The Book of Jude, Part 1

The Book of Jude, Part 1
Monday, February 17, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

What do false teachers look like? How do they infiltrate, influence, change, and eventually corrupt a church or a parachurch organization?

Last week, we looked at how Christianity Today went from being a staunch evangelical, biblically solid, magazine to one that embraces much of—though not all of—the progressive agenda. We found that one big clue likely related to a large infusion of cash received from USAID, a government agency now known to be deeply committed to all facets of the DEI agenda.

How do those sorts of changes happen? How do false teachers operate? How can an organization look so good, and then fall apart? Biblically, one of the best places to look is the book of Jude when it comes to exposing how false teachers gain influence. Over the next series of posts, we’ll look to the book of Jude to find our answers.

How does the book of Jude start?

Jude 1:1–3: “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” (NAU)

Jude starts by describing who he is. He mentions two main things: 1) he is a slave of Jesus Christ—remember, bond-servant means slave; and 2) he is the brother of James. This “James” is not the James of the twelve disciples, but James the half-brother of Jesus. Note Jude’s humility: he doesn’t directly state that he is the half-brother of Jesus, and therefore has considerable authority. Rather, he leaves that as an inference, albeit one that is true. He also doesn’t mention any of the ways God used James within the early church: “My brother, James, who did…”

Who are the recipients of Jude’s letter? The letter is addressed to “those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.” It is written to believers, those who belong to Jesus Christ, those deeply loved by God the Father. That includes all Christians down to the present day, doesn’t it? There is also a sense of eternal hope, as we see in the words “kept for,” or in another sense one can think “reserved for,” or “saved for.” Jude then gives them a heartfelt general greeting.

Next, Jude mentions that he intended to write what likely would have been an upbeat joyful letter: a letter dealing with their common salvation: that is, Jude and the recipients of the letter. That sounds like a fun letter we’d want to read, doesn ‘t it?

But, there’s an implied “but” isn’t there? While he was intending to write a letter with fun subject “A,” he needed to write a letter with serious subject “B.” Instead of writing a letter about their common salvation, he needed to write them a letter urging them to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

There was an immediate need to defend the faith, to respond to, and counter, what others were saying about the Christian faith; things that didn’t mesh with the true faith that had been told to them, the unchanging faith, the faith that had been handed down only once for all time.

What had happened? Why had this need arisen?

We’ll continue our discussion in the next post.

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