---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Jude 1"
description: ":-.
ADDRESS:
GREETING:
HIS
OBJECT
IN
WRITING:
WARNING
AGAINST
SEDUCERS
IN
DOCTRINE
AND
PRACTICE
FROM GOD"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/jude/1"
---

.
ADDRESS:
GREETING:
HIS
OBJECT
IN
WRITING:
WARNING
AGAINST
SEDUCERS
IN
DOCTRINE
AND
PRACTICE
FROM GOD'S
VENGENANCE
ON
APOSTATES,
ISRAEL,
THE FALLEN
ANGELS,
SODOM
AND
GOMORRAH.
DESCRIPTION
OF THESE
BAD
MEN,
IN
CONTRAST
TO
MICHAEL:
LIKE
CAIN,
BALAAM,
AND CORE:
ENOCH'S
PROPHECY
AS TO
THEM:
THE
APOSTLES'
FOREWARNING:
CONCLUDING
EXHORTATION
AS TO
PRESERVING
THEIR
OWN
FAITH,
AND TRYING
TO SAVE
OTHERS:
DOXOLOGY.

**servant
of Jesus Christ**
— as His minister and apostle.
**brother
of James**
— who was more widely known as bishop of Jerusalem and “brother
of the Lord” (that is, either *cousin,*
or stepbrother, being son of Joseph by a former marriage; for ancient
traditions universally agree that Mary, Jesus’ mother, continued
perpetually a virgin). Jude therefore calls himself modestly “brother
of James.” See my Introduction.
**to
them ... sanctified by God the Father**
— The oldest manuscripts and versions, Origen, Lucifer, and others
read, “beloved” for *sanctified.*
If *English
Version*
be read, compare ;
.
The *Greek*
is not “by,” but “in.” God the Father’s *love*
is the element IN which they are “beloved.” Thus the conclusion,
,
corresponds, “Keep yourselves *in*
the love of God.” Compare “beloved of the Lord” .
**preserved
in Jesus Christ**
— “kept.” Translate not “in,” but as *Greek,*
“FOR Jesus Christ.” “Kept *continually*
(so the *Greek
perfect*
participle means) by God the Father for Jesus Christ,” against the
day of His coming. Jude, beforehand, mentions the source and
guarantee for the final accomplishment of believers’ salvation;
lest they should be disheartened by the dreadful evils which he
proceeds to announce [Bengel].
***and*****called**
— predicated of “them that are beloved in God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ: who are called.” God’s effectual
*calling*
in the exercise of His divine prerogative, guarantees their eternal
safety.

**Mercy**
— in a time of wretchedness. Therefore *mercy*
stands first; the mercy of *Christ*
().
**peace**
— in the *Holy
Ghost*
().
**love**
— of *God*
().
The three answer to the divine Trinity.
**be
multiplied**
— in you and towards you.

Design
of the Epistle (compare ,
).
**all
diligence**
— ().
As the minister is to give *all
diligence*
to admonish, so the people should, in accordance with his admonition,
give *all
diligence*
to have all Christian graces, and to make their calling sure.
**the
common salvation**
— wrought by Christ. Compare *Note,*
see on ,
“obtained LIKE precious faith,” This *community
of faith,*
and of the object of faith, *salvation,*
forms the ground of mutual exhortation by appeals to common hopes and
fears.
**it
was needful for me**
— rather, “I felt it necessary to write (now *at
once;*
so the *Greek*
aorist means; the *present*
infinitive ‘to write,’ which precedes, expresses merely the
general fact of writing) exhorting you.” The reason why he felt it
necessary “to write *with
exhortation,*”
he states, ,
“For there are certain men crept in,” etc. Having intended to
write generally of “*the
common salvation,*”
he found it necessary from the existing evils in the Church, to write
specially that they should *contend
for the faith against*
those evils.
**earnestly
contend**
— Compare ,
“striving together for the faith of the Gospel.”
**once,
etc.**
— *Greek,*
“*once
for all*
delivered.” No other faith or revelation is to supersede it. A
strong argument for resisting heretical innovators ().
Believers, like Nehemiah’s workmen (),
with one hand “build themselves up in their most holy faith”;
with the other they” contend earnestly for the faith” against its
foes.
**the
saints**
— all Christians, *holy*
(that is, consecrated to God) by their calling, and in God’s
design.

