The Epistle of Jude

Epistle of Jude - 05-11-2012

This name is actually Ioudas, the Greek form of Judah as is evident in the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke. Aside from the patriarch, there were two men in the New Testament associated with Christ who had this name Ioudas, and others who also bore it were mentioned. Attempting to distinguish these men is sometimes difficult, and therefore this epistle was entitled Jude in the A.V., although where he is mentioned in Scripture he is Judas, and the spelling is the same as that given also for that infamous apostle, Judas Iscariot.

Eusebius doubted the canonicity of Jude. Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History at 6:14 discusses the work of the earlier Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius states of Clement that “In the work called Hypotyposes, to sum up the matter briefly, he gave us abridged accounts of all the canonical Scriptures, not even omitting those that are disputed, I mean, the Book of Jude, and the other general epistles.” Unfortunately, so far as I have seen, Eusebius does not elaborate to tell us why these epistles were disputed. Fragments of the work of Clement of Alexandria found in the writings of Cassiodorus show that he esteemed this Epistle of Jude to be canonical on other occasions as well as those cited by Eusebius, and he even quoted it at length along with some commentary. Clement also quoted and cited Jude in both his Paedagogus (The Instructor) and in his Elucidations. Irenaeus does not mention Jude by name, but he clearly quotes verse 7 of this epistle in chapter 36 of the fourth book of his Against Heresies, and he quotes verse 3 elsewhere in fragments which are attributed to him. Polycarp also quoted Jude verse 3 in his epistle to the Philippians. Tertullian both quotes and alludes to Jude over a hundred years before Eusebius' expressions of doubt, as do Hippolytus and Novatian and several other early Christian writers, all of them esteeming the epistle to be legitimate. Origen, in his Second Book of the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 10, said of Jude that he “wrote a letter of few lines … but filled with the healthful words of heavenly grace”, referring to this very epistle. So it is clear, that while Eusebius and others may have at a late time doubted the veracity of Jude nearly three centuries after it was written, the early Christian writers did not doubt it.

This epistle of Jude is attested to in ancient manuscripts by the Codices Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus and Ephraemi Syri, all from the fourth and fifth centuries, and also by at least two ancient papyri, both of which date to as early as the third century. Aside from Eusebius' hearsay, there is no reason to doubt the veracity of this epistle.

1 Iouda, servant of Yahshua Christ and brother of Iakobos, to those beloved by Father Yahweh, even the chosen being preserved by Yahshua Christ, 2 mercy to you and peace and love be multiplied.

Jude calls himself the “brother of James”, or Iakobos. In the New Testament there were two men named Jakob, or James if you prefer, who were associated with Christ. Many commentators claim that there were three. The first James mentioned in the Gospels is the son of Zebedee and the brother of John, for which see Matthew 4:21. He was slain by Herod, as recorded in Acts Chapter 12, in or around 44 AD. This here James is the son of Alphaeus, mentioned along with his brother Jude in Luke 6:15-16, and he is “the Lord's brother” as we see in Galatians 1:19. He is also the son of Mary, the mother of Christ, and he is the brother of Joses, mentioned at Matthew 13:55 and 27:56. Some commentators call this James “the greater”, however scripture calls him “James the less”, as the King James version has it at Mark 15:40. Some commentators believe that Mark 15:40 refers to the son of Zebedee, where in fact it refers to the son of Alphaeus – for only he was the brother of both Jude and of Joses, and the half-brother of Christ. So we see that Jude, while here he calls himself only a servant, and not a brother of Christ, is indeed also that Jude of the gospels who is the brother of Christ through a common mother, Mary.

Matthew 13:55: “Is this not the son of a craftsman? Is not His mother called Mariam and His brothers Iakobos and Ioseph and Simon and Iouda?”

