Jude · Chapter 1

1. He exhorts them to contend for the faith, 3

2. Describes the punishment and the manners of its adversaries, 4-16

Verse 1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ] Probably Jude the apostle, who was surnamed Thaddeus and Lebbeus, was son to Alpheus, and brother to James the less, Joses, and Simon. See Matthew 10:3, and collate with Luke 6:16; Matthew 13:55. See the preface. Brother of James] Supposed to be James the less, bishop of Jerusalem, mentioned here, because he was an eminent person in the Church. See the preface to St. James.

To them that are sanctified by God] Instead of hgiasmenoiv, to the sanctified, AB, several others, both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Æthiopic, and Vulgate, with several of the fathers, have hgaphmenoiv, to them that are beloved; and before en tw qew, in God, some MSS., with the Syriac and Armenian, have eqnesin, to the Gentiles, in God the Father: but although the first is only a probable reading, this is much less so. St. Jude writes to all believers everywhere, and not to any particular Church; hence this epistle has been called a general epistle.

Sanctified signifies here consecrated to God through faith in Christ. Preserved in (or by) Jesus Christ] Signifies those who continued unshaken in the Christian faith; and implies also, that none can be preserved in the faith that do not continue in union with Christ, by whose grace alone they can be preserved and called. This should be read consecutively with the other epithets, and should be rather, in a translation, read first than last, to the saints in God the Father, called and preserved by Christ Jesus. Saints is the same as Christians; to become such they were called to believe in Christ by the preaching of the Gospel, and having believed, were preserved by the grace of Christ in the life and practice of piety.

Verses 1, 2. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ — The highest glory which any, either man or angel, can aspire to. The word servant, under the old covenant, was adapted to the spirit of fear and bondage, which cleaved to that dispensation. But when the time appointed of the Father was come for the sending of his Son, to redeem them that were under the law, the word servant (used by the apostles concerning themselves and all the children of God) signified one that, having the Spirit of adoption, was made free by the Son of God. His being a servant is the fruit and perfection of his being a Son. And whenever the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the New Jerusalem, then it will be indeed that his servants shall serve him, Revelation 22:3. And brother of James — So well known by his distinguished services in the cause of Christ and of his gospel. St. James was the more eminent, namely, James the Less, usually styled the brother of the Lord; and Jude, being his brother, might also have been called the brother of Christ, rather than the brother of James. But he avoided that designation in the inscription of a letter, which he wrote in the character of an apostle, to show, that whatever respect as a man he might deserve on account of his relation to Christ, he derived no authority from it as an apostle, nor indeed claimed any. To them that are sanctified by God the Father — Devoted to his service, set apart for him and made holy, through the influence of his grace; and preserved in Jesus Christ — In the faith and profession of Christ, and union with him, and by his power. In other words, brought into the fellowship of his religion, and guarded by his grace in the midst of a thousand snares, which might have tempted them to have made shipwreck of their faith. And called — By the preaching of the word, by the dispensations of divine providence, and by the drawings of divine grace; called to receive the whole gospel blessing in time and in eternity. These things are premised, lest any of them should be discouraged by the terrible things which are afterward mentioned. Mercy and peace, &c. — A holy and truly apostolical blessing, says Estius; observing, that from this, and the benedictions in the two epistles of Peter, we learn that the benedictions in Paul’s epistles are to be completed by adding the word multiplied.

Verse 1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. A title of humility, which does not derogate from his apostolic dignity, he being sent to subjugate the nations to the faith of Christ. To them that are sanctified, by the washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Titus 3:5. Preserved, or as Peter says, kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation. And called, by the grace of the gospel, and the drawings of the Holy Spirit, to the communion of saints, and to fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The letter is catholic, addressed to all christians wheresover it might come.

1. Jude—The Hebrew name Judah of the Old Testament becomes, in the New, the Greek Judas. and is abbreviated in English to this Jude. In the first it is the name of the greatest of the twelve patriarchs and of the twelve tribes; in the second it is dishonoured by the traitor among the twelve; but it is again made illustrious by the author of this remarkable epistle. Servant of Jesus Christ—Though the maternal brother of Jesus Christ, Jude shrinks with reverent modesty from holding forth that relationship. On the brothers of Jesus see our notes, Matthew 12:46, 13:55, and Introduction to James. Brother of James—Touching the three Jameses of the Gospels, see our note on Matthew 10:3. This could be no other than the third James, resident apostle or bishop of Jerusalem, and author of the epistle. Hence we have two epistles from two maternal brothers of Jesus. To them—Our Jude addresses this epistle to the whole Church of the sanctified. His descriptive title of that holy body is marked by his terseness of style, and may thus be literally translated: To those in God the Father beloved, and by Jesus Christ preserved, and [by the Holy Spirit] called. We supply “by the Holy Spirit” because the trinal clauses indicate the trinal work of the three persons of the Trinity. Sanctified, or made holy, is here, in a degree, affirmed of all true Christians. They are preserved, not like inanimate objects, physically and absolutely, but as free agents, conditionally upon their consenting to be preserved. Called—With an obeyed, and so a permanent calling. Note on 1 Corinthians 1:1; 7:20.

Verse 2. Mercy unto you] For even the best have no merit, and must receive every blessing and grace in the way of mercy. Peace] With God and your consciences, love both to God and man, be multiplied-be unboundedly increased.

Verses 1, 2. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ — The highest glory which any, either man or angel, can aspire to. The word servant, under the old covenant, was adapted to the spirit of fear and bondage, which cleaved to that dispensation. But when the time appointed of the Father was come for the sending of his Son, to redeem them that were under the law, the word servant (used by the apostles concerning themselves and all the children of God) signified one that, having the Spirit of adoption, was made free by the Son of God. His being a servant is the fruit and perfection of his being a Son. And whenever the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the New Jerusalem, then it will be indeed that his servants shall serve him, Revelation 22:3. And brother of James — So well known by his distinguished services in the cause of Christ and of his gospel. St. James was the more eminent, namely, James the Less, usually styled the brother of the Lord; and Jude, being his brother, might also have been called the brother of Christ, rather than the brother of James. But he avoided that designation in the inscription of a letter, which he wrote in the character of an apostle, to show, that whatever respect as a man he might deserve on account of his relation to Christ, he derived no authority from it as an apostle, nor indeed claimed any. To them that are sanctified by God the Father — Devoted to his service, set apart for him and made holy, through the influence of his grace; and preserved in Jesus Christ — In the faith and profession of Christ, and union with him, and by his power. In other words, brought into the fellowship of his religion, and guarded by his grace in the midst of a thousand snares, which might have tempted them to have made shipwreck of their faith. And called — By the preaching of the word, by the dispensations of divine providence, and by the drawings of divine grace; called to receive the whole gospel blessing in time and in eternity. These things are premised, lest any of them should be discouraged by the terrible things which are afterward mentioned. Mercy and peace, &c. — A holy and truly apostolical blessing, says Estius; observing, that from this, and the benedictions in the two epistles of Peter, we learn that the benedictions in Paul’s epistles are to be completed by adding the word multiplied.

3. Warns the believers, 17-19

Verse 3. When I gave all diligence] This phrase, pasan spoudhn poioumenov, is a Grecism for being exceedingly intent upon a subject; taking it up seriously with determination to bring it to good effect. The meaning of the apostle seems to be this: “Beloved brethren, when I saw it necessary to write to you concerning the common salvation, my mind being deeply affected with the dangers to which the Church is exposed from the false teachers that are gone out into the world, I found it extremely necessary to write and exhort you to hold fast the truth which you had received, and strenuously to contend for that only faith which, by our Lord and his apostles, has been delivered to the Christians.”

Some think that St. Jude intimates that he had at first purposed to write to the Church at large, on the nature and design of the Gospel; but seeing the dangers to which the Churches were exposed, because of the false teachers, he changed his mind, and wrote pointedly against those false doctrines, exhorting them strenuously to contend for the faith. The common salvation] The Christian religion, and the salvation which it brings. This is called common because it equally belongs to Jews and Gentiles; it is the saving grace of God which has appeared to every man, and equally offers to every human being that redemption which is provided for the whole world.

Verse 3. When I gave all diligence — Or made all haste, as pasan spoudhn poioumenov literally signifies, Jude being informed of the assiduity, and perhaps the success, with which the false teachers were spreading their pernicious errors, found it necessary to write this letter to the faithful without delay. To write to you of the common salvation — The salvation from the guilt and power of sin, into the favour and image of God here, and from all the consequences of sin into eternal felicity and glory hereafter; a salvation called common, because it belongs equally to all who believe; to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; to men of all nations and conditions; designed for all, and enjoyed in part by all believers. For the same reason Paul terms the faith of the gospel, the common faith, (Titus i,

Ver. 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence, in obedience to the impulse of the Holy Spirit, to write unto you, of the common salvation, I felt the sentiment of Peter, that you may be able after my decease to have a summary of my preaching always at hand; and that you may earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. This phrase, the common salvation, refers to the gospel, the grace of God which hath appeared to all men, and is sent to every creature under heaven. Mark 16:15. Colossians 1:27.

The words of Jude, being laconic, are the more emphatic, that the saints should contend and strive for the faith once delivered or given to the saints. By the faith he means what St. Paul and others often call “the promise made of God unto the fathers, and the oath which he sware unto Abraham.” Luke 1:72, 73. The faith, that Christ, the Son of the living God, is the rock on which the church is built. The faith, otherwise the covenant, the commandment, or glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was revealed from heaven. It was Paul’s glory that he could say, on the eve of martyrdom, “I have kept the faith.” This is the faith which Abraham delivered to his children after him, and which David gave in charge to Solomon. 1 Chronicles 28:9, 10. The faith confirmed by the prophets, who all gave witness to Christ; the commandment which the Saviour received of the Father to promulgate to men; the faith that must be kept without spot, and unreproveable in the sight of God. The apostles did so: they preached the Lord as the only Saviour, and made no compromise with the mythology of the Greeks.

3. Beloved—Thus far the address; now commences the opening of the subject. Note 3 John 1:1, 2. Gave all diligence—Rather, making to myself all earnestness. The earnestness was awakened by alarm at the inroads of the errorists. Common salvation—The gospel salvation, which was common to the whole Christian republic, and so threatened by a common danger. It was needful—Literally, I had a necessity; a necessity to do what, without a necessity, he would not advise, namely, to contend. There are blessed times for peace, but now comes the pressure of contest. Earnestly contend—A term borrowed from the palestric contests, yet also used of real battles. This spiritual contest, now at hand, required not merely quiet Christian life, but a bold maintenance of Christian truth and morals, a refutation and rebuke of error and sin, and an extrusion of the heretical transgressors from the Church of God. The faith—The system of doctrines and morals. Once—That is, once for all; excluding all additions, diminutions, and modifications; and especially such perversions as now threatened to mislead and destroy the Church. Saints—All true Christians, especially the sanctified of verse 1.

4. Confirms them, 20,21

Verse 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares] pareisedusan. They had got into the Church under specious pretences; and, when in, began to sow their bad seed.

Before of old ordained] oi palai progegrammenoi Such as were long ago proscribed, and condemned in the most public manner; this is the import of the word prografein in this place, and there are many examples of this use of it in the Greek writers. See Kypke. To this condemnation] To a similar punishment to that immediately about to be mentioned.

In the sacred writings all such persons, false doctrines, and impure practices, have been most openly proscribed and condemned; and the apostle immediately produces several examples, viz., the disobedient Israelites, the unfaithful angels, and the impure inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha. This is most obviously the apostle’s meaning, and it is as ridiculous as it is absurd to look into such words for a decree of eternal reprobation, &c., such a doctrine being as far from the apostle’s mind as from that of Him in whose name he wrote.

Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness] Making the grace and mercy of God a covering for crimes; intimating that men might sin safely who believe the Gospel, because in that Gospel grace abounds. But perhaps the goodness of God is here meant, for I cannot see how they could believe the Gospel in any way who denied the Lord Jesus Christ; unless, which is likely, their denial refers to this, that while they acknowledged Jesus as the promised Messiah, they denied him to be the only Lord, Sovereign, and Ruler of the Church and of the world. There are many in the present day who hold the same opinion.

The only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.] monon despothn qeon kai kurion hmwn ihsouv criston aruoumenoi. These words may be translated, Denying the only sovereign God, even our Lord Jesus Christ. But qeon GOD, is omitted by ABC, sixteen others, with Erpen’s Arabic, the Coptic, Æthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate, and by many of the fathers. It is very likely that it was originally inserted as a gloss, to ascertain to whom the title of ton monon despothn, the only Sovereign, belonged; and thus make two persons where only one seems to be intended. The passage I believe belongs solely to Jesus Christ, and may be read thus: Denying the only sovereign Ruler, even our Lord Jesus Christ. The text is differently arranged in the Complutensian Polyglot, which contains the first edition of the Greek Testament: kai ton monon qeon kai despothn, ton kurion hmwn ihsoun criston arnoumenoi. Denying the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very remarkable position of the words, and doubtless existed in some of the MSS. from which these editors copied. The Simonians, Nicolaitans, and Gnostics, denied God to be the creator of the world; and Simon is said to have proclaimed himself as FATHER to the Samaritans, as SON to the Jews, and as the HOLY GHOST to all other nations. All such most obviously denied both Father, Son, and Spirit.

4,) because an opportunity of believing is afforded to all. Here the design of the epistle is expressed, the end of which exactly answers the beginning. It was needful for me to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend — Yet humbly, meekly, and lovingly, otherwise your contending will only hurt your cause, if not destroy your souls; for the faith — All the fundamental truths of the gospel. “In the circumstances in which the faithful were when Jude wrote this letter, an exhortation to hold fast and maintain the true doctrine of the gospel against the false teachers, was more necessary and profitable for the disciples, than explications of the particular doctrines of the gospel. By strenuously contending for the faith, the apostle did not mean contending for it with fire and sword, but their endeavouring, in the spirit of meekness and love, to establish the true doctrines of the gospel, by arguments drawn, not only from the Jewish Scriptures, but especially from the writings of the evangelists and apostles, which were all, or most of them, published when Jude wrote this letter. In the same manner they were strongly to oppose and confute the errors of the false teachers. The word epagwnizesqai properly signifies, to strive as in the Olympic games, that is, with their whole force.” Once delivered to the saints — By apax, once, Macknight understands formerly, the word being used in that sense, verse 5. But Estius and Beza adopt the common translation, supposing the meaning of the clause to be, that the faith spoken of was delivered to the saints once for all, and is never to be changed; nothing is to be added to it, and nothing taken from it. By the saints Jude first means the holy apostles and prophets of Christ, (in which sense the word saints is used, Colossians 3:26, compared with Ephesians 3:5,) to whom the Lord Jesus delivered the doctrine of the gospel in all its parts, including the truths which men were to believe, and the precepts they were to perform, together with the promises of present and eternal salvation made to the believing and obedient, and the threatenings denounced against the unbelieving and disobedient. This doctrine the apostles and evangelists delivered to their hearers in their various discourses, and consigned it to writing for the instruction of future ages. “Hence it is evident that the faith for which Christians are to contend strenuously, is that alone which is contained in the writings of the evangelists, apostles, and Jewish prophets. Now as they have expressed the things which were revealed to them in words dictated by the Spirit, (1 Corinthians 2:13,) we are to contend, not only for the things contained in their writings, but also for that form of words in which they have expressed these things, lest by contending for forms invented and established by human authority, as better fitted to express the truth than the words of inspiration, we fall into error. See 2 Timothy 1:13. Jude’s exhortation ought in a particular manner to be attended to by the ministers of the gospel, whose duty more especially it is to preserve the people from error, both in opinion and practice.” — Macknight.

