JUDE
Jude calls himself in the address "the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." James the apostle, and James the Lord's brother, the bishop of Jerusalem, are in fact the same person. Ga 1:19 alone seems to me to prove this. Similarly, Jude the brother of our Lord, and Jude the apostle, seem to be one and the same. Yes, Jude, like James, was the real ½ brother of Jesus!
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
1 {This letter} from Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who have been called, who are loved by God(Theos) the Father, and who are kept safe for Jesus Christ.
3 Dear friends, I had intended to write to you about the salvation we share. But something has come up. It demands that I write to you and encourage you to continue your fight for the Christian faith that was entrusted to God(Theos)'s holy people once for all time.
4 Some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. Not long ago they were condemned in writing for the following reason: They are people to whom God(Theos) means nothing. They use God(Theos)'s kindness as an excuse for sexual freedom and deny our only Master and LORD(Kyrios-Yahweh), Jesus Christ.
5 I want to remind you about what you already know: The LORD{Jesus}(Kyrios-Yahweh) once saved his people from Egypt. But on another occasion He destroyed those who didn't believe.
6 And the angels who did not keep their proper place, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 2 Peter 2:4
-Vulgate translates, "their own principality," which the fact of angels being elsewhere called "principalities," favors: "their own" implies that, instead of being content with the dignity once for all assigned to them under the Son of God, they aspired higher. ALFORD thinks the narrative in Genesis 6:2 is alluded to, not the fall of the devil and his angels, as he thinks "giving themselves over to fornication" ( Jude 1:7 Greek, "in like manner to these," namely, to the angels ( Jude 1:6 ( Genesis 6:2 seem capable of carnal connection. The parallel, 2 Peter 2:4 refers to the fall of the apostate angels. And "in like manner to these," Jude 1:7 the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, "the cities about them" sinning "in like manner" as "they" did [ESTIUS and CALVIN]. Even if Greek "these," Jude 1:7 "in like manner as these" will be, not that the angels carnally fornicated with the daughters of men, but that their ambition, whereby their affections went away from God and they fell, is in God's view a sin of like kind spiritually as Sodom's going away from God's order of nature after strange flesh; the sin of the apostate angels after their kind is analogous to that of the human Sodomites after their kind. Compare the somewhat similar spiritual connection of whoremongers and covetousness. The apocryphal book of Enoch interprets Genesis 6:2 some particulars, it does not follow that he accords with it in all. The Hebrews name the fallen angels Aza and Azael.
Abode: Heaven, all bright and glorious, as opposed to the "darkness" to which they now are doomed. Their ambitious designs seem to have had a peculiar connection with this earth, of which Satan before his fall may have been God's vicegerent, whence arises his subsequent connection with it as first the Tempter, then "the prince of this world."
reserved--As the Greek is the same, and there is an evident reference to their having "kept not their first estate," translate, "He hath kept." Probably what is meant is, He hath kept them in His purpose; that is their sure doom; moreover, as yet, Satan and his demons roam at large on the earth. An earnest of their doom is their having been cast out of heaven, being already restricted to "the darkness of this present world," the "air" that surrounds the earth, their peculiar element now. They lurk in places of gloom and death, looking forward with agonizing fear to their final torment in the bottomless pit. He means not literal chains and darkness, but figurative in this present world where, with restricted powers and liberties, shut out from heaven, they, like condemned prisoners, await their doom.
7 What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities near them is an example for us of the punishment of eternal fire. The people of these cities suffered the same fate that God(Theos)'s people and the angels did, because they committed sexual sins and engaged in homosexual activities.
eternal fire--The lasting marks of the fire that consumed the cities irreparably, is a type of the eternal fire to which the inhabitants have been consigned. BENGEL translates as the Greek will admit, "Suffering (the) punishment (which they endure) as an example or sample of eternal fire (namely, that which shall consume the wicked)." Ezekiel 16:53-55 is not eternal. Compare also 2 Peter 2:6
8 Yet these false teachers, who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at the power of the glorious ones.
9 Yet, when the archangel Michael argued with the Devil, over the body of Moses; Michael didn't dare to hand down a blasphemous judgment against the Devil. Instead, Michael said, "May the LORD(Kyrios-Yahweh) reprimand you!"
Michael, the archangel--Nowhere in Scripture is the plural used, "archangels"; but only ONE, "archangel." The only other passage in the New Testament where it occurs, is 1 Thessalonians 4:16 distinguished from the archangel, with whose voice He shall descend to raise the dead; they therefore err who confound Christ with Michael. The name means, Who is like God? In Daniel 10:13 ('the first,' Margin) of the chief princes." He is the champion angel of Israel. In Revelation 12:7 is again alluded to.
JOSEPHUS [Antiquities,4.8], states that God hid Moses' body, lest, if it had been exposed to view, it would have been made an idol of. Jude, in this account, either adopts it from the apocryphal "assumption of Moses" (as ORIGEN [Concerning Principalities, 3.2] thinks), or else from the ancient tradition on which that work was founded. Jude, as inspired, could distinguish how much of the tradition was true, how much false. We have no such means of distinguishing, and therefore can be sure of no tradition, save that which is in the written word.
Greek, "judgment of blasphemy," or evil-speaking. Peter said, Angels do not, in order to avenge themselves, rail at dignities, though ungodly, when they have to contend with them: Jude says that the archangel Michael himself did not rail even at the time when he fought with the devil, the prince of evil spirits--not from fear of him, but from reverence of God, whose delegated power in this world Satan once had, and even in some degree still has. From the word "disputed," or debated in controversy, it is plain it was a judicial contest.
10 Whatever these people don't understand, they insult. Like animals, which are creatures of instinct, they use whatever they know to destroy themselves.
11 How horrible it will be for them! They have followed the path of Cain. They have rushed into Balaam's error to make a profit. They have rebelled like Korah and destroyed themselves.
12 These people are a disgrace at the special meals you share with other believers. They eat with you and don't feel ashamed. They are shepherds who care [only] for themselves. They are dry clouds blown around by the winds. They are withered, uprooted trees without any fruit. As a result, they have died twice.
13 They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the dirty foam of their shameful deeds. They are wandering stars, heading for everlasting gloom and darkness.
14 Now Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, "Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his most holy ones(saints).
15 He has come to judge all these people. He has come to convict all these ungodly sinners for all the ungodly things they have done and all the harsh things they have said about him."
16 These people complain, find fault, follow their own desires, say arrogant things, and flatter people in order to take advantage of them.
17 Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our LORD(Kyrios-Yahweh) Jesus Christ told you to expect:
18 "that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable.”
19 These are the people who cause divisions. They are concerned about physical things, not spiritual things.
Holy Wind= Holy Spirit from the Greek pneuma
21 Remain in God(Theos)'s love as you look for the mercy of our LORD(Kyrios-Yahweh) Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.
23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins.
24 He can guard you so that you don't fall and so that you can be full of joy as you stand in his glorious presence without fault.
25 Before time began, now, and for eternity glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to the only God(Theos), our Savior, through Jesus Christ our LORD(Kyrios-Yahweh). Amen.
The oldest manuscripts add, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." The transcribers, fancying that "Saviour" applied to Christ alone, omitted the words. The sense is, To the only God (the Father) who is our Saviour through (that is, by the mediation of) Jesus Christ our Lord.