Mark 6:3: “3 'Is this not the craftsman, the son of Maria and brother of Iakobos and Ioses and Iouda and Simon? And are His brethren not here with us?' And they were offended by Him”

Luke 6:14-16: “14 Simon whom He also named Petros and Andreas his brother, and Iakobos, and Iohannes, and Philippos, and Bartholomaios, 15 and Maththaios, and Thomas, and Iakobos son of Alphaios, and Simon who is called the 'zealot', 16 and Iouda the brother of Iakobos, and Ioudas Iskarioth who had become a traitor.“

That Jude and James, the brothers of Yahshua, had been proclaiming the Gospel after the Resurrection is evident in Paul's epistles at 1 Corinthians 9:5, where we see the term brethren used in the close familial sense, distinguished from “the rest of the apostles … and Kephas”. Therefore, there is no reason to doubt that the writer of this epistle is our apostle the brother of James and half-brother of the Christ.

Jude is writing “to those beloved by God the Father”, and therefore demonstrates that it is not what men choose that prevails, but whom God chooses, they prevail. Malachi 1:1: “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”

Jude is also writing to “the chosen being preserved by Yahshua Christ”, but these are not different people from “those beloved by God the Father”. Rather, the two phrases are intended to describe the same people. It may have been written “to those who are beloved by God the Father and who are the chosen being preserved by Yahshua Christ”, which read word-for-word is not as literal but which certainly reflects Jude's intentions accurately. Only the children of Israel have all of those Old Testament promises of salvation, and therefore only the children of Israel can be “the chosen being preserved by Yahshua Christ” as these things were all defined by God long in advance.

Isaiah 43: “11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. 13 Yea, before the day was [which is before Christ actually comes] I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? 14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon [captivity], and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.”

Isaiah 45: “15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”

3 Beloved, making all haste to write to you concerning our common salvation I had necessity to write to you encouraging you to contend once for all for the faith having been delivered to the saints. 4 For some men have stolen in, those of old having been written about beforetime for this judgment, godless men, substituting the favor of our God for licentiousness and denying our only Master and Prince, Yahshua Christ.

The last phrase of verse 4 reads exactly like 1 Enoch 48:9-10, speaking of the wicked. Here it shall be quoted from the R. H. Charles edition: “9 And I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: As straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy: As lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, And no trace of them shall any more be found. 10. And on the day of their affliction there shall be rest on the earth, And before them they shall fall and not rise again: And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed. The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed.”

Here Jude associates the false teachers with those godless men of old, just as Peter also did at 2 Peter 2:1-3, where he says that “for whom from of old their judgment is not idle and their destruction does not sleep!” This is one reason, I am persuaded, that why as long ago as Eusebius' time certain men wanted to get rid of these epistles. Likewise Paul associates the deception of Christians with that Serpent of old, at 2 Corinthians 11:3 where he states that “But I fear lest in any way, as the serpent had thoroughly beguiled Eve in his villainy, your thoughts would be corrupted from that sincerity and that purity which is with the Anointed.” It is not by chance that the apostles used such illustrations to convey these things, since they are fully corroborated as literal truths in many other places in Scripture.

Jude mentions “our common salvation”: for salvation is shared by all those of our race who are “the chosen being preserved by Yahshua Christ” if indeed we are of the children of Israel. And if we are, then it is our Christian duty “to contend once for all for the faith having been delivered to the saints” because those who would lead us into apathy, atheism, and licentiousness are the enemies of God, who not only reject Him but never had any part with Him in the first place.

From Psalm 37: “28 For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” The word saint first appears in Deuteronomy chapter 33, where it is also defined: “2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”

The word saint is Strong's Hebrew Dictionary number 6944, qodesh, and it means apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness. The term was used of the children of Israel because of the commandment at Exodus chapter 19: “5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” We see these ideas repeated at Deuteronomy 7: “6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people”. The words rendered holy in these passages are from another Hebrew word related to qodesh, and similarly defined. The equivalent Greek word most often employed in the New Testament and by the translators of the Septuagint is hagios, and it means separated and dedicated to the purposes of God. All of these terms can only refer to the children of Israel, and therefore no one else could ever participate in the benefits of that relationship which they have with God.

5 But I desire to remind you, you all knowing that once for all the Prince having delivered the people from the land of Egypt, the second time destroyed those not believing,

Where Jude refers to “the second time” he refers to those who fell in the desert. The first time the impious of our race were destroyed was in the days of Noah. Here we also see that Jude indirectly defines for us what is meant by “all” in the scripture, saying that “once for all the Prince having delivered the people from the land of Egypt” he informs us that “all” means all of Israel – which is the context of the entire Scripture. Here it is also evident that obedience was certainly perceived as being the result of one's faith.

