Study of the Letter of Jude Part 2 - Verses 2-4

Last week, we heard that this letter was written by Jude, a half-brother of Jesus and a brother of James, the leader of the early Christian church at Jerusalem. Jude simply began by telling what was most important - that he had been called to faith and was now “a servant of Jesus Christ.”

We don’t know exactly when he wrote this letter or who the people were to whom he wrote, but it may be that he had ministered to them in the past. He just says that they are people who were also “called” and dearly loved by God the Father and “kept” for Jesus Christ, their Savior (Jude. v.1). There are similarities between Jude’s letter and 2 Peter, and Peter’s letter may have been helpful to him, as he wrote by the inspiration of God, as Peter did.

Jude began with a blessing and prayer that three great gifts of God would be increased, “multiplied” among the Christians to whom he writes. He asked first that God’s “mercy” would be with them - His compassion and pity for them and their needs and especially for the forgiveness of their sins. As they knew of God’s mercy, they would know that they also had “peace” with God. The barrier of sin between them and God was removed, because of His great love for them, especially through what Jesus had done for them (Jude, v.2).

In preparing for this letter, Jude said that he was especially eager to write to these beloved people about “their common salvation” - the great hope now and forever that they and all those in the faith had in the good news of Jesus and what He had done to rescue them.

That was the favorite message of all the Biblical writers  - what God had already done for them, through the gift of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” It was a gift earned by the “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

See how that one sacrifice by Jesus was described in Hebrews 9:24-28 and again in Hebrews 10:10-14. That one sacrifice was great enough to pay the penalty for all sins of all people, and we receive the benefit of all that Christ did and are counted as “saints” as we are brought to faith and trust in Jesus. That is “the faith once for all delivered” to the people to whom Jude wrote and to all who are brought to faith in Jesus, including us who trust in Him. See also Paul’s description of a “saint” in Romans 1:1-7. All believers are already counted as saints through Jesus. This is the message that Jude said that he wanted to spend his time on, in writing this letter.

However, Jude first “found it necessary to write appealing” to the people “to contend for that faith.” To “contend” meant to struggle, to fight as a combatant for something - in this case, for the sake of “the faith.” We get our English word “agonize” from this Greek word; and added to the word is a preposition which suggests “to agonize or struggle or fight “earnestly.” Why was there a need to have an agonizing struggle? What was so important to fight about?

Jude said that “certain people have crept in unnoticed… who are perverting the grace of our God…” (Jude v.4) in a way that was “denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” These were not people attacking the church and the faith from the outside. These were people who were part of the church, who had crept in stealthily, from the side, and were distorting and perverting key teachings of the faith, including “the grace of God,” and in the process were “denying” the Lord Himself and His Word and will.

It is not a total surprise that people who do not believe or understand Christians would be criticizing them and challenging them. It is much more difficult and dangerous when the attacks come from within from those who seemed to be God’s people. Something must be done, Jude was saying.

We will get into more of what Jude said and meant next week. Keep looking at this letter yourself. What example of past problems did Jude give? Do we still have such problems today? What should be done to “contend” for the faith? These are not easy issues and are ones that some  would often prefer not to deal with at all, in our current culture. But Jude is saying that these are dangers that we cannot ignore. The Lord’s blessings on your week.