Chapter 1 – One God Translation

Jude

   1 From Jude, a servant of Jesus Messiah, and brother of James,[1553] to those who are called, dear to God who is the Father, and preserved by Jesus Messiah: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
    3 Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our shared salvation, I am now compelled to write to you, urging you to struggle[1554] earnestly in defense of the faith[1555] handed down once for all time to the saints. [1556] 4 For certain men have sneaked in among you, who were written about long ago for this condemnation, godless people who twist the grace of our God into debauchery and who deny the only Master and our lord Jesus Messiah.
    5 I want to remind you, though you have already been fully informed, that the Lord, after saving the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their positions of authority but deserted their own place, He has kept in everlasting chains under complete darkness until the judgment of the great day. 7 Likewise Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns, in the same way as these angels,[1557] gave themselves over to extreme sexual immorality and went after different flesh, and are shown as an example in suffering the punishment of the fire of the Age to Come. [1558]
    8 Similarly, these men in their dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander angelic beings. 9 But the archangel Michael, when he argued with the Devil in a dispute over Moses’ body, did not dare to bring against him an accusatory judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” [1559] 10 But these men speak evil of what they do not understand; and the things they know by instinct, as irrational animals do, bring about their ruin. 11 Alas for them! They have followed the way of Cain. For gain they have run headlong into Balaam’s error. So they will perish as in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These men are like treacherous rocky reefs at your love feasts when they feast with you fearlessly, caring for and feeding only themselves. They are clouds without rain carried along by winds; trees at harvest time without fruit — twice dead, uprooted. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, throwing out their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.
    14 It was against these men that Enoch, the seventh in descent from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord is coming with tens of thousands of His holy angels, 15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict every person of all their godless actions which they have done in a godless way, and of all the harsh words that godless sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These people are grumblers and fault-finders, following their own sinful desires. They make arrogant speeches, impressing people for their own advantage.
    17 But you, beloved, remember the prophecies spoken by the Apostles of our lord[1560] Jesus Messiah. 18 They said to you, “In the last days there will be mockers, following their own godless desires.” 19 These people cause divisions and are worldly minded, without the spirit. 20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in holy spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, expectantly awaiting the mercy of our lord Jesus Messiah that brings the life of the age to come. 22 Have mercy on those who are doubting; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy, but with fear,[1561] hating even the clothing contaminated by the flesh.
    24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand, with great joy, blameless in the presence of His glory, 25 to the only one who is God[1562] our Savior, through Jesus Messiah our lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before every age, now, and for all the ages to come. Amen.

Jude

[1553]

James and Jude were half-brothers of Jesus, children born of Mary and Joseph. The ideas that Mary was a perpetual virgin and that she was sinless (the doctrine of her “immaculate conception”) are utterly false to the Bible. So is the idea that Mary is now alive in heaven. The dead are in fact all dead awaiting the future resurrection at the return of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:23; Heb. 11:13, 39; Ecc. 9:5, 10; Dan. 12:2). Mary is presented by those systems of theology which say she is now alive, as a goddess and mediator. This is a very pagan concept and ought not to be believed by Christians.

[1554]

Cp. “Strive to enter through the narrow door” (Lk. 13:24).

[1555]

“The faith” refers to the doctrinal content embraced by all true believers. “Doctrine” is equivalent to all forms of teaching.

[1556]

If there is no such thing as original Christianity preserved in the apostolic canon of the NT, this command is pointless, and it would be impossible to define original Christianity at all. The NT canon is required if there is to be “the faith.” Jesus cited the law, prophets and psalms (writings) as the limit of the OT Scripture (Lk. 24:44), and it makes perfect sense that God gives a canon for His final revelation in Jesus. The book of Revelation, as a prophecy from Jesus, closes the canon, and ends with severe warnings about adding to or taking away from the sacred writing. Paul’s writings are expressly called “Scripture” (2 Pet. 3:16). Luke 10:7 is called Scripture in 1 Tim. 5:18.

[1557]

The reference is to the awful event of angelic-human cohabitation in Gen. 6:1ff. The sons of God (bnay elohim) are angels, as 2 Pet. 2:4 also says. The Hebrew bnay elohim, sons of God, always means angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; 89:6). In Dan. 3:25, 28 “a son of the gods” is an angel (cp. Heb. 1:10 with Ps. 97:7). “Spirits,” unqualified, as a class of personalities, always refers only to angels (Heb. 1:14) or demons (1 Pet. 3:19), not to humans.

[1558]

This is a highly instructive verse in regard to the nature of future punishment, which is not unending torture as taught by some systems. The fire which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is not still burning! Nevertheless it was “eternal fire.” “Eternal” here as elsewhere means “to do with the Age to Come” (aionios, as in “eternal” life = the life of the Age to Come based on Dan. 12:2). The nature of that fire is elsewhere defined as destructive and consuming (cp. Ps. 37:20; Oba. 16; Mal. 4:3). Its effects are irreversible and the fire is inextinguishable in the sense that nothing will prevent it bringing about its totally consuming effects.

[1559]

The story of the Devil and Moses is found in the extra-biblical book Assumption of Moses. Cp. Zech. 3:2 where Joshua rebukes the Satan, the supernatural evil angel.

[1560]

The phrase “my lord” and “our lord” cannot refer to the Lord GOD, Yahweh, since “my YHVH” and “our YHVH” are impossible phrases in Hebrew and never appear.

[1561]

Being cautious not to be “infected” by the sins of others.

[1562]

Exactly the same words as used by Jesus when he described the Father as “the only one [monos] who is true God [theos]” in John 17:3; 5:44. This is a unitary (non-Trinitarian) monotheistic proposition and creed closely associated with the life of the Age to Come, immortality in the future Kingdom when Jesus returns to rule on a renewed earth (Rev. 5:10; Isa. 65:17ff, etc). The Bible is committed throughout to the strict monotheism described thousands of times by singular personal pronouns (14 forms) for the One God.