From: Over 50 Interpreters Explain Second Peter
and Jude Return to Home
By
Roland H. Worth, Jr. © 2018
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Jude
Verses
1-11
Verse 1 Translations
WEB: Jude,
a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called,
sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
Young’s: Judas,
of Jesus Christ a servant, and brother of James, to
those sanctified in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ kept -- called,
Conte (RC): Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and
brother of James, to those who are beloved in God
the Father, and who are guarded and
called in Jesus
Christ:
Verse 1 Jude. Reasons why Jude might not make reference to his physical kinship to Jesus if he were an apostle—or even if he were not [31]: If the view taken in the Introduction to the Epistle is correct, Jude sustained a near relation to the Lord Jesus, being, as James was, “the Lord‘s brother,” Galatians 1:19. The reasons why he did not advert to this fact here, as an appellation which would serve to designate him, and as showing his authority to address others in the manner in which he proposed to do in this Epistle, probably were: (1) that the right to do this did not rest on his mere “relationship” to the Lord Jesus, but on the fact that He had called certain persons to be His apostles, and had authorized them to do it; and, (2) that a reference to this relationship, as a ground of authority, might have created jealousies among the apostles themselves. We may learn from the fact that Jude merely calls himself “the servant of the Lord Jesus,” that is, a Christian, (a) that this is a distinction more to be desired than, would be a mere natural relationship to the Savior, and consequently, (b) that it is a higher honor than any distinction arising from birth or family. Compare Matthew 12:46-50.
Argument that he was not an apostle because there is an extremely high probability it would have been mentioned [46]: As he does not say that he is an Apostle, the inference is that he is not one. Contrast Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1 (where “Apostle” is used without “servant”); and Titus 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1 (where “Apostle” is added to “servant”). Excepting John, whose characteristic reserve accounts for it, Apostles proclaim themselves to be such in stating their credentials.
Hebrews
and the Epistle of James must be set aside as doubtful, or be admitted as
illustrations of the rule. Philippians
1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; and 2 Thessalonians 1:1 are not exceptions:
the servant of
Jesus Christ. Literally, “a bondsman” of. [3]
The
word is literally a “bondservant” or “slave.”
Possibly there is something of humility in the term, but there is surely
much of dignity. The same title was
claimed by the great Apostle Paul. It
may be assumed properly by every follower of Christ. Each one belongs to Him, as purchased by His
precious blood, each owes to Him submission, each
finds his chief joy in His service. [7]
The words may have a
side reference to the ungodly men against whom he writes, who are not
“servants of Jesus Christ.” [46]
and brother of
James. Literally, “one from the
same womb.” [3]
He makes mention of “James,” his brother, as being
well known, and of great influence among the Jewish Christians. [11]
It may be inferred, without much risk of error, that
he wished, bearing so common a name, to distinguish himself from others, like
Judas not Iscariot, of John 14:22, Luke 6:16, the Lebbæus
or Thaddæus of Matthew 10:3, Judas surnamed Barsabas (Acts 15:22), and others. [38]
This is added not merely to explain who he is, but
his claim to be heard. It is almost
incredible that an Apostle should have urged such a claim, and yet not have
stated the much higher claim of his own office:
the inference again is that the writer is not an Apostle. Only one James can be meant. After the death of James the brother of John,
only one James appears in the Acts (Acts
Textual variant added in many translations: “to those who are called, beloved” [ESV]. Not
invited merely, but having accepted the invitation, and having therefore the
“calling” of sons. This is the uniform
meaning in Scripture; not having the name, but the character (compare “a man’s
calling”). [50]
to them that are
sanctified [“beloved,” NASB] by God the Father. Literally, sanctified in God the Father,
i.e. through union with Him, living in Him. Some of the better MSS, however, give “beloved in God,” in which case the thought would be that they
were the objects of the writer’s love, not “according to the flesh,” but with
an emotion which had its source in God.
So taken it would be analogous to the phrases “salute you much in the
Lord” (1 Corinthians
to them that are
sanctified [“beloved,” NASB]. Christians.
[14]
On “sanctified:” Devoted to
his service, set apart for Him and made holy, through the influence of His
grace. [47]
Our sanctification is not our own work. [5]
On “beloved:” Our
affection for Christians springs from their relation to Christ and their
likeness to Him, as our love for God’s children rests on the same grounds. This is the brotherly love of the Gospel as
distinguished from the love of good-will.
[51]
by [in, NASB] God
the Father. We are not to interpret beloved by God, but the believers are the objects of the writer’s
love, in God who is the Father of Jesus Christ. [50]
and preserved in
[kept for, ESV, NASB] Jesus Christ. "Kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation," 1 Peter 1:5. [29]
The reason for St. Jude’s here characterizing the
called as beloved and kept, is because he has in his mind others who had been
called, but had gone astray and incurred the wrath of God. [36]
As He says Himself (John
We see from this that Jude, like all the other
apostles, preached the personal return of Jesus to this world. [48]
preserved. The
tense of the participle in the Greek implies a completed act continuing in its
results. The word may be noted as specially characteristic of the later Epistles. We have it in 1 Peter 1:4; 2 Peter 2:4, 2:9,
in [kept for, ESV, NASB] Jesus Christ. In order to be His forever. Jude conceives his readers to have been preserved from falling away from Christ up to that very time. Wordsworth: “The evil angels are preserved or kept for judgment (2 Peter 2:4); the heavens are preserved or kept for fire (2 Peter 3:7); but ye are preserved and kept for Jesus Christ, and there is an everlasting inheritance preserved or kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:4).” [50]
He created them, and redeemed them, and renewed them;
they are therefore His own possession (His “peculiar people”), and as
His, are kept for and finally presented to Him (Compare John 17:6, 12). [51]
and called. For they
have heard and heeded the gracious summons to salvation given by the Holy Spirit. [7]
And called — By the preaching of the word, by
the dispensations of divine providence, and by the drawings of divine grace;
called to receive the whole gospel blessing in time and in eternity. These things are premised, lest any of them
should be discouraged by the terrible things which are afterward
mentioned. [47]
This description of the persons addressed does not
occur in any other of the General Epistles, but is so used by Paul in the
salutation of Romans 1:6 and 1 Corinthians 1:2.
In Romans 1:1 he applies the term “called” to himself. The phrase denotes Christians as those who
have heard and obeyed God’s invitation to reconciliation and submission. On Romans 1:6 Sanday
and Headlam paraphrase it “called out of the mass of
mankind into the inner society of the church.” [45]
In depth: Other cases
of Divine calling [36]. We have many examples of the Divine calling
in the Gospels, as in the case of the Apostles (Matthew
This idea of calling or election is derived from the
O.T. See Hort’s
note on 1 Peter 1:1 ἰησοῦ
χριστοῦ
ἐκλεκτοῖς: “Two great forms of election are spoken of in
the O.T., the choosing of Israel, and the choosing of single Israelites, or bodies
of Israelites, to perform certain functions for Israel. . . . The calling and
the choosing imply each other, the calling being the outward expression of the
antecedent choosing, the act by which it begins to take effect. Both words emphatically mark the present
state of the persons addressed as being due to the free agency of God. . .
. In Deuteronomy
“As is the election of the ruler or priest within
For a similar use of the word “call” in Isaiah, cf. Isaiah 48:12; 43:1, 7. The chief distinction between the “calling” of the old and of the new dispensation is that the former is rather expressive of dignity (“called by the name of God”), the latter of invitation; but the former appears also in the N.T. in phrases [found in] James 2:7 and 1 Peter 2:9.
Verse 2 Translations
WEB: Mercy
to you and peace and love be multiplied.
Young’s: kindness
to you, and peace, and love, be multiplied
Conte (RC): May mercy, and peace, and love be
fulfilled in you.
Verse 2 Mercy. Is that favor toward the undeserving shown by
the Father. [7]
The
pardon of all their sins and acceptance with God. [31]
Mercy means nearly
the same as grace in the salutations of Paul.
Were any one to wish for a refined distinction,
it may be said that grace is properly the effect of mercy; for there is no
other reason why God has embraced us in love, but that he pitied our
miseries. [35]
Another triplet,
which possibly looks back to the one just preceding: called by God’s mercy, preserved in peace,
beloved in love. “Mercy” and “peace”
occur in the opening greetings of 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 John. The three are in logical order here: mercy
from God to man; hence peace between God and man; hence love of all towards
all. [46]
unto you. By their very nature these blessings are
targeted at those who have embraced the gospel rather than those who have
scornfully rejected it. [rw]
and peace. Next to
mercy is peace, which we have from the sense of having obtained mercy. We can have no true and lasting peace but
what flows from our reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ. [5]
and love. As from
mercy springs peace, so from peace springs love, His love to us, our
love to Him, and our brotherly love (forgotten, wretchedly neglected, grace!)
to one another. [5]
“Mercy” is God’s feeling towards them; “peace” is
their condition as the result of it; “love” is either their feeling Godward and manward as the effect of God’s grace (so it is in Ephesians
6:23), or it is God’s love to them that are called, in the manifold expressions
of it (so it is in Jude, verse 21, and in 2 Corinthians 13:14). This last view seems preferable; it is for
the fullness of love he prays, as it is for abundance of mercy and peace. [51]
be multiplied. Be increased and grow abundantly. [rw]
Verse 3 Translations
WEB: Beloved,
while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was
constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Young’s: Beloved,
all diligence using to write to you concerning the common salvation, I had
necessity to write to you, exhorting to agonize for the faith once delivered to
the saints,
Conte (RC): Most beloved, taking all care to
write to you about your common salvation, I
found it necessary to write to you in order to beg
you to contend earnestly for the faith that was
handed down once to the saints.