Verse 4. For there are certain men (see the margin) crept in unawares — Insinuating themselves into people’s affections by their plausible pretences, and leavening them by degrees with their errors. The ungodly teachers here described seem to have been the Nicolaitans, mentioned Revelation 2:6, whose doctrine Christ himself declared to be hateful to him. Perhaps the Gnostics and Carpocratians, the successors of the Nicolaitans, were also meant. The Nicolaitans are said to have maintained that marriage was a human invention, not binding on Christians; on which account they had women in common, and practised unnatural lusts, as is plain from Jude’s account of them. And they hardened themselves against the fear of punishment in a future state for these crimes, by extolling the goodness and mercy of God, which they thus perverted to lasciviousness. Who were of old ordained — Or rather, as the original expression, progegrammenoi eiv touto to krima, literally signifies, written, or described, before to this condemnation — Even as early as Enoch, by whom it was foretold, that by their wilful sins they would incur this condemnation. “Jude means, that these wicked teachers had their punishment before written, that is, foretold, in what is written concerning the wicked Sodomites and rebellious Israelites, whose crimes were the same with theirs; and whose punishment was not only a proof of God’s resolution to punish sinners, but an example of the punishment which he would inflict on them. Others think that in the word progegrammenoi, written before, there is an allusion to the ancient custom of writing laws on tables, which were hung up in public places, that the people might know the punishment annexed to the breaking of the laws. If this is the allusion, the apostle’s meaning will be, that the wicked teachers, of whom he is speaking, were, by the divine law, condemned to severe punishment from the beginning. Turning the grace of our God — Revealed in the gospel; into lasciviousness — Into an occasion of more abandoned wickedness, even to countenance their lewd and filthy practices. It seems these ungodly men interpreted the doctrine of justification by faith, in such a manner as to free believers from all obligation to obey the law of God, and taught that they might commit the worst actions without being liable to punishment, if they possessed faith; by which they meant the mere speculative belief and outward profession of the gospel. Denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ — See on 2 Peter 2:1. The original words, kai ton monon despothn Qeon kai kurion hmwn Ihsoun Criston arnoumenoi, “may be translated various ways, all equally literal: 1st, And denying the only Lord God, even our Lord Jesus Christ. According to this translation, one person only is spoken of here, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the only Lord God. 2d, Denying both the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. According to this translation, two persons are distinctly spoken of, namely, the one Lord God, or God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ his Son. 3d, And denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. This, which is the translation in our English Bible, and which, in sense, is not different from the second rendering, I have adopted,” says Macknight, “not only because, according to it, two persons are spoken of as denied, namely, the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, but because it represents Jude’s sentiment as precisely the same with John’s 1st epist. 1 John 2:22, He is the antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son. By declaring that those ungodly teachers denied both the Father and the Son, the apostle showed to what a pitch of impiety they had proceeded.

Ver. 4. Certain men are crept in unawares. Gnostics, jewish sectarians, affecting to be teachers, and living on the people, greedy of gain. Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation: progegrammenoi, fore-written, or foretold. Such is the Vulgate version: qui olim præscripti sunt in hoc judicium. Who were formerly foretold to this judgment or condemnation. Our Saviour said that many false prophets should rise, and deceive many. Matthew 24:10, 11. Paul also declared, “The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times many shall depart from the faith. 1 Timothy 4:1. Peter mentions the same false teachers, as associated with the lying prophets of Israel, who privily, like our modern unitarians and socinians, bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. 2 Peter 2:1. Deuteronomy 13:1. Beza is to be blamed for being unique in translating the word crime, by damnation; for Jude says, Of some have compassion, making a difference. Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire: ver. 22, 23. And St. Peter also says, after naming scoffers, the longsuffering of God is salvation to all that wait upon him.

4. For—Reason for this burst of alarm. Certain men—Not, apparently, as yet a solid body, but a large number of individual leaders scattered throughout the Church of Jude’s section. Crept in unawares—Whose demoralizing teachings had circulated from the time of Simon Magus among the population outside of the Church. Their dogmas had streaked obscurely through the general atmosphere. But now, lo! their propagators have disclosed themselves in various quarters in the very bosom of the Church itself. Ordained—Fore-written or pre-described; that is, in the predictions of the apostles Paul and Peter, and in the evil types of the Old Testament, Cain, Balaam, and Korah, verse 11. Thus the ancient Greek commentator, Theophylact, pertinently says: “He calls them fore-written because Peter and Paul had said concerning them that in the last times such deceivers” should come. The Greek word is sometimes used in the classics to signify the publicly, placarding the threatened death of a doomed individual. In this manner Sylla, the Roman consul, publicly advertised the names of persons whom he intended to execute. So the prophecies quoted by Jude were an advertisement that all those persons whose characters suited the prophetic descriptions were by those same prophecies advertised for death. This condemnation—The condemnation described in this epistle. Alford remarks, “It may be observed that the ultra-predestinarians, Beza and Calvin, find, as we might expect, strong defence for their views in their interpretation here. Beza, indeed, gathers from this place that ‘this eternal decree of God comprehends not only the event, but especially the persons themselves.’” Into lasciviousness—Making Christianity subservient to sexual lusts. This trait identifies them with the Nicolaitans. Lord—Greek despothv, despotes, whence our word despot. God—This word is rejected by the best critics as a spurious reading. It then becomes a question whether God or Christ is here designated. The word despotes designates God in Revelation 6:10, and Acts 4:24; Luke 2:29. But in the parallel passage in 2 Peter 2:1, it designates Christ. By the usually received doctrine of the Greek article the rendering would be denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. This seems the more probable sense, as the heretics did not so much reject the true God as the true Christ.

5. Instructs them in their duty to others, 22,23

III. The conclusion, 24,25

CHAPTER 1

This epistle greatly resembles the second of St. Peter, which St. Jude seems to have had in view while he wrote. That was written but a very little before his death; and hence we may gather that St. Jude lived some time after it, and saw that grievous declension in the church which St. Peter had foretold. But he passes over some things mentioned by St. Peter, repeats some in different expressions and with a different view, and adds others; clearly evidencing thereby the wisdom of God which rested upon him. Thus St. Peter cites and confirms St. Paul's writings, and is himself cited and confirmed by St. Jude.

V. 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ-The highest glory which any, either angel or man, can aspire to. The word servant, under the old covenant, was adapted to the spirit of fear and bondage that clave to that dispensation. But when the time appointed of the Father was come, for the sending of his Son to redeem them that were under the law, the word servant (used by the apostles concerning themselves and all the children of God) signified one that, having the Spirit of adoption, is made free by the Son of God. His being a servant is the fruit and perfection of his being a son. And whenever the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the new Jerusalem, then will it be indeed that "his servants shall serve him," Revelation 22:3.

The brother of James-St. James was the more eminent, usually styled, "the brother of the Lord."

To them that are beloved-The conclusion, Jude 1:21, exactly answers the introduction.

And preserved through Jesus Christ-So both the spring and the accomplishment of salvation are pointed out. This is premised, lest any of them should be discouraged by the terrible things which are afterwards mentioned.

And called-To receive the whole blessing of God, in time and eternity. V. 3. When I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation-Designed for all, and enjoyed by all believers. Here the design of the epistle is expressed; the end of which exactly answers the beginning. It was needful to exhort you to contend earnestly-Yet humbly, meekly, and lovingly; otherwise your contention will only hurt your cause, if not destroy your soul.

For the faith-All the fundamental truths.

Once delivered-By God, to remain unvaried for ever.

V. 4. There are certain men crept in, who were of old described before-Even as early as Enoch; of whom it was foretold, that by their wilful sins they would incur this condemnation.

Turning the grace of God-Revealed in the gospel.

Into lasciviousness-Into an occasion of more abandoned wickedness. V. 5. He afterwards destroyed-The far greater part of that very people whom he had once saved. Let none therefore presume upon past mercies, as if he was now out of danger.

Verse 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance] That is, how such persons were proscribed, and condemned to bear the punishment due to such crimes.

Though ye once knew this] The word apax, here translated once, has greatly puzzled many interpreters. It has two meanings in the sacred writings, and indeed in the Greek writers also. 1. It signifies once, one time, as opposed to twice, or several times. 2. Altogether, entirely, perfectly, interpreted by Suidas anti ton diolou, oloscerwv. and of this meaning he produces a proof from Josephus; This appears to be the sense of the word in Hebrews 6:4: touv apax fwtisqentav. those who were FULLY enlightened. Hebrews 10:2: apax kekaqarmenouv. THOROUGHLY cleansed. See also Hebrews 10:3 of this epistle. Psalm 62:11: apax elalhsen o qeov. God spoke FULLY, completely, on the subject. St. Jude is to be understood as saying, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye are THOROUGHLY instructed in this. Saved the people] Delivered them from the Egyptian bondage. Afterward destroyed them] Because they neither believed his word, nor were obedient to his commands. This is the first example of what was mentioned Jude 1:4.

Verse 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance, &c. — I will remind you of some examples of God’s judgments against such persons. Œcumenius observes, that “by proposing the following examples of the destruction of sinners from the Old Testament history, the apostle designed to show, that the God of the Old Testament is the same with the God of the New, in opposition to the Manicheans, who denied this; also to prove that the goodness of God will not hinder him from punishing the wicked under the new dispensation, any more than it hindered him from punishing them under the old.” In this passage Jude has mentioned two of the instances of the divine vengeance against atrocious sinners, which Peter took notice of, 2 Peter 2:4, 5, (where see the notes,) and in place of the third instance, the destruction of the old world, he hath introduced the destruction of the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness. Though ye once knew this — Were informed of it, and received it as a truth; that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt — By a train of wonderful miracles; afterward destroyed them that believed not — That is, destroyed the far greater part of that very people, whom he had once saved in a very extraordinary manner. Let no one, therefore, presume upon past mercies, as if he were now out of danger. Jude does not mention the various sins committed by the Israelites in the wilderness, such as their worshipping the golden calf, refusing to go into Canaan, when commanded of God, their fornication with the Midianitish women, their frequent murmurings, &c., but he sums up the whole in their unbelief, because it was the source of all their sins.

5. Put you in remembrance—Parallel to 2 Peter 3:1, “I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.” Once—For all knew, by their early knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures. The well-known truths had long slumbered in their memories, but must now be aroused to meet the crisis of their fulfilment. Jude now gives a triad of similar cases of guilt, followed by condign punishment, recorded in the Old Testament scriptures. FIRST EXAMPLE.—The Israelite people. The Lord—Here we are surprised by the fact disclosed to us by modern scholarship, that the true reading is doubtless not Lord, but Jesus. Somewhat similarly we have the unexpected Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:2-4, and Hebrews 10:28-31. Yet Jesus here is the more surprising as it is the more purely human name of the Lord than Christ. Some would read Joshua, of which Jesus is the Greek form, as in Hebrews 4:8; but Joshua did not save and then destroy the people. We have, therefore, the conclusion that to Jude, the maternal brother of Jesus, Jesus was Jehovah. Destroyed them—For sins, and especially lusts. From the Phenicians or Canaanites came the rites of Ashtoreth, in which courtezans were the priestesses, houses of license were the temples, obscene images were the idols, and debauchery was the worship. Against this fulness of iniquity the religion of Jehovah was arrayed, and when Israel apostatized thereto Jehovah destroyed him. Believed not—Adhered not to the pure worship of Jehovah, but yielded to the seductions of idolatrous lust.

V. 6. And the angels, who kept not their first dignity-Once assigned them under the Son of God.

But voluntarily left their own habitation-Then properly their own, by the free gift of God.

He reserved-Delivered to be kept.

In everlasting chains under darkness-O how unlike their own habitation! When these fallen angels came out of the hands of God, they were holy; else God made that which was evil: and being holy, they were beloved of God; else he hated the image of his own spotless purity. But now he loves them no more; they are doomed to endless destruction. (for if he loved them still, he would love what is sinful:) and both his former love, and his present righteous and eternal displeasure towards the same work of his own hands, are because he changeth not; because he invariably loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity. 2 Peter 2:4.

Verse 6. The angels which kept not their first estate] thn eautwn archn Their own principality. The words may be understood of their having invaded the office or dignity of some others, or of their having by some means forfeited their own. This is spoken of those generally termed the fallen angels; but from what they fell, or from what cause or for what crime, we know not. It is generally thought to have been pride; but this is mere conjecture. One thing is certain; the angels who fell must have been in a state of probation, capable of either standing or falling, as Adam was in paradise. They did not continue faithful, though they knew the law on which they stood; they are therefore produced as the second example. But left their own habitation] This seems to intimate that they had invaded the office and prerogatives of others, and attempted to seize on their place of residence and felicity.

He hath reserved in everlasting chains] That is, in a state of confinement from which they cannot escape.

Under darkness] Alluding probably to those dungeons or dark cells in prisons where the most flagitious culprits were confined. The judgment of the great day,] The final judgment, when both angels and men shall receive their eternal doom. See Clarke on “2 Peter 2:4”. In Sohar Exod., fol. 8, c. 32: “Rabbi Isaac asked: Suppose God should punish any of his heavenly family, how would he act? R. Abba answered: He would send them into the flaming river, take away their dominion, and put others in their place.” Some suppose that the saints are to occupy the places from which these angels, by transgression, fell.

