Half way through our set of verses in the epistle of Jude and so much to consider. I have not spent a concentrated time in the book of Jude for many years and find his writing to be challenging.

Good stuff to review and consider! Let us continue with the next three verses.

Jude 1:8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
Jude 1:9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Jude 1:10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Jude again refers back to the ungodly people in verse 4, comparing the cities of Sodom with them, speaking of their defilement of flesh. Is he referring to the sexual immorality those of Sodom entered into?

Note that the basis of this defilement is their reliance on some dreams they were experiencing, which brings up a salient point. Is it wise to depend on subjective dreams or visions in finding the will of God? This verse definitely does not paint that thinking in a good light, and when we consider the objective Word that has be provided for our reference, along with the Spirit of God to give aid in understanding the message, dreams seem to be a very poor choice to rely upon.

We have the Lord we can rely on, trust in and believe, and seeking dreams for guidance is not wise. Excuse the sidebar, but for believers to abandon the Word and prayer for the sake of dreams is very much like turning my back on a flowing fountain to find relief in a broken cistern. But that is our inclination, and as such we need to be rescued from.

But back to our topic of conditional security.

This set of verse speaks of two parties. Micheal, one of the highest angels in God’s creation, did not abandon his position, but rebuked the devil correctly through the Lord, not assuming any authority of his own. Micheal did not reject authority!

This ungodly people described by Jude have no respect, no understanding of the position they consider themselves in. Jude speaks of these ungodly people as having no understanding. It seems obvious that this particular portion of Jude does not directly address our current topic, other than stating that if the ungodly were believers at one time, they have fallen far, and are in danger of destruction by their choice.

Our last portion of the passage we are dealing with will find ourselves reading Jude’s description of ungodly people. Some of his terms may shed some light on this discussion.

Hope you can join me as we finish this portion next time!

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Let’s continue with our time in Jude, by reading our next two verses.

Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day–
Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Our first verse speaks of angels not staying within their position of authority. They had been given a position of authority, and by their own volition decided to abandon a position they had always had.

Jude describes their action with two verbs.

Not Stay

This term may also be translated as did not keep. When I see this term, I automatically think of “guarding” something. It is the term tēreō (τηρέω) and is used in many ways, of which include the manner Herod restrained Peter when he placed him in jail. He “guarded” the jail, in order to restrict Peter from escaping. It is also used multiple times of how Jesus has “kept” His disciples, guarding them from destruction in John 17:12.

John 17:12 ESV – While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Sometimes this term refers to “keeping” or “guarding” the commands of Christ given to believers. An example such as

John 14:21 ESV – Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Jude uses this term four times in his short book, the first verse of his epistle speaking of the believers being kept for (or by) Jesus.

Jude 1:1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

The last verse of his epistle places responsibility on the believer, keeping ourselves in the love of God.

Jude 1:21 ESV – keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

With that short review, we see that these angels did not keep (or guard) their position, they did not value their privilege. This speaks to their estimation of grace they had received from the Lord, in His granting them a position of authority. They did not value the grace that was bestowed upon them.

Left

This term is apoleipō (ἀπολείπω), and is used only 6 times in the New Testament. It speaks to something being left behind, of something that is abandoned. Paul uses the term in 2 Tim 4:13 when he refers to a cloak, and some books and parchments he left with Carpus in Troas.

2 Timothy 4:13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

The author of Hebrews speaks of a rest in Hebrews 4:8 that has been left behind for believers.

Hebrews 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

The author of Hebrews also uses it in the negative sense when he speaks in Hebrews 10:26, referring to the great sacrifice our Lord provided.

Hebrews 10:26 ESV – For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

No other sacrifice is available, no other option other than the one sacrifice provided through the Lamb of God. There is nothing left behind that is available for the one seeking to know God. All other options are abandoned and to be jettisoned from our thinking as of any merit!

So the angels left, abandoned and forsook their first estate. Why is Jude using this example of a created being actively abandoning a position of grace to enter into judgement?

A warning? Of course, but is this example an “apples to apples” comparison with a believer’s potential experience? Is he being somewhat hyperbolic, frivolous or extending a threat in using this warning when applied to believers who many teach are eternally secure?

I mentioned the angels actively abandoning a position of grace above. As you may remember, I use Blue Letter Bible as my default study tool and for good reason, since it is very intuitive and provides the tools that assist me in my writing. One of those tools is Greek parsing, which identifies properties within each verb of the text.

Looking at the verb “left” in our verse, the following parsing comes up.

Note the description of the voice as being active. For a verse to have the active voice, this signifies the subject as the doer of the action. In this verse, the angels abandoned their estate. They were not acted upon, as if they were kicked out of their estate, but the angels performed this action of abandonment.

As a matter of fact, this voice is also used when Jude speaks of the angels not “keeping” their first estate above. Both actions, that of not keeping, and that of abandoning, were actions the angels executed.

How does Jude expect us to interpret this, for if we are eternally secure, this example of the angels abandoning their first estate seems to not quite be applicable. Is Jude bringing this example up simply to warn of judgement for the lost? Possibly, yet it seems he labors the concept of the angels having a good thing and walking away, with the resultant judgement coming to get them!