Verse 3 Beloved. Occurring at the beginning of an epistle only here and 3 John 2. [2]
It
indicates, possibly, the writer’s wish to be brief and get to his subject at
once; and, as his subject is a very unpleasing one, he hastens to assure his
readers of affection for them, to prevent his strong language from offending
them. [46]
when I gave all
diligence to write unto you. When I applied my mind earnestly; implying
that he had reflected on the subject, and thought particularly what it would be
desirable to write to them. The state of
mind referred to is that of one who was purposing to write a letter, and who
thought over carefully what it would be proper to say. [31]
“Diligence:” zeal (spoude), earnest desire and prompt and
strenuous effort to realize it. [45]
of the [our,
NKJV] common salvation. The best MSS insert “our”—of our common
salvation: i.e., of those things which pertain to the salvation of us all. [46]
The gospel salvation is a common salvation, that is,
in a most sincere offer and tender of it to all mankind to whom the notice of
it reaches: for so the commission runs
(Mark
“The common salvation” (Jude 3); “the common faith” (Titus 1:4). Probably
neither of the writers meant more than to bring himself
nearer to the persons whom they were respectively addressing; but their
language goes a great deal further than the immediate application of it. The “salvation” was “common” to Jude and his
readers, as “the faith” was to Paul and Titus, because the salvation and the
faith are one, all the world over. All who possess “the common salvation” are so
blessed because they exercise “the common faith.” [27]
The term “common salvation,” not elsewhere found in
the New Testament, has a parallel in the “common faith” of Titus 1:4. In both passages stress is laid on the
“faith,” or the “salvation,” as being that in which all Christians were
sharers, as distinct from the “knowledge” which was claimed by false teachers
as belonging only to a few. [38]
it was needful
for me. Better, perhaps, “I found a
necessity.” [38]
On account of their danger from
false teachers. [14]
Note his eagerness to write them. [43]
to write unto you. The
words have been interpreted as meaning that he was about to write a fuller or
more general Epistle, and was then diverted from his purpose by the urgent need
for a protest against the threatening errors; and the inference, though not,
perhaps, demonstrable, is at least legitimate, and derives some support from
the change of tense (which the English version fails to represent) in the two
infinitives, the first “to write” being in the present tense, such as might be
used of a general purpose, the second in the aorist, as pointing to an
immediate and special act. [38]
and exhort you. The word parakalon
includes the ideas “exhort” and “encourage.”
Jude’s readers were already on the right side; he wishes to help them to
hold out against temptation and perhaps persecution. [45]
that ye should
earnestly. Not furiously. Those who strive for the Christian faith, or
in the Christian course, must strive lawfully, or they lose their labor, and run great hazard of losing their crown, 2 Timothy
2:5. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, James 1:20. Lying for the truth is bad, and scolding for
it is not much better. [5]
The word here rendered “earnestly contend”--ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι epagōnizesthai--is one of those words used by the sacred writers which have
allusion to the Grecian games. This word
does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament.
It means “to contend upon”--i.e., “for or about” anything; and would be
applicable to the earnest effort put forth in those games to obtain the prize.
The reference here, of course, is only to contention by argument, by reasoning,
by holding fast the principles of religion, and maintaining them against all opposers. It would not
justify “contention” by arms, by violence, or by persecution. [31]
contend for the faith. The word
is a graphic one, implying standing over a thing to fight in its defense. You must fight as well as build (Nehemiah
This expression finds a close parallel in the
“striving together for the faith” of Philippians 1:27. [38]
Yet humbly, meekly, and lovingly; otherwise your
contention will only hurt your cause, if not destroy your soul. [15]
Faith here means not an attitude of mind, but a fixed doctrine, such as might be “delivered” from one generation to another. [16]
[Faith =] the doctrine of the gospel; faith is
taken for the object of faith. [28]
Every age has its own special “New Theology.” But we keep to the Truth as it has come down
to us through the ages from Jesus Christ—“the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever.” When that faith is attacked we
must bear witness, even to the point of “earnest contention,” to its vitality,
its power, its unchangeableness. [49]
Defend the faith
delivered by the apostles, not humanly invented summaries that people insist we defend in order to “prove” that we
uphold the apostolic faith. What faith is meant? Not a creed or confession of faith as
formulated by a denomination, sect or party, but the faith, which has been
delivered once for all unto the saints.
It is the same faith concerning which our Lord asked the question,
“Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the faith on the
earth?” (Luke 18:8) It is the faith
revealed in the Word of God. The heart
of that faith is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles’
doctrine made known by the Holy Spirit; it is therefore the whole body of
revealed truth. This faith is given by
revelation, a different thing from what is being taught today, as if this faith
were the product of a process of evolution through the religious experiences of
the race for thousands of years. [23]
And: “Hence it
is evident that the faith for which Christians are to
contend strenuously, is that alone which is contained in the writings of the
evangelists, apostles, and Jewish prophets.
Now as they have expressed the things which were revealed to them in
words dictated by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13), we are to contend, not only
for the things contained in their writings, but also for that form of words in
which they have expressed these things, lest by contending for forms invented
and established by human authority, as better fitted to express the truth than
the words of inspiration, we fall into error.
See 2 Timothy 1:13. Jude’s
exhortation ought in a particular manner to be attended to by the ministers of
the gospel, whose duty more especially it is to preserve the people from error,
both in opinion and practice.” — Macknight. [47]
which was once delivered unto the saints. To which nothing can be added, from which nothing may be detracted, in which nothing more nor less should be altered. [5]
There
is no other gospel, there will be none.
Its content will be more fully understood, its implications will be
developed, its predictions will be fulfilled; but it will never be supplemented
or succeeded or supplanted. [7]
He exhorts to
contend for the faith delivered once for all, the faith without innovation, the gospel of the apostles in distinction from the
adulterations of false teachers. The
doctrine of a progressive revelation after the apostles is not found in the New
Testament. [22]
Verse 4 Translations
WEB: For
there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago
written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God
into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Young’s: for
there did come in unobserved certain men, long ago having been written beforehand
to this judgment, impious, the grace of our God perverting to lasciviousness,
and our only Master, God, and Lord -- Jesus Christ -- denying,
Conte (RC): For certain men entered unnoticed,
who were written of beforehand unto this judgment:
impious persons who are transforming the grace of
our God into self-indulgence, and who are denying
both the sole Ruler and our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Verse 4 For. The
apostle now gives reason for thus defending the truth. [31]
there are certain
men.
There is a touch of contempt in the way in which, as in Galatians
2:4, 2 Peter 2:1, the false teachers are referred to without being named. [38]
Not necessarily
a large number but more than just one isolated individual. [rw]
Paul
had foretold of such apostates (Acts
crept in unawares. By stealth. [14]
Their coming had been predicted long ago, but their
entrance into the Church had been unobserved, or their real nature had not been
known, and their power had not been appreciated. [7]
“Crept in unawares” is analogous to “unawares brought
in, who came in privily” (Galatians 2:4), and to “privily bring in (2 Peter 2:1). It is this insidious invasion which
constitutes the necessity for writing stated in Jude verse 3. Unfaithful Christians are sometimes regarded
as an emergence from within, rather than an invasion from without (1 John
Conscious malice need
not be inferred, but whatever the intention the evil results were the same. We need
not insist that these false teachers purposely crept in from without, but
stress is laid on the fact that they ought not to belong to the Church, because
their views and teaching are utterly opposed to the truths of the Gospel. [50]
who were before of
old ordained. The phrase
“of old”--πάλαι palai--means “long ago,” implying that a considerable time had
elapsed, though without determining how much.
It is used in the New Testament only in the following places: Matthew 11:21, “they would have repented long
ago;” Mark 15:44, “whether he had been any while dead;” Luke 10:13, “they had a great while
ago repented;” Hebrews 1:1, “spake in time past unto
the fathers;” 2 Peter 1:9, “purged from his old sins;” and in the passage
before us. [31]
We are not for a moment to
suppose that there was any decree of God ordaining them to commit wickedness; but this
wickedness having been foreseen, their punishment was determined. [41]
to this
condemnation. This condemnation which
comes on all the ungodly. [22]
“This condemnation,” viz., the one stated in the
denunciations which follow, and illustrated by the fate of those mentioned in
Jude verses 5-7. Note the three-fold
description of the men thus written down for judgment: they are ungodly; they pervert God’s grace;
they deny Christ. [46]
Wordsworth:
“The doom which they would incur had been set forth beforehand and visibly displayed in the punishment of the
Israelites (verse 5), and in that of the rebel angels (verse 6), and had been
graven indelibly in letters of fire on the soil of
ungodly men. Men without piety or true religion, whatever may be their
pretensions. [31]
In what two forms
this ungodliness manifested itself is specially brought out in what
follows. [50]
turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness [lewdness, NKJV]. Taking occasion from the
mercy of God to live in sin. [14]
They, indeed, pretend to be Christians, but they
regard the grace of God, who has in Christ entered into a special relationship
of love to us, as a permit for licentiousness, because His grace would under
all circumstances grant them forgiveness for everything, a claim which Paul had
already foreseen as coming (cf. Romans 6:15).
But thereby, as a matter of fact, they deny, that they have a
our God. “Our
God,” not theirs; they are “without God in the world.” [46]
and denying the
only Lord God. That is, the doctrines
which they held were in fact a denial of the only true God, and of the Redeemer
of men. It cannot be supposed that they
openly and formally did this, for then they could have made no pretensions to
the name Christian. [31]
and our Lord Jesus
Christ. Since
the same doctrine came from both the Father and the Son, the teaching of
both was being rejected since they were in absolute concurrence as to moral
truth. [rw]
One possible reason for doing so: Their denial of Christ was
a denial that He had come in the flesh.