Verse 6. And the angels which kept not their first estate — Or, as the clause may be rendered, their first dignity, or principality, (see on 2 Peter 2:4,) namely, the dignity or principality assigned them; but left their own habitation — Properly their own by the free gift of God. The apostle’s manner of speaking insinuates that they attempted to raise themselves to a higher station than that which God had allotted to them; consequently, that the sin for which they were and are to be punished, was pride and rebellion. He hath reserved — Delivered to be kept; in everlasting chains under darkness — O how unlike their own habitation! Everlasting chains is a metaphorical expression, which denotes a perpetual confinement, from which it is no more in their power to escape, than a man, who is strongly bound with iron chains, can break them. Unto the judgment of the great day — Elsewhere called the day of the Lord, and emphatically that day. In our Lord’s description of the general judgment, he tells us that the wicked are to depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; which implies that these wicked spirits are to be punished with the wicked of mankind. Observe, reader, when these fallen angels came out of the hands of God, they were holy, (else God made that which was evil,) and being holy they were beloved of God, (else he hated the image of his own spotless purity.) But now he loves them no more, they are doomed to endless destruction; (for if he loved them still, he would love what is sinful;) and both his former love, and his present righteous and eternal displeasure, toward the same work of his own hands, are because be changeth not; because he invariably loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity.

Ver. 6. The angels which kept not their first estate, with whom the false teachers and apostates from the faith are here associated. By their first estate we understand their dignity, as archangels, principalities, and powers. Let this warn back-sliders, who fall from sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, lest their end should be like that of fallen angels.

6. SECOND EXAMPLE.—The fallen angels. Which kept not their first estate—The fall of Satan is implied in the words ascribed to our Saviour, John 8:44, that Satan “abode not in the truth,” and it is symbolically predicted by him in Luke 10:18, (where see note.) It seems shadowed also in Revelation 9:1; 12:3-17. And these carry us back by analogy to Isaiah 14:12:

“How art thou fallen from heaven,

O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How art thou cut down to the ground

Which didst weaken the nations!”

Here the downfall of the king of Babylon is described as the falling of Lucifer, (light-bearer,) or the morning star, in colourings so similar, that if we suppose the writer acquainted with the history of the fall of Satan it would seem to be borrowed from that event. And so Byron addressed Napoleon in similar allusive terms:—

“Since he miscalled the Morning Star,

Nor god nor man hath fallen so far.”

But nowhere in Scripture is this fall so distinctly described as here. The wars of the Titans against the gods, and their being cast down by Jupiter to Tartarus, furnished by Greek mythology, seems to be the Gentile side of the history. Their first estate was their primitive angelic dignity in the regions of celestial light. Left their own habitation—Abandoned their princely residences, their divinely assigned sphere, in undutiful rebellion. Hath reserved—Instead of annihilating them. In everlasting chains—Not literally metallic chains, but limitations fixed upon them by divine power, excluding from the regions of glory, and fastening them in the regions of lower shade. See notes on Ephesians 4:10. Darkness—Murkiness, deepening in descending density. They are under this darkness because it overlies them, and though it excludes them not from the atmosphere of this earth, so but that they may roam among men, they are bound down to this lower stratum. As they left their own residence in light, God has assigned them another residence in darkness. The judgment of the great day— The Greek is without the definite article: unto judgment of great day; perhaps because the day became more definite after man became subjected to that same day of judgment; just as the final gehenna was “prepared for the devil and his angels,” Matthew 25:41; where see note. And so the demons of Matthew 8:24, feared that Jesus had come to torment them before the time.

V. 7. The cities which gave themselves over to fornication-The word here means, unnatural lusts.

Are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire-That is, the vengeance which they suffered is an example or a type of eternal fire.

Verse 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha] What their sin and punishment were may be seen in Gen. 19, and the notes there. This is the third example to illustrate what is laid down Jude 1:4.

Are set forth for an example] Both of what God will do to such transgressors, and of the position laid down in Jude 1:4, viz., that God has in the most open and positive manner declared that such and such sinners shall meet with the punishment due to their crimes. Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.] Subjected to such a punishment as an endless fire can inflict. Some apply this to the utter subversion of these cities, so that by the action of that fire which descended from heaven they were totally and eternally destroyed; for as to their being rebuilt, that is impossible, seeing the very ground on which they stood is burned up, and the whole plain is now the immense lake Asphaltites. See my notes on Gen. 19.

The first sense applies to the inhabitants of those wicked cities; the second, to the cities themselves: in either case the word pur aiwnion signifies an eternally destructive fire; it has no end in the punishment of the wicked Sodomites, &c.; it has no end in the destruction of the cities; they were totally burnt up, and never were and never can be rebuilt. ln either of these senses the word aiwniov, eternal, has its grammatical and proper meaning.

Verses 7, 8. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha — See on 2 Peter 2:6-9; and the cities about them — These were Admah and Zeboim. The four are mentioned Deuteronomy 29:23; Zoar, the fifth city in the plain of Sodom, was spared, at the request of Lot, for a place of refuge to him and his family. In like manner — Ton omoion toutoiv tropon, in a manner like to these; that is, either like to these wicked teachers, or like to the inhabitants of these wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah; giving themselves over to fornication — The word is applicable to any sort of uncleanness; and going after strange flesh — Giving themselves up to unnatural lusts; are set forth for an example — To other presumptuous sinners; suffering the vengeance of eternal fire — Having their lovely and fruitful country turned into a kind of hell upon earth. The meaning is, The vengeance which they suffered is an example, or type, of eternal fire. Likewise — Omoiwv men toi, in like manner, indeed; these filthy dreamers — So our translators render the word enupniazomenoi, an epithet which the persons described undoubtedly deserved. The word, however, only signifies dreamers; or rather, persons cast into a deep sleep, namely, into a state of ignorance and insensibility, of negligence and sloth, with respect to spiritual and eternal things; sleeping and dreaming all their lives. Defile the flesh — Their own bodies, which ought to be sacred, together with their spirits, to the service of God. Despise dominion — Those that are invested with it by Christ, and made by him the overseers of his flock; or, he may mean that they despised their civil rulers; and speak evil of dignities — Of persons in the most honourable stations. The Jews, fancying it sinful to obey the heathen magistrates, despised both them and their office. The ungodly teachers, of whom Jude speaks, carried the matter still further; they reviled all magistrates whatever, as enemies to the natural liberty of mankind.

7. THIRD EXAMPLE.—Sodom and Gomorrah. Even as—Rather, how that, to correspond with how that in verse 5, and depend on put you in remembrance. Like manner—Alford and many earlier commentators refer like to the angels of the previous verse, and make the likeness consist in following strange flesh, so that Jude is held to sustain the ancient legend, that the angels contaminated themselves with females of the human race. But unquestionably the like refers to the certain men of verse 4. To this in like manner corresponds the likewise of next verse, containing the reference to the same men. Strange flesh—Literally, other flesh; other than the “natural use” of Romans 1:27, implying the crime which has received its name from Sodom. Are set forth—Literally, lie forth; lie before our eyes, both on the face of the record and on the earth’s surface. Example—Literally, a showing of eternal fire, suffering punishment. The fires of ages on these plains are an illustration of eternal fire; as if the bituminous fires of the Dead Sea were a visible counterpart of the invisible fires of gehenna. The “slime-pits” of “the valley of Siddim” are recorded by successive writers as burning for centuries. In Deuteronomy 29:23, they are described as “brimstone, and salt, and burning.” Zephaniah 2:9, describes them as “the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation.” And in the Apocrypha, the Book of Wisdom says, that “even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a testimony.” Even so near Jude’s time Philo says, “The memorials of that terrible destruction yet remain; and ruins are shown in Syria mixed with ashes, smoke, sulphur, and slight flames still occasionally playing about, as in the remains of a conflagration. Josephus says, that in his own time “the remains of a fire, sent down from God, are yet visible.” Jude, as we understand him, views the material of a perpetual fire as a visible image of the fires of eternal retribution.

V. 8. In like manner these dreamers-Sleeping and dreaming all their lives.

Despise authority-Those that are invested with it by Christ, and made by him the overseers of his flock.

Rail at dignities-The apostle does not seem to speak of worldly dignities. These they had "in admiration for the sake of gain," Jude 1:16; but those holy men, who for the purity of their lives, the soundness of their doctrine, and the greatness of their labours in the work of the ministry, were truly honourable before God and all good men; and who were grossly vilified by those who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. Probably they were the impure followers of Simon Magus, the same with the Gnostics and Nicolaitans, Revelation 2:15. 2 Peter 2:10.

Verse 8. Likewise also these filthy dreamers] He means to say that these false teachers and their followers were as unbelieving and disobedient as the Israelites in the wilderness, as rebellious against the authority of God as the fallen angels, and as impure and unholy as the Sodomites; and that consequently they must expect similar punishment.

Our translators, by rendering enupniazomenoi filthy dreamers, seem to have understood St. Jude to mean les pollutions nocturnes et voluntaires de ces hommes impurs, qui se livrent sans scrupule a toutes sortes des pensees; et salissant leur imagination pas la vue de toutes sortes d’ objets, tombent ensuite dans les corsuptions honteuses et criminelles. See Calmet. In plain English, self-pollution, with all its train of curses and cursed effects on body, soul, and spirit. The idea of our translators seems to be confirmed by the words sarka men miainousi, they indeed pollute the flesh. See what is said at the conclusion of the thirty-eighth chapter of Genesis. Despise dominion] kuriothta de aqetousi. They set all government at nought-they will come under no restraints; they despise all law, and wish to live as they list.

Speak evil of dignities.] doxav de blasfhmousin. They blaspheme or speak injuriously of supreme authority. (See 2 Peter 2:10, 11.) They treat governors and government with contempt, and calumniate and misrepresent all Divine and civil institutions.

Verses 7, 8. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha — See on 2 Peter 2:6-9; and the cities about them — These were Admah and Zeboim. The four are mentioned Deuteronomy 29:23; Zoar, the fifth city in the plain of Sodom, was spared, at the request of Lot, for a place of refuge to him and his family. In like manner — Ton omoion toutoiv tropon, in a manner like to these; that is, either like to these wicked teachers, or like to the inhabitants of these wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah; giving themselves over to fornication — The word is applicable to any sort of uncleanness; and going after strange flesh — Giving themselves up to unnatural lusts; are set forth for an example — To other presumptuous sinners; suffering the vengeance of eternal fire — Having their lovely and fruitful country turned into a kind of hell upon earth. The meaning is, The vengeance which they suffered is an example, or type, of eternal fire. Likewise — Omoiwv men toi, in like manner, indeed; these filthy dreamers — So our translators render the word enupniazomenoi, an epithet which the persons described undoubtedly deserved. The word, however, only signifies dreamers; or rather, persons cast into a deep sleep, namely, into a state of ignorance and insensibility, of negligence and sloth, with respect to spiritual and eternal things; sleeping and dreaming all their lives. Defile the flesh — Their own bodies, which ought to be sacred, together with their spirits, to the service of God. Despise dominion — Those that are invested with it by Christ, and made by him the overseers of his flock; or, he may mean that they despised their civil rulers; and speak evil of dignities — Of persons in the most honourable stations. The Jews, fancying it sinful to obey the heathen magistrates, despised both them and their office. The ungodly teachers, of whom Jude speaks, carried the matter still further; they reviled all magistrates whatever, as enemies to the natural liberty of mankind.

Ver. 8. Filthy dreamers, in carnal grovellings of the mind, and the reveries of heresy and schism. What occupies chief attention in the daytime, is likely to enter into the visions of the night.

8. Dreamers—So called for the visionary speculations out of which their profligate and fantastic systems were formed. These visions produced vices of the three following classes. Defile the flesh—Yielding themselves, under a pseudo-religious sanction, to gluttony, debauchery, and unnatural lust. Despise—Literally, abolish, make nothing of, dominion, lordship, authority, human or divine, civil or ecclesiastical. Speak evil of—Literally, blaspheme. Dignities—Literally, glories. The sensualist’s brutal eyes degrade every noble thing they look upon. Every thing glorious they would bring down to their own level. And especially when they would sanctify a flagitious practice with a demoralized theory, all high and low are reversed and subverted. Legitimate lordship they repudiate, and all glories and sanctities of earth and heaven they flaunt and blaspheme with terms and phrases borrowed from their own obscene vocabulary.

V. 9. Yet Michael-It does not appear whether St. Jude learned this by any revelation or from ancient tradition. It suffices, that these things were not only true, but acknowledged as such by them to whom he wrote. The archangel-This word occurs but once more in the sacred writings, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. So that whether there be one archangel only, or more, it is not possible for us to determine.

When he disputed with the devil-At what time we know not. Concerning the body of Moses-Possibly the devil would have discovered the place where it was buried, which God for wise reasons had concealed. Durst not bring even against him a railing accusation-Though so far beneath him in every respect. But simply said, (so great was his modesty!) The Lord rebuke thee-I leave thee to the Judge of all.

Verse 9. Yet Michael the archangel] Of this personage many things are spoken in the Jewish writings “Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh says: Wherever Michael is said to appear, the glory of the Divine Majesty is always to be understood.” Shemoth Rabba, sec. ii., fol. 104, 3. So that it seems as if they considered Michael in some sort as we do the Messiah manifested in the flesh.

Let it be observed that the word archangel is never found in the plural number in the sacred writings. There can be properly only one archangel, one chief or head of all the angelic host. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind, ever found in the plural; there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this archangel, and head of all the angelic orders; the devil, great dragon, or Satan, is head of all the diabolic orders. When these two hosts are opposed to each other they are said to act under these two chiefs, as leaders; hence in Revelation 12:7, it is said: MICHAEL and his angels fought against the DRAGON and his angels. The word Michael lakym, seems to be compounded of ym mi, who, k ke, like, and la El, God; he who is like God; hence by this personage, in the Apocalypse, many understand the Lord Jesus. Disputed about the body of Moses] What this means I cannot tell; or from what source St. Jude drew it, unless from some tradition among his countrymen. There is something very like it in Debarim Rabba, sec. ii., fol. 263, 1: “Samael, that wicked one, the prince of the satans, carefully kept the soul of Moses, saying: When the time comes in which Michael shall lament, I shall have my mouth filled with laughter. Michael said to him: Wretch, I weep, and thou laughest. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, because I have fallen; for I shall rise again: when I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light; Micah 7:8. By the words, because I have fallen, we must understand the death of Moses; by the words, I shall rise again, the government of Joshua, &c.” See the preface.

Another contention of Michael with Satan is mentioned in Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 43, 3: “At the time in which Isaac was bound there was a contention between Michael and Satan. Michael brought a ram, that Isaac might be liberated; but Satan endeavoured to carry off the ram, that Isaac might be slain.”

The contention mentioned by Jude is not about the sacrifice of Isaac, nor the soul of Moses, but about the BODY of Moses; but why or wherefore we know not. Some think the devil wished to show the Israelites where Moses was buried, knowing that they would then adore his body; and that Michael was sent to resist this discovery.

Durst not bring against him a railing accusation] It was a Jewish maxim, as may be seen in Synopsis Sohar, page 92, note 6: “It is not lawful for man to prefer ignominious reproaches, even against wicked spirits.” See Schoettgen.

