Alicia's Summary of Jude v1-16

I shall begin this daunting task of summarising all that I've learnt.

V1-4 is pretty straightforward. We receive the privilege of being a servant of God. Not only so, we also receive mercy, peace and love from God in abundance even though we do not deserve these.

Our calling to be a servant also involves contending for our faith, to agonise for the sake of Christ. And we do so by living a life obedient to the truth, oppose false and erroneous doctrine by teaching the truth, and dying for the truth.

Then in v5-16, the warnings of Jude can’t be even clearer. He seemed to be warning us of such people that are part of the church and also warning us against having the same characteristics as them.

1. Caught in unbelief (v5)
The Israelites make classic example of a nation having seen so many of God’s miracles could still doubt and turn to worship idols that are dead (e.g. Exodus 32 – The Golden Calf) . I shall not criticise further because I’m guilty of the same thing. As a Christian, I claim to believe everything God say but there are still times when I don’t take the Word of God seriously and turn to self-help and worldly methods. Real believing is not just believing in my salvation but believing in every Word God says.

2. Abandon God’s calling and settle for lesser things (v6)
The fallen angels are those who left their high places and abandoned their authority given to them. Likewise, when given a choice, these godless men choose sin or instant profit over obedience to God. This serves as a warning to me as well. In situations when I’m forced to choose, what will it be? God’s command for me in this comes from 1 John 2:16 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

3. Sinful without shame and repentance (v7)
Sodom is a classic example of immorality and perversion. In Ezekiel 16:49, Sodom is described as arrogant, overfed, unconcerned, haughty and performed detestable things. This is the worst one can ever get. Being sinful and yet proud of it. My application is to be conscious and recognise the severity of my sins.

4. Spiritual and moral decay (v8, v16)
Jude says that these godless men pollute their own bodies. Being polluted just brings to mind death and decay, being unusable. Such is the character of these godless men. They fill their minds with worldly ideas instead of biblical knowledge and speak words with human wisdom. Such are what Paul described as instruments of wickedness (Romans 6:12). My application from here is to guard myself from complacency and sometimes compromising QT. There are days where the study of the Word of God is being put off simply because there are other more enjoyable things to do than to read the bible.

5. Reject authority, within and outside of the church (v8, v11)
All authority on earth is placed by God. In Romans 13:2, Paul says he who rebels against authority, rebels against what God has instituted. My application is to submit and not complain.

6. Instinctive (v10, v11)
These godless men reason in their feelings as opposed to reasoning in God’s Word. They react according to their feelings of anger or jealousy just like Cain. Upon reflection on the areas of my life, I’ve come to realise that a good majority of my sins are committed at the spur of the moment in a fit of anger. It is for me then to exercise self-control.

7. Lack spiritual understanding (v10)
Jude mentions that they speak abusively against what they do not understand. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Ditto.

8. Traitors (v11)
Traitor might be quite a strong word to use but wasn’t that what Balaam did? He told King Balak how to lead the Israelites to sin (Numbers 31). Although I might not tell someone outside of church how to lead a fellow believer to sin, but betraying can also mean gossiping about a fellow believer. And it could be what these godless men are doing to stir up disunity in the church.

9. Self-centred (v12, v16)
They care only for their own well-being. In verse 12, Jude calls them shepherds. Some of these godless men are regarded as leaders or role models. Yet they sin and stumble those who are weaker without any concern. My application is to consider fellow believers before I say or do something.

10. Pretenders (v12, v13)
Likely to be part of ministries like other believers, these godless men do not serve their true purpose but seek self-glorification. 2 Peter 2:19 says “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity”.

11. Spiritually barren (v12)
Their godlessness is evident by their spiritual growth and the fruit they bear. Therefore, it is important to keep a check on my growth and the growth of those whom I teach.

12. Pride (v16)
The godless men are said to boast about themselves, taking pride in what they are. This brings to mind what the world teaches today about the importance of self-esteem (refer to comments made by WW in Summary of Romans Part #3). All our gifts and talents are given by God to be used according to the measure of our faith. The world’s teaching of self is still enticing and it is for us to resist.

13. Grumblers and faultfinders (v16)
I am guilty of this. It is easier to see the faults of others than to see the good. And it is easier to complain than to appreciate. Grumbling is a sign of forgetting the grace of God because grumbling shows that a person has forgotten that he or she is undeserving. My application is to stop grumbling as though the world owes me a living.

In order to guard myself against such people and such sinful behaviour, it is back to diligent study of the Word of God, so that I can be thoroughly equipped.