These sectaries held that the flesh was wholly sinful. [22]
Or: Denial of the truth about Jesus or a denial of what Jesus taught—or both? This denial of Christ was both doctrinal
and practical, although it is most likely that Jude had in mind especially
their practical denial of
Christ. [50]
In depth: A textual variation—“Deny our only Master and
Lord, Jesus Christ [substitution ESV, NASB and varied others adopt
in place of the reading: “and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ.” [After] “our only
Master” [the] Authorized Version, following inferior manuscripts, adds
“God.” “Master” (despotes) implies a harsher and more
absolute dominion than “Lord” (kurios). “Despotes . . .
implies on the part of him who uses it, a more entire prostration of self
before the might and majesty of God than kurios would have done” (Trench, Synonyms,
page 95). Despotes is used of the Father in
Luke
In depth: Predestined to their evil behavior or their
evil behavior itself doing the “predestining” of themselves to
condemnation? In favor of the latter [31]: The word here rendered
“before ordained”--προγεγραμμένοι progegrammenoi--occurs in the New Testament only here and in the following
places: Romans 15:4, twice, “Whatsoever
things were written aforetime, were written for our learning;” Galatians 3:1,
“Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth;” and Ephesians 3:3, “As I wrote
afore in few words.”
In these places there is
evidently no idea implied of “ordaining, or pre-ordaining,” in the sense in
which those words are now commonly understood. To that word there is usually
attached the idea of designating or appointing as by an arbitrary decree; but
no such meaning enters into the word here used.
The Greek word properly means, “to write
before;” then “to have written before;” and then, with reference to time
future, “to post up beforehand in writing; to announce by posting up on a
written tablet,” as of some ordinance, law, or requirement; as descriptive of
what will be, or what should be.
Compare Robinson, Lexicon. Burder (in Rosenmuller‘s Morgenland, in loc.) remarks that “the names of those who were
to be tried were usually posted up in a public place, as was also their
sentence after their condemnation, and that this was denoted by the same Greek
word which the apostle uses here. Elsner,” says he, “remarks that the Greek authors use the
word as applicable to those who, among the Romans, were said to be
‘proscribed;’ that is, those whose names were posted up in a public place,
whereby they were appointed to death, and in reference to whom a reward was
offered to any one who would kill them.”
The idea here clearly is that of
some such designation beforehand as would occur if the persons had been
publicly posted as appointed to death.
Their names, indeed, were not mentioned, but there was such a
description of them, or of their character, that it was clear who were meant.
In regard to the question what
the apostle means by such a designation or appointment beforehand, it is clear
that he does not refer in this place to any arbitrary or eternal decree, but to
such a designation as was made by the facts to which he immediately
refers--that is, to the Divine prediction that there would be such persons
(Jude, verses 14-15, verse 18); and to the consideration that in the case of
the unbelieving Israelites, the rebel angels, and the inhabitants of Sodom,
there was as clear a proof that such persons would be punished as if their
names had been posted up. All these
instances bore on just such cases as these, and in these facts they might read
their sentence as clearly as if their names had been written on the face of the
sky.
This interpretation seems to me
to embrace all that the words fairly imply, and all that the exigence of the case demands; and if this be correct, then
two things follow logically: (1) that
this passage should not be adduced to prove that God has from all eternity, by
an arbitrary decree, ordained a certain portion of the race to destruction,
whatever may be true on that point; and (2) that all abandoned sinners now may
see, in the facts which have occurred in the treatment of the wicked in past
times, just as certain evidence of their destruction, if they do not repent, as
if their names were written in letters of light, and if it were announced to
the universe that they would be damned.
Verse 5 Translations
WEB: Now I
desire to remind you, though you already know this, that
the Lord, having saved a people out of the
Young’s: and to
remind you I intend, you knowing once this, that the Lord, a people out of the
Conte (RC): So I want to caution you. Those who
once knew everything that Jesus did, in saving the
people from the
because they did not believe.
Verse 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance. Of how God speaks judgments on sinners. [22]
“To show you what
must be the doom of such men, I will call certain facts to your recollection,
with which you are familiar, respecting the Divine treatment of the wicked in
times past.” [31]
Œcumenius
observes, that “by proposing the following examples of the destruction of
sinners from the Old Testament history, the apostle designed to show, that the
God of the Old Testament is the same with the God of the New, in opposition to
the Manicheans, who denied this; also to prove that the goodness of God will
not hinder him from punishing the wicked under the new dispensation, any more
than it hindered him from punishing them under the old.” [47]
though ye once knew
this [know all things once for all, NASB; once fully knew it, ESV]. “Ye know
all things once for all” might in English idiom be thus paraphrased, “Ye have
known these things all along.” [44]
The thing which seems to have been in the mind of the
apostle was an intention to call to their recollection, as bearing on the case
before him, facts with which they had formerly been familiar, and about which
there was no doubt. It was the thing
which we often endeavor to do in argument--to remind a person of some fact
which he once knew very well, and which bears directly on the case. [31]
The better MSS give “knew all things,” reminding us
of “ye know all things” of 1 John 2:20.
The word is limited in both cases, by the context, to all the essential
elements of Christian faith and duty. [38]
how that the Lord
[Jesus, ESV]. The MSS present a curious variation of
reading, some giving “the Lord,” some “Jesus,” and some “God.” [38]
The
By the Lord
is meant God, and it was the people of
having saved the
people. The people of
The reference to the judgment that fell upon Israel
in the wilderness takes the place of that drawn from the flood in 2 Peter 2:5,
and may, perhaps, be traced to Paul’s way of dealing with that history in 1
Corinthians 10:1-10, or to Hebrews 3:12-19.
[38]
out of the
The bearing of this fact on the case, before the mind
of Jude, seems to have been this--that, as those who had been delivered from
Egypt were afterward destroyed for their unbelief, or as the mere fact of their
being rescued did not prevent destruction from coming on them, so the fact that
these persons seemed to be delivered from sin, and had become professed
followers of God would not prevent their being destroyed if they led wicked
lives. It might rather be inferred from
the example of the Israelites that they would be. [31]
afterward destroyed them
that believed not. These words may refer to the destruction
mentioned in Numbers 25:1-9, or it may refer to their entire history which is,
in brief, salvation and judgment, true of them at first, and true of them even
to the close. [51]
For the Scripture expressly saith,
they perished in the wilderness, “because they believed not in God, but
tempted,” i.e. distrusted, “him, ten times,” Numbers
That is, destroyed the far greater part of that very
people, whom he had once saved in a very extraordinary manner. Let no one,
therefore, presume upon past mercies, as if he were now out of danger. Jude does not mention the various sins
committed by the Israelites in the wilderness, such as their worshipping the golden
calf, refusing to go into Canaan, when commanded of God, their fornication with
the Midianitish women, their frequent murmurings,
&c., but he sums up the whole in their unbelief, because it was the
source of all their sins. [47]
A Greek textual point to be
considered: Instead of afterward the Greek
is the second time. [50]
Interpreted as the second destruction
to occur: The point may well be that unbelievers were
destroyed twice in the Exodus:
Unbelievers in
Interpreted as the second major event to occur to the Israelites: The reference is to what befell the unbelieving in the wilderness after
the deliverance from
Verse 6 Translations
WEB: Angels
who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he
has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
Young’s: messengers
also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper
dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He
hath kept,
Conte (RC): And truly, the Angels, who did
not keep to their first place, but instead abandoned
their own domiciles, he has reserved with per-
petual chains under darkness, unto the great day
of judgment.
Verse 6 And the angels. This is
an argument from the greater to the less; for the state of angels is higher
than ours; and yet God punished their defection in a dreadful manner. He will not then forgive our perfidy, if we
depart from the grace unto which he has called us. [35]
which kept not their
first estate. Here it refers to the
rank and dignity which the angels had in heaven. That rank or pre-eminence they did not keep,
but fell from it. [31]
The [Greek term for “first estate”] originally
signifies beginning, and so frequently in New Testament, mostly in the
Gospels, Acts, Hebrews, Catholic Epistles, and Apocalypse. From this comes a secondary meaning of sovereignty,
dominion, magistracy, as being the beginning or first place of
power. So mostly
by Paul, as principalities (Romans
The fall of the angels is here declared to be due to
their own deliberate will and act. The
cause of Satan’s fall was pride (1 Timothy 3:6), and no doubt this also was the
impelling cause of the fall of these angels [as well]. [50]
but left their own
habitation. Interpreted
as referring to leaving their original character or nature: That is, the state in which they were first created, their original dignity. [12]
Interpreted
as referring to leaving their assigned responsibilities: This is the only place in Scripture where we
learn anything definite respecting the fall of the angels—from this we gather
that their fall was through ambition or discontent. They were not content with the place or
position which God had assigned to them and desired a higher one. Mr. Blunt quotes Isaiah 14:13-15, as referring
to one greater than Nebuchadnezzar when he writes “Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascent into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, on the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit.” [41]
Interpreted
as meaning left/rejected from heaven: To wit, according to the common
interpretation, in heaven. The
word rendered “habitation” (οἰκητήριον oikētērion) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means here that heaven was their native
abode or dwelling-place. They left it by
sin; but the expression here would seem possibly to mean that they became “dissatisfied”
with their abode, and voluntarily preferred to change it for another. If they did become thus dissatisfied, the
cause is wholly unknown, and conjecture is useless. Some of the later Jews supposed that they
relinquished heaven out of love for the daughters of men. [31]
Interpreted as meaning “interbreeding” with humans: Who
they were and how they sinned has been much questioned. The notion that they are “the sons of God”
mentioned in Genesis 6:4, and that they fell through fleshly desires, is
affirmed in the Book of Enoch; and some have thought this explanation to be the
meaning of the passage in Genesis. But
it is very doubtful whether Jude quotes the Book of Enoch; and if he does, he
certainly differs not unfrequently from its
teaching. The passage in Genesis,
moreover, refers rather to the intermarriage of the descendants of Seth and of
Cain. Further, this interpretation is inconsistent with what is said by our
Lord of the angelic nature [Matthew
Other possible reasons
for their rejection: Became
discontented with their condition, and refused to do the will of God. 2 Peter 2:4.