**certain
men**
— implying disparagement.
**crept
in unawares**
— stealthily and unlawfully. See on ,
“*privily*
shall bring in damnable heresies.”
**before
... ordained**
— *Greek,*
“forewritten,” namely, in Peter’s prophecy ,
;
and in Paul’s before that, ;
;
and by implication in the judgments which overtook the apostate
angels. The disobedient Israelites, Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam and
Core, and which are *written*
“for an example” (,
and ,
,
).
God’s eternal character as the Punisher of sin, as set forth in
Scripture “of old,” is the ground on which such apostate
characters are ordained to condemnation. Scripture is the reflection
of God’s book of life in which believers are “written among the
living.” “Forewritten” is applied also in 
to the things written in Scripture. Scripture itself reflects God’s
character from everlasting, which is the ground of His decrees from
everlasting. Bengel explains it as an abbreviated phrase for, “They
were *of
old foretold*
by Enoch (,
who did not *write*
his prophecies), and afterwards marked out by the *written*
word.”
**to
this condemnation**
— Jude graphically puts their judgment as it were present before
the eyes, “THIS.” Enoch’s prophecy comprises the “ungodly
men” of the last days before Christ’s coming to judgment, as well
as their forerunners, the “ungodly men” before the flood, the
type of the last judgment (;
).
The disposition and the doom of both correspond.
**the
grace of our God**
— A phrase for the Gospel especially sweet to believers who
appropriate God in Christ as “*our*
God,” and so rendering the more odious the vile perversity of those
who turn the Gospel state of grace and liberty into a ground of
licentiousness, as if their exemption from the law gave them a
license to *sin.*
**denying
the only Lord**
— The oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers omit “God,”
which follows in *English
Version.*
Translate as the *Greek,*
“the only Master”; here used of *Jesus
Christ,*
who is at once *Master*
and “Lord” (a different *Greek*
word). See on .
By virtue of Christ’s perfect oneness with the Father, He, as well
as the Father, is termed “the ONLY” God and “MASTER.” *Greek,*
“Master,” implies God’s *absolute
ownership*
to dispose of His creatures as He likes.

(;
.)
**therefore**
— Other oldest manuscripts and *Vulgate*
read, “But”; in contrast to the ungodly .
**though
ye once**
— rather, “once for all.” Translate, “I wish to remind you,
*as*
knowing ALL (namely, *that
I am referring to;*
so the oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers) *once
for all.*”
*As*
already they know all the facts once for all, he needs only to
“remind” them.
**the
Lord**
— The oldest manuscripts and versions read, “Jesus.” So
“Christ” is said to have accompanied the Israelites in the
wilderness; so perfectly is Jesus one with the God of the Israelite
theocracy.
**saved**
— brought safely, and into a state of safety and salvation.
**afterward**
— *Greek,*
“secondly”; in the next instance “destroyed them that believed
not,” as contrasted with His *in
the first instance*
having *saved*
them.

(.)
**kept
not their first estate**
— *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 
is alluded to, not the fall of the devil and his angels, as he thinks
“giving themselves over to fornication” ()
proves; compare *Greek,*
“in like manner *to
these,*”
namely, to the angels ().
It seems to me more natural to take “sons of God” ()
of the Sethites, than of angels, who, as “spirits,” do not seem
capable of carnal connection. The parallel, ,
plainly refers to the fall of the apostate angels. And “in like
manner *to
these,*”
,
refers to *the
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah,*
“the cities about them” sinning “in like manner” as “they”
did [Estius and Calvin]. Even if *Greek*
“these,” ,
refer to *the
angels,*
the sense of “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 
as Alford. But though Jude accords with it in some particulars, it
does not follow that he accords with it in all. The Hebrews name the
fallen angels Aza and Azael.
**left**
— on their own accord.
**their
own**
— *Greek,*
“their proper.”
**habitation**
— 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.

**Even
as**
— Alford translates, “I wish to remind you ()
*that.*”
**Sodom,
etc.**
— ().
**giving
themselves over to fornication**
— following fornication *extraordinarily,*
that is, *out
of the*
order of nature. On “in like manner *to
them*”
(*Greek*),
compare *Note,*
see on .
Compare on spiritual fornication, “go a *whoring
from thee,*”
.
**going
after strange flesh**
— departing from the course of nature, and going after that which
is unnatural. In later times the most enlightened heathen nations
indulged in the sin of Sodom without compunction or shame.
**are
set forth**
— before our eyes.
**suffering**
— undergoing *to
this present time;*
alluding to the marks of volcanic fire about the Dead Sea.
**the
vengeance**
— *Greek,*
“righteous retribution.”
**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).” 
shows that Sodom’s punishment, as a nation, is *not
eternal.*
Compare also .