Dr. Macknight says: “In Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1, Michael is spoken of as one of the chief angels who took care of the Israelites as a nation; he may therefore have been the angel of the Lord before whom Joshua the high priest is said, Zecariah 3:1, to have stood, Satan being at his right hand to resist him, namely, in his design of restoring the Jewish Church and state, called by Jude the body of Moses, just as the Christian Church is called by Paul the body of Christ. Zechariah adds, And the Lord, that is, the angel of the Lord, as is plain from Zecariah 3:1, 2, said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee!” This is the most likely interpretation which I have seen; and it will appear the more probable when it is considered that, among the Hebrews, ãwg guph, BODY, is often used for a thing itself. So, in Romans 7:24, swma thv amartiav, the body of sin, signifies sin itself; so the body of Moses, hvm lv ãwg guph shel Mosheh, may signify Moses himself; or that in which he was particularly concerned, viz., his institutes, religion, &c.

It may be added, that the Jews consider Michael and Samael, one as the friend, the other as the enemy, of Israel. Samael is their accuser, Michael their advocate. “Michael and Samael stand before the Lord; Satan accuses, but Michael shows the merits of Israel. Satan endeavours to speak, but Michael silences him: Hold thy tongue, says he, and let us hear what the Judge determines; for it is written, He will speak peace to his people, and to his saints; Psalm 85:8.” Shemoth Rabba, sec. xviii. fol. 117, 3.

Verse 9. Yet Michael, &c. — It does not appear whether St. Jude learned this by any revelation, or from an ancient tradition. It suffices that these things were not only true, but acknowledged to be so by them to whom he wrote. Michael is mentioned Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1, as standing up in defence of Daniel’s people. “Because the book of Daniel is the first sacred writing in which proper names are given to particular angels, some have fancied that, during the Babylonish captivity, the Jews invented these names, or learned them from the Chaldeans. But this seems an unfounded conjecture. For the angel who appeared to Zacharias, (Luke 1:19,) called himself Gabriel, which shows that that name was not of Chaldean invention.” The archangel — This word occurs but once more in the sacred writings, namely, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. So that, whether there be one archangel only, or more, it is not possible for us to determine. Michael is called one of the chief princes, Daniel 10:13, and the great prince, Daniel 12:1; (on which passages see the notes.) And, because it is said, (Revelation 12:7,) that Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels, Estius conjectures that Michael is the chief or prince of all the angels. But this argument is not conclusive. When contending with the devil, he disputed (at what time we know not) concerning the body of Moses — Beza, Estius, Tillotson, and other good writers, think this passage is illustrated by Deut 34:6, where it is said the Lord buried Moses in a valley, in the land of Moab, and that no one knew of his sepulchre. They suppose that, had the devil been able to discover to the Jews the place where Moses was interred, they would afterward have paid an idolatrous honour to his remains; and it would have gratified his malice exceedingly, to have made him an occasion of idolatry, after his death, who had been so great an enemy to it in his life. To prevent this, he thinks, Michael buried his body secretly. This proves, by the way, that good angels are sometimes concerned in limiting the power of the devils, which must, no doubt, be a great vexation to those malignant spirits. But Mr. Baxter suggests it as a doubt, whether it were about the dead body of Moses, or Moses exposed on the water, when an infant, that there was this contention. Baxter suggests also another interpretation, in his note on this verse. Because the apostle here seems to allude to Zechariah 3:1, where we read of Joshua the high-priest, (representing the Jewish people,) standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him; and the Lord, namely, by his angel, saying unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee: and inasmuch as the subject of that contention, between the angel and Satan, was the restoration of the Jewish Church and state, Baxter thinks that by the body of Moses here may be meant the Jewish constitution, civil and religious, which Moses had established. An interpretation which Macknight seems to countenance; “Michael is spoken of as one of the chief angels, who took care of the Israelites as a nation. He may therefore have been the angel of the Lord, before whom Joshua, the high-priest, is said, (Zechariah 3:1) to have stood, Satan being at his right hand to resist him, namely, in his design of restoring the Jewish Church and state, called by Jude, the body of Moses, just as the Christian Church is called by Paul, the body of Christ.” And this interpretation, however apparently improbable, receives some countenance from the consideration, that, among the Hebrews, the body of a thing is often used for the thing itself. Thus, Romans 7:24, the body of sin signifies sin itself. So the body of Moses may signify Moses himself, who is sometimes put in the New Testament for his law, as 2 Corinthians 3:15, When Moses is read, &c.; Acts 15:21, Moses hath in every city them that preach him.

Durst not bring against him a railing accusation — But so revered the divine presence as to speak with moderation and gentleness, even to that great enemy of God and men. Michael’s duty, says Archbishop Tillotson, “restrained him, and probably his discretion too. As he durst not offend God in doing a thing so much beneath the dignity and perfection of his nature, so he could not but think that the devil would have been too hard for him at railing; a thing to which, as the angels have no disposition, so I believe they have no talent, no faculty at it; the cool consideration whereof should make all men, particularly those who call themselves divines, and especially in controversies about religion, ashamed and afraid of this manner of disputing.” But simply said — So great was his modesty! The Lord rebuke thee — I leave thee to the Judge of all. The argument of the apostle certainly does not lie in any regard shown by the angel to the devil, as a dignitary, and one who exercises dominion over subordinate evil spirits; for to be the leader of a band of such inexcusable rebels could entitle him to no respect; but it arises from the detestable character of the devil; as if the apostle had said, If the angel did not rail even against the devil, how much less ought we against men in authority, even supposing them in some things to behave amiss? To do it, therefore, when they behave well, must be a wickedness yet much more aggravated. — Doddridge.

Ver. 9, 10. Michael, the archangel, contending with the devil. In the gospels the word demon is of frequent occurrence, but here diabolus is used, to show that the contest lay between the prince of angels and the prince of demons. This is quoted from the apocryphal book of the jews, called “the ascension of Moses;” and as Jude knew what was true by the unction of the Spirit, the quotation does not invalidate the inspiration of the book. Undoubtedly, Moses ascended, else how could he appear to Christ with Elijah on the holy mount.

The ancients have a proverb, that “the actions of princes are like great rivers; all men see their course, as they flow in vallies and in plains, but few persons know their source.” This is a beautiful simile, teaching us to suspend our judgment on the actions of kings and their ministers, till we see the full developement of their councils. We may otherwise expose our folly by blaming what is wise and just.

9. Michael—Whence Jude quotes this instance is not clearly known. Origen says, it is a passage quoted from the book entitled “Ascension of Moses;” but the passage as specified by him is not the same with this of Jude. The old Greek commentator OEcumenius says, “It is said that Michael, the archangel, heaped on dust at his burial, but the devil, not agreeing to it, brought a charge against him of the killing of the Egyptian, and as on that account not worthy an honourable burial.” This the commentator derived from a source not at present known. Alford quotes a Greek passage from the Catena to the following effect: “When Michael brought Moses into the mount where our Lord was transfigured, then the devil said that God had perjured himself, in bringing him where he had sworn he should never come,” namely, into the Land of Promise. Dr. Gardiner has a plausible conjecture, which is in some degree sustained by this reference to the transfiguration. In that scene Moses appears in his resurrection body, and according to Deuteronomy 34:5, 6, the place of his tomb was never known. Moses, then, like the transfigured Elijah, was really not buried, but corporeally translated; and the real contest which took place between Michael and Satan was whether Moses was worthy, instead of a burial, of a translation. It may then have been a judicial contest, as in a case of canonization; in which Satan was the prosecutor, and Michael the advocate, of Moses; and the issue was, whether Moses should have a grave or an ascension. The transfiguration, where Moses appears with glorified body, shows that Michael was victorious. Michael is a name which does not appear in Scripture until after the captivity, namely, in Daniel 12:1, where he stands as the champion and guardian-angel of Israel See note, Matthew 1:20. The word archangel appears but once elsewhere in Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “The Lord himself shall descend… with the voice of the (rather, an) archangel.” The pre-eminence of certain angels is implied in the apocryphal book of Tobit, where Raphael specifies himself as “one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.” As champion of the Church Michael is here, as in the Apocalypse, at issue with Satan, the “archangel ruined,” who is mentioned by Jesus as “the devil” with “his angels.” Durst not—Had not the daring. Huther says, “From reverence for the original glory of the devil;” Fronmuller retorts, “Better, from profound dread of the majesty of God.” Both seem to be correct; for it was probably a judicial scene before God. As in Job, Satan appears in his official state as prosecutor, and a forensic courtesy before that tribunal of God himself is due even to that bad dignity, as well as to the divine Judge. A railing accusation—An “abusing of the plaintiff’s attorney” is said to be the final resort of the other party’s pettifogger when the facts are hard upon his client. It was not Satan who was on trial, but Moses; and, therefore, Michael need not make irrelevant allusion to the opposing counsels unfortunate antecedents. Rebuke thee—As he did Satan in the previous case of Job, acquitting the accused and non-suiting the accuser. Similar are the words of the angel to Satan in Zechariah 3:1-3, where the arch accuser is prosecuting God’s high-priest. Whether the document which Jude quotes was history or prose-poem, the archangel’s language repeated the words of Zechariah’s angel. Nor does the historical character of the document make important difference, for the modern pulpit could as properly elucidate a moral principle from Milton as from Macaulay. When it is said that “Jude quoted an apochryphal document,” it must be remembered that apochryphal means here simply the uninspired literature of the Hebrew Church. And if the book quoted was an imaginative production, its author wrote more wisely and more worthily of quotation than Milton, who makes even the angels retort “scorn for scorn.” Whether we hold the Satanic scene in Job to be history or poetry, it is equally suitable for instruction. But are we to treat Satan with courtesy? We reply, that there is a deep moral wisdom in the maxim, “Give even the devil his due.” Respect is due to dignity, to position, to any excellence even in the worst character. And courtesy is due to the worst who is in the performance of a dignified office. And this, nevertheless, does not silence the voice of moral rebuke. When the dignitary puts off his dignity and becomes a buffoon, a criminal, a culprit, there is a suitable treatment for him as a buffoon, a criminal, a culprit. Dignified courts know how to treat a criminal with due respect and self-respect. When moral severity arraigns the guilty, in the true spirit either of reforming or of condemning for the warning of others, or for the public good, the plainest words of human language may be sometimes justifiably used. Of this truth, this very fragment of Jude’s is a rare example. And when Jesus arraigned Satan, (John 8:44,) truth and righteousness took precedence of courtesy. Preachers of the present day need not be afraid of this passage. It is a noble text in behalf of courtesy and moral rectitude in our forensic and judicial chambers, in our legislative and congressional halls, in our editorial columns. While just arraignments of official corruption are all-important and must never be effeminated, our courts are at the present day degraded by discourtesy, our senators bandy epithets suggestive of “honourable satisfaction,” and our newspapers run riot in partisan detraction. Said the Irish orator, Grattan, “The gentleman cannot be severe without being unparliamentary; I will show him how to be severe and parliamentary too.” At the present day a great public problem is how to state unflinching truth without extenuating, or setting down aught in malice.

V. 10. But these-Without all shame.

Rail at the things of God which they know not-Neither can know, having no spiritual senses.

And the natural things, which they know-By their natural senses, they abuse into occasions of sin.

Verse 10. Speak evil of those things which they know not] They do not understand the origin and utility of civil government; they revile that which ever protects their own persons and their property. This is true in most insurrections and seditions.

But what they know naturally] They are destitute of reflection; their minds are uncultivated; they follow mere natural instinct, and are slaves to their animal propensities.

As brute beasts] wv ta aloga zwa. Like the irrational animals; but, in the indulgence of their animal propensities, they corrupt themselves, beyond the example of the brute beasts. A fearful description; and true of many in the present day.

Verses 10, 11. But these — Without any shame; speak evil of those things which they know not — Namely, the things of God; of whose nature and excellence, truth and importance, they are entirely ignorant. See on 1 Corinthians 2:14. But what they know naturally as brute beasts — By instinct, as animals void of reason; in those things they corrupt themselves — They make them occasions of sin: or, they are corrupted by the gross and scandalous abuse of them, to the dishonour of God, and their own infamy and destruction. Thus the apostle signifies that, notwithstanding their high pretensions to knowledge, they had no knowledge even concerning the use of their own bodies, but what they derived from natural instinct as brute animals; and that, instead of using that knowledge rightly, they thereby destroyed both their souls and bodies. Thus, in this passage, he condemned the lascivious practices of the Nicolaitans, and of all the ungodly teachers, who defended the promiscuous use of women, and confuted the argument taken from natural appetite, by which they vindicated their common whoredoms. Wo unto them — Of all the apostles, Jude alone, and that in this single passage, denounces a wo. St. Peter, to the same effect, pronounces them cursed children. Macknight, who renders the clause, wo is to them, considers it as only a declaration of the misery which was to come on them: in which sense only the phrase is used by our Lord, Matthew 24:19; Wo unto them that are with child, &c., for certainly this was no wish of punishment, since to be with child, and to give suck in those days, was no crime. But it was a declaration of the misery which was coming on persons in that helpless condition. For they have gone in the way of Cain — The murderer; and ran greedily — Greek, execuqhsan, have been poured out, like a torrent without banks; after the error of Balaam — The covetous false prophet, being strongly actuated, like him, by a passion for riches, and therefore drawing money from their disciples by allowing them to indulge their lusts without restraint. See on 2 Peter 2:15. And perished in the gainsaying of Core — Having opposed God’s messengers, as Korah did, like him and his company, vengeance will overtake them, as it did him. Here, as in many passages of Scripture, a thing is said to have happened which was only to happen. This manner of speaking was used to show the absolute certainty of the thing spoken of. The gainsaying, here mentioned, implies rebellion; for when princes and magistrates are contradicted, it is rebellion. By declaring that the ungodly teachers would perish in the rebellion of Korah, Jude insinuated that these men, by opposing the apostles of Christ, were guilty of a rebellion similar to that of Korah and his companions, who opposed Moses and Aaron, on pretence that they were no more commissioned by God, the one to be a prince, the other a priest, than the rest of the congregation, who, they said, were all holy, Numbers 16:3,

13. By comparing these false and wicked teachers to Cain, Balaam, and Korah, Jude has represented them as guilty of murder, covetousness, and ambition.

Ver. 9, 10. Michael, the archangel, contending with the devil. In the gospels the word demon is of frequent occurrence, but here diabolus is used, to show that the contest lay between the prince of angels and the prince of demons. This is quoted from the apocryphal book of the jews, called “the ascension of Moses;” and as Jude knew what was true by the unction of the Spirit, the quotation does not invalidate the inspiration of the book. Undoubtedly, Moses ascended, else how could he appear to Christ with Elijah on the holy mount.