[14]
These angels, then, had fallen. Created holy, they had sinned and become
wicked angels, or evil spirits. [22]
He hath reserved. Instead of annihilating
them. [39]
in everlasting
chains. But they can no longer escape from this
habitation of theirs, and for this reason there is no escape for them from the
eternal destruction; nor is there such for those who have deserted the dignity
of saints which has been given them and have again sunk into godlessness. [9]
The chains are called “everlasting,” but they are
only used for a temporary purpose, to keep them for the final judgment. [36]
The words, like those of 2 Peter 2:4, seem to
indicate a distinction between the angels who were thus punished, and the
“demons” or “unclean spirits” with Satan at their head, who exercise a
permitted power as the tempters, accusers, and destroyers of mankind, the
“world-rulers of this darkness” of Ephesians 6:12. [38]
The limits of our
knowledge on the subject: Speculations as to how this and 2
Peter 2:4 are to be reconciled with such texts as Luke 22:31, 1 Peter 5:8,
which speak plainly of the freedom and activity of Satan, and Ephesians 6:12,
Romans 8:38, Colossians 2:15, which imply numerous agents akin to him, are not
very profitable. The reality of powers
of evil may be inferred, apart from Scripture, from their effects. That some of these powers are personal, some
not, some free, some not, and that all are to be defeated at last, seems to be
implied in Scripture; but its silence is a rebuke to curious speculation. Enough is told us for our comfort, warning,
and assurance. It consoles us to know
that much of the evil of which we are conscious in ourselves is not our own,
but comes from without. It puts us on
our guard to know that we have such powers arrayed against us. It gives us confidence to know that we have
abundant means of victory even over them.
[46]
The “chains” refer not
to their place of confinement but to the limitations
on their behavior? They may well be said to be chained, because they are forever
restrained from recovering the glory and happiness which they once
possessed. The chains of darkness of
which Peter and Jude speak, and to which Satan and his angels are confirmed and
kept until the day of judgment “are of such power as to restrain them from ever
recovering their place in the regions of light, but not such as to prevent them
from exercising great power over sinful persons in this world. . . . And although their chain
now permits them to visit this earth, yet they always carry that chain with
them, and are restrained from injuring God’s servants” (Wordsworth). [50]
under darkness. The sense is, that that deep darkness always endures; there is
no intermission; no light; it will exist forever. This passage in itself does not prove that
the punishment of the rebel angels will be eternal, but merely that they are
kept in a dark prison in which there is no light, and which is to exist for
ever, with reference to the final trial.
[31]
If one wishes to interpret this symbolically, the reference is not to
the “geographic location” they reside in but to the fact that they bear the
ongoing punishment of the very moral “darkness” into which they plunged
themselves. “Intellectually” knowing
their ultimate doom, on an “emotional” level, they still operate on the
delusion that they somehow will ultimately escape it all. Of course the text could refer to both
their “location” and their internal “psychology.” [rw]
unto the judgment
of the great day. The punishment of the
rebel angels after the judgment is represented as an everlasting fire, which
has been prepared for them and their followers, Matthew 25:41. [31]
So called [in] Revelation
In depth: The nature and cause of angelic confinement in ancient thought [38]. The Book of Enoch speaks of fallen angels as kept in their prison-house till the day of judgment (xxii. 4), and those which are represented by the Midrasch Ruth in the Book of Zohar, “After that the sons of God had begotten sons, God took them and brought them to the mount of darkness and bound them in chains of darkness which reach to the middle of the great abyss.”
A fuller form of the Rabbinic legend relates that the angels Asa and Asael charged God with folly in having created man who so soon provoked Him, and that He answered that if they had been on earth they would have sinned as man had done. “And thereupon He allowed them to descend to earth, and they sinned with the daughters of men. And when they would have returned to Heaven they could not, for they were banished from their former habitation and brought into the dark mountains of the earth” (Nischmath Chaim in Nork’s Rabbinische Quellen und Parallelen).
The resemblance between this tradition and that of
the Zoroastrian legend of the fall of Ahriman and his
angels, and again of the punishment of the Titans by Zeus in the mythology of Hesiod (Theogon.
729), shows the wide-spread currency of the belief referred to.
Verse 7 Translations
WEB: Even
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as
these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh,
are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
Young’s: as
Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, having
given themselves to whoredom, and gone after other flesh, have been set before
-- an example, of fire age-during, justice suffering.
Conte (RC): And also
the adjoining cities, in similar ways, having given
themselves over to fornication and to the pursuing
of other flesh, were made an example, suffering
the punishment of eternal fire.
Verse 7 Even as
The sexual nature often read into the nature of the
angelic transgression: The words describe the form of evil for which
the cities of the plain have become a byword of infamy. In saying that this sin was like that of the
angels, it is clearly implied that in the latter case also there was a
degradation of nature, such as is emphasized in the words that “the sons of God
went in unto the daughters of men” (Genesis 6:4). Impurity, and not simply or chiefly pride, as
in the mediæval traditions represented in the poems
of Cædmon and Milton, is thought of as the leading
feature in the fall of the angels (Book of Enoch, c.
9). [38]
We must read, in
like manner to these, and arrange the sentence thus: Even as
That the
angelic sin Jude refers to was sexual in nature seems impossible, however, to
reconcile with Jesus’ teaching that sexuality does not exist in heavenly
beings: “For in the
resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the
angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).
Whatever happened in Genesis 6:4 involved the “daughters of men”
with them targeted in order to have a sexual relationship with them. Furthermore the Genesis19 text clearly implies that the
perceived gender of the angels sent to
and the cities
about them. I.e., Admah
and Zeboim.
See Genesis
There may have been other towns, also, that perished
at the same time, but these are particularly mentioned. They seem to have partaken of the same
general characteristics, as neighboring towns and cities generally do. [31]
The “towns,” it may be observed, are put (as often)
for the “inhabitants.” [11]
I conceive they are said to “suffer the vengeance of
eternal fire,” not because their souls are at present punished in
hell-fire, but because they and their cities perished by that fire from heaven,
which brought a perpetual and irreparable destruction on them and their
cities: for, first, we have proved, note
on 2 Peter 2:6, 3:7, that even the devils themselves are not tormented at
present in that infernal fire, but only will be cast into it at the day of
judgment; and therefore neither do the wicked Sodomites yet suffer in those
flames. [4]
in like manner. i.e.,
with
There seems
no necessity for interpreting the expression as if it must mean that their sin
was of the same kind; it is sufficient that they were both guilty of
very great wickedness. [17]
There has been much diversity in
interpreting this clause. Some refer it
to the angels, as if it meant that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah committed
sin in a way similar to the angels; some suppose that it refers to the wicked
teachers about whom Jude was discoursing, meaning that Sodom and Gomorrah
committed the same kind of sins which they did; some that the meaning is, that
“the cities round about Sodom and Gomorrah” sinned in the same way as those
cities; and some that they were punished in the same manner, and were set forth
like them as an example. I see no
evidence that it refers to the angels, and if it did, it would not prove, as
some have supposed, that their sin was of the same kind as that of
giving themselves
over to fornication. No one
made them do this. They voluntarily and,
presumably, with great enthusiasm pursued all the sexual violations of God’s
moral code that caught their fancy.
Whatever predisposing genetic inclinations they may or may not have had,
they weren’t about to let anything stop them from seeking their pleasure. [rw]
and going after. The
phrase occurs Mark 1:20; James and John leaving their
father and going after Jesus.
“The world is gone after him (John
The meaning of the phrase “going after” is, that they were greatly addicted to this vice. [31]
strange flesh. Compare
2 Peter 2:10; and see Romans 1:27; Leviticus 18:22, 23. [2]
Literally, other flesh;
other than the “natural use” of Romans 1:27, implying the crime which has
received its name from
“Other flesh”
surely means “other than the flesh” that God intended for fleshly
relations. It isn’t their lack of
hospitality to their neighbors nor their brazen
injustice toward visitors to their community, but the perceived sexual
gender of their targets that constituted their worst or primary sin. “Other flesh” in no way fits any of
the claimed alternative explanations for the condemnation of the cities’
behavior. [rw]
are set forth. The [Greek] verb means, literally, to lie exposed. Used of meats on the table ready for the guests; of a corpse laid out for burial; of a question under discussion. Thus the corruption and punishment of the cities of the plain are laid out in plain sight. [2]
for an example. They
furnish a warning against all such conduct, and a demonstration that punishment
shall come upon the ungodly. The
condemnation of any sinner, or of any class of sinners, always furnishes such a
warning. [31]
[It] is given in the Sinaitic
Manuscript as follows, “and are set forth as an
example to them that suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” [40]
suffering the vengeance. The word “vengeance” means punishment; that is, such vengeance as the Lord takes on the guilty; not vengeance for the gratification of private and personal feeling, but like that which a magistrate appoints for the maintenance of the laws; such as justice demands. [31]
For “vengeance,” which admits of a bad as well as a good meaning, it might be better to read “just punishment.” [38]
of eternal fire. i.e. a fire out of which there is no restoration, a condign and final judgment. [19]
The fire which had destroyed them is thought of as being still their doom, as permanent as the “eternal fire” of Matthew 25:41. [38]
Meaning of “eternal” in such passages as Sodom and Gomorrha as meaning “permanently” rather than literal, chronologically unending--[but is there really any practical difference?]: Nor is there any thing more common and familiar in Scripture, than to represent a thorough and irreparable devastation, whose effects and signs should be still remaining, by the word which we here render “eternal:” “I will set thee in places desolate of old,” Ezekiel 16:20; “I will destroy thee, and thou shalt be no more for ever,” verse 21; “I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall be built no more,” 35:9 (see also Ezekiel 36:2, Isaiah lviii. 12); “They have caused them to stumble in their ways, to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing,” Jeremiah 18:15, 16; “I will bring you, an everlasting reproach and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten,” Jeremiah 23:40, xxv. 9; “I will make the land of the Chaldeans a perpetual desolation; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep,” Jeremiah. li. 39.