**also**
— rather, “In like manner nevertheless” (notwithstanding these
warning examples) [Alford].
**these
... dreamers**
— The *Greek*
has not “*filthy*”
of *English
Version.*
The clause, “these men dreaming” (that is, in their dreams),
belongs to all the verbs, “defile,” “despise,” and “speak
evil.” All sinners are spiritually asleep, and their carnal
activity is as it were a dream (,
).
Their *speaking
evil of dignities*
is because they are *dreaming,*
and *know
not what they are speaking evil of*
().
“As a man dreaming seems to himself to be seeing and nearing many
things, so the natural man’s lusts are agitated by joy, distress,
fear, and the other passions. But he is a stranger to self-command.
Hence, though he bring into play all the powers of reason, he cannot
conceive the true liberty which the sons of light, who are awake and
in the daylight; enjoy” [Bengel].
**defile
the flesh**
— ().
**dominion**
— “lordship.”
**dignities**
— literally, “glories.” Earthly and heavenly *dignities.*

**

**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 ,
where Christ is 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 
he is called “One (‘*the
first,*’
*Margin*)
of the chief princes.” He is the champion angel of Israel. In 
the conflict between Michael and Satan is again alluded to.
**about
the body of Moses**
— his literal body. Satan, as having the power of death, opposed
the raising of it again, on the ground of Moses’ sin at Meribah,
and his murder of the Egyptian. That Moses’ body was raised,
appears from his presence with Elijah and Jesus (who were in the
body) at the Transfiguration: the sample and earnest of the coming
resurrection kingdom, to be ushered in by Michael’s standing up for
God’s people. Thus in each dispensation a sample and pledge of the
future resurrection was given: Enoch in the patriarchal dispensation,
Moses in the Levitical, Elijah in the prophetical. It is noteworthy
that the same rebuke is recorded here as was used by the Angel of the
Lord, or Jehovah the Second Person, in pleading for Joshua, the
representative of the Jewish Church, against Satan, in ;
whence some have thought that also here “the body of Moses” means
the Jewish Church accused by Satan, before God, for its filthiness,
on which ground he demands that divine justice should take its course
against Israel, but is rebuked by the Lord who has “chosen
Jerusalem”: thus, as “the body of Christ” is *the
Christian Church,*
so “the body of Moses” is the Jewish Church. But the literal body
is evidently here meant (though, secondarily, the Jewish Church is
typified by Moses’ body, as it was there represented by Joshua the
high priest); and Michael, whose connection seems to be so close with
Jehovah-Messiah on the one hand, and with Israel on the other,
naturally uses the same language as his Lord. As Satan (*adversary*
in court) or the devil (*accuser*)
accuses alike the Church collectively and “the brethren”
individually, so Christ pleads for us as our Advocate. Israel’s,
and all believers’ full justification, and the accuser’s being
rebuked finally, is yet future. 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.*
**durst
not**
— from reverence for Satan’s former *dignity*
().
**railing
accusation**
— *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.

(.)
**those
things which**
— *Greek,*
“all things *whatsoever*
they *understand
not,*”
namely, the things of the spiritual world.
**but
what ... naturally**
— Connect thus, “*Whatever*
(so the *Greek*)
things naturally (by natural, blind instinct), as the unreasoning (so
the *Greek*)
animals, they know,” etc. The *Greek*
for the former “know” implies deeper knowledge; the latter
“know,” the mere
perception of the “animal senses and faculties.”

**Woe**
— See on ,
“*cursed*
children.”
**Cain**
— the murderer: the root of whose sin was hatred and envy of the
godly, as it is the sin of these seducers.
**ran
greedily**
— literally, “have been poured forth” like a torrent that has
burst its banks. Reckless of what it costs, the loss of God’s favor
and heaven, on they rush after gain like Balaam.
**perished
in the gainsaying of Core**
— (compare *Note,*
see on ).
When we read of Korah perishing by gainsaying, we read virtually also
of these perishing in like manner through the same: for the same seed
bears the same harvest.

