v.4b “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.”
We come now to what is perhaps the key part to Jude’s letter. Yes, Jude is primarily concerned to warn these Christians about the false teachers that had been creeping in unnoticed to the churches, but what is it about these false teachers that makes them especially dangerous? Their false teaching.
Jude highlights two main characteristics of this false teaching that is so dangerous: turning the grace of our God into lewdness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who turn the grace of our God into lewdness
One of the teachings that characterised these false teachers was that of “anything goes”. To do that these teachers took what is the highest point of our salvation, the grace of God, and perverted it into a teaching that damages and leads individuals away from the God of grace!
This is a teaching that says, “God is a God of grace! He has promised to forgive… all of our sins… therefore, it doesn’t matter what we now do, because we have been forgiven of it!”
The Apostle Paul had some strong words to say about this issue. If the grace that God shows to us in the forgiving us of our sins glorifies God, argues Paul, then should we sin more so that there might be more grace? God forbid us to do such a thing! (Romans 6:1, 2)
The language Jude uses carries the connotations of indulgent sins of the flesh.[1] These include sins of a sexual, drunken and gluttonous nature, and so forth. Even in more recent times we have examples of cult leaders, who have sometimes started with a relatively orthodox “Christian” positions, but who, as their controlling power increases, reveal their true natures by indulging in and encouraging ever worsening sins of this type.
Generally, these false teachers will propound these teachings under the banner of freedom: “We are now freed from the law." they say, "We are under grace. We are now free to do as we please!” This reminded me of the poor plight of Pinocchio.
Well into his story, Pinocchio befriends a wayward boy named Lampwick. Pinocchio, Lampwick and a group of other boys are all enticed to come to Pleasure Island – a place free from all rule and authority – where they soon begin engaging in smoking, gambling, vandalism and drunkenness. Before they know it, these boys are transformed into donkeys and are subsequently sold off into slave labour.
Under the guise of freedom these false teachers will, in much a similar way, lead the gullible and naïve further and further into the wretched slavery of sin.
Who deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ
The biggest heart of the matter, however, was the teaching concerning Jesus Christ. Jude doesn’t go into any depth with his explanation of this, although Peter does so in 2 Peter. Jude merely says that these false teachers deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Firstly, Jude isn’t differentiating between God and Jesus. Rather, Jude writes of God and of Jesus in the same manner. Jude is deliberately uniting Jesus Christ with God by doing this, and perhaps in so doing revealing the main point of the false teachers’ false teaching. Listen to what Warren Wiersbe says, in reference to 2 Peter 2:1:
“False teachers are better known for what they deny than what they affirm. They deny the inspiration of the Bible, the sinfulness of man, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross, salvation by faith alone, and even the reality of eternal judgement. They especially deny the deity of Jesus Christ.”[2]
Quite recently, one of our pastors led a short teaching series on the Old Testament and he repeatedly stressed the importance of the Old Testament in light of how it had been coming under attack as not being as relevant to us as the New.
Why is this issue of vital importance? It is important for many reasons but it is of vital importance because the Old Testament (like the New) testifies of Jesus Christ (John 5:39). Anything that takes away from Jesus Christ, as in the list above from Warren Wiersbe, is of vital importance because He is of vital importance.
Now consider the effects of “turning the grace of our God into lewdness”, or the encouragement to commit and embrace sin: it leads people away from Jesus Christ.
The primary role of a preacher is to point to Jesus Christ through the Word of God. Not only does false teaching fail to do this, but it also proactively points away from Jesus.
No wonder that Jude wrote this letter with such emotion and passion. No wonder that the reality of judgement hangs over every word.
[1] Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: 2 Peter, Jude, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p.230.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Alert: 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1987), p.39.