1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James,
to them that are sanctified b by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:
(a) This is to distinguish between him and Judas Iscariot.
(b) By God the Father.
1:31 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of
the d common salvation, it was needful for me to write
unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should e earnestly
contend for the faith which was f once delivered unto the
saints.
(1) The goal of this epistle, is to affirm the godly as opposed
to certain wicked men both in true doctrine and good
conduct.
(d) Of those things that pertain to the salvation of all of us.
(e) That you should defend the faith with all the strength
you can muster, both by true doctrine and good example
of life.
(f) Which was once given, that it may never be changed.
1:42 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, 3 ungodly
men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and
denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) It is by God's providence and not by chance, that many
wicked men creep into the Church.
(3) He condemns this first in them, that they take opportunity
or occasion to wax wanton, by the grace of God: which
cannot be, but the chief empire of Christ must be
cancelled, in that such men give themselves up to Satan,
whom they call Libertines.
1:54 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once
knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of
the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not.
(4) He presents the horrible punishment of those who have abused
the grace of God to follow their own lusts.
1:65 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but
left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
(5) The fall of the angels was most severely punished, how much
more then will the Lord punish wicked and faithless men?
1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in
like manner, g giving themselves over to fornication, and
going after h strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
(g) Following the steps of Sodom and Gomorrah.
(h) Thus he sets forth their horrible and wicked perversions.
1:8 Likewise also these i [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh,
6 despise k dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
i Who are so stupid and void of reason as if all their
fears and wits were asleep.
(6) Another most destructive doctrine of theirs, in that they
take away the authority of the government and slander them.
(k) It is a greater matter to despise government than the
governors, that is to say, the matter itself than the
persons.
1:97 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the
devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring
against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke
thee.
(7) An argument of comparison: Michael one of the chiefest
angels, was content to deliver Satan, although a most
accursed enemy, to the judgment of God to be punished: and
these perverse men are not ashamed to speak evil of the
powers who are ordained of God.
1:108 But these speak evil of those things which they know
not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in
those things they corrupt themselves.
(8) The conclusion: These men are doubly at fault, that is,
both for their rash folly in condemning some, and for their
impudent and shameless contempt of that knowledge, which
when they had gotten, yet nonetheless they lived as brute
beasts, serving their bellies.
1:119 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain,
and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the gainsaying of Core.
(9) He foretells their destruction, because they resemble or
proclaim Cain's shameless malice, Balaam's filthy
covetousness, and to be short, Core's seditious and
ambitious head.
1:1210 These are spots in your l feasts of charity, when
they feast with you, feeding themselves without m fear:
clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds;
trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead,
plucked up by the roots;
(10) He rebukes most sharply with many other notes and marks,
both their dishonesty or filthiness, and their sauciness,
but especially, their vain bravery of words and vain
pride, joining with it a grave and heavy threatening from
an ancient prophecy of Enoch concerning the judgment to
come.
(l) The feasts of charity were certain banquets, which the
brethren who were members of the Church kept
altogether, as Tertullian sets them forth in his
apology, chap. 39.
(m) Impudently, without all reverence either to God or man.
1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the n blackness of
darkness for ever.
(n) Most gross darkness.
1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
saying, Behold, the Lord o cometh with ten thousands of
his saints,
(o) The present time, for the time to come.
1:1711 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken
before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
(11) The rising up of such monsters was spoken of before, that
we should not be troubled at the newness of the matter.
1:1912 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having
not the Spirit.
(12) It is the habit of antichrists to separate themselves from
the godly, because they are not governed by the Spirit of
God: and contrariwise it is the habit of Christians to
edify one another through godly prayers, both in faith and
also in love, until the mercy of Christ appears to their
full salvation.
1:2213 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
(13) Among those who wander and go astray, the godly have to
use this choice, that they handle some of them gently, and
that others being even in the very flame, they endeavour
to save with severe and sharp instruction of the present
danger: yet so, that they do in such sort abhor the wicked
and dishonest, that they avoid even the least thought of
them.
1:23 And others save with p fear, pulling [them] out of the
fire; hating even the q garment spotted by the flesh.
(p) By fearing them and holding them back with godly
severity.
(q) An amplification, taken from the forbidden things of
the law which did defile.
1:2414 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his
glory with exceeding joy,
(14) He commends them to the grace of God, declaring
sufficiently that it is God only that can give us that
constancy which he requires of us.