Jude continues with using Sodom and Gomorrah as a similar example of indulging in sexual immorality. Is Jude referring to the angels here, for there is no mention of the specific sin they chased after in their abandonment of their grace. I think not, but Jude does refer to the ungodly people in verse 4 as changing the grace of God into sensuality. I think Jude is reaching back to verse 4 when he brings up the topic of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The judgement the cities of Sodom underwent is an example of that which these ungodly people within the body will experience.

As an aside, it is interesting that the removal of all believers from Sodom and Gomorrah is spoken of often in the Word, and that all true believers (although few) were rescued from the judgment that fell on the region. But I don’t see where this verse addresses our topic of a believers security.

In conclusion, the example Jude uses of the angels leaving their estate brings our current topic of conditional security to the forefront, and is provided for my reader to consider. No matter where my gentle reader may land on this topic, it is only right to remember that our God is a covenant keeping God and that in every instance where we may think He has abandoned us, we are mistaken! He is actively keeping us, guarding us from destruction.

As believers, we need to seek His will, conform to His nature, and look to be like Him. In the discipline of seeking Him, of understanding His grace to us and appreciating His constant care for us, we will be careful in not estimating His love for us as less than it is, chasing after some alternative as the angels above did. And coming into destruction.

He is good all the time!

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This passage will require multiple posts, but to introduce the passage, it is good to review the complete section and get an overall impression of the message Jude intended his hearers to hear. Take a few seconds to slowly read through this passage as if you had just received it from the apostle and your local body of believers were hearing it for the first time.

Jude 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day–
Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Jude 1:8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
Jude 1:9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Jude 1:10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Jude 1:11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jude 1:12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
Jude 1:13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

My intent in this passage is to try to define if Jude is communicating to the body of believers something that has become corrupted, something that has fallen away from an original condition. Has a certain group within the body fallen away from their original standing, or has the body simply been deceived by false teachers?

Some who read may be of the persuasion that condition security is blasphemy, and I understand that thinking, for as many know, I lived in that camp for decades. To even consider this teaching, if you are of this understanding is commendable for it shows a teachable spirit, and an openness to the Word of God.

With that said, it is important for each of you to exercise discernment (and not simply an angry argumentative spirit!) when considering this (and any passages) within this topic.

Let’s consider the first two verses with this post.

Jude 1:4-5

4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

I would like to consider the two actions taken by the ungodly people in verse 4. To pervert and to deny.

To pervert is to change, transfer, exchange or to change sides. Now of course the action of exchanging is being done on the grace of God, and it cannot be said, as far as I understand, the change described by Jude is directly described as on the people, that is from godly to ungodly. That does not make any sense, so I will not attempt to make that link. The exchange is grace into sensuality! That seems abundantly clear.

Yet is Jude speaking of people who have known the grace of God in their life and turned it into an excuse to simply live by their sensual nature? Or is he referring to people who have taken the factual truth of the grace of God and simply exchanged the truth of the grace of God it into an opportunity to tickle their audiences ears, to gain a following and to reap some type of selfish benefit? This is a question the verse actually does not addresses directly, but the fact that they “crept in” may speak of these ungodly people as never having the life we share.

Again, the term “deny” may be considered in the same manner, where the denial is a not so much as an inner truth that these ungodly people decide to act upon, but a teaching that these folk, who may have never known the life of the Spirit decide to propagate.

Yet the passage speaks of denying our Master, not the message, or the teaching, or the truth of the identity of the Lord, but Jesus Himself. Again, did they know Him and deny Him, or did they continue in their denial of true belief as they entered into this congregation?

How did they fool (having “crept” in) this group of believers?

One more verse to consider.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jesus saved a people, yet destroyed those who did not believe. Wow, there is a lot to unpack with this phrase.

My initial thinking is Jesus saved a people (multiple individuals who exercised faith in the God Moses taught) yet prior to entering the promised land, fell away into apostacy, sinned against God and became rebellious. fighting against the leadership of Moses and the Lord who rescued them. Of these who did not believe, yet exercised belief initially, Jesus destroyed them. A clear reference to the conditional security teaching topic referred to in this series.

Yet, might Jude be saying something different? Might he be speaking of “a people group” eventually known as the Israelites, who was rescued out of Egypt, and in the wilderness certain people within the group, proved by their actions to be unbelievers all along. In other words, out of the group that was rescued, certain individuals were destroyed due to their lack of personal faith.

Even as I say that, I fear I may be inserting words into the text that may not be intended. I expect my reader to take into consideration this freedom I am taking and judge rightly.

Is Jude referring to individuals who exercised faith on the night of the Passover and then fell away, only to be destroyed? Or is he speaking of the group as a whole whom Jesus rescued, out of which certain individuals showed their true colors and were judged accordingly.

What think ye? Let me know if the comment section if you see a particular phrase that helps you understand this passage clearly.

One thing that is clear to me at this point is that Jesus is a rescuing Savior and a keeping Savior. Jude refers to Him as such in the opening verse, and this is His nature to save and to keep. Will we cooperate with our Savior, seek Him and desire to follow, imperfectly as we are, with all our foibles and faults? He is the Lord of all, and He is able to keep us, He is of the nature to keep us and has died to deliver us from our doom.

Is that important to you, or is the tremendous act of grace that He has performed on our behalf something that is easily ignored in your life? Consider

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below

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