The ancients have a proverb, that “the actions of princes are like great rivers; all men see their course, as they flow in vallies and in plains, but few persons know their source.” This is a beautiful simile, teaching us to suspend our judgment on the actions of kings and their ministers, till we see the full developement of their councils. We may otherwise expose our folly by blaming what is wise and just.

10. And now comes a most cutting antithesis. Of the dignities and glories above them they know not, and such they hold in contempt; but the sensual animalities below them they do, like brutes, naturally understand, and with those they are in deep sympathy. These—The finger of apostolic rebuke pointing at them. They know not—In their animality they ignore the pure God above them, the glories of the heavenly world, the moral governmental order on earth, which faintly copies the government of God. These they appreciate not, and deny their existence, or mention them only with ridicule. What they know—From the fleshly impulses within. As brute beasts—Just as animals understand the dictates of their sexual and sensual nature. Corrupt themselves—Sinking both their intellectual and bodily systems into debasement, disease, and death, temporal and eternal.

V. 11. Woe unto them-Of all the apostles St. Jude alone, and that in this single place, denounces a woe. St. Peter, to the same effect, pronounces them "cursed children."

For they have gone in the way of Cain-The murderer. And ran greedily-Literally, have been poured out, like a torrent without banks.

After the error of Balaam-The covetous false prophet. And perished in the gainsaying of Korah-Vengeance has overtaken them as it did Korah, rising up against those whom God had sent.

Verse 11. They have gone in the way of Cain] They are haters of their brethren, and they that are such are murderers; and by their false doctrine they corrupt and destroy the souls of the people.

The error of Balaam] For the sake of gain they corrupt the word of God and refine away its meaning, and let it down so as to suit the passions of the profligate. This was literally true of the Nicolaitans, who taught most impure doctrines, and followed the most lascivious practices. Gainsaying of Core.] See the account of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their company, in Num. 22. It appears that these persons opposed the authority of the apostles of our Lord, as Korah and his associates did that of Moses and Aaron; and St. Jude predicts them a similar punishment. In this verse he accuses them of murder, covetousness, and rebellion against the authority of God.

Verses 10, 11. But these — Without any shame; speak evil of those things which they know not — Namely, the things of God; of whose nature and excellence, truth and importance, they are entirely ignorant. See on 1 Corinthians 2:14. But what they know naturally as brute beasts — By instinct, as animals void of reason; in those things they corrupt themselves — They make them occasions of sin: or, they are corrupted by the gross and scandalous abuse of them, to the dishonour of God, and their own infamy and destruction. Thus the apostle signifies that, notwithstanding their high pretensions to knowledge, they had no knowledge even concerning the use of their own bodies, but what they derived from natural instinct as brute animals; and that, instead of using that knowledge rightly, they thereby destroyed both their souls and bodies. Thus, in this passage, he condemned the lascivious practices of the Nicolaitans, and of all the ungodly teachers, who defended the promiscuous use of women, and confuted the argument taken from natural appetite, by which they vindicated their common whoredoms. Wo unto them — Of all the apostles, Jude alone, and that in this single passage, denounces a wo. St. Peter, to the same effect, pronounces them cursed children. Macknight, who renders the clause, wo is to them, considers it as only a declaration of the misery which was to come on them: in which sense only the phrase is used by our Lord, Matthew 24:19; Wo unto them that are with child, &c., for certainly this was no wish of punishment, since to be with child, and to give suck in those days, was no crime. But it was a declaration of the misery which was coming on persons in that helpless condition. For they have gone in the way of Cain — The murderer; and ran greedily — Greek, execuqhsan, have been poured out, like a torrent without banks; after the error of Balaam — The covetous false prophet, being strongly actuated, like him, by a passion for riches, and therefore drawing money from their disciples by allowing them to indulge their lusts without restraint. See on 2 Peter 2:15. And perished in the gainsaying of Core — Having opposed God’s messengers, as Korah did, like him and his company, vengeance will overtake them, as it did him. Here, as in many passages of Scripture, a thing is said to have happened which was only to happen. This manner of speaking was used to show the absolute certainty of the thing spoken of. The gainsaying, here mentioned, implies rebellion; for when princes and magistrates are contradicted, it is rebellion. By declaring that the ungodly teachers would perish in the rebellion of Korah, Jude insinuated that these men, by opposing the apostles of Christ, were guilty of a rebellion similar to that of Korah and his companions, who opposed Moses and Aaron, on pretence that they were no more commissioned by God, the one to be a prince, the other a priest, than the rest of the congregation, who, they said, were all holy, Numbers 16:3,

13. By comparing these false and wicked teachers to Cain, Balaam, and Korah, Jude has represented them as guilty of murder, covetousness, and ambition.

Ver. 11. They have gone in the way of Cain, in hating their brethren, and maintaining a malignant opposition to the truth. They have also run, like Balaam, after the promised gold of Balak. It is the common charge against false teachers, that they love filthy lucre, and do every thing with a view to their own interest.

Ver. 14, 15. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these. The predictions of this holy patriarch, it would seem, were disseminated wide as the ancient world. The Chinese, the Hindoos, as well as the Sibyls of Egypt, of Greece, and Rome, have all transmitted the doctrine of a day of final scrutiny. See on Psalm 50:3. Vola, our northern mother, in the fifty ninth stanza of the Voluspa, now before me, sung of that event; a poem whose antiquity is lost in ancient times.

Sol tekur sortna

Sigur fold i mar,

Hverfa of himni,

Heithar stiornur,

Geisar eimi,

Bith aldur nara,

Leikur har hiti,

Bith himin stalfann.

The sun turns pale;

The spacious earth,

The sea engulphed.

From heaven falls

The lucid stars;

At the end of time,

The vapours rage,

And playful flame,

Involve the skies. — E. H.

11. The three types united in these men are Cain, Balaam, and Korah. The character, career, and final destiny of the three may be thus presented: Cain—godlessness, fraternal murder, life under divine curse; Balaam— licentiousness, bribetaking, slaughter in battle; Korah—ambition, schismatic sedition, sudden consignment to lower hades. Woe unto them—The menace of their final destiny is, like Cain, to be God-cursed; like Balaam, fated to slaughter; like Korah, bound for hades. The three verbs are in climax. Ran greedily, is, literally, they were poured out in that direction, like a stream or torrent. The climax then is, they went, they were poured, they perished. They imitated Cain in taking a mad career; like Balaam, they rushed headlong into licentious infamy for gain; like Korah, they rebelled against all holy authority and went down to the depths of death.

The comparison to Cain here, as in 1 John 3:12-15, does not affirm that these men were addicted to assassination, but indicates that murderous hatred of the brethren which John typifies in these same characters by the character of Cain. In regard to Balaam, consult our note on Revelation 2:14. The contradiction of Korah, expressed in verse 8 by despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, expresses the churchly turbulence and sedition of these men. Fraternal hate, mercenary licentiousness, and rebellion against the Christian body and government, are mainly the crimes charged.

V. 12. These are spots-Blemishes.

In your feasts of love-Anciently observed in all the churches. Feeding themselves without fear-Without any fear of God, or jealousy over themselves.

Twice dead-In sin, first by nature, and afterwards by apostasy. Plucked up by the roots-And so incapable of ever reviving.

Verse 12. Spots in your feasts of charity] It appears that these persons, unholy and impure as they were, still continued to have outward fellowship with the Church! This is strange: but it is very likely that their power and influence in that place had swallowed up, or set aside, the power and authority of the real ministers of Christ; a very common case when worldly, time-serving men get into the Church.

The feasts of charity, the agapai or love feasts, of which the apostle speaks, were in use in the primitive Church till the middle of the fourth century, when, by the council of Laodicea, they were prohibited to be held in the Churches; and, having been abused, fell into disuse. In later days they have been revived, in all the purity and simplicity of the primitive institution, among the Moravians or Unitas Fratrum, and the people called Methodists.

Among the ancients, the richer members of the Church made an occasional general feast, at which all the members attended, and the poor and the rich ate together. The fatherless, the widows, and the strangers were invited to these feasts, and their eating together was a proof of their love to each other; whence such entertainments were called love feasts. The love feasts were at first celebrated before the Lord’s Supper; in process of time they appear to have been celebrated after it. But they were never considered as the Lord’s Supper, nor any substitute for it. See, for farther information, Suicer, in his Thesaurus, under the word agaph.

Feeding themselves without fear] Eating, not to suffice nature, but to pamper appetite. It seems the provision was abundant, and they ate to gluttony and riot. It was this which brought the love feasts into disrepute in the Church, and was the means of their being at last wholly laid aside. This abuse is never likely to take place among the Methodists, as they only use bread and water; and of this the provision is not sufficient to afford the tenth part of a meal.

Instead of agapaiv, love feasts, apataiv, deceits, is the reading of the Codex Alexandrinus, and the Codex Ephrem, two MSS. of the highest antiquity; as also of those MSS. collated by Laurentius Valla, and of some of those in the Medicean library. This reading appears to have been introduced in order to avoid the conclusion that some might be led to draw concerning the state of the Church; it must be very corrupt, to have in its communion such corrupt men.

Clouds-without water] The doctrine of God is compared to the rain, Deuteronomy 32:2, and clouds are the instruments by which the rain is distilled upon the earth. In arid or parched countries the very appearance of a cloud is delightful, because it is a token of refreshing showers; but when sudden winds arise, and disperse these clouds, the hope of the husbandman and shepherd is cut off. These false teachers are represented as clouds; they have the form and office of the teachers of righteousness, and from such appearances pure doctrine may be naturally expected: but these are clouds without water-they distil no refreshing showers, because they have none; they are carried away and about by their passions, as those light fleecy clouds are carried by the winds. See Clarke’s notes on “2 Peter 2:17”.

Trees whose fruit withereth] dendra fqinopwrina. Galled or diseased trees; for fqinopwron is, according to Phavorinus, nosov fqinousa apwrav, a disease (in trees) which causes their fruit to wither; for although there are blossoms, and the fruit shapes or is set, the galls in the trees prevent the proper circulation of the sap, and therefore the fruit never comes to perfection. Hence the apostle immediately adds, without fruit; i.e. the fruit never comes to maturity. This metaphor expresses the same thing as the preceding. They have the appearance of ministers of the Gospel, but they have no fruit.

Twice dead] First, naturally and practically dead in sin, from which they had been revived by the preaching and grace of the Gospel. Secondly, dead by backsliding or apostasy from the true faith, by which they lost the grace they had before received; and now likely to continue in that death, because plucked up from the roots, their roots of faith and love being no longer fixed in Christ Jesus. Perhaps the aorist is taken here for the future: They SHALL BE plucked up from the roots-God will exterminate them from the earth.

Verse 12. These — Ungodly teachers; are spots — Blemishes; in your feasts of charity — Or love-feasts, as agapaiv is rendered by many interpreters. Commentators, however, are not agreed what sort of feasts they were. Some think they were those suppers which the first Christians ate previous to their eating the Lord’s supper, of which St. Paul is supposed to have spoken 1 Corinthians 11:21; but which, in consequence of the abuse of them by persons of a character like those here described, were soon laid aside. Others think Jude is speaking of the ancient love-suppers, which Tertullian hath described, (Apol., chap. 39,) and which do not seem to have been accompanied with the eucharist. These were continued in the church to the middle of the fourth century, when they were prohibited to be kept in the churches. Dr. Benson observes, “they were called love-feasts, or suppers, because the richer Christians brought in a variety of provisions to feed the poor, the fatherless, the widows, and strangers, and ate with them to show their love to them.” When they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear — Abandoning themselves to gluttony and excess, without any fear of God, or jealousy over themselves, and so bringing a great reproach on the gospel, and the religion of Christ. Clouds without water — Promising fertilizing showers of instruction and edification, but yielding none, or making a show of what they have not; see on 2 Peter 2:17; carried about of winds — Of temptation hither and thither, without any command of themselves, into various sorts of wickedness. Trees without fruit — The original expression, dendra fqinopwrina, is rendered by Macknight, withered autumnal trees; the latter word being derived from fqinopwron, which, according to Scapula, signifies, The decline of autumn drawing toward winter. Or, according to Phavorinus, it signifies a disease in trees which withers their fruit; a sense of the word which Beza has adopted in his translation. The translation of the Vulgate, arbores autumnales infructuoscæ, gives the same sense with that of Macknight, and suggests, he thinks, a beautiful idea. For, “in the eastern countries, the finest fruits being produced in autumn, by calling the corrupt teachers autumnal trees, Jude intimated the just expectation which was entertained of their being fruitful in good doctrine: but by adding akarpa, without fruit, he marked their uselessness, and the disappointment of their disciples.” Twice dead — First in the stock, and afterward in the graft; first by nature, and afterward by apostacy. Or dead under the Mosaic dispensation, (those ungodly teachers being mostly of the Jewish nation,) and though at first apparently quickened on their reception of the gospel, yet, through the abuse of its doctrines and privileges, dead and barren a second time: plucked up by the roots — As hopeless and irrecoverable. “There is a striking climax in this description of the false teachers: they were trees stripped of their leaves, and withering; they had no fruit, being barren that season: they were twice dead, having borne no fruit formerly: lastly, they were rooted out, as utterly barren.”

12. In the next two verses St. Jude ranges through nature, through earth, sea, and sky, for images of reprobation for the sensualistic heretics. Rocks, clouds, trees, waves, and stars are collected in expressive disorder of succession, to image their disorderly existence.

Spots—Rather, rocks; that is, concealed peaks or breakers on which ships are liable to wreck. The calm, sweet sea, under whose surface these treacherous wreckers were lurking, were the feasts of charity, the agapae or love-feasts of the primitive Church. These were banquets after the Lord’s supper, intended to promote social fraternity in the Church, and to provide a charitable meal for the indigent, who were invited to partake. Wesley’s institution of love-feast was a revival of only the first of these purposes. Strange to say, these social and charitable meals could be kept pure neither from gluttony nor licentiousness, and for that reason were abandoned by the Church and prohibited by her authorities. We hope it is a proof of modern improved morality that no such facts, at our Sabbath-school excursions, picnics, and other Christian socialities, have given pain to the Church. Feast… fear—Perhaps a better rendering would be: Carousing with you without fear, providing for themselves. Even at a sacred feast they had no fear to indulge in excess and license. And by their seductions they were as rocks under surface, dangerous to the unsuspecting mariners. Clouds—Which in a dry region are a sweet promise of a falling shower; and these for awhile seemed rich with refreshing spirituality and benefaction to the Church. But, alas! they were waterless, with no reviving or fertilizing store in their bosom, and soon they are seen to be the image of fickleness and worthlessness, being the sport of the varying winds. Trees—Once fruitful, but now autumnal and stripped of fruit. The phrase, whose fruit withereth, simply signifies autumnal, and so bare of fruit and leaves. Twice dead—De Wette understands doubly-dead to be simply intensive, utterly dead. Alford and others, dead, first, in autumnal fruitlessness, their annual fruit-bearing energy being expended; and, secondly, dead by the subsequent extinction of all vitality. This describes, we may admit, doubly dead trees, but shows not the correspondent double death in the men typified by the trees. On the other hand, Stier and Wordsworth find the twice dead solely in the men, namely, in their original death by unregeneracy, and a second death after conversion by apostasy. This must find its correspondence in the trees in their original fruitlessness previous to the bearing, and a cessation of bearing by the cessation of life. We doubt whether a return to De Wette’s interpretation is not best. Plucked up by the roots—A single word, uprooted; or, as the Greek, more expressively, out-rooted. By the Greek aorist all these verbs contemplate the operations from the standpoint of time after their completion. See note, Romans 8:5; 5:13. It is as if at the consummation of the whole ruin our apostle’s pen describes things as past. Plucked up—Rent from the Church, and, their probation being closed, virtually or really, wrenched from life; no longer cumberers of the ground. Their future and final fate predicted as a past fact.

