Jude 1-7
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. (v. 4) There are a number of items in this one verse. First, …certain people have crept in unnoticed… This item intrigues me – I wonder where it all started. I recall that originally our great universities (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.) were founded as training ground for religious leaders, primarily Anglican (later Episcopal). How did they, over time, become such bastions of liberal religious thinking? Where did it start? Who “crept in unnoticed”? And when we send our kids off to (historically) Christian colleges, are they getting a true Christian education? You would probably be surprised at some of the comments and stories I have heard about our dear neighbors, Asbury University and Asbury Seminary.
A second item in that verse above refers to these people …who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality… We have read Paul’s teachings on this topic, that because of God’s grace we are allowed to sin all the more (Romans 6:1, ff.). Enough said on that…!
What troubles me most in that verse above is that these certain people … deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Religious leaders and educators with large followers today question not only Jesus’ teachings, but also His physical resurrection. As I see it, the whole of our Christian faith is based on Jesus’ resurrection. If He did not rise from the dead, we are, “of all people, the most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:19, NASB). How can someone call him/herself a Christian if he/she does not believe that fundamental truth? Jude is rightly troubled!!
Slava Bohu!