Jude Introduction-The Purpose of the Epistle of Jude
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 12, 2022
Jude Series: The Purpose of the Epistle of Jude
Lesson # 9
As we noted in our class, there are several views with regards to the identity of those whom Jude condemns in his epistle.
Many scholars are of the opinion that those whom Jude condemns in this letter are unregenerate teachers who were immersed in an incipient form of Gnosticism and this view we call the unregenerate proto-Gnostic false teacher view.
Another view is that these individuals were apostate Christian pastor-teachers and this view we will call the apostate Christian pastor view.
Lastly, Hebert Bateman IV argues that these individual were unregenerate Zealots who were imploring the Jews of Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire in order to establish the kingdom of God in its place.
I do not believe that those whom Jude condemns in the letter that bears his name were involved in an incipient form of the Gnosticism.
A comparison of the contents of Jude and in particular the description of the conduct of these individuals does not correspond in any way shape or form to what I just noted about Gnosticism.
All we know about these individuals is that they were unregenerate as we noted.
They exchanged the grace of God for criminal activities and not just immorality, which we will note and they were causing divisions in the Christian community according to Jude 19.
They also appeared to reject or slander angelic authority as we noted in Jude 8-10.
They were greedy as we noted in Jude 11-12 and they also were involved in sexual immorality as indicated by Jude 8-10.
The second view we will note with regards to the identity of those whom Jude condemns in his letter is the apostate Christian pastor view or false teacher view.
This view can be rejected because Jude describes these individuals as “ungodly men” (verse 4), “devoid of the Spirit” (verse 19) and “for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved” (verse 13).
Each of these three descriptions make clear that they are unregenerate and not regenerate Christian pastors living in a state of apostasy.
Secondly, there is no sufficient evidence that those whom Jude condemns in his letter are teachers of false doctrine and in fact he provides no description of the nature of this false teaching.
If you recall, in Romans and Galatians, Paul describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching of the Judaizers.
He also describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching which the Colossian Christian community was being exposed to at the time this epistle was written.
In our study of Colossians, we noted they were dealing with the Essene branch of Judaism with a tinge of an incipient form of Gnosticism that was found in Essene Judaism (cf. Col. 2).
Lastly, the apostle John describes in 1, 2 and 3 John in great detail the nature of the false teaching that the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia was being exposed to at the end of the first century A.D., which was docetic Gnosticism.
In stark contrast to these letters, Jude does not describe the nature of any false teaching that the Christian community in Judaea was being exposed to.
Indeed, the contents of the epistle of Jude raises absolutely no doctrinal issues.
As noted in the introduction, I am in agreement with Herbert Bateman IV who argues that the opponents described in the epistle of Jude are unregenerate Jewish zealots or Judeans who rebelled against Rome and they were seeking to remove Rome from Judea and establish the kingdom of God in its place.
As we established, Jude was written soon after the death of James and just prior to the Jews war with Rome in 66-70 A.D. and thus Jude was written somewhere between 62-66 A.D.
During the mid-60s the relationship between Rome and Judaea was deteriorating rapidly.
The Zealots or Sicarii they were called, were leading the revolt against Rome and were attempting to seduce Judaeans to rebel against Rome including attempting to persuade the Christian community to join the movement.
When Jude was written, this Judaean revolt led by the Zealots was moving into the cities of Caesarea as well as Jerusalem and stretched out into the desert regions of Judaea including the hill country as well as Samaria and Galilee.
Therefore, the epistle of Jude was attempting to prevent the Jewish Christian community in Judaean from being seduced into taking part in this Zealot led revolt against Rome.
Therefore, since we have determined that Jewish Zealots are those whom Jude condemns in his epistle, Jude 3-4 and 20-21 reveal that the purpose of this letter was to protect the recipients of this letter from these Zealots or Sicarii.
As we noted, the latter were exhorting the Jewish Christian community in Judaea to rebel against the Roman civil authorities in Judaea, which was contrary to the teaching of the apostles.
They taught the Christian community to submit to the Roman civil authorities (cf. Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).
Jude 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. 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. (NET)
Jude 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. (NET)
Jude 8-10 describe these Zealots or Sicarii.
Jude 8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 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!” 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. (NET)
In these verses, Jude asserts that unlike these Zealots who rejected angelic authority, the elect angel Michael did not slander Satan when arguing over the body of Moses after his death.
In verse 11, Jude pronounces judgment about these Zealots.
In this verse, he describes them as following the example Cain and the greed of Balaam and that they will perish as those in Korah’s rebellion against Moses.
Jude goes on to describe these Zealots in verses 12-13.
Jude 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; 13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved. (NET)
In verses 14-16, Jude describes the Second Advent of Jesus Christ when He will at that time judge every unregenerate human being on planet earth.
Jude 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, 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.” 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. (NET)
These verses continue the use of similes which are employed in Jude 12-13 to describe these unregenerate, Jewish Zealots.
Thus, Jude 14-15 are asserting that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge every unrepentant, unregenerate human being on the earth at His Second Advent who are “like” these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in that they rebel against Him.