially warnings.
hmmm. i think i just might have to do a study about warnings such as this.
sorry for the rambling. just thinking out loud here!
Thanks Jon for “dropping in”. Nice to have some company, it has been getting a little lonely around here 🙂
I don’t see you as someone who is a grumbler and faultfinder who boasts about themselves and flatters others for their own advantage (v.16). Personally I think if you are pondering them and praying as you say then you don’t have to worry that they are talking about you. God’s desire is always for a people who will trust him to show them what he needs them to know/do.
In the example of Sodom I suspect that it was their arrogance and their lack of concern that led to their sexual perversion. Man looks at their outward behaviour, God looks at their heart. Maybe Balaam’s the same, God was looking at his heart.
Jude talking about Michael is rather obscure and certainly makes you wonder how he knew this. It does read like Jude is writing to people who were familiar with this event.
I agree it is easy to think that these warnings are for “other guys” and yes, we don’t like to think of ourselves as the “bad guys”. I find the same when Jesus is talking about the Pharisees-they were the religious leaders of their days and I’m part of the religious leaders of my day.
Nevertheless Nicodemus and other Pharisees managed to get it ‘right’. I think if we are aware of the temptation of always thinking it applies to someone else, we are less likely to be blinded by our own shortcomings.
Thanks Jon for “dropping in”. Nice to have some company, it has been getting a little lonely around here 🙂
I don’t see you as someone who is a grumbler and faultfinder who boasts about themselves and flatters others for their own advantage (v.16). Personally I think if you are pondering them and praying as you say then you don’t have to worry that they are talking about you. God’s desire is always for a people who will trust him to show them what he needs them to know/do.
In the example of Sodom I suspect that it was their arrogance and their lack of concern that led to their sexual perversion. Man looks at their outward behaviour, God looks at their heart. Maybe Balaam’s the same, God was looking at his heart.
Jude talking about Michael is rather obscure and certainly makes you wonder how he knew this. It does read like Jude is writing to people who were familiar with this event.
I agree it is easy to think that these warnings are for “other guys” and yes, we don’t like to think of ourselves as the “bad guys”. I find the same when Jesus is talking about the Pharisees-they were the religious leaders of their days and I’m part of the religious leaders of my day.
Nevertheless Nicodemus and other Pharisees managed to get it ‘right’. I think if we are aware of the temptation of always thinking it applies to someone else, we are less likely to be blinded by our own shortcomings.
v.5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
Past experience is no guarantee of future blessings.
The problem started with unbelief.
v.5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
Past experience is no guarantee of future blessings.
The problem started with unbelief.
v.9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
We do not stand against the devil with our own devices or our own clever thinking. We need the Lord.
v.9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
We do not stand against the devil with our own devices or our own clever thinking. We need the Lord.
v.11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
The way of Cain is to think we can earn our salvation by our works. Balaam’s error was to be more concern about material gain than spiritual priorities. Korah’s rebellion was to usurp the leaders that God had appointed.
v.11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
The way of Cain is to think we can earn our salvation by our works. Balaam’s error was to be more concern about material gain than spiritual priorities. Korah’s rebellion was to usurp the leaders that God had appointed.
v.20-21 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
In order to persevere we build & pray & stay & wait.
(From Constable Commentary) "To be conscious of being beloved by God is one of the greatest protections that the believer can possess."
v.20-21 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
In order to persevere we build & pray & stay & wait.
(From Constable Commentary) "To be conscious of being beloved by God is one of the greatest protections that the believer can possess."
v.24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.
We can trust God to keep us faithful.
v.24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.
We can trust God to keep us faithful.