And this especially is threatened, where the destruction of a nation or people is
likened to the overthrow of
Why such language was used: “A destruction so utter and so permanent as theirs has been, is the nearest approach that can be found in this world to the destruction which awaits those who are kept under darkness to the judgment of the great day” (Lamby). [2]
Does not envolve ceasing to
exist, but of the utter destruction of their happiness at existing: As
Verse 8 Translations
WEB: Yet
in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise
authority, and slander celestial beings.
Young’s: In
like manner, nevertheless, those dreaming also the flesh indeed do defile, and
lordship they put away, and dignities they speak evil of,
Conte (RC): Similarly also, these ones certainly
defile the flesh, and they despise proper authority,
and they blaspheme against majesty.
Verse 8 Likewise also [Yet in the same way, NASB;
yet in like manner, ESV]. The corrupt teachers who
are referred to [in] Jude verse 4.
[34]
In spite of these
examples of judgment and punishment, these false teachers of verse 4 actually
commit the same abominable sins as did the Sodomites. [50]
these filthy dreamers. The word
“filthy” has been supplied by our translators, but there is no good reason why
it should have been introduced. The
Greek word (ἐνυπνιάζω enupniazō) means to
dream; and is applied to these persons as holding doctrines and opinions which
sustained the same relation to truth which dreams do to good sense. Their doctrines were the fruits of mere
imagination, foolish vagaries and fancies.
[31]
The
adjective “filthy” fits well with the first of their sins that is immediately
listed--sexual sins--but not the other two characteristics of their behavior. Their bending of their sexual drive was only
part of a far wider range of base attitudes and behavior. It wasn’t like it stood alone. [rw]
[“Dreamers:”] So called for the visionary speculations out of which their profligate and fantastic systems were formed. These visions produced vices of the three following classes[:] “Defile the flesh”—“Despise”—[and] “Speak evil of Dignities.” [39]
“Dreamers” actually describes all three sins of which they are accused? “Filthy”
is not in the original Greek, nor in any previous English version, but is
supplied from the next clause; not rightly, for “dreamers” goes with all three
clauses, not with “defile the flesh” only.
This being admitted, a number of painful interpretations are at once
excluded. “These dreamers also” means
these ungodly men, who are deep in the slumber of sin (see Romans
defile the flesh. Pollute themselves; give indulgence to corrupt passions and
appetites. [31]
The inclusion
of “filthy” to modify “dreamers” could well be explained by these words—what
they were “dreamers” about were those actions that would morally defile the
human body. The obsession with easily
available online hard-core pornography would seem to be an obvious modern
parallel. [rw]
despise dominion
[reject authority, NKJV]. The “dominion,” or lordship, is that of Almighty
God. Set aside, or reject (Mark 7:9;
Luke
Or: Spurn obedience to law, human and divine. [14]
Or: Those that
are invested with [authority] by Christ, and made by him the overseers of his
flock. [15]
and speak evil of dignities [dignitaries, NKJV; angelic majesties, NASB]. Persons called by God to stations of authority or honor. [14]
[The Greek word] dominion, occurs in three
other passages, Ephesians
Reasoning for rejecting the
angelic interpretation of their “dignities / dignitaries:” Doxas, literally “glories,” are usually taken to
mean angels, perhaps regarded as the guardians of public decency. According to one interpretation they appear in that
capacity in 1 Corinthians 11:10, which seems to say that women should be veiled
at Christian services “because of the angels.”
But no instance is quoted of the [direct] use of doxa for “angels.” It does not seem likely that blasphemy
against angels would be so conspicuous a sin of licentious men as to call forth
this emphatic condemnation. In
Revelation 2:1, &c., church officials are styled angels; etymologically kuriotes is
simply “dominion.” Probably here, though
used elsewhere for angels, it refers to the constituted authorities of the
church (see also verse 11). Men who wished to set at nought
the principles of Christian morality and yet remain in the church, had no
choice but to attack its actual leaders and teachers. [45]
Verse 9 Translations
Weymouth: But
Michael the Archangel, when contending with the Devil and arguing with him
about the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce judgement
on him in abusive terms, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you."
WEB: But
Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the
body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said,
"May the Lord rebuke you!"
Young’s: yet
Michael, the chief messenger, when, with the devil contending, he was disputing
about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring up an evil-speaking judgment,
but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee!'
Conte (RC): When Michael the
ing with the devil, contended about the body of
Moses, he did not dare to bring against him a judg-
ment of blasphemy, so instead he said: “The Lord
commands you.”
Verse 9 Yet Michael the archangel. It does not appear whether Jude learned this
by any revelation or from ancient tradition. It suffices, that these things
were not only true, but acknowledged as such by them to whom he wrote. [15]
When and why Michael the archangel disputed with the devil about the body of Moses, commentators have in vain tried to discover. We must be satisfied with this glimpse of the fact. [13]
These libertines allow themselves to use language
against celestial beings which even an archangel did not venture to use against
Satan. In the Old Testament Michael
appears as the guardian angel of the people of
Origin
of angelic names. “Because the book of Daniel is the
first sacred writing in which proper names are given to particular angels, some
have fancied that, during the Babylonish captivity,
the Jews invented these names, or learned them from the Chaldeans. But this seems an unfounded conjecture. For the angel who appeared to Zacharias (Luke
the archangel. This
word occurs but once more in the sacred writings, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. So that whether there be one archangel only,
or more, it is not possible for us to determine. [15]
Or: Nowhere in Scripture is the plural used,
“archangels”; but only ONE, “archangel.”
The only other passage in the New Testament where it occurs, is 1
Thessalonians 4:16, where Christ is distinguished from the archangel, with
whose voice He shall descend to raise the dead; they therefore err who confound
Christ with Michael. The name means, Who is
like God? In Daniel
when contending
with the devil. This reference to Michael was said by Origen to be founded on a Jewish work called “The
Assumption of Moses,” the first part of which was lately found in an old Latin
translation at Milan; and this is the view of Davidson, so far at least as the
words “the Lord rebuke thee” are concerned.
Others refer it to Zechariah 3:1; but there is nothing there about
Moses’ body, or Michael, or a dispute about the body. Others, again, to a rabbinical comment on
Deuteronomy 34:6, where Michael is said to have been made guardian of Moses’
grave. Doubtless Jude was referring to
some accepted story or tradition, probably based on Deuteronomy 34:6. [2]
Or: Jude does not
quote from tradition, nor does he quote from a source now no longer available,
or, as others surmise, used one of Zechariah’s visions (chapter 3), but the
Holy Spirit revealed unto him what actually took place when Moses had
died. [23]
he disputed about
the body of Moses. The nature of this
controversy is wholly unknown, and conjecture is useless. It is not
said, however, that there was a strife which should get the body, or a
contention about burying it. [31]
There is a veil of mystery
thrown by the writer of Deuteronomy 34 round the death and burial of
Moses. He was apparently buried by God
Himself, and the place of internment carefully concealed. The most likely conjecture is that God
concealed the body, and that Satan desired to take it out of its concealment,
that he might tempt the Israelites to pay it idolatrous worship—after the
manner of modern relic worship. It is to
be remembered that there is nothing in the account given by Jude, which might not well have taken place; there is nothing
superstitious in it, nothing unnatural, nothing ludicrous, as in the Rabbinical
legends respecting the death of Moses.
What we are taught is simply this, that the
good spirits refrain from railing, even in their contests with the evil
ones. [41]
The strange question, “What did the devil want with the
body of Moses?” has been asked, and answered in more ways than one:—(1) to make
it an object of idolatry, as the Israelites would be very likely to worship it;
(2) to keep it as his own, as that of a murderer, because Moses killed the
Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). [46]
durst not. Not because he feared the devil, but because he feared God, and feared to commit sin by using reproachful language. [14]
bring against him a
railing [reviling, NKJV] accusation. The Greek phrase, literally a
judgment, or charge, of blasphemy,
though not absolutely identical with that in 2 Peter
The argument does not lie in any regard shown to the
devil as a dignitary and one who exercises dominion over subordinate
evil spirits; for to be a leader of a band of such inexcusable rebels could
entitle him to no respect; but it seems to arise from the detestable character
of the devil; as if he had said: If the angel
did not rail even against the devil, how much less ought we against men
in authority, even supposing them in some things to behave amiss? To do it therefore when they behave well,
must be a wickedness yet much more aggravated. [17]
This is not the natural reaction one would
expect: Whether the document
which Jude quotes was history or prose-poem, the archangel’s language repeated
the words of Zechariah’s angel [Zechariah 3:1-3]. Nor does the historical character of the
document make important difference, for the modern pulpit could as properly
elucidate a moral principle from
but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Restrain thy rage, control, and punish thee. [14]
In depth: An abiding lesson of this text: Courtesy in opposition—but candor and steadfastness defending truth as well [39]. But are we to treat Satan with courtesy? We reply, that there is a deep moral wisdom in the maxim, “Give even the devil his due.” Respect is due to dignity, to position, to any excellence even in the worst character. And courtesy is due to the worst who is in the performance of a dignified office.
And this, nevertheless, does not silence the voice of moral rebuke. When the dignitary puts off his dignity and becomes a buffoon, a criminal, a culprit, there is a suitable treatment for him as a buffoon, a criminal, a culprit. Dignified courts know how to treat a criminal with due respect and self-respect.
