Jude
From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes
Jude 1:1
1:1 Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ, and {a} brother of James, to them that are sanctified {b} by God
the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:
Jude 1:3
1:3 {1} Beloved, when I gave
all diligence to write unto you of the {d} common salvation, it was needful
for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should {e} earnestly
contend for the faith which was {f} once delivered unto the saints.
(1) The goal of this
epistle, is to affirm the godly as opposed to certain wicked men both in
true doctrine and good conduct.
(d) Of those things that pertain to the salvation of all of us.
(e) That you should defend the faith with all the strength you can muster,
both by true doctrine and good example of life.
(f) Which was once given, that it may never be changed.
Jude 1:4
1:4 {2} For there are certain
men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
{3} ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying
the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) It is by God's
providence and not by chance, that many wicked men creep into the Church.
(3) He condemns this first in them, that they take opportunity or occasion
to wax wanton, by the grace of God: which cannot be, but the chief empire of
Christ must be cancelled, in that such men give themselves up to Satan, whom
they call Libertines.
Jude 1:5
1:5 {4} I will therefore put
you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved
the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not.
(4) He presents the
horrible punishment of those who have abused the grace of God to follow
their own lusts.
Jude 1:6
1:6 {5} And the angels which
kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
(5) The fall of the angels
was most severely punished, how much more then will the Lord punish wicked
and faithless men?
Jude 1:7
1:7 Even as Sodom and
Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, {g} giving themselves over
to fornication, and going after {h} strange flesh, are set forth for an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
(g) Following the steps of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
(h) Thus he sets forth their horrible and wicked perversions.
Jude 1:8
1:8 Likewise also these {i}
[filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, {6} despise {k} dominion, and speak evil
of dignities.
(i) Who are so stupid and
void of reason as if all their fears and wits were asleep.
(6) Another most destructive doctrine of theirs, in that they take away the
authority of the government and slander them.
(k) It is a greater matter to despise government than the governors, that is
to say, the matter itself than the persons.
Jude 1:9
1:9 {7} Yet Michael the
archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke
thee.
(7) An argument of
comparison: Michael one of the chiefest angels, was content to deliver
Satan, although a most accursed enemy, to the judgment of God to be
punished: and these perverse men are not ashamed to speak evil of the powers
who are ordained of God.
Jude 1:10
1:10 {8} But these speak evil
of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute
beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
(8) The conclusion: These
men are doubly at fault, that is, both for their rash folly in condemning
some, and for their impudent and shameless contempt of that knowledge, which
when they had gotten, yet nonetheless they lived as brute beasts, serving
their bellies.
Jude 1:11
1:11 {9} Woe unto them! for
they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam
for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
(9) He foretells their
destruction, because they resemble or proclaim Cain's shameless malice,
Balaam's filthy covetousness, and to be short, Core's seditious and
ambitious head.
Jude 1:12
1:12 {10} These are spots in
your {l} feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves
without {m} fear: clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds;
trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the
roots;
(10) He rebukes most
sharply with many other notes and marks, both their dishonesty or
filthiness, and their sauciness, but especially, their vain bravery of words
and vain pride, joining with it a grave and heavy threatening from an
ancient prophecy of Enoch concerning the judgment to come.
(l) The feasts of charity were certain banquets, which the brethren who were
members of the Church kept altogether, as Tertullian sets them forth in his
apology, chap. 39.
(m) Impudently, without all reverence either to God or man.
Jude 1:13
1:13 Raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the {n}
blackness of darkness for ever.
(n) Most gross darkness.
Jude 1:14
1:14 And Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord {o} cometh
with ten thousands of his saints,
(o) The present time, for
the time to come.
Jude 1:17
1:17 {11} But, beloved,
remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ;
(11) The rising up of such
monsters was spoken of before, that we should not be troubled at the newness
of the matter.
Jude 1:19
1:19 {12} These be they who
separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
(12) It is the habit of
antichrists to separate themselves from the godly, because they are not
governed by the Spirit of God: and contrariwise it is the habit of
Christians to edify one another through godly prayers, both in faith and
also in love, until the mercy of Christ appears to their full salvation.
Jude 1:22
1:22 {13} And of some have
compassion, making a difference:
(13) Among those who wander
and go astray, the godly have to use this choice, that they handle some of
them gently, and that others being even in the very flame, they endeavour to
save with severe and sharp instruction of the present danger: yet so, that
they do in such sort abhor the wicked and dishonest, that they avoid even
the least thought of them.
Jude 1:23
1:23 And others save with {p}
fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the {q} garment spotted by
the flesh.
(p) By fearing them and
holding them back with godly severity.
(q) An amplification, taken from the forbidden things of the law which did
defile.
Jude 1:24
1:24 {14} Now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
(14) He commends them to
the grace of God, declaring sufficiently that it is God only that can give
us that constancy which he requires of us.
