1:5
This verse is another nail in the coffin of a once-saved-always-saved philosophy. By the way, I absolutely believe in full assurance of salvation, but if we ever let this morph into an I can do whatever l like and still be saved belief then we are heading in a very dangerous direction. Jude reminds his hearers that the Israelites were saved out of Egypt, but most of them were later destroyed for their lack of belief. What we do matters, and what we do has an effect. Any supposed theology that teaches otherwise is deeply unbiblical.
Jude says he wants to remind them. This is probably a reference to general apostolic teaching.
1:6
We now get one of the references to non-Biblical traditions. Angels played a big part in Jewish religion, and the Book of Enoch (not written by Enoch) has many speculations about angels. Greek myths also had a place for angels. Jude is not endorsing these, but is using them as a point of connection with his readers. Revelation also speaks of angels who rebelled against God (Rev 12:8). Whatever the exact source that Jude is alluding to, the key point is that the angels rebelled against their proper area of authority and they would be severely judged for doing so. Exactly the same will apply to false teachers. We only have the authority that God gives us, and that authority always includes staying within what the Word of God teaches. If we step outside of that boundary we are committing a serious sin and can expect nothing but judgement unless we repent.
No comments:
Post a Comment