When moral severity arraigns the guilty, in the true
spirit either of reforming or of condemning for the warning of others, or for
the public good, the plainest words of human language may be sometimes
justifiably used. Of this truth, this
very fragment of Jude’s is a rare example.
And when Jesus arraigned Satan (John
Preachers of the present day need not be afraid of
this passage. It is a noble text in
behalf of courtesy and moral rectitude in our forensic and judicial chambers,
in our legislative and congressional halls, in our editorial columns. While just arraignments of official
corruption are all-important and must never be effeminated,
our courts are at the present day degraded by discourtesy, our senators bandy
epithets suggestive of “honourable satisfaction,” and
our newspapers run riot in partisan detraction.
Said the Irish orator, Grattan, “The gentleman
cannot be severe without being unparliamentary; I
will show him how to be severe and parliamentary too.” At the present day a great public problem is
how to state unflinching truth without extenuating, or setting down aught in
malice.
In depth: Does Jude cite this dispute over the body of Moses as history or as an illustration from a well known story? In behalf of the illustration scenario from modern custom [24]: [He] refers to a certain apocryphal Jewish book called “The Assumption of Moses”; compare Jude verses 11, 14,and 2 Timothy 3:8. Though he refers to such books, he does not necessarily imply that the stories he read in them are true. Even in sermons we sometimes hear references to stories or speeches in Shakespeare or Milton, which we listen to as illustrations, not as being true to fact.
The precedent of the apostle Paul invoking a well known story that he likely did not invoke as strict history [46]: Evidently
it is something supposed to be well known to those whom St. Jude is addressing,
and it appears to be given as a fact which he believes, though we cannot be sure
of this. In any case it does not follow
that we are to believe in it as an historical fact. Reverent, and therefore cautious, theories of
inspiration need not exclude the possibility of an unhistorical incident being
cited as an illustration or a warning.
In behalf of it being cited because the false teachers themselves accepted the authority of the source regardless of whether Jude did as well [31]: Hug supposes that the reference here, as well as that in Jude, verse 14, to the prophecy of Enoch, is derived from some apocryphal books existing in the time of Jude; and that though those books contained mere fables, the apostle appealed to them, not as conceding what was said to be true, but in order to refute and rebuke those against whom he wrote, out of books which they admitted to be of authority.
Arguments and confutations, he says, drawn from the
sacred Scriptures, would have been of no avail in reasoning with them, for
these they evaded 2 Peter
The objection to this is,
that the apostle does in fact seem to refer to the contest between Michael and
the devil as true. He speaks of it in
the same way in which he would have done if he had spoken of the death of
Moses, or of his smiting the rock, or of his leading the children of
Besides, it should be remembered that he is not
arguing with them, in which case it might be admissible reason in this way, but
was making statements to others about them, and showing that they manifested a
spirit entirely different from that which the angels evinced even when
contending in a just cause against the prince of all evil.
In depth: An origin
in the “Assumption of Moses?”
The case
against it [31]: It has been supposed that the
apostle quotes an apocryphal book existing in his time, containing this
account, and that he means to admit that the account is true. Origen mentions
such a book, called “the Assumption of Moses,” containing
this very account of the contest between Michael and the devil about the body
of Moses. That was a Jewish Greek book,
and Origen supposed that this was the source of the
account here.
That book is now lost. There is
still extant a book in Hebrew, called פטירת משׁה paTiyret Mosheh--“the
Death of Moses,” which some have supposed to be the book referred to by Origen. That book
contains many fabulous stories about the death of Moses, and is evidently the
work of some Jew drawing wholly upon his imagination.
There is no reason to suppose
that this is the same book referred to by Origen
under the name of “the Assumption of Moses;” and there is a moral certainty
that an inspired writer could not have quoted it as of authority. Further, there can be no reasonable doubt
that such a book as Origen refers to, under the title
of “the Assumption of Moses,” was extant in his time, but that does not prove
by any means that it was extant in the time of Jude, or that he quoted it. There is, indeed, no positive proof that it
was not extant in the time of Jude, but there is none that it was, and all the
facts in the case will be met by the supposition that it was written afterward,
and that the tradition on the subject here referred to by Jude was
incorporated into it.
In
this reconstruction Jude would not be the “horse” pulling the “cart” of the Assumption
of Moses, but vice versa: It is not
Jude accepting the Assumption, but the Assumption building upon
and expanding what Jude had said.
Although quite reasonable—and making better sense in its own right—this
would still leave the problem of where in the world was Jude getting his
own story from? [rw]
What has survived of the “Assumtpion
of Moses” [50]? Origen (died 254 A.D.) expresses it as his opinion that Jude here refers to an
apocryphal book “The Assumption of Moses,” and this work is occasionally referred
to by the Greek Fathers down to the tenth century. For nearly nine hundred years this work was
lost, and until recently was simply referred to as a book of whose character
and nature we were entirely ignorant.
In 1861 about one half
of the book was discovered by Ceriani, the librarian
of the Ambrosian library at
It is a
translation from the Greek. Some, like Ewald, Merx, Dillmann,
and others, think it was originally written in Aramaic; others like Mangold, Hilgenfeld, and
Drummond, regard the Greek as the original.
The fragment which we possess is divided into two parts, (1) the
prophetical address of Moses to Joshua his successor (1-15), and (2) the answer
of Joshua with the encouraging reply of Moses (16-19).
Ewald, Dillmann, Wieseler, and Schuerer, think the book was written about 6 A.D.; Hilgenfield, Mangold, Merx, Davidson, and others, place it between 44 and 64
A.D.; Hausrath fixes on the reign of Domitian; Volkman decides on 137
or 138 A.D. and F. Philippi supposes the book to have been written during the
second century A.D.
A. D. Deane,
who has given us the fullest discussion in English on this subject (Monthly
Interpreter, March, 1885, pages 321-348), says: “Too much stress must not be laid upon the
supposed quotation from The Assumption, as
the passage referred to is not extant, and both Jude and
Pseudo-Moses may have used some tradition current among the Jews of the
period.”
In depth: The scenario that Zechariah 3:1 is alluded to and that the confrontation in that the debate was over the future of Moses’ “body” of people, the Israelites [47]. Mr. Baxter suggests it as a doubt, whether it were about the dead body of Moses, or Moses exposed on the water, when an infant, that there was this contention. Baxter suggests also another interpretation, in his note on this verse. Because the apostle here seems to allude to Zechariah 3:1, where we read of Joshua the high-priest (representing the Jewish people), standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him; and the Lord, namely, by his angel, saying unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee: and inasmuch as the subject of that contention, between the angel and Satan, was the restoration of the Jewish Church and state, Baxter thinks that by the body of Moses here may be meant the Jewish constitution, civil and religious, which Moses had established.
An interpretation which Macknight
seems to countenance: “Michael is spoken
of as one of the chief angels, who took care of the Israelites as a
nation. He may therefore have been the
angel of the Lord, before whom Joshua, the high-priest, is said (Zechariah 3:1)
to have stood, Satan being at his right hand to resist him, namely, in
his design of restoring the Jewish Church and state, called by Jude, the
body of Moses, just as the Christian Church is called by Paul, the body
of Christ.”
And this interpretation, however apparently
improbable, receives some countenance from the consideration,
that, among the Hebrews, the body of a thing is often used for
the thing itself. Thus, Romans
In depth: A case that Zechariah 3:1 is not alluded to [31]. Some have supposed that the reference is to the passage in Zechariah, 3:1, following “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan,” etc. The opinion that Jude refers to this passage was held by Lardner.
But the objections to this are very obvious: (1) There is no similarity between the two, except the expression, “the Lord rebuke thee.”
(2) The name Michael does not occur at all in the passage in Zechariah.
(3) There is no mention made of the “body of Moses” there, and no allusion to it whatever.
(4) There is no intimation that there was any such contention about his body. There is a mere mention that Satan resisted the angel of the Lord, as seen in the vision, but no intimation that the controversy had any reference to Moses in any way.
(5) The reason of the resistance which Satan offered
to the angel in the vision as seen by Zechariah is stated. It was in regard to the consecration of
Joshua to the office of high priest implying a return of prosperity to
In depth: Could Jude
simply be invoking one of those varied and scattered tidbits of Jewish
tradition that were scattered among the existing Jewish popular and clerical
traditions [31]? The remaining
supposition is, that Jude here refers to a prevalent
“tradition” among the Jews, and that he has adopted it as containing an
important truth, and one which bore on the subject under discussion. In support of this, it may be observed,
(a)
That it is well known that there were many traditions of this nature among the
Jews. See Matthew 15:2.
(b) That though many of these traditions were puerile and false,
yet there is no reason to doubt that some of them might have been founded in
truth.
(c)
That an inspired writer might select those which were true, for the
illustration of his subject, with as much propriety as he might select what was
written; since if what was thus handed down by tradition was true, it was as
proper to use it as to use a fact made known in any other way.
(d)
That in fact such traditions were adopted by the inspired writers when they
would serve to illustrate a subject which they were discussing. Thus Paul refers to the tradition about Jannes and Jambres as true
history. See 2 Timothy 3:8.
(e)
If, therefore, what is here said was true, there was no impropriety in its being
referred to by Jude as an illustration of his subject.
The
only material question then is, whether it is true. And who can prove that it is not? What evidence is there that it is not? How is it possible to demonstrate that it is
not?
There are many allusions in the
Bible to angels; there is express mention of such an angel as Michael (Daniel
12:1); there is frequent mention of the devil; and there are numerous
affirmations that both bad and good angels are employed in important
transactions on the earth. Who can prove
that such spirits never meet, never come in conflict, never
encounter each other in executing their purposes? Good men meet bad men, and why is it any more
absurd to suppose that good angels may encounter bad ones?