6 and the messengers not having kept their first dominion but having forsaken their own habitation are kept under darkness in everlasting bindings for the judgment of the great day,

From 1 Enoch chapter 12: “4 'Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth'”. There are many other portions of 1 Enoch which also offer relevant citations. While there are many commentators who would point to the events of Genesis chapter 6 as what is being referred to here, they are not necessarily limited to that. The event of Genesis chapter 3 which caused the original fall of Adam also has to be considered, especially since in Revelation chapter 12 Christ Himself equates the fallen angels with “that old serpent”. From Revelation 12: “7 And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his messengers fighting with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his messengers, 8 and they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven. 9 And the great dragon had been cast down, that serpent of old, who is called the False Accuser and the Adversary; he who deceives the whole inhabited earth had been cast into the earth, and his messengers had been cast down with him.” This event described in the Revelation had to take place in the distant past. First, this same “dragon” is described in Revelation 12:13-18 as having persecuted the woman and attempting to kill the Christ-child. Again this dragon is equated to the serpent in that passage, and it is seen that afterwards the dragon “went to make war with the woman”, which is the continued fulfillment of the enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman as forewarned in Genesis 3:15. The dragon, the serpent, the angels that sinned, the Adversary (or Satan), the False Accuser (or Devil), and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil are all epithets for this same entity and their descendants.

7 as Sodom and Gomorra and the cities around them in like manner with them committing fornication and having gone after different flesh are set forth an example, undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Where Jude says “as Sodom and Gomorra” the apostle equates the acts of the fallen angels to those of the Canaanite cities. Where he says “in like manner with them”, he tells us that the people of Sodom and Gomorra and the other cities did these things along with the fallen angels! This can only be, because the Kenites and the Rephaim of Genesis chapter 15, who were descended from the serpent – from the fallen angels – and were also mixed in with the Canaanites of those cities as well as they were mixed in with the rest of the Canaanites of Palestine. The end for all of them is the “Lake of Fire” of the Revelation and Matthew chapters 13 and 25, where we see that they are the tares and the goats of those respective parables. Likewise, 1 Enoch 10:13 tells us of the coming judgement of the fallen angels that “ In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire.”

Here Jude defines fornication as race-mixing, which is the only honest way that one can interpret the pursuit of “different flesh”. There are at least three other Biblical witnesses to this definition of fornication. They are: Paul at 1 Corinthians 10:8 where he refers to the incident with the men of Israel and the daughters of Moab as fornication using the same Greek word, the Revelation at 2:14 where this same incident is referred to with the same language, which is also associated with the “doctrine of Balaam”, and in Paul's letters again at Hebrews 12:16 where he called the race-mixing Esau a fornicator, using a form of the same Greek word once again. The churchmen confuse fornication with adultery or homosexuality, yet they cannot be the same since in Scripture on various occasions they are mentioned together in the same verses (i.e. Galatians 5:19)! Neither can fornication be idolatry, since they are also distinguished in scripture (i.e. Galatians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:5, Acts 15:20 and 29). Here I would like to quote Tobit 4:12-13: “12 Beware of all whoredom, my son, and chiefly take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father's tribe: for we are the children of the prophets, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning, even that they all married wives of their own kindred, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land. 13 Now therefore, my son, love thy brethren, and despise not in thy heart thy brethren, the sons and daughters of thy people, in not taking a wife of them: for in pride is destruction and much trouble, and in lewdness is decay and great want: for lewdness is the mother of famine.” The word for whoredom is that same Greek word, porneia, which the King James Version often rendered fornication. Tobit tells us not only not to commit fornication, but that when one does so, he hates his own people.

8 Whereas likewise also these dreamers indeed defile the flesh while they reject authority and they blaspheme honor. 9 Yet Michael the chief messenger, when contending with the False Accuser he argued over the body of Moses, did not venture to bring a judgment for blasphemy, but said “The Prince should censure you!”

