Jude

vs 14-15

Ahh yes, that magical book of 1 Enoch... how often it has warmed my heart when I've read it. It's funny - Enoch is the sort of person you want to write a book, you know? Like, of all the gospel writers, the only one you really want to have written one is John (and Peter, if you believe the tradition about Mark). But instead you get these stories from these backwater nobodies. Matthew who? Luke who? Mark who? Where's my gospel of Judas? Where's my gospel of doubting Thomas? Where's my gospel of Jesus, dammit?

This is basically one more proof to me that Matt, Mark and Luke are all the real deal. I mean, if you were going to fake a gospel, you'd make it from someone who was a bit more in the spotlight. To me Enoch is the same. You really want him to have written a book, so someone does, puts his name on it, and it becomes a superhit whynot! Same as the books supposedly written by Solomon which are about magic, and there's probably some pretending to be Abraham and Noah too. I'm surprised 1 Adam hasn't been published.

So why does Jude use it? Well, it makes his point I guess. Had he read 2 Thessalonians, he probably would have quoted 2 Thess 7b-10. Try memorising a bit of that and using it in 2 Ways To Live instead of Hebrews 9:27!

Anyway, although I wouldn't really base any in depth theology on this portion of 1 Enoch, there's nothing really wrong with it. Jesus is coming with thousands of Angels (2 Thess 7b) to judge everyone (2 Tim 4:1), convict the ungodly of their acts (Rom 13:2), their motives (Rom 2:16), and harsh words spoken (Matt 5:22).

vs 16

We should all know that church isn't perfect. And we should all know that Christians aren't perfect, whether in theology or practice. And we should all know that we're all included in that. It's ok to admonish one another and correct one another. But faultfinding without loving correction and admonishment is nihilistic, and grumbling just serves to cause tension and unnecessary conflict. They themselves were probably hella hypocritical, because they would have been trying to fit their scummy lifestyles in with church doctrine - it's little wonder false teaching is so screwed up. And then they try and put themselves out as mega-cool so you want to follow them, and they flatter you (literally 'admire faces' - so shallow) to get their way.

vs 17

So it would seem that those reading this letter would have heard what the Apostles said.

vs 18

And that is what they said. You won't find that verse anywhere else though - because Jude isn't quoting from a NT source, not one we have anyway. There are plenty of verses that give us that idea - but most are gospel resources and spoken by Jesus. The Apostles would have said similar things fairly early on, but all too soon the false teachers turn up and need to be dealt with. The dating of Jude regarding these verses and it's general content is quite interesting, but not really all that important, so I won't bother discussing it.

vs 19

Just in case you didn't know what I was polemicising about, it's those guys I've been hacking against the whole letter.

vs 20

You can see that Jude really values the faith here. Your faith in Christ and your life of prayer - these to Jude are to be the defining pillars of the Christian life to set you apart from those who are ridiculed and spoken against in this letter.

vs 21

This book is very much focused on the parousia. I guess because we are so used to reading those verses and thinking "yeah yeah, he's coming, but probably not for another 1000 years" it's easy to miss the focus. But for a small letter, Jesus returning features large.

vs 22

"Those who are wavering" the greek says. So we shouldn't take the smackdown to those who are struggling in the faith. We should be merciful on them. Pity them. This is very relevant in our church, where we have lots of new Christians. After you've been a Christian a while, you sort of get a sixth sense about what is crap. Spong? Crap. Quasi-Christian song lyrics? Crap. But when you're a new Christian, you just want everything to be Christian. You start wondering if everyone isn't Christian! You have a problem - you search on the internet, and you find some Christian talking about it - "How can he be any different to those from my church?"you think. But really, it's just that the problem of living in a post-Christian society. The movie Constantine, for example. Or Da Vinci Code. These things actually cause new Christians to stumble. No wonder they need our mercy.

vs 23

Some people are right there ready to throw themselves in the fire - they need saving! Yet others are a mixed bag - they're the ones who are saying "I know I'm a Christian, but I really need to go and score one more hit". Mercy mixed with fear (of God, obviously) is the solution Jude gives - so hate their clothing. Umm, what? Stained is literally spillo, spotted. And the term spot in greek can denote a moral blemish. So the idea is kind of metaphorical I guess - the clothes they wear have been spotted by the sins they commit - almost like the sin splashes on their clothing. Whether there was some sort of clothing that these people wore, or whether Christians wore something else particularly, I'm not sure.

vs 24-25

This is arguably one of the most incredible things Jude gave us - this awesome doxology. And you probably know the song that's written from it. I only want to say two things about it. Firstly, that God's got to be pretty awesome to stop humans from falling. It's like we are falling machines, but he can not only keep us from it, he can present us before himself without fault.

Secondly: glory, majesty, power and authority all go to God - but because of (through) Jesus Christ. And not just because of what he did, but before all ages do these things come through Christ. And they will forever. That's the Jesus I worship.