It should be remembered,
further, that there is no need of supposing that the subject of the dispute was
about burying the body of Moses; or that Michael sought to bury it, and the
devil endeavored to prevent it--the one in order that it might not be
worshipped by the Israelites, and the other that it might be. This indeed became incorporated into the
tradition in the apocryphal books which were afterward written; but Jude says
not one word of this, and is in no way responsible for it.
All that he says is, that there
was a contention or dispute (διακρινόμενος διελέγετο diakrinomenos dielegeto
respecting “his body.” But when it was,
or what was the occasion, or how it was conducted, he does not state,
and we have no right to ascribe to him sentiments which he has not
expressed. If ever such a controversy of
any kind existed respecting that body, it is all that Jude affirms, and is all
for which he should be held responsible.
The sum of the matter, then,
it seems to me is, that Jude has, as Paul did on another occasion, adopted a
tradition which was prevalent in his time; that there is nothing necessarily
absurd or impossible in the fact affirmed by the tradition, and that no one can
possibly demonstrate that it is not true.
In depth: Jewish traditions describing the events around the death of Moses [38]. Œcumenius indeed, writing in the tenth century, reports a tradition that Michael was appointed to minister at the burial of Moses, and that the devil urged that his murder of the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12) had deprived him of the right of sepulture, and Origen (de Princ. iii. 2) states that the record of the dispute was found in a lost apocryphal book known as the Assumption of Moses, but in both these instances it is possible that the traditions may have grown out of the words of Jude instead of being the foundation on which they rested.
Rabbinic legends, however, though they do not furnish the precise fact to which Jude refers, show that a whole cycle of strange fantastic stories had gathered round the brief mysterious report of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5-6, and it will be worth while to give some of these as showing their general character. Thus, in the Targum, or Paraphrase, of Jonathan on Deuteronomy it is stated that the grave of Moses was given over to the special custody of the Archangel Michael.
In the Debarim Rabba i.e. the Midrash on Deuteronomy (fol. 263), it is related that Sammael, the prince of the Evil Angels, was impatient for the death of Moses. “And he said, ‘When will the longed-for moment come when Michael shall weep and I shall laugh?’ And at last the time came when Michael said to Sammael, ‘Ah! cursed one! Shall I weep while thou laughest?’ and made answer in the words of Micah, ‘Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me’ ” (Micah 7:8).
A longer and wilder legend is given in the same book (fol. 246), which must be somewhat abridged. “Moses prayed that if he might not enter into the Promised Land, he might at least be allowed to live; but God told him that unless he died in this world he could have no life in the world to come, and commanded Gabriel to fetch his soul. Gabriel shrank from the task. Michael was next bidden to go, and he too shrank; and then the command was given to Sammael, who found him with his face shining as the light, and he was afraid and trembled . He told him why he was come, and Moses asked him who had sent him, and he made answer that he was sent by the Creator of the Universe. But Moses still held out, and Sammael returned with his task unfulfilled. And Moses prayed, ‘Lord of the World, give not my soul over to the Angel of Death.”
And there came a voice from Heaven, ‘Fear not, Moses, I will provide for thy burial,’ and Moses stood up and sanctified himself as do the Seraphim, and the Most High came down from Heaven and the three chief angels with Him. Michael prepared the bier and Gabriel spread out the winding sheet. . . . And the Most High kissed him, and through that kiss took his soul to Himself” (Nork, Rabbinische Quellen).
It is suggestive that the sin of the angels comes
prominently forward in connection with the legend. The soul of Moses pleads its reluctance to
leave the body which was so holy: “Lord
of the world! The angels Asa and Asael lusted after the
daughters of men, but Moses, from the day Thou appearedst
unto him in the bush, led a life of perpetual continence.”
Verse 10 Translations
WEB: But
these speak evil of whatever things they don't know. What they understand
naturally, like the creatures without reason, they are destroyed in these
things.
Young’s: and
these, as many things indeed as they have not known, they speak evil of; and as
many things as naturally (as the irrational beasts) they understand, in these
they are corrupted;
Conte (RC): But these men certainly blaspheme
against whatever they do not understand. And yet,
whatever they, like mute animals, know from
nature, in these things they are
corrupted.
Verse 10 But these. False, wicked teachers. [14]
—In strong contrast
to the scrupulous reverence of the archangel.
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” [46]
speak evil. All the
more heinous, he declares, is slander, when uttered by men against the Supreme
Majesty, or even against inferior authorities (seeing that one angel did not
venture to rail at another, in a case where the wickedness of that other
furnished him with just grounds to do it.)
He goes on, however, to say, in verse 10, that in their ignorance of God
and divine things, these persons think it nothing to utter their slanders, and
that any knowledge or insight which they may acquire, in a natural way,
respecting the affairs of this earthly life--although, in fact, it be of no
more value than the instinct of irrational beasts--does not hinder them from
falling a prey to their fleshly corruption.
[6]
of those things which
they know not. The whole range of
invisible and heavenly things, and even the nobler sentiments of our nature. [51]
Or: Usually understood of the “dominions” and
“dignities” of verse 8; either angels, because sensual men would not have the
spiritual gifts by which they would know about angels; or church authorities
whom they did not “know” in the sense of recognizing. But this clause may generalize [verse] 8b,
“they rail not only at persons above them in authority, but at truths above
their knowledge,” the latter being Christian truths they were too gross and
selfish to grasp. Nothing could be true
or reasonable which they could not understand. [45]
Or: The context leaves no doubt that the region
of the “things which they know not” is that of good and evil spirits. The false teachers were, though in another
spirit, “intruding into those things which they had not seen,” like those whom Paul condemns in Colossians 2:18. [38]
but what they know naturally [understand instinctively, ESV]. Like mere animals, they could only take in the physical pain and enjoyment and such material effects of actions, and so, through eagerness after the self-indulgence that seemed open to them, they brought about their own destruction. [45]
The two halves of the verse are in emphatic
contrast. What they do not know, and
cannot know, they abuse by gross irreverence:
what they know, and cannot help knowing, they abuse by gross licentiousness. If this Epistle is prior to 2 Peter it is
strange that the author of the latter should have neglected so telling an
antithesis, and should (from a literary point of view) have so spoiled the
passage by his mode of adaptation (2 Peter 2:12). If 2 Peter is prior there is nothing strange
in Jude improving upon the mode of expression.
The word for “know” is not the same in both clauses. The word used in “which they know not” is the
most general and common word of the kind in Greek, expressing mere perception,
and occurring about three hundred times in the New Testament; that used in
“what they know naturally” is more definite, and expresses practical experience
productive of skill and science; it occurs fourteen times in the New Testament,
mostly in the Acts. (Compare “Paul I know,” Acts 19:15.) [46]
as brute beasts. Animals without intelligence. 2 Peter 2:12. [31].
“As drunk as a beast” is, in truth, a libel on the
lower creation. Drunkenness
and like abuses of natural appetite are sins of man only. [51]
in those things
they corrupt themselves. That is, in the plainest and most natural and
necessary things, things that lie most open and obvious to natural reason and
conscience; even in those things they corrupt, debase, and defile
themselves: the fault, whatever it is,
lies not in their understandings or apprehensions, but in their depraved wills
and disordered appetites and affections.
[5]
Or, perhaps, they work their own ruin. Note the tense; not future, but present. The corruption, or ruin, is not a judgment
hanging over them; it is already going on. [46]
Verse 11 Translations
Weymouth: Alas for
them; for they have followed in the steps of Cain; for the sake of gain they
have rushed on headlong in the evil ways of Balaam; and have perished in
rebellion like that of Korah!
WEB: Woe
to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously
in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah's
rebellion.
Young’s: woe to
them! because in the way of Cain they did go on, and
to the deceit of Balaam for reward they did rush, and in the gainsaying of Korah they did perish.
Conte (RC): Woe to them! For they have gone
after the way of Cain, and they have poured out the
error of Balaam for profit, and they have perished
in the sedition of Korah.
Verse 11 Woe unto them! The denunciation of woes, common in the Lord's
ministry, is only found here in all the rest of the New Testament. [22]
Peter, to the same
effect, pronounces them cursed children.