This exclamation, “The Prince should censure you!” as it appears in the Christogenea New Testament, is due to the optative mood of the verb, which is employed to express a wish or desire. According to William MacDonald, only about 38 optatives appear in the New Testament, and most of them seem to be in Paul's letters. A very similar exclamation appears at Zechariah 3:2: “And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Michael is, of course, mentioned in Daniel Chapters 10 and 12 and in the Revelation Chapter 12. The name means “who is like God” and here it refers to a definite individual.

The only other ancient, or perhaps not-so-ancient, extant mention of a story concerning the body of Moses is found in a book entitled The Assumption of Moses, which was translated by R.H. Charles in the very late 19^th century, which is freely available through Google Books in PDF format. Charles estimates the work to have been written in the first century AD. I certainly do not accept that work as authentic because, among other reasons, it employs the Masoretic chronology, and it dates the death of Moses to exactly 2500 years from the creation of Adam. The book also employs that false jew/gentile terminology that we do not find in the Old Testament except perhaps in Esther, and later in the works of the Pharisees and their Christian followers. It states that the purpose of God's selection of Israel was to “convict the nations” (where Charles has gentiles), which is not true. Many commentators claim that Jude was referring to this work, for which there is no actual basis. In Deuteronomy 34 we read: “5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” There was no assumption of Moses: for the Scripture plainly states that he was buried in the land of Moab.

It is much more likely that Jude was citing an older and now lost record of some other event. It is also possible that Jude is referring not to the actual flesh of Moses, but to the Hebrew Law as the “body of Moses”, especially since the charge indicated for the guilt was blasphemy and is related to the rejection of authority – and not to the defilement or theft of a corpse.

10 But these indeed blaspheme whatever they do not know, yet whatever is natural they understand like irrational beasts, by these things they destroy themselves.

The subject of Jude's diatribe is still those “some men” who “have stolen in”, “those of old having been written about beforetime for this judgment, godless men”, as they are described in verse 4, and we see that he means those outsiders who have infiltrated the congregations of Israel. Peter, in chapter 2 at verse 12 of his second epistle, refers to these same men where he says that “these, having been born as natural irrational animals into destruction and corruption...also shall perish”. The King James words it differently, where it calls them “natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed”. These words can describe all of the aliens among the White race today, and they reflect the attitude that Christians should have towards those who are not of our kind. There is no crossing the lines from righteousness to unrighteousness. One is born righteous, “born from of God” as the apostle John says in the fourth chapter of his first epistle, or one is born of the world. In respect of this Paul says at 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the account of the cross is folly to those who are going to die, but to those who are being preserved, to us, it is the power of Yahweh.”

In the book of Jeremiah, especially in chapter 2, we see that the people of Judah were chastised by God for race mixing. Yahweh exclaims in verse 13 of that chapter of Jeremiah: “13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Then Yahweh goes on to explain: “21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.” Race-mixing is the sin that cannot be cleansed. Now this problem went back to Judah himself, since, as Malachi records, Judah had “married the daughter of a strange god” (Malachi 2:11), and therefore, with the progeny of Shelah, from the earliest times there were Canaanites who had a claim to be of Judah. While it is also evident in Scripture that many of the children of Israel had at various times mixed with the Canaanites, from the time of the Divided Kingdom they went off into paganism and therefore had no part in the early corruption of the “body of Moses”, which can refer to the Laws of our God as they were kept in the temple at Jerusalem.

Now Jeremiah showed us in chapter 24 of his prophecy, how Yahweh had separated the good and the bad figs of Judah during the Babylonian captivity. However the bad figs never lost their purported identity as Judah, and added to these “bad fig jews” were the Edomites who were subjected by the Maccabees in the second century AD, where from that time all of Edom was converted to the religion of Judaea and purported to be Judaeans. Paul distinguishes between the Israelite “vessels of mercy” and the Edomite “vessels of destruction” in Romans chapter 9. Here Jude equates these infiltrators who are the blasphemers of Yahweh with animals, which is exactly what they are since they do not have that Spirit which Yahweh imparted to the Adamic race, and this is why several times in Scripture the non-Adamic peoples are likened to behemah, or beasts, where the word is used as a pejorative. If one does not have the Spirit of Yahweh which was imparted to the Adamic race, one is a beast – but certainly not one of the beasts of God's creation. Rather, it is evident that these beasts were the product of race-mixing, a violation of God's law, and we cannot blame Yahweh God for the sins of man.

