Overview of Jude

Traditionally attributed to one of Jesus’ brothers, Jude is the last of our General Epistles. As with other letters there’s some debate whether it was actually written by Jude or by someone later under his name.

The dating is unclear, with those who argue for Jude being the author range from 50s to 90s CE, while those who argue a later author suggest as later as 150s CE.

Jude 1-4 - Opening charge to hold to the faith

Jude 5-16 - Old Testament examples of rebellion

Jude 17-19 - Warnings from the apostles

Jude 20-25 - Closing charge to hold to the faith

While it seems Jude is written to a general audience, there is definitely an expectation that the original audience knew their Old Testament and other second temple literature.

The author draws on multiple Old Testament examples to prove their point, but they also point to stories we don’t see in our Old Testament. These stories appear in other writings and have become part of the Jewish tradition.

The focus of the letter is to warn against false teachers who have come to cause trouble. The author points to these Old Testament examples to show that God judges and punishes those who work against him to corrupt his people.

Jude 1-25

The letter is addressed from “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1). Rather than directly say they are a brother of Jesus the author distances themselves a little by calling themselves ‘brother of James’ who we also know was a brother of Jesus.

They give the usual greetings and blessing and then explain why they are writing. It is their desire to encourage the readers to hold on to their faith, as there are those amongst them that are causing trouble and perverting the faith.

These people “who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly” (Jude 4). There’s a few possible interpretations of this. It could be referring to a sort of divine foreknowledge, that just as believers were chosen before the creation of the world, these people were always going to rebel against God.

Or it could be a reference to the Old Testament judging that there would be those who rebelled and spoke falsely of God (see Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Jeremiah 23:16-40, Micah 3:5-7).

Or it could be referring to early church writings where the apostles warned against false teachers (Acts 20:29–30; 1 Timothy 4:1–3; 2 Timothy 3:13, 2 Peter 2:1-3:4).

These people are immoral and seek to undermine Jesus.

This leads the author to draw on examples of when God has judged and punished those who rebel against him. After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt there were multiple times where he killed people for their disobedience and rebellion.

There was the punishment for the gold calf (Exodus 32), the striking down of Aaron’s sons who rebelled as priests (Leviticus 10:1-3), the people who complained against God (Numbers 11), and Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16) just to name a few.

He then refers to “And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 6).

This is a reference to Genesis 6 and the sons of God, but the language is from 1 Enoch. There these sons of God are depicted as coming down to corrupt humanity by giving them access to things that would corrupt and destroy them, like magic and instructions for making weapons. In 1 Enoch God eventually traps the spiritual rebels in chains, waiting for judgement.

Next up, the author points to Sodom and Gomorrah, who were punished for their ‘sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lusts’ (Jude 7). A lot of people assume that this Genesis 19 passage was all about homosexuality, but that is to misunderstand the culture.

The crime of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah was that they wanted to dominate and emasculate the guests who have entered their city. This was done through sexual violence, which unfortunately was not an uncommon practice at the time.

We see a similar practice in many prisons today, where sexual violence is not an expression of sexuality but of domination and subjugation. The ‘unnatural lusts’ were not because the men were male, but because they were angels.

In many ways, Genesis 19 was an inversion of Genesis 6. In Genesis 6, spiritual beings came to down have sexual relations with human women. In Genesis 19, human men try to have sexual relations with spiritual being. For this perversion and violence, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

Coming back to the present, the author points to those rebellious in the church which they now call ‘dreamers’. (Jude 8). These dreamers are like these Old Testament examples because they reject authority and pursue ungodly behaviours.

Then we’re back to more examples. The author points to a story where the archangel Michael fights with the devil over the body of Moses. This story does not appear in the Old Testament, or in any second temple literature that we have access to. There’s evidence it was part of a book known as the Assumption of Moses, though we have no surviving copies of this book.

