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INDEX |
Jude 1:14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon
thousands of his holy ones Jude reminds his readers with a passage from the book of Enoch that judgement will come. Do not be concerned that Jude quotes from a non-canonical book; he does not describe the quotation as scripture but speaks to men in a language that they will understand. He then goes on to describe the false teachers once again. They are grumblers and faultfinders; Edwin A. Blum in the expositors Bible commentary describes those at the sharp end of Jude's attack as follows: Verse 16 completes Jude's denunciation of the false teachers as "grumblers" (gon- gystai). In I Corinthians 10:10 the related verb gongyzo is used by Paul of the rebels in the wilderness (cf. LXX Exodus 16-17; Numbers 14-17; cf. also TNDT, 1:728-37). Jude also calls the false teachers "faultfinders" (mempsimoiroi ), a term that underlines their critical attitude and habitual complaining. (Both gongystai and mempsimoiroi occur only here in the NT.) "They follow their own evil desires" might be translated "they live by their passions. " "They boast about themselves" is literally "and their mouth speaks haughty [or bombastic] words," which reminds one of Antiochus Epiphanes (cf. Dan 7:8-11; 11:36). "Flatter others for their own advantage" reinforces Jude's stress on the venality of the false teachers. Here the literal sense of the Greek text ("honoring faces for the sake of advantage") is highly picturesque. [o] This ends the denunciation of the false teachers and now Jude turns to those who believe calling them "dear friends" and encouraging them to remain strong in the faith. . Introduction / Salutation verses
1 -2 / The Letter's purpose v.3-4 /
Historical warning v. 5-7 |