Jude – Contend for the Faith – Online Bible Study

 

You can watch the online version of this study on my channel, Based Christian History at 8pm AEST

In this study you will find the passage, some analysis of the passage, and 10 study questions with cross references for a Bible study setting.

Jude

New King James Version

Greeting to the Called

¹ Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

⁸ Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²² And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵ To God our Savior,Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Introduction and Evaluation of Jude

If we were to summarize Jude we could say his big idea would be:

Because false teachers have infiltrated the church and perverted God’s grace, Christians must contend for the apostolic faith, persevere in holiness, and lovingly rescue those being led astray, trusting the Lord God who is able to keep them from falling.

That captures the movement of the whole letter particularly well. It is a call to action to defend the truth for the sake of God’s people.

Jude himself identifies his purpose in 1:3. He notes that he had intended to write about their “common salvation,” but found it necessary to exhort them “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” He has to do this because certain people have secretly entered the church and were turning God's grace into sensuality and denying Christ's lordship.

Aim and structure

Jude has an unusually clear overall structure:

1. Greeting and identity — vv. 1–2
2. The reason for the letter: contend for the faith — vv. 3–4
3. The warning: examples and characteristics of apostasy — vv. 5–16
4. The response: remember, build, pray, keep, rescue — vv. 17–23
5. The confidence: God is able to keep his people — vv. 24–25

The transition at verse 17 is particularly important. Jude moves from describing the false teachers to addressing his readers directly: “But you, beloved…” That contrast occurs again in verses 20 and 21. The letter therefore isn't merely a denunciation of heresy; it is pastoral instruction about how faithful Christians are to respond when error threatens the church.

As I already noted; Jude wants believers to contend for the faith for the sake of the body of Christ.

Interpretation

Jude's argument is theological as well as moral. The false teachers do not merely have some incorrect opinions. Their distorted understanding of grace produces distorted behaviour. They turn grace into an excuse for sensuality and simultaneously deny Christ's authority.

That is why Jude repeatedly connects belief and behaviour. Cain, Balaam and Korah in verse 11 are not random examples: each represents rebellion against God's revealed order. The images Jude uses in verses 12–13, imagery like waterless clouds, fruitless trees, raging waves and wandering stars, communicate spiritual barrenness and instability.

The second half of this small letter gives the positive alternative. Believers are to build themselves up in the faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep themselves in God's love and look forward to Christ's mercy. They are also to show differentiated pastoral care toward those affected by error.

There is a beautiful tension between human perseverance and divine preservation. Verse 21 says, “keep yourselves,” while verse 24 declares that God is able to “keep you from stumbling.” God's preserving work does not make Christian perseverance unnecessary; rather, persevering in the faith is one of the ways God's preserving grace is evidenced. The believer is responsible to keep their faith in God, while relying on God to sustain them.  Jude would laugh at those who complain too much about tone. His letter is rhetorically forceful. His language becomes increasingly vivid as he describes the false teachers. This is appropriate because the tone of the letter is one of urgent pastoral warning, not detached academic analysis. Jude cares enough about people’s souls to use strong language to warn them about dangerous teachers.

Jude Bible study Questions

Bible Study: Jude — Contending for the Faith

1. Who are the people Jude is writing to, and what does he say God has already done for them? Vv. 1-2

Cross-reference: 1 Peter 1:3–5

2. Why did Jude feel compelled to change what he originally intended to write about? Vv. 3–4.

Cross-reference: Galatians 1:6–9

3. What exactly was wrong with the false teachers? Vv. 4, 8–13 and 16.

Cross-reference: Titus 1:16

4. Why does Jude spend so much time reminding his readers about examples from the past? Vv. 5–11.

Cross-reference: 1 Corinthians 10:1–12

5. What do Jude's vivid descriptions in verses 12–16 tell us about the character and destiny of false teachers? Vv. 12–16.

Cross-reference: Matthew 7:15–20

6. What is the positive alternative to following false teachers? Vv. 17–21.

Cross-reference: Acts 20:28–32

7. What does it mean to “keep yourselves in the love of God”? Vv. Jude 20–21.

Cross-reference: John 15:9–10

8. How should Christians respond to people who are doubting or being drawn toward error? Vv. 22–23.

Cross-reference: Galatians 6:1–2

9. What does Jude mean by saying that God is able to “keep you from stumbling”? V. 24.

Cross-reference: Philippians 1:3–6

10. How should Jude change the way we live as Christians and as a church? Vv. 24–25.

Cross-reference: Romans 16:25–27