Earthling
David Henson
Here are some highlights of the book of Jude.
Jude 1:2 - It is the message of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The skeptic often misses the entire point of the Bible, and so the meaning of the challenge to Jehovah’s sovereignty which Satan and man are allowed to play out to its conclusion. When it is obvious that man would destroy everything the question of God’s sovereignty is settled and he will prevent that destruction. So through mercy peace and love everlasting.
Jude 1:4 - The text says ordained, not preordained. To be ordained means to command or establish something, as through law or some other authority. Jude writes of men who slipped into the congregation, and failing to pay heed to the examples of the past repeated similar offenses. He then gives three examples of this. Faithless Israelites; angels forsaking their original positions and Sodom and Gomorrah. The men Jude referred to were, in a sense, condemned by example through the past.
Jude 1:5 - Jude reminds the early Christians, who may have been taking salvation for granted, that Jehovah saved a people out of bondage in Egypt but later destroyed them for a lack of faith.
Jude 1:6-7 - Again, Jude reminds us that the angels, who had a higher position, had forsaken it of their own accord to seek unnatural pleasure. The verse points out that these angels were restrained in eternal bonds; a figurative prison of darkness which would prevent them from taking the physical form of men again. (Genesis 6:4 / 1 Peter 3:20 / 2 Peter 2:4 / Ephesians 6:12)
Jude 1:7-8 - Since the lands in question are probably now in the Dead Sea, and most certainly not burning to this day, the eternal fire, is in this case as it often is throughout the Bible, a figurative rather than literal reference. Fire is symbolic of destruction because once something is burned it can’t be fixed, Jude points out thousands of years later that this eternal destruction remains as an example to the early Christians, and still thousands of years later it remains as such. Notice that in Matthew 10:11-15 Jesus remarks that those rejecting his message would be worse off on Judgment Day than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jude 1: 9 Some think this story is taken from the non-canonical book, The Assumption of Moses.
The Assumption of Moses was a pseudepigrapha (false writing), one of 47 which were reportedly written between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. The reference appears nowhere else throughout scripture. However there is no reason to think of it as spurious. There is very little reason to think that it came from the Jewish apocryphal works of either The Assumption or Testament of Moses. The two are often confused as one, though they were probably separate works. The Assumption, or Ascension of Moses (Moses never ascended so there was never an Assumption) is known only from one single sixth century manuscript which was incomplete. The verse regarding the dispute of Moses body found in Jude 1:9 doesn't appear in the single manuscript of Assumption of Moses, which was discovered by Antonio Ceriani.
Considering the mention of the dispute from earlier writings such as Gelasius (verse 2, 21, 17) and Origen (De principiis, III, 2, 1) it is far more likely that in both cases, that of Jude 1:9 and The Testament (or Assumption) of Moses came from another source.
Jude 1:14-15 Often thought to be from the Book of Enoch. A Bible student looks at verses like these and the one regarding the dispute over Moses' body (see above) as if they are inspired and therefore accurate and true, unless it is demonstrated to be spurious. There is no reason to believe that because the verses appear nowhere else in the Bible but do appear in pseudepigrapha that they are spurious. It is possible that the Book of Enoch, falsely ascribed to Enoch himself, and written in the second or first century B.C.E. used a similar and yet accurate source as it undoubtedly did use earlier portions of the Bible as well.
Jude 1:15 - Ungodly was the subject of his letter. Jude writes the letter about 65 C.E. when the Christian congregation was being infiltrated by ungodly men in order to undermine the faith, just as Paul had earlier warned against. (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Jude 1:16 - Verses 16 and 19 indicate that these men were selfish and boastful men seeking nothing more than to get something from loving Christians of the early congregation. They paid no heed to the examples of warning through the earlier Biblical writings preferring instead to spin their own web of deceit.
Jude 1:17 - It is sometimes thought that Jude was written in post-apostolic times, so it's author could not have been the apostle Jude (Luke 6:16; Acts Of The Apostles 1:13; John 14:22) as believers sometimes claim.
Clement of Alexandria, and the Muratorian Fragment, both of the second century C.E. as well as Origen and Tertullian never questioned the authenticity of the book of Jude. There is no reason to question it. Jude, the brother of James and half brother of Jesus, completed the writing of the book at about 65 C.E. but, he was not an apostle. In the next verse Jude refers to the apostles as "they" rather than "we."
Jude 1:17-18 - Jude was living in "the last time." About 30 years before Jude wrote it the apostle Peter, at Pentecost (33 C.E.) quoted from the prophet Joel, who had prophesied 850 years earlier the events that would unfold in the last days. (Acts Of The Apostles 2:1-21; Acts Of The Apostles 2:40 / Joel 2:28-32)
What period of time exactly does the term "the last time" apply to? Paul uses a similar term at Hebrews 1:1-2 in connection with God’s son, Jesus Christ. They are referring to the end of days for the Jewish system which they had all known most of their lives. Soon Jehovah God would show his disapproval of that old system and his approval of the new Christian congregation. His approval of the latter was demonstrated at Pentecost and three years later, which marked the baptism of the first Gentiles, Cornelius and his family at Acts Of The Apostles 10; Acts Of The Apostles 15:7; Acts Of The Apostles 15:14 into the Christian congregation and also marked the end of a period of time which Daniel, at Daniel 9:24-27, prophesied. This time was known as the 70 weeks of years (490 years).