**spots**
— So ,
*Greek,*
“spiloi”;
but here the *Greek*
is spilades,
which elsewhere, in secular writers, means *rocks,*
namely, on which the Christian *love-feasts*
were in danger of being shipwrecked. The oldest manuscript prefixes
the article emphatically, “THE rocks.” The reference to “clouds
... winds ... waves of the sea,” accords with this image of *rocks.
Vulgate*
seems to have been misled by the similar sounding word to translate,
as *English
Version,*
“spots”; compare however, ,
which favors *English
Version,*
if the *Greek*
will bear it. Two oldest manuscripts, by the transcriber’s effort
to make Jude say the same as Peter, read here “deceivings” for
“love-feasts,” but the weightiest manuscript and authorities
support *English
Version*
reading. The love-feast accompanied the Lord’s Supper (,
end). Korah the Levite, not satisfied with his *ministry,*
aspired to the *sacrificing
priesthood*
also: so ministers in the Lord’s Supper have sought to make it a
*sacrifice,*
and themselves the *sacrificing*
priests, usurping the function of our only Christian sacerdotal
*Priest,*
Christ Jesus. Let them beware of Korah’s doom!
**feeding
themselves**
— *Greek,*
“pasturing (tending) themselves.” What they look to is the
pampering of *themselves,*
not the feeding of the flock.
**without
fear**
— Join these words not as *English
Version,*
but with “feast.” Sacred feasts especially ought to be celebrated
*with
fear.*
Feasting is not faulty in itself [Bengel], but it needs to be
accompanied with *fear*
of forgetting God, as Job in the case of his sons’ feasts.
**clouds**
— from which one would expect refreshing rains. ,
“wells without water.” Professors without practice.
**carried
about**
— The oldest manuscripts have “carried aside,” that is, out of
the right course (compare ).
**trees
whose fruit withereth**
— rather, “trees of the late (or *waning*)
autumn,” namely, when there are no longer leaves or fruits on the
trees [Bengel].
**without
fruit**
— having no good fruit of knowledge and practice; sometimes used of
what is positively *bad.*
**twice
dead**
— First when they cast their leaves in autumn, and seem during
winter *dead,*
but revive again in spring; secondly, when they are “plucked up by
the roots.” So these apostates, once dead in unbelief, and then by
profession and baptism raised from the death of sin to the life of
righteousness, but now having become *dead
again*
by apostasy, and so *hopelessly
dead.*
There is a climax. Not only *without
leaves,*
like *trees
in late autumn,*
but *without
fruit:*
not only so, but dead twice; and to crown all, “plucked up by the
roots.”

**Raging**
— wild. Jude has in mind .
**shame**
— plural in *Greek,*
“shames” (compare ).
**wandering
stars**
— instead of moving on in a regular orbit, as lights to the world,
bursting forth on the world like erratic comets, or rather, meteors
of fire, with a strange glare, and then doomed to fall back again
into the blackness of gloom.

See
on Introduction on the source whence Jude derived this prophecy of
Enoch. The Holy Spirit, by Jude, has sealed the truth of this much of
the matter contained in the book of Enoch, though probably that book,
as well as Jude, derived it from tradition (compare *Note,*
see on ).
There are reasons given by some for thinking the book of Enoch copied
from Jude rather than vice versa. It is striking how, from the first,
prophecy hastened towards its consummation. The earliest prophecies
of the Redeemer dwell on His second coming in glory, rather than His
first coming in lowliness (compare 
with ).
Enoch, in his translation without death, illustrated that truth which
he all his life preached to the unbelieving world, the certainty of
the Lord’s coming, and the resurrection of the dead, as the only
effectual antidote to their skepticism and self-wise confidence in
nature’s permanence.
**And
Enoch**
— *Greek,*
“Moreover, also Enoch,” etc.
**seventh
from Adam**
— *Seven*
is the sacred number. In Enoch, freedom from death and the sacred
number are combined: for every seventh object is most highly valued.
Jude thus shows the antiquity of the prophecies. Compare *Note,*
see on ,
“of old.” There were only *five*
fathers between Enoch and Adam. The *seventh*
from Adam prophesied the things which shall close the *seventh
age* of
the world [Bengel].
**of
these**
— in relation to these. The reference of his prophecies was not to
the antediluvians alone, but to *all*
the ungodly ().
His prophecy applied primarily indeed to the flood, but ultimately to
the final judgment.
**cometh**
— literally, “came.” Prophecy regards the future as certain as
if it were *past.*
**saints**
— Holy angels (compare ;
;
;
;
).

