Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Jude
Book: Jude
Chapter: 1
Overview:
The
Apostle exhorts to stedfastness in the
Faith.
(1-4) The
danger of being infected
By false professors, and the dreadful
Punishment which shall be inflicted
On them and their followers.
(5-7) An awful description of these seducers and their
deplorable
End.
(8-16) Believers cautioned against being
surprised at such deceivers arising among them.
(17-23) The
epistle ends with an encouraging doxology, or words of praise.
(24,25)
1-4 Christians are called out of the world, from the evil
Spirit and temper of it; called above the world, to higher and
better things, to
Heaven, things unseen and eternal; called from
Sin to
Christ, from vanity to seriousness, from uncleanness to
Holiness; and this according to the Divine purpose and
Grace. If
sanctified and glorified, all the honour and
Glory must be
ascribed to
God, and to him alone. As it is
God who begins the
work of
Grace in the souls of men,
So it is he who carries it
On, and perfects it. Let us not trust in ourselves, nor in our
stock of
Grace already received, but in him, and in him alone.
The
Mercy of
God is the
Spring and
Fountain of all the good we
have or
Hope for;
Mercy, not only to the miserable, but to the
guilty. Next to
Mercy is peace, which we have from the sense of
having obtained
Mercy. From peace springs
Love;
Christ's
Love to
us, our
Love to him, and our brotherly
Love to one another. The
Apostle prays, not that Christians may be content with a little;
but that their souls and societies may be full of these things.
None are shut out from
Gospel offers and invitations, but those
who obstinately and wickedly shut themselves out. But the
application is to all believers, and only to such. It is to the
weak as
Well as to the strong. Those who have received the
doctrine of this common
Salvation, must contend for it,
earnestly, not furiously. Lying for the
Truth is bad; scolding
for it is not better. Those who have received the
Truth must
contend for it, as the apostles did;
By suffering with patience
and courage for it, not
By making others suffer if they will not
embrace every notion we
Call Faith, or important. We ought to
contend earnestly for the
Faith, in opposition to those who
would corrupt or deprave it; who creep in unawares; who glide in
like serpents. And those are the worst of the ungodly, who take
encouragement to
Sin boldly, because the
Grace of
God has
abounded, and still abounds
So wonderfully, and who are hardened
By the extent and
Fulness of
Gospel Grace, the design of which
is to deliver men from
Sin, and bring them unto
God.
5-7 Outward privileges, profession, and apparent
Conversion,
could not secure those from the vengeance of
God, who turned
aside in unbelief and disobedience. The
Destruction of the
unbelieving Israelites in the
Wilderness, shows that none ought
to presume
On their privileges. They had miracles as their daily
Bread; yet even they perished in unbelief. A great number of the
angels were not pleased with the stations
God allotted to them;
pride was the main and direct cause or occasion of their fall.
The fallen angels are kept to the
Judgment of the great
Day; and
shall fallen men escape it? Surely not. Consider this in due
time. The
Destruction of
Sodom is a loud warning to all, to take
heed of, and flee from fleshly lusts that
War against the soul,
1Pe 2:11.
God is the same holy, just, pure Being now, as then.
Stand in awe, therefore, and
Sin not, Ps 4:4. Let us not
Rest
in anything that does not make the soul subject to the obedience
of
Christ; for nothing but the renewal of our souls to the
Divine image
By the Holy
Spirit, can keep us from being
destroyed among the enemies of
God. Consider this instance of
the angels, and see that
No dignity or worth of the
Creature is
of avail. How then should
Man tremble, who drinketh iniquity
like water!
Job 15:16.