V. 13. Wandering stars-Literally, planets, which shine for a time, but have no light in themselves, and will be soon cast into utter darkness. Thus the apostle illustrates their desperate wickedness by comparisons drawn from the air, earth, sea, and heavens.

Verse 13. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame] The same metaphor as in Isaiah 57:20: The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. These are like the sea in a storm, where the swells are like mountains; the breakers lash the shore, and sound like thunder; and the great deep, stirred up from its very bottom, rolls its muddy, putrid sediment, and deposits it upon the beach. Such were those proud and arrogant boasters, those headstrong, unruly, and ferocious men, who swept into their own vortex the souls of the simple, and left nothing behind them that was not indicative of their folly, their turbulence, and their impurity.

Wandering stars] asterev planhtai. Not what we call planets; for although these differ from what are called the fixed stars, which never change their place, while the planets have their revolution round the sun; yet, properly speaking, there is no irregularity in their motions: for their appearance of advancing, stationary, and retrograde, are only in reference to an observer on the earth, viewing them in different parts of their orbits; for as to themselves, they ever continue a steady course through all their revolutions. But these are uncertain, anomalous meteors, ignes fatui, wills-o’-the-wisp; dancing about in the darkness which themselves have formed, and leading simple souls astray, who have ceased to walk in the light, and have no other guides but those oscillating and devious meteors which, if you run after them, will flee before you, and if you run from them will follow you.

The blackness of darkness] They are such as are going headlong into that outer darkness where there is wailing, and weeping, and gnashing of teeth. The whole of this description appears to have been borrowed from 2Pet. 2, where the reader is requested to see the notes.

Verse 13. Raging waves of the sea — Unstable in their doctrine, and turbulent and furious in their tempers and manners, having no command of their irascible passions. Foaming out their own shame — By their wicked and outrageous behaviour, even among their disciples, showing their own filthiness to their great disgrace. The apostle seems here to have alluded to Isaiah 57:20, The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Wandering stars — Planhtai, literally, planets, which shine for a time, but have no light in themselves. The Jews called their teachers stars, and Christian teachers are represented under the emblem of stars, Revelation 1:20; 2:1. And as the planets seem to have a very irregular motion, being sometimes stationary and sometimes retrograde, they are very proper emblems of persons unsettled in their principles, and irregular in their behaviour, such as these men were. To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness, &c. Who will soon be driven to an eternal distance from the great original of light and happiness, to which they shall never return. Thus the apostle illustrates their desperate wickedness, by comparisons drawn from the air, earth, sea and heavens.

13. Raging waves—Savage, as if alive, full of furious purpose and power. Their own shame—The plural shames. The image, like that of Isaiah, “casting up mire and dirt;” the shames being their own brutal dogmas and feelings flung forth in shameless words. Wandering stars—Unknown to modern astronomy, but too well known in both ancient and modern moral experience. They are neither comets nor shooting stars; but ocularly meteors, conceptually, stars swinging from their positions, drifting from their orbits, and lawlessly wandering in space. These errorists, probably, once had position and orbits, but are veering farther and farther from the light. Blackness of darkness—An intenser expression in the English than the original. Substitute in place of blackness, murkiness, gloom. But Gardiner remarks, that the former of these two terms “is a Homeric word for the darkness of the infernal regions, and is even put for the world itself of future woe.” As the meteoric star conceptually loses itself in distant and hopeless darkness, so these living wanderers will drift into a returnless destiny of ruin.

V. 14. And of these also-As well as the antediluvian sinners. Enoch-So early was the prophecy referred to, Jude 1:4. The seventh from Adam-There were only five of the fathers between Adam and Enoch, 1 Chronicles 1:1-3. The first coming of Christ was revealed to Adam; his second, glorious coming, to Enoch; and the seventh from Adam foretold the things which will conclude the seventh age of the world. St. Jude might know this either from some ancient book, or tradition, or immediate revelation.

Behold-As if it were already done, the Lord cometh!

Verse 14. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam] He was the seventh patriarch, and is distinguished thus from Enoch, son of Cain, who was but the third from Adam; this appears plainly from the genealogy, 1 Chronicles 1:1: Adams Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch or Enoch, &c. Of the book of Enoch, from which this prophecy is thought to have been taken, much has been said; but as the work is apocryphal, and of no authority, I shall not burden my page with extracts. See the preface. Perhaps the word proefhteuse, prophesied, means no more than preached, spoke, made declarations, &c., concerning these things and persons; for doubtless he reproved the ungodliness of his own times. It is certain that a book of Enoch was known in the earliest ages of the primitive Church, and is quoted by Origen and Tertullian; and is mentioned by St. Jerome in the Apostolical Constitutions, by Nicephorus, Athanasius, and probably by St. Augustine. See Suicer’s Thesaurus, vol. i., col. 1131. Such a work is still extant among the Abyssinians.

Ten thousand of his saints] This seems to be taken from Daniel 7:10.

Verses 14, 15. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam — Thus described to distinguish him from Enoch the son of Cain, (Genesis 4:17,) who was only the third from Adam; so early was the prophecy delivered, referred to verse 4: prophesied of these — As well as of the antediluvian sinners. The first coming of Christ was revealed to Adam, his second and glorious coming to Enoch, who foretold the things which will conclude the last age of the world. St. Jude might know this either from some ancient book or tradition, or from immediate revelation. In whatever way he knew it, a precious fragment of antediluvian history is thus preserved to us by the special providence of God, who taught the Apostle Jude to distinguish between what was genuine and what was spurious in ancient story. “Though Moses has said nothing concerning Enoch’s prophesying, yet by telling us that he was a person of such piety, as to be translated to heaven in the body without dying, he hath warranted us to believe Jude’s account of him; namely, that God employed him, as he did Noah, in reforming the wicked of the age in which he lived, and that he inspired him to deliver the prophecy of which Jude speaks. Saying, Behold, (as if it were already done!) The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints — Or holy ones, namely, angels, with legions of whom his descent for the purpose here mentioned will be attended; to execute judgment — Or to pass sentence, as poihsai krisin may be rendered; upon all — According to their respective works. Herein Enoch looked beyond the flood: and to convince — Or convict rather, as exelegxai more properly signifies, by witnesses that cannot be confronted; all that are ungodly among them — Among those judged, and upon whom sentence is passed. Of all their ungodly deeds — Their wicked actions; which they have ungodly — Impiously; committed — Being destitute of the fear as well as love of God, and in defiance of his justice and wrath: and of all their hard — Their impious, atheistical, scoffing speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him — Namely, against Christ, as if he were an impostor, who was justly punished with an ignominious death; and against his people, representing them, although the excellent of the earth, of whom the world was not worthy, (Hebrews 11:38,) as the vilest of men.

14. Prophesied—This word stands, in the Greek, with its particle but, the first word of the sentence; the place of emphasis. The emphasis implies that not only were these characters typified by the above-named very ancient examples, but they were prophesied of by a most ancient holy seer. Also, in the English, seems by its position to mean that Enoch, in addition to others, so prophesied; whereas it really means, that prophecy was by him added to the above types. Read, But prophesied, also, in regard to these, the seventh one from Adam, Enoch. Seventh—Including both Adam and Enoch, there were seven persons in line. There is a week, usually of days; also sometimes, a week of things; and here, a week of persons, with holy Enoch, for its holy sabbath. “The number seven was esteemed, in the ancient world, as an important signature pointing to the sacred and mystery. The fact that after sin and death had freely exerted their unhappy power during the first six generations, in the seventh generation mankind appeared in the person of one man in a state of high completeness and blessed freedom from death, has a kind of prophetico-symbolical significance, and intimates that mankind in general, after having fully completed its course and fought its battle under the oppression of sin and death, through six long world-periods, shall appear in the seventh world-period in a state of high completeness, in a more divine life and more blessed freedom from death. The seventh world-period is the kingdom of God on earth. To Adam, the first, was revealed and promised the appearance and advent of the Lord, as a Helper and Saviour; to Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was revealed the last advent of the same Lord, Helper, and Saviour as a Judge and Avenger, and he was the first prophet who spoke and taught this among men.”—Wordsworth. Of these—The wickedness of these men placed them within the comprehension of Enoch’s prophecy. They put themselves into the class of characters for all whom the predictions were truly intended. Through long ages the prediction extended so as to reach them; and even to reach all such impenitent transgressors, from Enoch to the present day and to the second coming of Christ.

V. 15. To execute judgment-Enoch herein looked beyond the flood. Upon all-Sinners, in general.

And to convict all the ungodly, in particular, of all the grievous things which ungodly sinners (a sinner is bad; but the ungodly who sin without fear are worse) have spoken against him, Jude 1:8,10, though they might not think, all those speeches were against him.

Verse 15. To execute judgment] This was originally spoken to the antediluvians; and the coming of the Lord to destroy that world was the thing spoken of in this prophecy or declaration. But as God had threatened this, it required no direct inspiration to foretell it. To execute judgment, &c. This is a very strange verse as to its composition, and is loaded with various readings; the MSS. and versions being at little agreement among themselves on its phraseology. autwn, which we translate among them, is omitted by the best MSS. and versions, and is, in all probability, spurious. Many also omit asebeiav after rgwn, ungodly deeds. Many insert logwn, words or speeches, after sklhrwn, hard; and this word our translators have supplied. And instead of amartwloi, sinners, the Sahidic has anqrwpoi, men. There are others of less note; but the frequent recurrence of ALL and UNGODLY makes the construction of the sentence very harsh. Dr. Macknight supposes that Enoch’s prophecy was common among the Jews; for the first words in Hebrew are Maranatha, and these were used by them in that form of excommunication or cursing which they pronounced against irreclaimable offenders. The doctor forgets himself here; the words Maranatha are not Hebrew, but Syriac. In Hebrew the form of execration begins with hta rwra arur attah, “cursed art thou;” or אתה מחרם mochoram attah: but the Syriac [Syriac] maran atha, is literally, our Lord is coming; see on 1 Corinthians 16:22; but here, in the Syriac, the words are [Syriac] atha moria, “the Lord cometh.” So it is doubtful whether this fancied analogy exists.

Verses 14, 15. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam — Thus described to distinguish him from Enoch the son of Cain, (Genesis 4:17,) who was only the third from Adam; so early was the prophecy delivered, referred to verse 4: prophesied of these — As well as of the antediluvian sinners. The first coming of Christ was revealed to Adam, his second and glorious coming to Enoch, who foretold the things which will conclude the last age of the world. St. Jude might know this either from some ancient book or tradition, or from immediate revelation. In whatever way he knew it, a precious fragment of antediluvian history is thus preserved to us by the special providence of God, who taught the Apostle Jude to distinguish between what was genuine and what was spurious in ancient story. “Though Moses has said nothing concerning Enoch’s prophesying, yet by telling us that he was a person of such piety, as to be translated to heaven in the body without dying, he hath warranted us to believe Jude’s account of him; namely, that God employed him, as he did Noah, in reforming the wicked of the age in which he lived, and that he inspired him to deliver the prophecy of which Jude speaks. Saying, Behold, (as if it were already done!) The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints — Or holy ones, namely, angels, with legions of whom his descent for the purpose here mentioned will be attended; to execute judgment — Or to pass sentence, as poihsai krisin may be rendered; upon all — According to their respective works. Herein Enoch looked beyond the flood: and to convince — Or convict rather, as exelegxai more properly signifies, by witnesses that cannot be confronted; all that are ungodly among them — Among those judged, and upon whom sentence is passed. Of all their ungodly deeds — Their wicked actions; which they have ungodly — Impiously; committed — Being destitute of the fear as well as love of God, and in defiance of his justice and wrath: and of all their hard — Their impious, atheistical, scoffing speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him — Namely, against Christ, as if he were an impostor, who was justly punished with an ignominious death; and against his people, representing them, although the excellent of the earth, of whom the world was not worthy, (Hebrews 11:38,) as the vilest of men.

15. To execute judgment—The office of judge, rather than executioner, is here described, which is performed upon all. To convince—To expose and convict of their sin, stripping away every excuse, and exhibiting their naked guilt. Deeds… speeches—The external sins alone are here mentioned as exhibitions of character. Ungodly committed—As an English adverb we should here have ungodlily. Hard—Hostile, unsubmissive, impenitent. Sinners… against him—The Greek order of words is more emphatic: which they spoke against him, sinners, impious. It is supposed by some that Jude here quotes an apocryphal Book of Enoch, of which Dr. Mombert says:—

“The above mentioned apocryphal Book of Enoch was formerly known only by fragments and notices of the early Fathers, but has recently been discovered in an AEthiopic translation, and translated from the AEthiopic into German. It became known in Europe about the close of the last century. Winner, Dorner, and others, ascribe its authorship to a Jew of the first century of the Christian era; Ewald places its date at the end of the second century before Christ. A new edition and translation of this book was published by D. Dillman in 1853, who pronounces it to have been written about B.C. 110. The book consists, according to the careful investigation of the last-named scholar, of three parts: 1. The proper and original Book of Enoch, which constitutes the greatest part of this apocryphal work. 2. Of historical additions for the elucidation of several doctrines and ideas from the pen of another author, who wrote nothing afterwards. 3. Of so-called Noachian additions, connected with other interpolations made by a third author, belonging at least to the end of the first century B.C.… Considering that the variations between the epistle and the Book of Enoch are not inconsiderable, and that the Book of Enoch is not expressly cited, there is still room to doubt whether Jude knew that book. But the tradition of Enoch’s prophecy he must at all events have known, and considered true as to its kernel.” A late German writer, Volcmar, maintains that the book was written in the time of Hadrian, the beginning of the second century, and his argument Alford approves. In America, Stuart maintains the post-christian character of the book; and Dr. Gardiner, in a very able excursus, maintains more conclusively the same ground, denying that Jude quoted the book. Our own conclusion is, that it contains words and phrases used in a manner not found in any other pre-christian book, and the book can hardly be accepted as pre-christian. Alford says, “That the particulars related in Second Peter and in our epistle of the fallen angels, are found also in the Book of Enoch, is no proof that the writers of these epistles took them from that book. Three other solutions are possible: 1. That the apocryphal writer took them from our epistle; 2. That their source in each case was ancient tradition; 3. That the Book of Enoch itself consists of separate portions written at different times.”