The point of this story is that even though the archangel Michael is fighting with the literal devil, he does not feel qualified to slander or judge them. Instead, they appeal to God to judge them.

In contrast, these rebels in the church happily slander others in the church because they don’t understand what they are talking about.

They are like Cain mindlessly attacking his brother in Genesis 4, or Balaam willing to try to corrupt others for personal gain (see Numbers 22-25 and Numbers 31:16). Or like the rebellion of Korah, who out of jealously seek power for themselves even though they are not worthy of it (see Genesis 16).

The author then gives a series of metaphors to show how these rebels are ungodly. They are like blemishes in the Lord’s supper because they don’t understand the significance of the meal, but instead use it as an opportunity to gorge themselves.

They are like clouds with our rain, or trees that pair no fruit. Useless. Or like waves of the sea that produce a lot of foam that quickly dissolves away. They are like shooting stars in the sky, unwilling to stay in the spot God fixed for them.

Then the author quotes 1 Enoch 1:9, which prophecies that God will come with his heavenly host and execute judgement on the ungodly. These rebels in the church complain and cause problem. They are slaves to their own desires, and are two faced, flattering members of the church to their face to win influence. They will be judged.

The author reminds the readers that the apostles warned that there would be people like these that do not have the Spirit in them but cause divisions.

And so the author switches to encouragement to the readers. They should hold to the faith, praying in the Spirit. They should keep to the love of God and look forward to the eternal life offered by Jesus. And perhaps most importantly, they should have mercy on those who are being influenced by these rebels, guiding them back to God.

Finally, the author ends with a blessing. Jesus is the one who keeps the readers pure, standing in the faith. May his be the glory, majesty, power, and authority for all time.

Jude is an encouragement to believers to take seriously the reality that there will always be those who seek to corrupt the faithful and cause problems. Spiritual rebellion has been part of the biblical story from the beginning. The response is to have nothing to do with it and try to save others from it. That is Jude.

Psalm 37

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of wisdom psalm. It instructs the reader/listener on how to lead a moral life. 

The psalm is an acrostic, where every couple of verses start with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s also a chiasm, though a very long one due to the length of the psalm.

A) Psalm 37:1-8 - The righteous must ignore the wicked and trust God

B) Psalm 37:9 - Wait and inherit the land

C) Psalm 37:10-15 - The righteous will inherit the land and the wicked’s plotting will be destroyed

D) Psalm 37:16 - The righteous are blessed

E) Psalm 37:17 - Yahweh upholds righteous

F) Psalm 37:18a - Yahweh guides the righteous

G) Psalm 37:18b - The righteous inherit

H) Psalm 37:19 - The righteous get

I) Psalm 37:20 - The wicked perish

H) Psalm 37:21 - The righteous give

G) Psalm 37:22 - The bless inherit

F) Psalm 37:23 - Yahweh guides the righteous

E) Psalm 37:24 - Yahweh upholds

D) Psalm 37:25-26 - The righteous are not forsaken

C) Psalm 37:27-33 - The righteous will inherit the land and the wicked’s plotting will be destroyed

B) Psalm 37:34 - Wait and inherit the land

A) Psalm 37:35-40 - God destroys the wicked but saves the righteous

The psalm opens with an encouragement not to get too concerned with the wicked. They may be successful now, but it won’t last long. Instead, trust in the Lord that he will be your provision.

He will cause you to dwell in his land, give you the desires of your heart, act on your behalf, and lead you in righteousness. 

All it requires is that you patiently wait on him, and he will cause you to prosper in a way that the wicked never could.

So refrain from getting angry, because the wicked will be cut off for their evil. They will be no more, and the righteous will inherit the land. This message is repeated throughout the psalm and can be seen as the main focus of the psalm. 

Each pairing of verses reinforces this message. Do not become jealous of the wicked who seem to prosper. They won’t. Ultimately, they will fail and fall away. Instead, live a blameless life and you will be sustained and blessed by God.