11 Woe to them, because they have gone in the way of Kain and in deception they pour forth of the wages of Balaam and are destroyed in the disputation of Kore!

The way of Cain and the wages of Balaam have everything to do with race. Many may dispute that statement concerning Cain, however where the way of Cain is equated to the gainsaying of Kore, it may be demonstrated that this is indeed true. The gainsaying of Kore is described in Numbers chapter 16. Kore was a Levite, and a cousin of Moses and Aaron. However he insisted on performing priestly duties which Yahweh had prescribed for the sons of Aaron alone, and concerning the offerings they were a function reserved specifically for Aaron's son Eleazar, who with the death of his elder brothers obtained the position of firstborn. So Kore insisted upon making sacrifices which he had no right to perform. Likewise Cain made a sacrifice, and his sacrifice was rejected by Yahweh. We see with the sacrifice of Cain, that Abel was also making sacrifice, and his sacrifice was accepted by Yahweh. Since the eldest son is traditionally the family priest (Exodus 4:23, 13:2, Numbers 3:12-13) it may seem that Cain should have been doing the sacrificing, and not Abel – if indeed Cain was Adam's true son. Abel challenged Cain and prevailed, because Abel was Adam's firstborn son, and Cain was a product of fornication. Such is why Cain is not counted in Adam's genealogy, and why Cain was said to be “of the wicked one” at 1 John 3:12, and “a devil and a murderer from the beginning” in John chapter 8. There is no other purely Scriptural way to interpret these events and this equation which Jude makes here.

Both Cain and Kore attempted to usurp Yahweh's established order, and so did Balaam. Peter, speaking of these same infiltrators at 2 Peter 2:15, says that “abandoning the straight road they have wandered astray, following in the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who had loved the wage of unrighteousness”. Yahweh commanded that the children of Israel be a separate people. Balaam was hired by Balak the king of Moab to curse the children of Israel, and each time that he attempted, Yahweh forced blessings to proceed from his mouth instead of curses. Upon failing to achieve his purpose, for his wage he counseled Balak how else he could defeat the Israelites: by encouraging them to race-mix. This is where in Numbers chapter 25 it is said that “Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” From Revelation 2:14, and the message to the assembly in Pergamos: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those holding the teaching of Balaam, who had taught Balak to put a trap before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.” Those infiltrators from the “synagogue of satan” who claim to be Judah but are not, have been trying to get the White race – the true children of Israel – to race mix ever since.

To repeat Jude verse 11, “11 Woe to them, because they have gone in the way of Kain and in deception they pour forth of the wages of Balaam and are destroyed in the disputation of Kore!” Jude makes an interesting analogy here. The way of Cain, who was Adam-kind's first bastard, leads to the error of Balaam and causes destruction such as that which resulted from the disputation of Kore. While Kore himself had nothing to do with fornication, he nevertheless sought to set aside Yahweh's order and establish his own. The way Jude has written this verse, one of these things leads to another. The bastardization process leads to further bastardization, which leads to destruction as a judgement resulting from the corruption of Yahweh's established order. That process of corruption and destruction can be witnessed throughout the Bible and history, starting with the fall of our first parents.

12 These are the spots in your feasts of charity, feasting together without fear, tending to themselves, clouds without water being carried away by the winds ...

At 2 Peter 2:13 the apostle writes of these same infiltrators that they are “stains and disgraces reveling in their deceits feasting together with you”, and in the same chapter at verse 17 he says that “these are streams without water and clouds being driven by a tempest”. The “clouds without water” and “streams without water” can only be those same broken cisterns of Jeremiah 2:13: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Therefore the writer of the Proverbs admonishes his son, at Proverbs 5:15-18: “15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.” A broken cistern is one that holds no water, as a race-mixed man does not have the Spirit of Yahweh.