V. 16. These are murmurers-Against men.

Complainers-Literally, complainers of their fate, against God. Walking-With regard to themselves.

After their own foolish and mischievous desires. Having men's persons in admiration for the sake of gain-Admiring and commending them only for what they can get.

Verse 16. These are murmurers] Grudging and grumbling at all men, and at all things; complainers, memyimoiroi, complainers of their fate or destiny-finding fault with God and all his providential dispensations, making and governing worlds in their own way; persons whom neither God nor man can please.

Walking after their own lusts] Taking their wild, disorderly, and impure passions for the rule of their conduct, and not the writings of the prophets and apostles.

Great swelling words] uJperogka. See the explanation of this term in 2 Peter 2:18.

Having men’s persons in admiration] Time-servers and flatterers; persons who pretend to be astonished at the greatness, goodness, sagacity, learning, wisdom; &c., of rich and great men, hoping thereby to acquire money, influence, power, friends, and the like.

Because of advantage.] wfeleiav carin. For the sake of lucre. All the flatterers of the rich are of this kind; and especially those who profess to be ministers of the Gospel, and who, for the sake of a more advantageous settlement or living, will soothe the rich even in their sins. With such persons a rich man is every thing; and if he have but a grain of grace, his piety is extolled to the skies! I have known several ministers of this character, and wish them all to read the sixteenth verse of Jude.

Verse 16. These are murmurers — Against God and men, never contented with the allotments of Providence, or with the conduct of any about them; complainers — Memyimoiroi, literally, complainers of their fate. Some think that the two expressions, murmurers and complainers, are synonymous terms to express the same thought with more strength and emphasis. If there be any difference in their signification, the former may imply their murmuring in general, the other the subject of their murmuring; they complained of their lot and condition in the world, and of the course of Providence. Jude, in writing this, seems to have had his eye upon the murmurings and complainings of the Israelites in the wilderness, which were highly displeasing to God, 1 Corinthians 10:10. And writing, if not chiefly, yet at least in part, to such Christians as had been Jews, he might partly refer to the complaining temper prevalent among the Jews about this time, as Josephus testifies, in which the Judaizing Christians very much resemble them. Walking after their own lusts — Their own foolish and mischievous desires; the source this of their murmuring and complaining. For the plan of the divine government is in favour of piety and virtue: and vice cannot always prosper, or even hope to end well, in such a constitution of things; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words — In praise of themselves, as the only teachers who free men from the shackles of superstition. Or perhaps the apostle means that the false teachers spake in an insolent manner against the Roman magistrates for punishing them, and against the laws for prohibiting the vices in which they delighted. For they are said (verse 8) to despise government, and to revile dignities. And this they might do on pretence of maintaining the cause of the people of God, against the tyranny and oppression of the Romans; having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage — Admiring and commending them only for what they can get.

Ver. 16. These are murmurers, complainers. And who can be more unhappy than a minister who is not in the spirit of his duty? He cannot look like another man.

16. The utterers of these hard speeches, as such, are now more fully described. They are, namely, the seditious Korahs of the Church. Murmurers—Croakers against the apostolic doctrines and institutions. Complainers—Literally, fate-blamers; malcontents who rebel against their own rank and condition in the order of things and the organization of the Church. Lusts—Impulses of the natural man, whether sexual, ambitious, or belligerent. Great swelling words—The utterances of arrogance, and of assumption to being much greater and higher personages than they truly are. Having… admiration—Admiring, flattering men to their faces, for whom they, perhaps, have no real respect. Because of advantage—For the sake of profit. Their admiration is a hypocrisy, for the purpose of gaining position, power, or compensation, through the influence of their beguiled victims.

V. 17. By the apostles-He does not exempt himself from the number of apostles. For in the next verse he says, they told you, not us.

Verse 17. Remember-the words] Instead of following those teachers and their corrupt doctrine, remember what Christ and his apostles have said; for they foretold the coming of such false teachers and impostors.

Verse 17. But, beloved — To prevent you from giving heed to the vain speeches of these deceivers; remember the words which were spoken before — Or spoken prophetically; by the apostles — Who have preached the gospel to you in all its purity. He does not exempt himself from the number of apostles; for in the next verse he says, they told you, not us. The resemblance, as Doddridge justly observes, between this text and Peter 3:2, is very remarkable. It is such as would incline one to think that Jude had the text in Peter before him, and omitted what had a peculiar reference to the former part of St. Peter’s epistle, and to which there was nothing in his own to answer. Though Jude only cites the words spoken by Peter in particular concerning the coming of scoffers in the last time, yet his exhortation being general, it comprehends the words spoken by the other apostles concerning the coming of false teachers, such as Paul’s, 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:4. Nay, it comprehends the words spoken by Jude himself in the preceding part of this epistle.

Ver. 17. Remember the words which were formerly spoken by the apostles of our Lord. This reading, by Dr. Symonds, relieves the sense.

17. But, beloved—Turning, as it were, his face towards the purer part of the Church. Later prophets than Enoch have described these men, and with a more specific designation of their time and place. Remember ye the words—This phrase naturally suggests spoken words; spoken by apostles whom they had, many of them, personally heard. Spoken before— Forespoken; uttered long before their fulfilment, and so predictive. They were forespoken to the Ephesian Church by its founder-apostle, Paul, in his memorable address to the Ephesian elders. Acts 20:28-31. Also, 2 Timothy 3:1-5; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10. And 2 Thessalonians 2:5, says the apostasy was topic of oral apostolic discourse.

Verse 18. Mockers in the last time] See the notes on 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1, &c.; and particularly 2 Peter 3:2, 3, &c., to which Jude seems to refer.

The last time.-The conclusion of the Jewish polity.

18. Mockers… walk after their own… lusts—Same Greek words as in 2 Peter 3:3; where see note: yet speaking here of a different set of mockers or scoffers. In the last time—Using nearly the same words of the same verse in Peter, yet referring to a different time.

V. 19. These are they who separate themselves, sensual, not having the Spirit-Having natural senses and understanding only, not the Spirit of God; otherwise they could not separate. For that it is a sin, and a very heinous one, "to separate from the church," is out of all question. But then it should be observed, 1. That by the church is meant a body of living Christians, who are "an habitation of God through the Spirit:" 2. That by separating is understood, renouncing all religious intercourse with them; no longer joining with them in solemn prayer, or the other public offices of religion: and, 3. That we have no more authority from scripture to call even this schism, than to call it murder.

Verse 19. Who separate themselves] From the true Church, which they leave from an affectation of superior wisdom.

Sensual] yucikoi. Animal-living as brute beasts, guided simply by their own lusts and passions, their Bible being the manifold devices and covetousness of their own hearts; for they have not the Spirit-they are not spiritually minded; and have no Holy Ghost, no inspiration from God.

Verse 19. These be they who separate themselves — Namely, from the communion of the church and from other Christians, under pretence of their greater illumination; sensual — Yucikoi, animal; not having the Spirit — Having a natural understanding and natural senses, but not the Spirit of God, either as the Spirit of truth or grace, and therefore addicted to the low gratifications of their animal life; otherwise they would not separate themselves from the Church of Christ. For that it is a sin, and a very heinous one, to separate from it, is out of all question. But then it should be observed, 1st, That by the Church of Christ is meant a body of living Christians, who are a habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephesians 2:20, 21. And, 2d, That by separating is understood renouncing all religious intercourse with them, no longer joining with them in solemn prayer, or the other public offices of religion.

19. These… separate themselves—First demoralizing and disgracing the Church by bringing the imputation of their own vices upon it, and then distracting and dividing it by a secession, which, however, relieves it. The same sort of seceders as in 1 John 2:18, 19. Sensual—Same word as is rendered “natural” in 1 Corinthians 15:44, and for which we coined the word soulical, as an exact equivalent. The word is plainly antithetical to spirit, as part of the trinality or three-foldness of the human constitution. Having not the Spirit—These men are merely soulical: spirit having not. They had body and animal soul, but they had lost their highest nature, spirit. This does not literally mean that a part of their human constitution had been annihilated, but nullified; reduced to nullity; just as we severely say that a man is conscienceless when his conscience seems dead.

V. 20. But ye, beloved, not separating, but building yourselves up in your most holy faith-Than which none can be more holy in itself, or more conducive to the most refined and exalted holiness.

Praying through the Holy Spirit-Who alone is able to build you up, as he alone laid the foundation. In this and the following verse St. Jude mentions the Father, Son, and Spirit, together with faith, love, and hope.

Verse 20. Building up yourselves] Having the most holy faith-the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, and the writings of his apostles, for your foundation; founding all your expectations on these, and seeking from the Christ who is their sum and substance; all the grace and glory ye need. Praying in the Holy Ghost] Holding fast the Divine influence which ye have received, and under that influence making prayer and supplication to God. The prayer that is not sent up through the influence of the Holy Ghost is never likely to reach heaven.

Verses 20, 21. But ye, beloved — Not separating yourselves from your Christian brethren, but building up — Or edifying one another in knowledge and grace; on, or in, your most holy faith — The true Christian faith, having for its object all the doctrines, precepts, and promises of the gospel; a faith, than which none can be more holy in itself, or more conducive to the most refined and exalted holiness; praying in, or through, the Holy Ghost — By a principle of grace derived from him, and by his enlightening, quickening, sanctifying, and comforting influences, showing you what blessings you may and ought to pray for, inspiring you with sincere and fervent desires after those blessings, and enabling you to offer these desires to God in faith, with gratitude for the blessings which you have already received. And by these means, and through divine grace communicated therein, keep yourselves in the love of God — That is, in love to God, arising from a sense of his love to you; looking for the mercy, &c. — Continually possessing a confident expectation of that eternal life, which is purchased for you and conferred upon you through the mere mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

20. As to yourselves, there must be a building up, instead of a tearing down, as the errorists are doing. And the four elements of this self-building are, faith, which must be your own act; prayer, which must be impregnate with the Holy Ghost, the spirit of man and the Spirit of God cooperating; love of God, the element in which you keep yourselves; and mercy, resulting in the sublime and divine ultimate eternal life.

V. 21. By these means, through his grace, keep yourselves in the love of God, and in the confident expectation of that eternal life which is purchased for you, and conferred upon you, through the mere mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God] By building up yourselves on your most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Ghost; for without this we shall soon lose the love of God.

Looking for the mercy of our Lord] For although they were to build themselves up, and to pray in the Holy Ghost, and keep themselves in the love of God, yet this building, praying, and keeping, cannot merit heaven; for, after all their diligence, earnestness, self-denial, watching, obedience, &c., they must look for the MERCY of the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring them to ETERNAL LIFE.

Verses 20, 21. But ye, beloved — Not separating yourselves from your Christian brethren, but building up — Or edifying one another in knowledge and grace; on, or in, your most holy faith — The true Christian faith, having for its object all the doctrines, precepts, and promises of the gospel; a faith, than which none can be more holy in itself, or more conducive to the most refined and exalted holiness; praying in, or through, the Holy Ghost — By a principle of grace derived from him, and by his enlightening, quickening, sanctifying, and comforting influences, showing you what blessings you may and ought to pray for, inspiring you with sincere and fervent desires after those blessings, and enabling you to offer these desires to God in faith, with gratitude for the blessings which you have already received. And by these means, and through divine grace communicated therein, keep yourselves in the love of God — That is, in love to God, arising from a sense of his love to you; looking for the mercy, &c. — Continually possessing a confident expectation of that eternal life, which is purchased for you and conferred upon you through the mere mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

20-24. A two-fold passage; first telling the beloved how to preserve themselves, 20, 21; and second, how they must endeavor to save others— even these sensualists.

V. 22. Meantime watch over others, as well as yourselves, and give them such help as their various needs require. For instance, 1. Some, that are wavering in judgment, staggered by others' or by their own evil reasoning, endeavour more deeply to convince of the whole truth as it is in Jesus. 2. Some snatch, with a swift and strong hand, out of the fire of sin and temptation. 3. On others show compassion in a milder and gentler way; though still with a jealous fear, lest yourselves be infected with the disease you endeavour to cure. See, therefore, that while you love the sinners, ye retain the utmost abhorrence of their sins, and of any the least degree of, or approach to, them.

Verse 22. And of some have compassion, making a difference] The general meaning of this exhortation is supposed to be, “Ye are not to deal alike with all those who have been seduced by false teachers; ye are to make a difference between those who have been led away by weakness and imprudence, and those who, in the pride and arrogance of their hearts, and their unwillingness to submit to wholesome discipline, have separated themselves from the Church, and become its inveterate enemies.” Instead of kai ouv men eleeite diakrinomenoi, and of some have compassion, making a difference, many MSS., versions, and fathers have kai ouv men elegcete diakrinomenouv, and some rebuke, after having judged them; or, rebuke those that differ; or, some that are wavering convince; or whatever else the reader pleases: for this and the following verse are all confusion, both in the MSS. and versions; and it is extremely difficult to know what was the original text. Our own is as likely as any.

Verses 22, 23. And of some — Who are perverted by these seducers, erring only through infirmity, and in lesser points; have compassion — Treat with lenity, and endeavour to reclaim, in a mild and gentle way, by the winning method of persuasion; making a difference — Between them and others that are more guilty and stubborn. And others — Who sin presumptuously and openly; save with fear — Endeavour to rouse their fears, setting before them a future judgment and its awful consequences in all their terrors. And if they continue unmoved, use the censures of the church as the last remedy. Or, as some think, he may mean with a jealous fear for yourselves, lest you should be infected with the disease you endeavour to cure; pulling them out of the fire — Of temptation, sin, and divine wrath, into which they are fallen, or are just ready to fall. As if he had said, And if you desire that your efforts in either of these cases should be successful, you must take great care to preserve your own purity; and while you love the sinners, to retain the utmost abhorrence of their sins, and of every the least degree of approach to them; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh — Lest by the touch of it you yourselves should be polluted. This clause, which is a caution addressed to “those who snatch others out of the fire, implies that in doing them that compassionate office, they are to avoid all familiarity with them, even as they would avoid touching a garment spotted by the flesh of one who had died of the plague, lest they should be infected by their vicious conversation.”