8-16 False teachers are dreamers; they greatly defile and
grievously wound the soul. These teachers are of a disturbed
mind and a seditious
Spirit; forgetting that the powers that be,
are ordained of
God, Ro 13:1. As to the contest about the body
of
Moses, it appears that
Satan wished to make the place of his
Burial known to the Israelites, in order to tempt them to
Worship him, but he was prevented, and vented his rage in
desperate
Blasphemy. This should remind all who dispute never to
bring railing charges. Also learn hence, that we ought to defend
those whom
God owns. It is hard, if not impossible, to find any
enemies to the
Christian religion, who did not, and do not, live
in open or secret contradiction to the principles of natural
religion. Such are here compared to brute beasts, though they
often boast of themselves as the wisest of mankind. They corrupt
themselves in the things most open and
Plain. The fault lies,
not in their understandings, but in their depraved wills, and
their disordered appetites and affections. It is a great
reproach, though unjust to religion, when those who profess it
are opposed to it in
Heart and
Life. The
Lord will remedy this
in his time and way; not in men's
Blind way of plucking up the
Wheat with the
Tares. It is sad when men begin in the
Spirit,
and
End in the
Flesh. Twice dead; they had been once dead in
their natural, fallen state; but now they are dead again
By the
evident proofs of their hypocrisy. Dead trees, why cumber they
the ground! Away with them to the
Fire. Raging waves are a
terror to sailing passengers; but when they get into port, the
noise and terror are ended. False teachers are to expect the
worst punishments in this world and in that to come. They glare
like meteors, or falling
Stars, and then sink into the blackness
of
Darkness for ever. We have
No mention of the
Prophecy of
Enoch in any other part or place of
Scripture; yet one
Plain
text of
Scripture, proves any point we are to believe. We find
from this, that
Christ's coming to
Judge was prophesied of, as
early as the times before the
Flood. The
Lord cometh: what a
glorious time will that be! Notice how often the
Word "ungodly"
is repeated. Many now do not at all refer to the terms godly, or
ungodly, unless it be to mock at even the words; but it is not
So in the language taught us
By the
Holy Ghost. Hard speeches of
one another, especially if ill-grounded, will certainly come
into account at the
Day of
Judgment. These evil men and seducers
are angry at every thing that happens, and never pleased with
their own state and condition. Their will and their fancy, are
their only rule and
Law. Those who please their sinful
appetites, are most prone to yield to ungovernable passions. The
men of
God, from the beginning of the world, have declared the
doom denounced
On them. Such let us avoid. We are to follow men
only as they follow
Christ.
17-23 Sensual men separate from
Christ, and his
Church, and
join themselves to the
Devil, the world, and the
Flesh,
By
ungodly and sinful practices. That is infinitely worse than to
separate from any
Branch of the visible
Church On account of
opinions, or modes and circumstances of outward government or
Worship. Sensual men have not the
Spirit of
Holiness, which
whoever has not, does not belong to
Christ. The
Grace of
Faith
is most holy, as it
Works By Love, purifies the
Heart, and
overcomes the world,
By which it is distinguished from a false
and dead
Faith. Our prayers are most likely to prevail, when we
pray in the
Holy Ghost, under his guidance and influence,
according to the rule of his
Word, with
Faith, fervency, and
earnestness; this is praying in the
Holy Ghost. And a believing
expectation of eternal
Life will
Arm us against the snares of
Sin: lively
Faith in this blessed
Hope will help us to mortify
our lusts. We must watch over one another; faithfully, yet
prudently reprove each other, and set a good
Example to all
about us. This must be done with compassion, making a difference
between the weak and the wilful. Some we must treat with
tenderness. Others save with fear; urging the terrors of the
Lord. All endeavours must be joined with decided abhorrence of
crimes, and care be taken to avoid whatever led to, or was
connected with
Fellowship with them, in
Works of
Darkness,
keeping far from what is, or appears to be evil.
24,25 God is able, and as willing as able, to keep us from
falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his
Glory. Not as those who never have been faulty, but as those
who, but for
God's
Mercy, and a
Saviour's sufferings and merits,
might most justly have been condemned long ago. All sincere
believers were given him of the
Father; and of all
So given him
he has lost none, nor will lose any one. Now, our faults fill us
with fears, doubts, and sorrows; but the
Redeemer has undertaken
for his people, that they shall be presented faultless. Where
there is
No Sin, there will be
No sorrow; where there is the
Perfection of
Holiness, there will be the
Perfection of joy. Let
us more often look up to Him who is able to keep us from
falling, to improve as
Well as maintain the work he has wrought
in us, till we shall be presented blameless before the presence
of his
Glory. Then shall our hearts know a joy
Beyond what
Earth
can afford; then shall
God also rejoice over us, and the joy of
our compassionate
Saviour be completed. To Him who has
So wisely
formed the scheme, and will faithfully and perfectly accomplish
it, be
Glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for
ever.
Amen.