Jude 1-11

1-2 | Jude’s passion to protect his readers from false teaching is evident from his first words as he recalls God’s saving work on their behalf. Called and sanctified refer to being selected and set apart as His holy people at salvation (Rom. 1:17); preserved means salvation secured for eternity (John 6:37-44; 17:11-12; Rom. 8:29-39). The truth is a believer’s best defense: to stand firm in one’s identity as a God’s child and His ability to safeguard one’s soul is strength indeed.

1 | Although Jude was Jesus’ half-brother, he was skeptical at first of Christ’s divinity (Mark 3:21). Years later, however, he calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Servant (or slave) is one of the most commonly used titles in Scripture for those who submitted their lives to the Lord. Paul, Peter, James, and John all humbly adopted the title (Rom. 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1; Rev. 1:1).

2 | Jude wants mercy, peace, and love to characterize his readers rather than the selfishness, slander, and division of the false teachers.

3-4 | Here is the context and main point of Jude’s letter: ungodly men, whose words and deeds deny the truths of the faith, have infiltrated the church. Believers must contend (exert intense effort) for the purity of the gospel by preserving it as it was once and for all delivered by the apostles (Phil. 1:27).

4 | These false teachers abused grace to justify immorality and denied the deity of Christ to control the church. The voice here indicates that their willful sins marked themselves for condemnation; God did not single them out for punishment.

5-7 | Referring to three epic accounts from Scripture as examples – Israel’s rebellion in the desert (Num. 25:9; 1 Cor. 10:5-10; Heb. 3:16), the insurrection of Satan and his angels (2 Pet. 2:4), and Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24; 2 Pet. 2:4) – Jude reminds his readers that God consistently punishes idolaters, heretics, and rebels.

8 | False teaching is not just incorrect doctrine; it also produces incorrect living. These teachers defile the flesh by satisfying their own immoral desires. When Jude calls them dreamers, he may mean either that they relied on dreams and visions or that they were out of touch with reality. They even dared to reject authority and slander angelic beings (dignitaries).

9 | The title archangel means the angel who is “first, principal, chief.” Unlike the false teachers, Michael never spoke evil, even against Satan. God’s people must reject and correct false doctrine but resist the temptation to revile their opponents. Judgment is in God’s hands (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30).