22. The sinners to be rescued, if possible, are two classes: a some and an others; but Tischendorf makes three classes, including a third, who are others still. Of some have compassion—The reading followed by our translators may be rendered, some treat with pity, making a discrimination, that is, according to the peculiarity of each case, using severity or tenderness as the transgressor needs. But the reading preferred by scholars at the present day would be: some who are making a dissension you must refute; including the idea of detection and exposure.

Verse 23. And others save with fear] “Some of them snatch from the fire: but when they repent, have mercy upon them in fear.”-Syriac. “And some of them rebuke for their sins; and on others have mercy when they are convicted; and others save from the fire and deliver them.”-Erpen’s Arabic. Mr. Wesley’s note has probably hit the sense. “Meantime watch over others as well as yourselves; and give them such help as their various needs require. For instance, 1. Some that are wavering in judgment, staggered by others’ or by their own evil reasoning, endeavour more deeply to convince of the truth as it is in Jesus. 2. Some snatch with a swift and strong hand out of the fire of sin and temptation. 3. On others show compassion, in a milder and gentler way; though still with a jealous fear, lest you yourselves be infected with the disease you endeavour to cure. See therefore that, while ye love the sinners, ye retain the utmost abhorrence of their sins, and of any, the least degree of or approach to them.” Having even the garment spotted by the flesh.] Fleeing from all appearance of evil. Dictum sumptum, ut apparet, a mulieribus sanguine menstruo pollutis, quarum vestes etiam pollutæ censebantur: or there may be an allusion to a case of leprosy, for that infected the garments of the afflicted person, and these garments were capable of conveying the contagion to others.

Verses 22, 23. And of some — Who are perverted by these seducers, erring only through infirmity, and in lesser points; have compassion — Treat with lenity, and endeavour to reclaim, in a mild and gentle way, by the winning method of persuasion; making a difference — Between them and others that are more guilty and stubborn. And others — Who sin presumptuously and openly; save with fear — Endeavour to rouse their fears, setting before them a future judgment and its awful consequences in all their terrors. And if they continue unmoved, use the censures of the church as the last remedy. Or, as some think, he may mean with a jealous fear for yourselves, lest you should be infected with the disease you endeavour to cure; pulling them out of the fire — Of temptation, sin, and divine wrath, into which they are fallen, or are just ready to fall. As if he had said, And if you desire that your efforts in either of these cases should be successful, you must take great care to preserve your own purity; and while you love the sinners, to retain the utmost abhorrence of their sins, and of every the least degree of approach to them; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh — Lest by the touch of it you yourselves should be polluted. This clause, which is a caution addressed to “those who snatch others out of the fire, implies that in doing them that compassionate office, they are to avoid all familiarity with them, even as they would avoid touching a garment spotted by the flesh of one who had died of the plague, lest they should be infected by their vicious conversation.”

23. Others—A second class. Save—The Greek present signifies the effort to save, but does not, as the aorist would, imply a sure saving result, or the absolute power to accomplish a success. Pulling them out of the fire—As if they were in terrible danger of being scorched and burnt by the errorists, yet could, perhaps, be rescued with a desperate pull. With fear—Belongs to third class. Read: Others still, compassionate with fear… hating, etc. This third class we can only pity, with a mingled feeling of fear and abhorrence of their shame-bespotted characters.

The sin and danger of the three classes increase in climax. First, there is the set in the Church inclined to be schismatic, who must be rebuked and brought to order. Second, the class tending towards the vice of the sensualists, who are to be rescued with an energetic pull from their fatal course. Third, the nearly hopeless apostate, whom we can little else than pity, and from whose contaminated natures we are obliged to shrink. Garment spotted by the flesh—A fearful emblem of depravity. Their tunic or under-garment is foul with the spots of their debauchery. Revelation 3:4.

V. 24. Now to him who alone is able to keep them from falling-Into any of these errors or sins.

And to present them faultless in the presence of his glory-That is, in his own presence, when he shall be revealed in all his glory.

Verse 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling] Who alone can preserve you from the contagion of sin, and preserve you from falling into any kind of error that might be prejudicial to the interests of your souls; and thus to present you faultless, or, as many others read, aspilouv, without spot, alluding to the spotted garment mentioned above. Before the presence of his glory] Where nothing can stand that does not resemble himself, with exceeding great joy, in finding yourselves eternally out of the reach of the possibility of falling, and for having now arrived at an eternity of happiness.

Verses 24, 25. Now unto him who alone is able to keep you from falling — Into any of these errors or sins, or from stumbling, as aptaistouv literally signifies, rugged and dangerous as the ways of life are, and feeble as you know yourselves to be; and at length to present you faultless — Fully sanctified and conformed to the image of God’s Son; see on Colossians 1:22; before the presence of his glory — That is, in his own presence, when he shall be revealed in all his glory; with exceeding joy — With joy, great and unutterable. To the only wise God, now become our Saviour — That is, our Deliverer from the guilt and power of sin and its consequences, our Restorer to the enjoyment of the blessings lost by the fall, and our Preserver to eternal life. Or, as Macknight reads the clause, To the wise God alone. See on Romans 16:27. Be glory, &c. — That is, the glory of infinite perfection; and the majesty — Of empire absolutely universal; dominion — Or strength, as kratov may be properly rendered, namely, to govern that empire; and power — Exousia, authority, or right to do whatever seemeth to himself good; both now and ever — Eiv pantav touv aiwnav, throughout all ages, or both now and throughout all eternity. “From the appellation here used, our Saviour, it is argued by some that this doxology is addressed to the Lord Jesus, whose proper title is our Saviour, and who is called God in other passages of Scripture, particularly Romans 9:5, where he is styled, God blessed for ever. Nevertheless, as in some passages of Scripture, particularly Luke 1:47; 1 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:3, the Father is styled our Saviour, this argument is doubtful. They who contend that the doxology in this passage belongs to the Father, observe that the same doxology is unambiguously addressed to God the Father, Romans 16:27,” to which passage we have just referred the reader.

Ver. 24, 25. To him that is able to keep you from falling. This doxology is just the reverse of those bad teachers, who deny the Lord of glory. It celebrates his power and love; he is able to keep and save to the uttermost. It gives glory to the only wise God our Saviour, the great Shepherd who is able to keep his flock, because the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and the Spirit reveals him in all his counsels and arrangements as the only wise God. He alone exists of himself, and besides him there is no God. This doxology contains the form of sound words, in which the church has ever worshipped the one true and eternal Jehovah. It is the harmony of sacred song, subsisting between the church above and the church below. They sing the new and unceasing song, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.

It can hardly be expected that Zion should enjoy her full choir of praise, without the discord of numerous false teachers, who have crept into the churches unawares. Among these we find Dr. Macknight attempting to disturb all versions, and the order of the words, by reading, “To the wise God alone.” This makes way for the Arian adjection, “by Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, &c.” There were but two Greek copies which contained that reading, as is noted by Beza; and what weight can they have against the evidence of the christian world? The Mons version is, A Dieu notre Seigneur, qui est le seul sage, soit gloire, &c. Montanus reads as the English. “To him be glory, and majesty, and power, both now and ever, Amen.” We shall soon have no bible if we allow the Arians to interpolate as they please.

If we disturb the reading of Jude, we must also subvert the reading of Paul in Titus 2:13; and of Peter in his second epistle, 2 Peter 1:1. We must erase or amend a hundred other places, which declare the Saviour to be the Son of God, and the Lord of glory.

24. Closing doxology. Now—Literally, but. The now impresses the reader as announcing the close of the train of thought and the starting of a liturgical conclusion, which is here applicable, but not the true thought of the word. The purpose is to contrast the perseverance and blamelessness of the beloved with the secession and impurity of the errorists. This doxology is in the spirit and style of Romans 16:25. Keep you—Assuming it to be your purpose to be kept. For you many copies have them; and then it is a sort of closing prayer of the writer, apart, for them, his readers, his beloved brethren. But Tischendorf has you, which is far more natural. From falling—Into the corruptions and apostasies of these separatists. Faultless—Unstained from the spots of verse 23. Before… his glory— Presence of, might here be omitted, and his glory is almost a name for the divine Being. But the antithesis between keep and present suggests that the keeping is to be during our probation, and the presenting faultless is to be before the judgment throne. Exceeding joy—Literally, a leaping for joy; an exultant jubilation over an accomplished work.

Verse 25. To the only wise God] Who alone can teach, who alone has declared the truth; that truth in which ye now stand. See Clarke on “Romans 16:27”.

Our Saviour] Who has by his blood washed us from our sins, and made us kings and priests unto God the Father.

Be glory] Be ascribed all light, excellence, and splendour. Majesty] All power, authority, and pre-eminence.

Dominion] All rule and government in the world and in the Church, in earth and in heaven.

And power] All energy and operation to every thing that is wise, great, good, holy, and excellent.

Both now] In the present state of life and things.

And ever.] eiv pantav touv aiwnav. To the end of all states, places, dispensations, and worlds; and to a state which knows no termination, being that ETERNITY in which this glory, majesty, dominion, and power ineffably and incomprehensibly dwell.

Amen.] So let it be, so ought it to be, and so it shall be. After to the only wise God our Saviour, many excellent MSS. versions, &c., add dia ihsou cristou tou kuriou hmwn, by Jesus Christ our Lord; and after dominion and power they add pro pantov tou aiwnov, before all time; and both these readings Griesbach has received into the text. The text, therefore, may be read thus: To the only wise God our Saviour, by Christ Jesus our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, before all time; and now, and through all futurity. Amen. Let the whole creation join in one chorus, issuing in one eternal Amen! Subscriptions to this epistle in the VERSIONS:—

The Epistle of Jude the apostle, whose intercession be ever with us, Amen. The end.-SYRIAC.

The Epistle of Jude, the brother of James is finished: and glory be to God for ever and ever, Amen.-ÆTHIOPIC.

Nothing in the VULGATE.

Nothing in the ARABIC.

“This epistle was written A. D. 64, by the Apostle Jude, the brother of James; who is also called Lebbeus and Thaddeus; and who preached (the Gospel) to the Armenians and to the Persians.”-This is found at the end of the ARMENIAN Bible, printed in 1698.

The Epistle of Jude the son of Joseph, and brother of James, is ended-A MS. copy of the SYRIAC.

The end of the catholic Epistle of St. Jude.-COMPLUTENSIAN. The Epistle of Jude the apostle is ended.-IBID. Latin text. In the MANUSCRIPTS:-

Jude.-Codex Vaticanus, B.

The Epistle of Jude.-Codex Alexandrinus.

The catholic Epistle of Jude.-Codex Ephrem.

The Epistle of the holy Apostle Jude.-Codex G, in Griesbach. Of how little authority such subscriptions are, we have already had occasion to observe in various cases. Very few of them are ancient; and none of them coeval with the works to which they are appended. They are, in general, the opinions of the scribes who wrote the copies; or of the Churches for whose use they were written. No stress therefore should be laid on them, as if proceeding from Divine authority.

With the Epistle of Jude end all the apostolical epistles, and with it the canon of the New Testament, as to gospels and epistles; for the Apocalypse is a work sui generis, and can rank with neither. It is in general a collection of symbolic prophecies, which do not appear to be yet fully understood by the Christian world, and which can only be known when they are fulfilled.

Finished for a new impression, January 4th, 1832.-A. C.

Verses 24, 25. Now unto him who alone is able to keep you from falling — Into any of these errors or sins, or from stumbling, as aptaistouv literally signifies, rugged and dangerous as the ways of life are, and feeble as you know yourselves to be; and at length to present you faultless — Fully sanctified and conformed to the image of God’s Son; see on Colossians 1:22; before the presence of his glory — That is, in his own presence, when he shall be revealed in all his glory; with exceeding joy — With joy, great and unutterable. To the only wise God, now become our Saviour — That is, our Deliverer from the guilt and power of sin and its consequences, our Restorer to the enjoyment of the blessings lost by the fall, and our Preserver to eternal life. Or, as Macknight reads the clause, To the wise God alone. See on Romans 16:27. Be glory, &c. — That is, the glory of infinite perfection; and the majesty — Of empire absolutely universal; dominion — Or strength, as kratov may be properly rendered, namely, to govern that empire; and power — Exousia, authority, or right to do whatever seemeth to himself good; both now and ever — Eiv pantav touv aiwnav, throughout all ages, or both now and throughout all eternity. “From the appellation here used, our Saviour, it is argued by some that this doxology is addressed to the Lord Jesus, whose proper title is our Saviour, and who is called God in other passages of Scripture, particularly Romans 9:5, where he is styled, God blessed for ever. Nevertheless, as in some passages of Scripture, particularly Luke 1:47; 1 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:3, the Father is styled our Saviour, this argument is doubtful. They who contend that the doxology in this passage belongs to the Father, observe that the same doxology is unambiguously addressed to God the Father, Romans 16:27,” to which passage we have just referred the reader.

Ver. 24, 25. To him that is able to keep you from falling. This doxology is just the reverse of those bad teachers, who deny the Lord of glory. It celebrates his power and love; he is able to keep and save to the uttermost. It gives glory to the only wise God our Saviour, the great Shepherd who is able to keep his flock, because the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and the Spirit reveals him in all his counsels and arrangements as the only wise God. He alone exists of himself, and besides him there is no God. This doxology contains the form of sound words, in which the church has ever worshipped the one true and eternal Jehovah. It is the harmony of sacred song, subsisting between the church above and the church below. They sing the new and unceasing song, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.

It can hardly be expected that Zion should enjoy her full choir of praise, without the discord of numerous false teachers, who have crept into the churches unawares. Among these we find Dr. Macknight attempting to disturb all versions, and the order of the words, by reading, “To the wise God alone.” This makes way for the Arian adjection, “by Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, &c.” There were but two Greek copies which contained that reading, as is noted by Beza; and what weight can they have against the evidence of the christian world? The Mons version is, A Dieu notre Seigneur, qui est le seul sage, soit gloire, &c. Montanus reads as the English. “To him be glory, and majesty, and power, both now and ever, Amen.” We shall soon have no bible if we allow the Arians to interpolate as they please.

If we disturb the reading of Jude, we must also subvert the reading of Paul in Titus 2:13; and of Peter in his second epistle, 2 Peter 1:1. We must erase or amend a hundred other places, which declare the Saviour to be the Son of God, and the Lord of glory.

25. Wise is to be omitted as being really inserted by copyists from the parallel passage in Romans 16:27. The fourfold creational ascription of glory and majesty belonging to the divine person, and dominion and power his characteristics as divine ruler. Now—The best reading supplies before this now the clause before all aeon or age. The meaning then would be, that the ascription to God is before the world’s ages begun, during earthly time, and through the endless ages to come. We have, then, the threefold phases of complete eternity, past, present, and future.