… late-autumn trees without fruit, twice dead being uprooted,

Jude here seems to refer to the parable of the fig tree at Luke 13:6-9, which corresponds to the 3-1/2 year ministry of Christ: “6 Then He spoke this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit in it and found none. 7 And he said to the vine-dresser, ‘Look, it is three years from which I have come seeking fruit in this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down, for why should the land be useless?’ 8 But answering he says to him: ‘Master, leave it this year also, until when I should dig around it and cast manure 9 and so then it may produce fruit in the future, but otherwise if not, you shall cut it down.’”

Being twice dead once they are uprooted, Jude again tells us that these people do not have the Spirit of God, since resurrection is through that Spirit. If one has not the Spirit, there is no resurrection. Being dead both physically and spiritually, once they die they are “twice dead”. To be resurrected one must be born with the Spirit, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that Adamic man is born a physical seed, and raised a spiritual seed, it is evident that both bodies grow out of the same seed. The apostle John also mentions this seed in his first epistle where he says that “Each who has been born from of Yahweh does not create wrongdoing, because His seed abides in him, and he is not able to do wrong, because from of Yahweh he has been born.” (1 John 3:9.) Therefore Christ said of those who opposed Him at Matthew 23:27: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens' bones, and of all uncleanness.”

13 stormy waves of the sea foaming up their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is kept forever!

Again, 2 Peter 2:17 says the same things of these same people: “These are streams without water and clouds being driven by a tempest, for whom the gloom of darkness is kept.” The ideas represented by Jude verses 4 through 13 are found in large part in various places in 1 Enoch. Here are 1 Enoch chapters 15 and 16: “15 1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. 2 And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: You should intercede for men, and not men for you: 3 Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants as your sons? 4 And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten children with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die and perish. 5 Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. 6 But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. 7 And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. 8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. 9 Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. 10 As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling. 11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. 16 1 From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement--thus shall they destroy until the day of the consummation, the great judgement in which the age shall be consummated, over the Watchers and the godless, yea, shall be wholly consummated." 2 And now as to the Watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been aforetime in heaven, say to them: 'You have been in heaven, but all the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, and you knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth.' 4 Say to them therefore: 'You have no peace.'”

Now whatever we think of 1 Enoch, or whether we can be assured that the writings of Enoch which Jude was referring to are those same writings which we have today, is immaterial. These ideas which are expressed in Enoch are also often found in Scripture, and an examination not only of that version of Enoch found in Charles' edition, but also the Enoch literature found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, helps us to better understand what Jude was referring to, which Peter had also discussed.

It is evident that the Enoch literature relates the idea that evil spirits would cause havoc upon the earth. There it is also evident that demons, or evil spirits, proceed from the bastard children of race-mixing. However these are not necessarily disembodied spirits. Rather, the apostle John was talking about embodied spirits when he warned in the fourth chapter of his first epistle: “1 Beloved, do not have trust in every spirit, but scrutinize whether the spirits are from of Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into Society. 2 By this you know the Spirit of Yahweh: each spirit which professes that Yahshua Christ has come in the flesh is from of Yahweh, 3 and each spirit which does not profess Yahshua is not from of Yahweh, and this is the Antichrist, whom you have heard that it comes, and is already now in Society. 4 You are from of Yahweh, children, and you have prevailed over them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in Society. 5 They are from of Society: for this reason from of Society they speak and Society hears them. 6 We are from of Yahweh: he knowing Yahweh hears us. He who is not from of Yahweh does not hear us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” True children of God are born of God. Bastards are born out of the errors of Society, the sins of the world, to use the language of the King James Version. In his epistle, John was making reference to the differences between the true Israelites, and the Canaanite-Edomites jews who were and still are the principle deniers of Christ.

The idea has been set forth, that perhaps Jude was not quoting Enoch, but that the Enoch literature which we have is spurious, and is an extrapolation from Jude. While the Enoch literature which we have is certainly not perfect, having been added to and redacted by men, this idea that the Enoch literature has been created from Jude is ridiculous. Aside from Charles' edition of I Enoch which is translated from Ethiopic, there are the very similar portions of Enoch found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The authors of those scrolls were demonstrably not Christian, they seemed to have been ignorant of Christianity up to the time that all of the surviving scrolls were written, and plenty of portions of the writings attributed to Enoch were found among them. The scrolls can also be dated with certainty to a time before the rebellion leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, which is before 65 AD, from content within the scrolls themselves. Therefore they could not have been authored based on information from Jude's epistle, and must have existed before Jude wrote. The next verse of his epistle makes it clear, that Jude was quoting from Enoch.