This
verse and the beginning of Enoch’s prophecy is composed in *Hebrew*
poetic parallelism, the oldest specimen extant. Some think Lamech’s
speech, which is also in poetic parallelism, was composed in mockery
of Enoch’s prophecy: as Enoch foretold Jehovah’s coming to
judgment, so Lamech presumes on impunity in polygamy and murder (just
as Cain the murderer seemed to escape with impunity).
**convince**
— convict.
**hard*****speeches***
- such as are noticed in ,
,
;
,
;
contrast .
**ungodly
sinners**
— not merely *sinners,*
but proud *despisers
of God: impious.*
**against
him** —
They who speak against God’s children are regarded by God as
speaking *against
Himself.*

**

**murmurers**
— in secret: *muttering
murmurs*
against God’s ordinances and ministers in Church and state. Compare
,
“speak evil of dignities”; ,
“hard speeches”; against the Lord.
**complainers**
— never satisfied with their lot (;
compare the penalty, ,
).
**walking
after their own lusts**
— ().
The secret of their *murmuring
and complaining*
is the restless insatiability of their desires.
**great
swelling words**
— ().
**men’s
persons**
— their mere outward appearance and rank.
**because
of advantage**
— for the sake of what they may gain from them. While they *talk
great swelling words,*
they are really mean and fawning towards those of wealth and rank.

**But;
beloved ... ye**
— in contrast to those reprobates, ,
again.
**remember**
— implying that his readers had been contemporaries of the
apostles. For Peter uses the very same formula in reminding the
contemporaries of himself and the other apostles.
**spoken
before**
— spoken already before now.
**the
apostles**
— Peter (see on ,
),
and Paul before Peter (;
;
).
Jude does not exclude himself from the number of *the
apostles*
here, for in ,
immediately after, he says, “they told You,” not *us*
(rather as *Greek,*
“used to tell you” implying that Jude’s readers were
contemporaries of the apostles, who *used
to tell*
them).

**mockers**
— In the parallel, ,
the same *Greek*
is translated, “scoffers.” The word is found nowhere else in the
New Testament. How Alford can deny that ,

is referred to (at least in part), I cannot imagine, seeing that Jude
quotes the very words of *Peter*
as the words which *the
apostles*
used to speak to his (Jude’s) readers.
**walk
after their own ungodly lusts**
— literally, “after (according to) their own lusts *of
ungodliness.*”

**These
be they**
— showing that their characters are such as Peter and Paul had
foretold.
**separate
themselves**
— from Church communion in its vital, spiritual reality: for
outwardly they took part in Church ordinances ().
Some oldest manuscripts omit “themselves”: then understand it,
“separate,” cast out members of the Church by excommunication
(;
;
;
;
compare “casteth them out of the Church;” ).
Many, however, understand “themselves,” which indeed is read in
some of the oldest manuscripts as *English
Version*
has it. Arrogant setting up of themselves, as having greater sanctity
and a wisdom and peculiar doctrine, distinct from others, is implied.
**sensual**
— literally, “animal-souled”: as opposed to the *spiritual,*
or “having the Spirit.” It is translated, “the *natural*
man,” .
In the threefold division of man’s being, *body,
soul, and spirit,*
the due state in God’s design is, that “the spirit,” which is
the recipient of the Holy Spirit uniting man to God, should be first,
and should rule the soul, which stands intermediate between *the
body*
and *spirit:*
but in the *animal,*
or *natural*
man, the spirit is sunk into subserviency to the animal soul, which
is earthly in its motives and aims. The “carnal” sink somewhat
lower, for in these *the
flesh,*
the lowest element and corrupt side of man’s bodily nature, reigns
paramount.
**having
not the Spirit**
— In the animal and natural man *the
spirit,*
his higher part, which ought to be the receiver of the Holy Spirit,
is not so; and therefore, his spirit not being in its normal state,
he is said *not
to have the spirit*
(compare ,
).
In the completion of redemption the parts of redeemed man shall be
placed in their due relation: whereas in the ungodly, *the
soul*
severed from *the
spirit*
shall have for ever animal life without union to God and heaven - a
living death.