Macknight, who renders the clause, woe
is to them, considers it as only a declaration of the misery which was to come
on them: in which sense only the phrase
is used by our Lord, Matthew 24:19, Woe unto them that are with child, &c.,
for certainly this was no wish of punishment, since to be with child, and
to give suck in those days, was no crime. But it was a declaration of the misery which
was coming on persons in that helpless condition. [47]
The words may mean,
“Woe is to them,” a description of their miserable condition, present or
future, uttered as a warning to others (Calvin); or even “Alas for them,” expressive
of pity (Newcome); or as generally expressive of pain
and indignation, a censure and a threat:
in any case the word speaks of evil and woe, whether uttered in the tone
of compassion which bewails it (Matthew 23:15), or of the indignation that
imprecates it (Matthew 11:21). Here the
context favors the idea that it is neither pity nor imprecation, for their sin
is strongly condemned, and they are said to have been punished; but a cry of
horror on taking in at one glance the whole course of their ungodliness, and
its final plunge into the dark abyss (as in Revelation 18:16, 19). [51]
for they have gone
. . . ran . . . perished. These English tenses imply that the verse
describes something that had already taken place; but the whole letter
implies that the punishment of the “ungodly” had not yet befallen them. Perhaps through the influence of a familiar
Hebrew idiom, past tenses are used to express the certainty of a future event. “They have followed in the footsteps of
Cain,” &c., so much was past, “and are irrevocably involved in their
punishment.” [45]
for they have gone
in the way of Cain. Cain is perhaps chosen as an instance of
one who defied the simplest and most obvious laws of God by murder, or else as
having consulted only his own natural instincts in choosing an offering for
God. [37]
The first great criminal; the first
to outrage the laws of nature. Explanations to the effect that these
libertines followed Cain by murdering men’s souls by their corrupt doctrine, or
by persecuting believers, and other suggestions still more curious, are
needlessly far-fetched. John 8:44, and 1
John 3:15, are not strictly apposite: these ungodly men may have hated and
persecuted the righteous, but
and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward [for pay, NASB; for the sake of gain, ESV]. Of the
three examples of sin punished which Jude uses 2 Peter only adopts one,
Balaam. Balaam is chosen as having
prostituted the prophetic gift for gain (and the false teachers made money one
of their objects). [37]
Balaam’s most
conspicuous sin was his willingness to earn money, the means for
self-indulgence, by cursing God’s people, another parallel to the “railing” of
the “ungodly” and its motive. This may
be in the writer’s mind, but probably we should translate “through the deceit
of Balaam” by which he deceived
ran greedily [rushed, NIV; rushed headlong, NASB; abandoned themselves, Holman]. Greek, εξεχυθησαν, have been poured out, like a torrent without banks. [47]
Literally, “have been poured out,” used of spilt
wine, Luke
for reward [for
pay, NASB; for the sake of gain, ESV]. Money is the chief object with them. They
teach error for reward, knowing all along that their teaching is contrary to
the revelation of God. Money, honor and glory from men, self exaltation and
self gratification are the leading motives of these men. [23]
and perished in
the gainsaying of Core. The sin of Korah
was open rebellion and opposition against the authority of God and the
priesthood He had instituted. [23]
I.e., a gainsaying like that
of Korah.
The “ungodly” attacked church officials as Korah
challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron, Numbers 16. [45]
Here, as in many passages of Scripture, a thing is
said to have happened which was only to happen.
This manner of speaking was used to show the absolute certainty of the
thing spoken of. [47]
Another, implicit,
parallel with Korah: Completing the parallel thus suggested it is
obvious that as the false teachers answer to Korah
and his company, so the true apostles and prophets of the Church of Christ are
thought of as occupying a position like that of Aaron or Moses. [38]
In depth: Theories of the kind of sin Cain was guilty of [8]. Many expositors find the similarity with Cain to consist in this, that, whereas he murdered his brother, these by seduction of the brethren are guilty of spiritual murder; so Oecumenius, Estius, Grotius (Cain fratri vitam caducam ademit; illi fratribus adimunt aeternam), Calovius, Hornejus, Schott, and others. But this conversion into the spiritual is [not] brought forward by Jude.
Other expositors, adhering to the murder committed by Cain, think on the persecuting zeal of these false teachers against believers; so Nicolas de Llyra, sequuntur mores et studia latronis ex invidia et avaritia persequentes sincerioris theologiae studiosos. As the later Jews regarded Cain as a symbol of moral skepticism, so Schneckenburger supposes that Jude would here reproach his opponents with this skepticism; but there is also no indication of this in the context.
De
Wette stops at the idea that Cain is named as “the
archetype of all wicked men;” so also Arnaud and Hofmann; but this is too
general. Bruckner
finds the point of resemblance in this, that as Cain out of envy on
account of the favor shown to Abel, resisting the commandment and warning of
God, slew his brother, so these false teachers resisted God, and that from
envy of the favor shown to believers.
But in the context there is no indication of the definite
statement “from envy.”
It is more in
correspondence with the context to find the Tertium
compar, in this, that Cain, in spite of the
warning of God, followed his own wicked lusts.
Fronmuller:
“The point of comparison is acting on the selfish impulses of nature, in
contempt of the warnings of God.”
In depth: Reconstruction of how the contemporary
heretics might be “recycling” the same basic errors of Balaam [36]. On the whole I understand the passage
thus: Balaam went wrong because he
allowed himself to hanker after gain and so lost his communion with God. He not only went wrong himself, but he abused
his great influence and his reputation as a prophet, to lead astray the
Israelites by drawing them away from the holy worship of Jehovah to the impure
worship of Baal Peor.
So these false teachers use their prophetical gifts for purposes of
self-aggrandizement, and endeavor to make their services attractive by
excluding from religion all that is strenuous and difficult, and opening the
door to every kind of indulgence.
BOOKS/COMMENTARIES
UTILIZED IN THIS STUDY:
1 [Anonymous]. Teacher’s Testament/Nelson’s Explanatory
Testament
Thomas
Nelson & Sons;
2 Marvin
R. Vincent, D.D. Word
Studies in the New Testament.
Charles
Scribner’s Sons;
3 Robert
Young. Commentary
on the Holy Bible. A. Fullarton & Co;
4 Daniel
Whitby, D.D. and Moses Lowman. A Critical Commentary and
Paraphrase
on the New Testament. Carey Hart,
5 Matthew
Henry. Vol. IV: Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.
6 Rev. Dr
C. G. Barth. The Bible Manual.
1865
7 Charles
R. Erdman. The
General Epistles.
Press, 1918.
8 Joh. Ed. Huther, Th. D., Critical
and Exegetical Handbook to the
General
Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude
[Meyer’s Commentary
on the New Testament].
9 Professor
Bernhard Weiss, D.D. A
Commentary of the New Testament Vol. IV.
10 Charles
Simeon, M.A. Horae
Homileticae Vol. XX.
and Ball, 1833.
11 Rev. S.
T. Bloomfield, M.A. Recensio
Symoptica Annotations Sacrae
[
12 George
Leo Haydock. Haydock’s Catholic Family Bible and Commentary
UTS,
13 Howard
Crosby, D.D. New
Testament, With Brief Explanatory Notes. New
14 Anonymous [Justin
Edwards]. The New
Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This edition has more notes, but Edwards’ name is
attached to a shorter
edition of the
same material at UTS,
15 John
Wesley, M.A. Explanatory Notes upon
the New Testament.
16 Orello Cone, D.D. International Handbooks to the N.T. Vol. 3:
The Epistles. New York:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons / Knickerbocker Press,
1901.
17 Philip
Doddridge, D.D. The Family Expositor
(Paraphrase and Version of
the New
Testament [American edition]).
Amherst, Ms.: J. S. & C.
Adams,
and L. Boltwood;
18 Adam
Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A., etc. The New Testament of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ Vol. VI.
19 Donald
Fraser, M.A., D.D. Synoptical
Lectures of the Books of Holy Scripture Vol.
II.
20 Rev.
Robert Jamieson, D.D. Rev. A. R. Fausset, A.M. Rev. David Brown D.D. A
Commentary, Critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments Vol. II The S. S. Scranton Company
21 Martin
Luther. The Epistles of St. Peter and
St. Jude Preached and
Explained (
Gillett.
22 Barton
W. Johnson. People’s New Testament. Internet Edition. 1891.
23 Arno Gaebelein. Annotated Bible. Internet Edition. 1920s.
24 John R. Dummelow. Dummelow’s Commentary on the Bible. Internet Edition. 1909.
25 Robert Hawker. Poor Man’s Commentary. Internet Edition. 1828.
26 Johann
A. Bengel. Gnomon of the New
Testament. Internet Edition. 1742.
27 Alexander
MacLaren. Exposition of the Holy Scriptures. Internet Edition.
18--.
28 Matthew
Poole. English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
Internet Edition.
1685.
29 John Trapp. Complete Commentary. Internet Edition.
Written 1600s;
1865-1868 edition.
30 Joseph Sutcliffe. Commentary on the Old
and New Testaments. Internet
Edition. 1835.
31 Albert Barnes. Notes on the New
Testament. Internet Edition. 1870.
32 James Gray. Concise Bible Commentary. Internet Edition. 1897-1910.
33 F. B. Meyer. Thru The Bible
(Commentary). Internet Edition. 1914 edition.
34 John and Jacob Abbott. Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament. Internet
Edition. 1878.
35 John Calvin. Commentaries. Internet Edition. Written in 1500s. Printing:
1840-1857.
36 William R. Nicoll,
editor. Expositor’s Greek Testament. Internet
Edition.1897-1910.
37
38
E. M. Plumptre. Internet Edition. 1890.
39 D. D. Whedon. Commentary on the New Testament;
volume 5: Titus to
Revelation. Internet Edition.
40 Ariel A. Livermore. The Epistles to the Hebrews, the Epistles
of James,
Peter, John, and Jude and the Revelation of John the Divine[:] Commentary
and Essays. Internet Edition.
1881.
41 M[ichael] F.
Sadler. The General Epistles of SS.
James, Peter, John, and
Jude. Second
Edition.
42 Robert S. Hunt. The Epistle to the
Hebrews and the General Epistles.
In
the Cottage Commentary series.
43 A. T. Robertson. New Testament Interpretation (Matthew to
Revelation):
Notes on
Lectures. Taken
stenographically. Revised Edition by William
M.
Fouts and Alice M. Fouts.
44 William G. Humphry.
A Commentary on the Revised Version
of the New
Testament.
45 W. H. Bennett. The General Epistles: James, Peter, John and Jude. In the
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46 A. J. Mason. “First Epistle of Peter” in Ellicott’s New
Testament
Commentary for English
Readers. Internet Edition. 1884.
47 Joseph Benson. Commentary on the Old
and New Testaments. Internet
Edition. 1811-1815.
48 William B. Godbey. Commentary on the New
Testament. Internet Edition.
1896-1900.
49 James Nisbett,
editor. Church
Pulpit Commentary. Internet Edition. 1876.
[Note: this is not “The Pulpit
Commentary.”]
50 Revere F. Weidner. Annotations on the General Epistles of James,
Peter,
John,
and Jude. In the Lutheran
Commentary series.
Literature Company, 1897.
51 Schaff’s
Popular Commentary on the New Testament.
Internet
Edition.
1879-1890.