14 And Enoch, seventh from Adam, prophesied to these saying “Behold, the Prince has come with ten thousands of His saints 15 to execute judgment against all and to convict every soul for all of their impious deeds which they committed impiously and for all of the harsh things which the impious wrongdoers have spoken against Him!”

Jude seems to be referring to Enoch 1:9, which says in the Charles edition: “9. And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgement upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Note that Jude calls Enoch “seventh from Adam”. In Charles' 1 Enoch, at chapter 60 verse 8 Enoch is also called the “seventh from Adam”. Adam himself does not count here, Enoch being seventh from Adam. Therefore, either Cain or Abel – but not both, must be included in this reckoning in order to arrive at 7 first-born males. There is no other way to reckon Enoch as “seventh from Adam” within the confines of Scripture. What can this refer to, except first-born males? Seth, replacing the murdered Abel, therefore inherits the rights of the first-born from him. So we have it: 1-Abel 2-Seth 3-Enos 4-Cainan 5-Mahalaleel 6-Jared 7-Enoch, and this also demonstrates the exclusion of Cain from his birth.

16 These are grumbling murmurers going in accordance with their own lusts, and their mouths speak excesses, admiring appearances for the sake of advantage.

The NA27 cites 1 Enoch 5:4 here: “4. But ye - ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, But ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard words with your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace.” Peter says of them “18 For uttering excessive vanity they entice with the licentious desires of the flesh those nearly escaping who are returning to error. 19 Proclaiming for themselves freedom they become slaves of corruption. For by that which one is overcome, to this he is enslaved.”

Paul and James both warn Christians not to have respect for the status of persons. Where Jude chastises the infiltrators as “admiring appearances for the sake of advantage” we are reminded of the words of Christ Himself, where speaking of the scribes and the Pharisees He says to the apostles in Matthew chapter 23: “5 And all their deeds they do for which to be observed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and make great their fringes, 6 and they love the best seats at the dinners and the first benches in the assembly halls 7 and the greetings in the markets and to be called by men ‘Rabbi’! 8 But you should not be called ‘Rabbi’, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And you shall not call your father upon the earth, for One is your Father, the heavenly. 10 Neither should you be called guides, because One is your Guide, the Christ. 11 And he who is greater among you shall be your servant. 12 But whoever should exalt himself shall be humbled and whoever should humble himself shall be exalted.”

17 But you, beloved, must be mindful of the words spoken beforehand by the ambassadors of our Prince Yahshua Christ, 18 that they said to you that at the end of time there shall be scoffers going in accordance with their own lusts for impious things.

Jude must here be referring to the written warnings of both Peter and Paul. Where 2 Peter 3:3 says: “knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers with scoffing going according to their own desires”, Paul gives a longer warning where he begins 2 Timothy chapter 3 by saying “1 Now this you must know, that in the last days grievous times will arise. 2 For men will be narcissistic, covetous, arrogant blasphemous braggarts, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unhallowed, 3 unaffectionate, implacable, slanderous, intemperate, untamed, without love of goodness, 4 reckless demented traitors, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Yahweh. 5 Having a form of piety but denying the value of it. And these you must turn away from. 6 From among them are they who get into the houses of and captivate simple women laden with wrongdoing, being led away with various lusts. 7 Always learning yet never able to come to knowledge of the truth.” As we proceed through time, we see such behaviour more and more frequently.

19 These are those making divisions, animals, not having the Spirit.

As it was noted at verse 10, the subject of Jude's diatribe is still those “some men” who “have stolen in”, “those of old having been written about beforetime for this judgment, godless men”, as they are described in verse 4, and we see that Jude means those outsiders who have infiltrated the congregations of Israel. These are those who have always been opposed to our God, and their origins must lie with the Kenites, the Rephaim, and therefore the later Canaanites and Edomites who mixed with them, and all others who descended from the so-called “fallen angels” of Scripture. These are they who have departed from the will of Yahweh, and it is because they are nothing but animals. Since they do not have the Spirit of Yahweh, they cannot be led by the Spirit of Yahweh! Here Jude reinforces what he said of them in verse 10, that they are “irrational beasts”, as Peter also called them “natural irrational animals”, or in the King James Version “natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed”. Since the time of Christ, all of the major and destructive divisions among His people have their origin with His enemies.

