Jude 16-18
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Jude 16
"These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own
evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own
advantage."
In verse 16, Jude provides five operational descriptions of "these
men," i.e., the apostates already mentioned prior to verses 14 and
15, which were parenthetical, and specified the judgment of apostates through
the prophecy of Enoch. They are called "grumblers," which in the
Greek is a onomatopoeia, the formation of a word by imitating the sound
associated with the behavior. And in this instance, it refers to "one
who discontentedly complains (against God)." [1]
"They follow their own evil desires," means that these apostates
have no spiritual foundation in their souls and, as a result, are groundless
and unstable; they seek only the immediate gratification of their lusts
(approval, monetary, and power). Moreover, "they boast about themselves
and flatter others for their own advantage." In other words, 'they
speak and communicate their own arrogant ideas in an attempt to lure others
into pride;' and they appeal to pride by 'catering to personalities for
the sake of profit.' Their arrogance leads to lust, and they lust for the
profit of approval, money and power. These lusts are their gods.
Jude 17
"But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ foretold."
In verse 17 Jude declares the defense against such apostates and their false
teachings. The principle of defense against apostasy is stated by Paul in
Col. 1:9, "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have
not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge
of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
Paul starts off with "for this reason." For what reason? To stop
apostasy. And the "we" refers to the Pauline contingent of Paul,
Timothy, Titus and Luke. They pray that the Colossian believers might be
'filled up with the full knowledge of God's Word and Will in their souls;
and that by means of this knowledge or wisdom they might please God, both
producing divine good and by growing spiritually through more of this same
knowledge from God.' And this doctrinal knowledge must be learned under
the ministry of the filling of the Holy Spirit, must be recalled and applied
in the same manner, i.e., filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jude utilizes the term "dear friends," or "beloved."
This term was first applied to Christ, and was subsequently applied to believers
because of their union with Christ. Ephesians 1:6 says, "To the praise
of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."
And the same term is used in I John 3:2, "Dear friends, now we are
children of God..."
Then Jude uses the aorist, passive imperative "to recall to mind."
This structure commands the readers to remember the doctrines that they
have already heard and learned, and to implement the doctrines under the
ministry of the filling of the Spirit. And what are they to remember? The
doctrines prole,gw, 'spoken before,' by the apostles. Here, specifically,
a reference to Peter, Paul and John. And this mention of the apostles commends
the concept to further examination.
Apostleship
The apostles were sovereignly selected by the Holy Spirit, I Cor. 12:11;
Eph. 4:11; and I Cor. 12:28. "All these are the work of one and the
same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."
(I Cor. 12:11) "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastor/teachers."
(Eph. 4:11)
The gift of apostleship was the gift of absolute (over all the churches)
spiritual authority. The gift was to sustain the Church until the Canon
of Scripture was completed; and this completion occurred in 96 AD. And the
exercise of absolute spiritual authority requires the spiritual gift.
The apostles to the Church were not appointed until after the resurrection
of our Lord, Ephesians 4:8. "This is why it says: When he ascended
on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
Thus, it is necessary to distinguish between the apostles to the Church
and the apostles to Israel. The apostles to Israel are cited in Matthew
10:2-10. There is, however, an overlap between the two groups in that eleven
of the apostles to Israel became apostles to the Church.
Acts 1:22, I Cor. 9:1, and 15:8,9 state that the apostles to the Church
were required to have seen the resurrected Christ. Whereas the apostles
to Israel beheld our Lord in His Incarnation (human body prior to the Cross).
The spiritual authority of the apostles was maintained, confirmed and validated
by supernatural gifts: the gifts of tongues, miracles, and healing, according
to Acts 5:15, 16:16-18, 28:8,9.
The catalogue of the apostles to the Church: Simon Peter, Andrew, John,
Philip, James, Bartholomew (Nathanael), Thomas, Matthew, Simon Zelotes,
Jude (Thaddeus, Lebbaeus), James (the Less), and Paul. Note that Paul replaced
Judas Iscariot, according to I Timothy 1:12-16 and I Cor. 15:7-10. The election
of Matthias in Acts 1 was illicit; God the Holy Spirit reserves the right
of appointment.
According to Acts 14:14, Barnabas was also an apostle. And the fact that
James (the Less), our Lord's half-brother, was an apostle is confirmed in
I Cor. 15:7, and Galatians 1:19.
And there were, possibly, two other apostles: Apollos, in I Cor. 4:6,9;
and Timothy, in I Thessalonians 1:1, 2:6. Additionally, Sylvanus (Silas)
is identified with Timothy but not necessarily as an apostle. [2]
Jude 18
"They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who
will follow their own ungodly desires."
Jude begins verse18 with hoti recitativum, which utilizes the conjunction
to summarize indirectly the teachings of the apostles. The apostles taught
that there would be "scoffers." The Greek denotes those "who
play like children." [3] And here the term connotes those who deride
spiritual authority and endorse anarchy.
Next is a very interesting phrase which may be translated either "last
times," or "lowest" with reference to rank. [4] Thus the
phrase may indicate two distinct periods of apostasy, depending upon which
historical dispensation is meant: in the Age of Israel the phrase denotes
the final three and one-half years of the Tribulation, and its concentrated
apostasy; however, during the Church Age the phrase signifies a 'low time'
or 'time of apostasy.' [5] Therefore, since the reader's of the epistle
were denizens of the Church Age, the phrase alludes to any period of apostasy
or false doctrines.
And these apostates are again described as "following their own ungodly
desires." In other words, whether believer/apostate or unbeliever/apostate
they seek only self-satisfaction through the lusts of power, money and approval.
The believer/apostate eschews the filling of the Spirit, and the unbeliever/apostate
rejects the truth of salvation through Christ.
Notes:
[1] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament;
page 120.
[2] Thieme, Robert. Apostles; from notes July, 1971; revised and altered
by R.E. Radic.
[3] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament;
page 208.
[4] Ibid. page 253-254.
[5] For a lucid and definitive exposition of the concept of 'dispensations'
see Thieme, Robert. The Divine Outline of History. Privately published,
1989.
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