Jude 1:2 - It is the message of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The skeptic often misses the entire point of the Bible, and so the meaning of the challenge to Jehovah’s sovereignty which Satan and man are allowed to play out to its conclusion. When it is obvious that man would destroy everything the question of God’s sovereignty is settled and he will prevent that destruction. So through mercy peace and love everlasting.
Jude 1:4 - The text says ordained, not preordained. To be ordained means to command or establish something, as through law or some other authority. Jude writes of men who slipped into the congregation, and failing to pay heed to the examples of the past repeated similar offenses. He then gives three examples of this. Faithless Israelites; angels forsaking their original positions and Sodom and Gomorrah. The men Jude referred to were, in a sense, condemned by example through the past.
Jude 1:5 - Jude reminds the early Christians, who may have been taking salvation for granted, that Jehovah saved a people out of bondage in Egypt but later destroyed them for a lack of faith.
Jude 1:6-7 - Again, Jude reminds us that the angels, who had a higher position, had forsaken it of their own accord to seek unnatural pleasure. The verse points out that these angels were restrained in eternal bonds; a figurative prison of darkness which would prevent them from taking the physical form of men again. (Genesis 6:4 / 1 Peter 3:20 / 2 Peter 2:4 / Ephesians 6:12)
Jude 1:7-8 - Since the lands in question are probably now in the Dead Sea, and most certainly not burning to this day, the eternal fire, is in this case as it often is throughout the Bible, a figurative rather than literal reference. Fire is symbolic of destruction because once something is burned it can’t be fixed, Jude points out thousands of years later that this eternal destruction remains as an example to the early Christians, and still thousands of years later it remains as such. Notice that in Matthew 10:11-15 Jesus remarks that those rejecting his message would be worse off on Judgment Day than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jude 1: 9 Some think this story is taken from the non-canonical book, The Assumption of Moses.
The Assumption of Moses was a pseudepigrapha (false writing), one of 47 which were reportedly written between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. The reference appears nowhere else throughout scripture. However there is no reason to think of it as spurious. There is very little reason to think that it came from the Jewish apocryphal works of either The Assumption or Testament of Moses. The two are often confused as one, though they were probably separate works. The Assumption, or Ascension of Moses (Moses never ascended so there was never an Assumption) is known only from one single sixth century manuscript which was incomplete. The verse regarding the dispute of Moses body found in Jude 1:9 doesn't appear in the single manuscript of Assumption of Moses, which was discovered by Antonio Ceriani.
Considering the mention of the dispute from earlier writings such as Gelasius (verse 2, 21, 17) and Origen (De principiis, III, 2, 1) it is far more likely that in both cases, that of Jude 1:9 and The Testament (or Assumption) of Moses came from another source.
Jude 1:14-15 Often thought to be from the Book of Enoch. A Bible student looks at verses like these and the one regarding the dispute over Moses' body (see above) as if they are inspired and therefore accurate and true, unless it is demonstrated to be spurious. There is no reason to believe that because the verses appear nowhere else in the Bible but do appear in pseudepigrapha that they are spurious. It is possible that the Book of Enoch, falsely ascribed to Enoch himself, and written in the second or first century B.C.E. used a similar and yet accurate source as it undoubtedly did use earlier portions of the Bible as well.
Jude 1:15 - Ungodly was the subject of his letter. Jude writes the letter about 65 C.E. when the Christian congregation was being infiltrated by ungodly men in order to undermine the faith, just as Paul had earlier warned against. (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Jude 1:16 - Verses 16 and 19 indicate that these men were selfish and boastful men seeking nothing more than to get something from loving Christians of the early congregation. They paid no heed to the examples of warning through the earlier Biblical writings preferring instead to spin their own web of deceit.
Jude 1:17 - It is sometimes thought that Jude was written in post-apostolic times, so it's author could not have been the apostle Jude (Luke 6:16; Acts Of The Apostles 1:13; John 14:22) as believers sometimes claim.
Clement of Alexandria, and the Muratorian Fragment, both of the second century C.E. as well as Origen and Tertullian never questioned the authenticity of the book of Jude. There is no reason to question it. Jude, the brother of James and half brother of Jesus, completed the writing of the book at about 65 C.E. but, he was not an apostle. In the next verse Jude refers to the apostles as "they" rather than "we."
Jude 1:17-18 - Jude was living in "the last time." About 30 years before Jude wrote it the apostle Peter, at Pentecost (33 C.E.) quoted from the prophet Joel, who had prophesied 850 years earlier the events that would unfold in the last days. (Acts Of The Apostles 2:1-21; Acts Of The Apostles 2:40 / Joel 2:28-32)
What period of time exactly does the term "the last time" apply to? Paul uses a similar term at Hebrews 1:1-2 in connection with God’s son, Jesus Christ. They are referring to the end of days for the Jewish system which they had all known most of their lives. Soon Jehovah God would show his disapproval of that old system and his approval of the new Christian congregation. His approval of the latter was demonstrated at Pentecost and three years later, which marked the baptism of the first Gentiles, Cornelius and his family at Acts Of The Apostles 10; Acts Of The Apostles 15:7; Acts Of The Apostles 15:14 into the Christian congregation and also marked the end of a period of time which Daniel, at Daniel 9:24-27, prophesied. This time was known as the 70 weeks of years (490 years).