v.4a “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In verse 4 we are finally introduced to the main matter of this letter - and of the reason why Jude had felt compelled to leave off writing his initial desire “concerning [their] common salvation” – the false teachers and their false teaching.
We will learn much more about these false teachers, as well as their false teaching, throughout the rest of the letter, so we will only consider what we learn in verse 4 here. Also, because of the importance of both matters (and especially of the false teaching itself) it is worth considering each in turn. This is not to separate the two – they are both intimately connected – but will allow us to explore each a little more fully.
Certain men
It was likely that some of these false teachers were already known to the Apostles, as well as to the individual churches involved, yet there would always be the possibility of some as yet uncovered false teachers currently still in operation.
You can almost sense the scornful manner in which these false teachers were written of. This, of course, was the era of rhetoric, and although what you said was of vital importance, so was the way in which you said it! There can be no doubt that Jude felt very passionate about these men and this strength of feeling would have been deliberately carried across through this letter, as well its meaning.
At this time of the church – as of the secular culture itself – it would have been incredibly rare for a woman to have been permitted to take up any kind of authoritative teaching role. Over the next couple of hundred years we do come across some women taking up such positions, especially within the area of false teaching, though they would have been much easier to discredit despite the long careers of some female false teachers, such as Priscilla and Maximilla within the Montanist movement that started around 170 AD.
Have crept in unnoticed
The Greek here carries the meaning “have slipped in secretly”. Immediately this transports our minds to the area of espionage in war time and undercover work within law agencies. It has been quite common for FBI agents, for example, to try and infiltrate Mafia groups, sneaking in unnoticed to the Mafioso so that hard evidence may be gained from the agents working within these criminal organizations.
Jesus had warned the disciples to watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) and tares being present amongst the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). Of course, it is never an easy task to identify such deceitful people quickly, yet could the church leaders also have been guilty of being watchmen failing at their post (Jeremiah 62:6), falling asleep through complacency?
It is very easy for us to let our guards down – and to want to see the best in people – but, quite simply, we are most at threat when we least expect to be attacked. These false teachers mingle amongst Christians and carry off the appearance of Christians. Of course, no Christian is ever perfect, but it is much easier to imitate love, for example, than to truly practice it. Loving our brothers and sisters can be hard at times – it means sacrificing self by placing others before ourselves; it means forgiving things that might just be very hard for us to forgive; so there can often be pain involved when we love others truly.
These false teachers may be able to carry off the appearance of Christianity, yet they “do” being Christians with ulterior, selfish and wicked motives. I once had a friend who was growing courgettes in his garden. There was one courgette that was quite beautiful to look at. It looked ripe and juicy and my friend was so desperate to taste its juiciness and flavour. When he cut it open, however, it was all rotten inside.
These false teachers can seem to be quite beautiful people – at least for a time – yet inside there is nothing but corruption.
Who long ago were marked out for this condemnation
Here begins the theme of judgement that we find in this letter.
The Greek translates marked out as “written/known beforehand”. Now, Peter had already written about false teachers by this point (2 Peter 2:1; 3:3), yet Jude was more likely referring to God’s foreknowledge of such people coming into the church. We have already considered a couple of Jesus’ own sayings regarding them.
What this reminds us of is that God is forewarned, forearmed and totally in control of the situation. There are certain very difficult situations that can happen within churches, such as false teachers creeping in unnoticed, that can rock the faith of even mature Christians at times. It can hurt, confuse, and make us question much of what we believe, yet knowing God is in control is, as Spurgeon once commented, the pillow upon which we can lay down our heads – even in the hardest and most confusing of times.
The church is warned by the Holy Spirit about these false teachers. God knows. He is in control. He permits this threat against the beloved bride of Christ – we don’t always understand why, but we know that we can trust Him, even in this; even in all things.
Ungodly men
These false teachers claimed godliness – sometimes even claiming special levels of godliness – yet they were the exact opposite. Ungodliness here refers to true worship. These false teachers may have been active participators in the church’s worship – singing the songs, praying, teaching from the Bible, playing the early church’s equivalent of church organs and/or acoustic guitars, yet there was no true spirit in their worship and there was no genuine truth.
Their worship was permeated through with falsehood; self-love; self-worship; and self-desires. It was a perverted worship, something that is even worse than no worship at all. We would all do well to search our own hearts and see how easy it can be to allow falsehood into our own worship. For these false teachers, however, they never worship with anything other than falsehood.
For us to truly worship we must give our whole hearts to the worship of, and to the Lordship of, Jesus Christ. How we struggle to do this! How thankful we must be for the streams of mercy and grace that are poured out upon us through Jesus Christ!
These false teachers were long ago marked out for condemnation. The children of God have been long ago marked out for grace and love. No wonder one of our favourite hymns with which to open our worship services is:
“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.”