Catholic Commentary on Jude 1

"But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." (Jude 1:20-21)

Contend for the Faith

Jude, the brother of James and therefore the brother of the Lord, writes with urgency to a community whose faith is under attack from within. He had intended to write about the salvation they share, but finds it necessary to urge them to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people. Certain individuals have crept in unnoticed, whose condemnation was written about long ago: ungodly people, who pervert the grace of God into a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ as their only Sovereign and Lord. The Catechism identifies the faith once for all delivered to the saints as the Deposit of Faith: the whole of divine revelation, completed in Christ and entrusted to the Church, which cannot be added to or subtracted from (CCC 84).

Jude then marshals a series of Old Testament examples of those who were judged for their rebellion: the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the wilderness, the angels who did not keep their positions, Sodom and Gomorrah. These dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and heap abuse on celestial beings. They are like Cain, Balaam, and Korah. They are shepherds who feed only themselves, clouds without rain, wild waves of the sea, wandering stars for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Keep Yourselves in God's Love

But the community is to remember what the apostles foretold: in the last times there will be scoffers who follow their own ungodly desires. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy mixed with fear. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Not passive maintenance of inherited religion. Active, intentional construction: prayer in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in God's love, waiting for the mercy that leads to eternal life. Jude's programme for the besieged community is not retreat but deeper roots. The storm outside cannot blow down what has been built up from inside.

Prayer

To him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy: to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen.

Jude
1
A Greeting from Jude
(James 1:1)
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
 
To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:
 
2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
God’s Judgment on the Ungodly
(2 Peter 3:1–7)
 
3 Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
5 Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus * 1:5 NE, WH, BYZ, and TR the Lord had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day. 7 In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
 
8 Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”† 1:9 This account is attributed by Origen to the Testament of Moses, also called the Assumption of Moses. 10 These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively. 11 Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
 
12 These men are hidden reefs ‡ 1:12 Or are blemishes in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
 
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them:
 
“Behold, the Lord is coming
with myriads of His holy ones
15 to execute judgment on everyone,
and to convict all the ungodly
of every ungodly act of wickedness
and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.Ӥ 1:15 See the First Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 1:9).
 
16 These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
A Call to Persevere
(Hebrews 10:19–39; 2 Peter 3:1–7)
 
17 But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ 18 when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”* 1:18 See 2 Peter 3:3. 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.
 
20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.
 
22 And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
Doxology
(Romans 16:25–27)
 
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity.
 
Amen.

*1:5 1:5 NE, WH, BYZ, and TR the Lord

†1:9 1:9 This account is attributed by Origen to the Testament of Moses, also called the Assumption of Moses.

‡1:12 1:12 Or are blemishes

§1:15 1:15 See the First Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 1:9).

*1:18 1:18 See 2 Peter 3:3.

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