False Teachers: Stealth and Change

Introduction:

“At first German Christians were careful about hiding their most radical beliefs from the German people” (Bonhoeffer, 176).

What radical beliefs? German Christians refer to those church leaders in Germany who favored Gleichschaltung or the synchronization of all institutions with Nazi party thought and theology.

Denunciation of “sin and grace…as a Jewish attitude inserted into the New Testament.”

The cross as a symbol of war against the Jews.

The erasure of all words in hymns referring to Jerusalem.

Ceasing to sing any traditional hymns, even those of the beloved Luther, because of their references to Jewish themes.

The portrayal of Jesus as a non-Jew.

We have seen Jude write of the identity of his audience.

We have also seen him model pastoral behavior before them.

We should remember that while Jude wrote as “one encouraging you all to earnestly contend for the faith,” that struggle takes place in the physical world, but it is not a physical war.

Like the United States in World War 2, you and I are in a two front war. In neither of these conflicts are we to use physical violence. Instead, our battlefields are the minds of men where we engage them about their thinking and the truth and the purity of the doctrine and practice of the faith.

We learned last week that Jude’s word choices indicate the existence of an authoritative and established standard for the faith. That standard is God himself and His word.

One is constant.

The other changes.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Progressive

making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities

Contending for the Faith:

This must be done in word.

It also must be done is deed or action.

False Teachers’ Real Danger (Jude 4):

Jude knew of the conditions among his audience even if they did not.He attributes to the false teachers the cowardly action of “sneaking in...”

​Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 34.30 παρεισέρχομαι; παρεισδύωπαρεισέρχομαι; παρεισδύω: to join surreptitiously with evil intent—‘to slip into a group unnoticed, to join unnoticed.

Paul wrote of similar individuals in Galatians 2:4.Two things motivate false teachers:MoneyPowerHe describes the false teachers as “ungodly.”He initially describes them as those “having been previously informed with respect to this judgment.”It also seems to be Jude’s intention to say here that the judgment about which he will write is not a new one but one that has, for a long time, there has been a public notice.He then portrays them as those who are “changing the grace of God...”Into licentiousness.He finally portrays them as those who are “denying the only master, even our Lord Jesus Christ.” Progressive Christianity is similar to this. We should heed Jude’s warning. We should remain close to the Word of God. Denying the authority of God and His Word will lead us away from the faith. It will be a dereliction of duty not the fight we are to engage in.

2 Corinthians 11: Ministers of Satan masquerade as ministers of light.

Satan’s methods are rarely overt or direct opposition to God.

Instead, he subtly undermines God’s trustworthiness by calling into question the reliability of his word.

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 88.272 ἀσέλγεια, ας

88.272 ἀσέλγεια, ας f: behavior completely lacking in moral restraint, usually with the implication of sexual licentiousness—‘licentious behavior, extreme immorality

For this word, see passage list. Notice especially Peter’s use of it in the similar letter of 2 Peter 2:7.

Jude describes something very similar to the kind of real threats that Progressive Christianity now presents. Cloaked in the compassion and spirit of the age, it appeals to the world by decrying the crucifixion of Jesus as divine child abuse. It also virtue signals to those looking to espouse the morality of our times. How can moral progress be so one sided? How can living without moral restraint be repackaged as virtuous, advanced, or progressive living. It isn’t at all. Struggling for the faith means opposing the infiltration of these ideas into our midst. It means knowing the truth about the Lordship of Christ. It means living under the Lordship of Christ. It means preventing the corruption of our own understanding of the truth.