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Jude

Objective: 

  • Greetings to the Called
  • Contend for the Faith
  • Old and New Apostates
  • Apostates Depraved and Judged
  • Maintain Your Life with God

Resources:

Reading:

  • Jude 1

Key verse(s):

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" Jude 21

Comments:

  • The Catholic Epistles are Seven
  • Catholic = Universal
  • The Catholic Epistles differ from the Pauline Epistles as they were not sent to specific persons (Timothy - Titus) or Churches (Galatians - Romans) but sent to Christians in the world
  • The Author:
    • He is Jude, also known as Thaddeus or Lebbeus
      • He is not the same as Judas Iscariot, as we know that he ended his life
    • He is the brother of St. James the Lesser, the bishop of Jerusalem
    • Both are known to be the sons of Alphaeus, and they were cousins of our Lord
      • Their mother (Mary the Lesser) was the younger sister of St. Mary
    • The Author shows a great knowledge of Old Testament and Holy Tradition
  • V.1: He identified himself as the brother of James, as James was more known as the bishop of Jerusalem
    • He was the cousin of our Lord, but he did not boast about this and identified himself as a "bondservant."
  • V.3: "Common salvation" is common to the Jews and Gentiles. We are all one in Christ. 
    • "The faith which was once for all delivered." Christ died only once, and the faith is the same and does not change over time. Those who claim new ideas or "faith" are heretics. Faith was delivered to the saints and does not change or alter over time
  • V.4: Heretics "creep" their way into the Church. They don't publicly announce different ideas, but quietly change or alter the faith. For example, Arius believed that Christ is God the Logos, but the hidden idea was not calling him "equal to the Father."
    • We have to be aware of those who change little things, "even if it is one letter," and do not change the faith and deliver it exactly as we received it
  • V.5: The older generation who crossed the sea was destroyed and did not enter the promised land because of all the complaining and lack of faith they showed towards God and Moses
    • Being Christians and Baptised do not just save us from eternal death, but we have to show our faith with works and live a constant life of repentance
  • V.6: Even angels who were prideful received everlasting death - Isaiah 14
  • V.8: Dreamers = dream about false teaching and heresies and think they are right, deceiving themselves and others
  • V.9: This story is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but the author quoted it from Tradition
    • This story is the source for most Archangel Michael icons
    • This shows the importance of the Holy Tradition and not relying solely on what's in the Bible
      • For example, in our Church, we rely primarily on the Bible as our #1 resource, but we do not discard the sayings and teachings of the Church Fathers, as they explained to us the Bible and the Faith.
  • V.11: Heretics and those who leave the faith go through different levels:
    • Drifting away from God's way and hating others - Cain
    • Fall into sexual lusts and desires, love of money, and pride - Balaam
      • Balaam, for money, suggested to the king of Moab to make the Israelites fall into adultery to defeat them (Numbers 22)
    • They perish without repentance - Korah
      • Korah was one of the people who went against Moses and Aaron, and the earth opened and swallowed them (Numbers 16)
  • V.12: These heretics are like small "spots" that no one sees or pays attention to. Spots mean hidden reefs. These hidden reefs are not noticed until they destroy a big ship.
    • Heresies and heresies are not noticed sometimes until they destroy a large number of people/churches
    • Heretics are deceivers. Clouds without water. Trees without fruit. The outside is different without real fruit inside
    • Heretics have no stability or peace as they are away from God. They are like "raging waves of the sea"
    • Heretics come up bright, but they quickly die. Like stars or celestial masses that burn for a moment before completely dying - "wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever"
  • V.14: This prophecy by Enoch was not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Also shows the importance of Holy Tradition. He prophesied against heretics and sinners.
  • V.16-19: Characteristics of the ungodly people. We should watch our conduct lest we fall into similar things.
  • V.20-22: How to maintain life with God

Review/recap questions:
**Servant may add more questions

  1. What did the ungodly men do?
  2. What does St Jude urge us to do?
  3. Why were false prophets called dreamers?
  4. They are like clouds without water. Explain.

Homework:
**Servant may add more questions

  1. St Jude was eager to write about:
    a) the Holy Bible b) salvation c) the Jews d) the Romans
  2. Keep yourselves in the _______ of God, looking for the _________ of our Lord Jesus Christ unto _________ ________.
  3. What was St. Jude eager to write about?
  4. What did the Lord do to those who did not believe?
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