While animals cannot emulate Adamic man, Adamic man can certainly emulate the flesh. From 1 Corinthians chapter 3: “1 And I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you concerning the spiritual, but concerning the fleshly; like infants in Christ. 2 I have given you milk to drink, not food; indeed you were not able, but still now you are not able; 3 for you are still fleshly. Where among you are rivalry and contention and dissension, are you not fleshly? And walk in accordance with man?” Later, in 1 Corinthians 11:18, Paul informs us that divisions make manifest the children of God, where he is talking about men of contention (v. 16) and not merely men with minor disagreements: “For there must also be sects among you, in order that those approved will become evident among you.” We do not have to agree with one another, but if we would all agree with the Scripture, we would have no contention.

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in sanctity in your faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 must keep yourselves in the love of Yahweh, accepting the mercy of our Prince Yahshua Christ for eternal life. 22 And indeed have mercy upon those who are hesitating.

These words of Jude's are in nature very much like many sayings of Paul's. In Ephesians chapter 4 Paul speaks of the necessary unity of faith, and also of those who make divisions: “11 And He has given the ambassadors, and the interpreters of prophesy, and those who deliver the good message, and the shepherds - teachers, 12 towards the restoration of the saints, for the work of ministering for building of the body of the Anointed, 13 until we all would attain to the unity of the faith and of the acknowledgment of the Son of Yahweh, at man perfected, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Anointed; 14 in order that we would be infants no longer - being tossed as waves and carried about in every wind of teaching by the trickery of men, in villainy for the sake of the systematizing of deception. 15 But speaking the truth with love, we may increase all things for He who is the head, the Christ, 16 from whom all the body is being joined together and is being reconciled through every stroke of assistance according to the operation of each single part in proportion; the growth of the body creates itself into a building in love.” Jude's reference to “those who are hesitating” still to this day reflects how many of our brethren are deceived by the world and cannot find the truth.

23 Now some you save snatching them from the fire,

From James 5:19-20, at the very end of his epistle: “19 My brethren, if one among you should stray from the truth and one should correct him, 20 you must know that he correcting a wrongdoer from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of errors!”

but some have mercy upon in fear, hating even garments having been defiled by the flesh.

We must have mercy upon sinners in fear of failing ourselves, as Paul had written in Galatians chapter 6: “1 Brethren, even if a man should already be caught up in some transgression, you, those of the Spirit, restore such a man in a spirit of meekness, watching yourself lest also you may be tested.” Surely “garments having been defiled by the flesh” seems to be a reference to the soiled clothing of sexual deviants.

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you unfailing and to establish you in the presence of His honor blameless in great joy:

Jude's salutation is also reminiscent of some of Paul's statements. From 1 Thessalonians 3: “12 Now may the Prince make you have an excess and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we also for you, 13 for which to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before Yahweh, even our Father, in the presence of our Prince Yahshua with all of His holy ones. Truly.” From 2 Thessalonians 3: “3 But trustworthy is the Prince, who will establish you and keep you from the wicked.”

25 to Yahweh our only Savior through Yahshua Christ our Prince in honor, majesty, sovereignty and authority for all the ages, even now and for all eternity. Truly.

The final passage of Jude is reminiscent of the many prophecies concerning salvation in the Old Testament.

Hosea 13: “4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.”

Isaiah 43: “3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.”

Isaiah 49: “26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.”

So the very last epistle in the New Testament confirms all that the so-called Christian churches of the world now deny: that salvation has come to the children of Israel, and that Yahweh their God is One God, “for all the ages”. Judeo-Christianity, Dispensationalism, the ideas of an “Old Testament God” and a different “New Testament God”, these things and others are all divisions caused by the enemies of God and Man.