Jude 4c-The Third, Fourth and Fifth Descriptions of the Jewish Zealots

Jude 3 Beloved, although I have prepared myself with utter diligence to communicate in writing for the benefit of each one of you regarding our common salvation, I have entered into the state of experiencing compulsion to communicate in writing for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging each and every one of you at this particular time to make it your habit of exerting intense effort for your own benefit on behalf of the faith, which has been delivered once and never again for the benefit of the saints. 4 For certain people have joined all of you surreptitiously with evil intent. Specifically, those who long ago are written about beforehand with regards to the same type of judgment I am about to describe, who are ungodly who are exchanging experiencing the grace of our God for practicing criminal behavior. Consequently, they are refusing to follow the one and only Master, namely our Lord Jesus Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)

We noted that Jude 3 is composed of a concessive clause.

In the protasis, Jude asserts that he was in a state having prepared himself with utter diligence to write for the benefit of the recipients of this epistle regarding their common salvation.

However, in the apodosis, he asserts that he entered into the state of experiencing compulsion to write for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging each of them to make it their habit of exerting intense effort for their own benefit on behalf of the faith which has been delivered once and never again for the benefit of the saints.

This concessive clause implies that Jude being compelled to write for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging the recipients of this epistle to make it their habit of exerting intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith is true in spite of the fact that he had prepared himself with utter diligence to write to them concerning their common salvation.

Now, Jude 4 asserts that certain people have surreptitiously joined the meetings of the Christian communities in Judaea with evil intent.

This verse goes on to describe these individuals by asserting that they were written about long ago beforehand with regards to the same type of judgment which is described in Jude 5-16.

This verse then states that they are ungodly and that they were exchanging experiencing the grace of God for practicing criminal behavior.

Lastly, Jude 4 asserts that these individuals were refusing to follow the one and only Master, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.

So therefore, Jude 4 is actually presenting a five-fold description of these individuals whom Jude asserts pose a threat to the recipients of this epistle which the contents of this epistle indicate were the Christian community in Judaea.

These Zealots are described with the noun asebēs, “ungodly” which constitutes the third description of these individuals and indicates that they were unregenerate.

This noun deals with one’s attitude and actions towards God.

Lack of respect for God will manifest itself through acts of injustice towards one’s fellow human being.

The ungodly person is thus unrestrained by the awe due God.

The ungodly man is one who practices the opposite of what reverence for God demands.

The ungodly is the person who has little or no time for God in their life and is someone who has ruled God out of their affairs and their thinking even though they are accountable to God who is their sovereign Creator.

Even though, God gives human life meaning and purpose and is responsible for its existence, the ungodly person eliminates God from their life.

The noun asebēs also means a lack of interest in the things of God and a behavior and lifestyle consistent with such an irreverent attitude.

It pertains to violating divine standards and living as if God did not exist and with no regard for Him.

The fourth description of these Zealots in Jude 4 asserts that they were exchanging experiencing the grace of God for practicing criminal behavior.

The noun charis, “experiencing the grace” refers to the Father’s grace policy towards every member of the human race and refers to God’s policy of imputing unmerited blessings to the sinner who He declares justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

This word also contains the figure of metonymy which means that the grace of God is put for experiencing it.

The sinner first experiences the grace of God at the moment of their justification when the Father declares them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

Consequently, this justification of the sinner results in being identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

This identification delivers the justified sinner from enslavement to the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system in a positional, experiential and perfective sense and thus delivers them from criminal behavior in a positional, experiential and perfective sense.

The noun aselgeia, “practicing criminal behavior” pertains to unrestrained, self-indulgent criminal activity.

Jude 11-13 describes these individuals’ ungodly character, which manifested itself in criminal activity related to rebelling against the Roman civil authorities which were ordained by God (cf. Rom. 13:1-7), which in turn manifested itself in rebelling against God who the latter served.

The fifth and final description of these Jewish Zealots in Jude 4 asserts that they were refusing to follow the one and only Master, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.

This description of the Jewish Zealots presents the result of the fourth description of them which we noted asserts that they were exchanging experiencing the grace of God for experiencing criminal behavior.

Therefore, this would indicate that these Jewish Zealots were exchanging experiencing the grace of God for practicing criminal behavior “with the result that” they were refusing to follow the one and only Master, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.

The noun despotēs, “Master” is emphasizing the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority over every member of the human race including these Jewish Zealots and it is modified by the adjective monos which pertains to being the only entity in a class.

Here it describes the Lord Jesus Christ as “the one and only” Master of the human race in comparison to the other individuals who were masters over human beings such as slaves and nations who were also under the Lord Jesus Christ’s authority and were accountable to Him.

The noun kurios, “Lord” in this verse emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the sovereign ruler over all of creation and every creature and also signifies the victory that He accomplished over sin and Satan through His spiritual and physical deaths on the cross and His resurrection.

It indicates the following about Jesus Christ: (1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His victory over the sin nature and Satan and His kingdom.

In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42) but in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).

The noun kurios emphasizes the victory that Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, accomplished for the believer through His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.

His spiritual death solved the problem of personal sins, which are produced by the sin nature through the function of human volition and His physical death solved the problem of the sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the human body.

His resurrection guarantees the believer that he or she will receive a resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which will be immortal and minus the sin nature.

The proper name Iēsous, “Jesus” in Jude 4 refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth while on the other hand, the noun Christos, “Christ” in this verse emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God is the Messiah and Savior of the entire human race.

In other words, this word signifies that He is the deliverer of every member of sinful humanity from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, enslavement to the sin nature, the devil and his cosmic system, personal sins as well as spiritual and physical death.

The Lord’s Messiahship has a four-fold significance: (1) Separation unto God. (2) Authorization from God. (3) Divine enablement. (4) The coming Deliverer. It also signifies the uniqueness of Jesus of Nazareth who is the God-Man.

Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross.

The word signifies that Jesus has been given authority by the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and authority over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan and denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.

Lastly, Christos signifies that Jesus is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.

Each of these three terms despotēs, “Master,” kurios, “Lord,” Iēsous, “Jesus” and Christos, “Christ” in Jude 4 indicate that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age in the first century A.D. were not only rejecting the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth as their Sovereign ruler or king but also they were rejecting Him as being God and the Jewish Messiah and Savior.