Resuming
.
**building
up yourselves**
— the opposite to the “separate themselves” ():
as “in the Holy Ghost” is opposed to “having not the Spirit.”
**on**
— as *on*
a foundation. *Building
on* THE
FAITH is equivalent to building on *Christ,*
the object of faith.
**praying
in the Holy Ghost**
— (;
).
The Holy Spirit teaches *what
we* are
to pray for, and *how.*
None can pray aright save by being *in
the Spirit,*
that is, in the element of His influence. Chrysostom states that,
among the charisms bestowed at the beginning of the New Testament
dispensation, was *the
gift of prayer,*
bestowed on someone who prayed in the name of the rest, and taught
others to pray. Moreover, their prayers so conceived and often used,
were received and preserved among Christians, and out of them forms
of prayer were framed. Such is the origin of liturgies [Hammond].

In
,
,
Jude combines the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and *faith,
hope,*
and *love.*
**Keep
yourselves**
— not in your own strength, but “in the love of God,” that is,
*God’s
love to you*
and all His believing children, the only guarantee for their being
*kept*
safe. Man’s need of watching is implied; at the same time he cannot
*keep*
himself, unless God in His love keep him.
**looking
for** —
in hope.
**the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ**
— to be fully manifested at His coming. *Mercy*
is usually attributed to the Father: here to the Son; so entirely one
are they.

None
but those who “keep themselves” are likely to “save” others.
**have
compassion**
— So one oldest manuscript reads. But two oldest manuscripts,
*Vulgate,*
etc., read, “convict”; “reprove to their conviction”;
“confute, so as to convince.”
**making
a difference**
— The oldest manuscripts and versions read the accusative for the
nominative, “when separating themselves” [Wahl], referring to ;
or “when contending with you,” as the *Greek*
is translated, .

**save
with fear**
— The oldest manuscripts do not read “with fear” in this
position: but after “snatching them out of the fire” (with which,
compare ;
;
,
said of a most narrow escape), they add the following words, forming
a THIRD class, “and others compassionate with (IN) fear.” Three
kinds of patients require three kinds of medical treatment. Ministers
and Christians are said to “save” those whom they are made the
instruments of saving; the *Greek*
for “save” is present, therefore meaning “try to save.” Jude
already ()
had reference to the same passage ().
The three classes are: (1) those who *contend
with you*
(accusative case in oldest manuscripts), whom you should *convict;*
(2) those who are as brands already in *the
fire,*
of which hell-fire is the consummation: these you should *try
to save by snatching them out;*
(3) those who are objects of *compassion,*
whom accordingly you should *compassionate*
(and help if occasion should offer), but at the same time not let
pity degenerate into connivance at their error. Your compassion is to
be accompanied “with fear” of being at all defiled by them.
**hating**
— Even *hatred*
has its legitimate field of exercise. Sin is the only thing which God
hates: so ought we.
**even
the garment**
— a proverbial phrase: avoiding the most remote contact with sin,
and hating that which borders on it. As *garments*
of the apostles wrought miracles of good in healing, so the very
*garment*
of sinners metaphorically, that is, anything brought into contact
with their pollution, is to be avoided. Compare as to lepers and
other persons defiled, ;

: the garments were held polluted; and anyone touching them was
excluded, until purified, from religious and civil communion with the
sanctified people of Israel. Christians who received at baptism the
white garment in token of purity, are not to defile it by any
approach to what is defiled.

Concluding
doxology.
**Now**
— *Greek,*
“But.”
**you**
— Alford, on inferior authority, reads, “them.” *You*
is in contradistinction to those *ungodly
men*
mentioned above.
**keep
... from falling**
— rather, “guard ... (so as to be) *without
falling,*”
or *stumbling.*
**faultless**
— *Greek,*
“blameless.”
**before
the presence of his glory**
— that is, *before
Himself,*
when He shall be revealed in *glory.*
**with
exceeding joy**
— literally, “with exultation” as of those who *leap*
for joy.

**To
the only ... God our Saviour**
— The oldest manuscripts add, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The transcribers, fancying that “Savior” applied to Christ alone,
omitted the words. The sense is, To the only God (the Father) who is
our Savior through (that is, by the mediation of) Jesus Christ our
Lord.
**dominion**
— *Greek,*
“might.”
**power**
— *authority:
legitimate power.*
The oldest manuscripts and *Vulgate,*
after “power,” have “before all the age,” that is, before all
time as to the *past:*
“*and*
now,” as to the present; “and to all the ages,” that is, *for
ever,*
as to the time to come.

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