Reading Scripture: Genesis 3:14-19

 

Sadao Watanabe: "Labor of Adam and Eve" (1979)

Adam and Eve were to multiply themselves and subdue the lands & creatures of the wilderness to incorporate them harmoniously into the template of the garden. They were to rule over creation according to their best judgement—the core meaning of being created in God's image—without need to till the ground because the garden provided food on its own. 

The rebukes in Genesis 3:14-19 are reversals of the original plan of creation: God condemns the snake (an unsubdued creature) to go on its belly (it was presumably like a cobra that goes about upright like a human); and he proclaims that Eve will now multiply with difficulty (menstruation, pregnancy, birth, etc.) and subject herself to Adam, while Adam will now be forced to labor to provide for his family.  With regard to Adam and Eve, their purpose to multiply and subdue the world remains, but this purpose will now assume the form of a painful burden, and their partnership will now assume a lopsided relationship. 

Note: The words *'êzer kəneḡdō* (translated as "helper" in Genesis 2:18) literally mean "counterpart"; *ishah* (translated as "woman" in Genesis 2:23) means “from man”; and *khavva* (translated as "Eve" in Genesis 3:20) means “life.”

Reading Scripture: 1 Peter 3:18-22

 

Norman Adams RA: "The Flood" (1961)

There are surely few passages in scripture as sweeping as 1 Peter 3:18-22, which punctuates an extended discussion of priesthood, suffering, and sanctification with a series of images interwoven to drive home the point that sanctification, unlike justification, is a matter of transformation that involves suffering—our suffering:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in [Tartarus], because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but vas an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Here's a loose paraphrase that might help:

Christ our Lord put our sin to death in his body on the Cross, after which he descended to Tartarus to proclaim his authority over the unclean spirits of corrupt origin who were purged from humanity by the Flood, from which God spared a remnant of humanity who entered into the Ark, the germ of a new humanity, which corresponds to baptism whose waters are the outward confirmation of a circumcised heart and rebirth as a new person incorporated into Jesus Christ who has ascended into Heaven as Lord of all creation, both visible and invisible.

The first half of the passage reminds us that our Lord has redeemed us from lawlessness by taking us along with our sins unto himself, and expiating these assumed debts once and for all on the cross by his death, thereby purging those in him of sin just as completely as the Flood purged humanity of the corruption resulting from the intercourse of spiritual beings and humans. The second half of the passage highlights the image of the ark floating over the waters of the flood, which recalls the image of the Spirit hovering over the waters at Creation, that represents the promise of new creation, which corresponds to the reborn spirit of the believer buried with Christ in the waters of baptism, which symbolize death followed by resurrection in glory.

The passage thus drives home the larger argument, which Peter has slowly developed over the previous chapters, that our purpose in this fallen world is to sanctify ourselves as priests so that we may minister the grace of God to this world that is perishing. This sanctification requires suffering because only through suffering can we learn trust in God and empathy for others, precisely the qualities that underlie the two great commandments. Someday we will understand how everything fits together.

Reading Scripture: Matthew 17.24–27

 

Augustin Tünger: "Peter Paying the Temple Tax" (1486)

Many who are delighted by the miracle of the coin in the fishes mouth might not be so sanguine about this sign if they understood the ramifications.

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax ?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matthew 17.24–27)

Jesus balks at paying the half-shekel temple tax as this would be counter to his claimed status as the Son of God. Christ thus has Peter contribute a tetradrachm of miraculous origin, which amounts to God demonstrating their exemption by paying himself on their behalf. The counter-intuitive implication is that those who are in Christ are exempt from the tithe for the simple reason that they belong to God, and therefor everything in their possession belongs to God. Hence we should follow the example of the shrewd manager who squanders on others what does not belong to him to prepare a future for himself:

There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures1 of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:1-9)

We are to 'squander' the time and money allotted to us for the benefit of others so that we do not enter the world to come empty handed.

Reading Scripture: John 13:1–17

 

Sadao Watanabe: Washing the Feet of Saint Peter (1979)

The bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper recall the loaves of shewbread (literally "bread of the presence") placed in the Holy Place on the morning of each Sabbath before prayers; and the wine likewise recalls the drink offering poured out at the base of the altar on the morning of each Sabbath before prayers. 

Moreover, the account of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples at the start of his last Passover meal with them recalls the requirement that only a consecrated priest (one who had washed on entering the Temple) who had subsequently washed his hands and feet could partake of the loaves of shewbread from the previous Sabbath.

Whoever ranked as the least among the disciples should have washed the feet of the others, but the disciples argued over you this might be (Luke 22: 24-30), and evidently sat down to eat the Passover with unwashed feet. Jesus responded by rising before the first cup (when the host traditionally washed his hands before serving each guest a portion of the meal) and washing the disciples feet himself. John 13:1–17 records:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Jesus explains this gesture as an example of radically humble service, which the disciples are to imitate: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Scripture makes no further mention of foot washing in assembled worship or otherwise. 

Reading Scripture: Genealogies

 

Sadao Watanabe: Fruit of Cannan (1969)

Genealogies in scripture do not necessarily operate according to the logic you might expect. Consider Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, one of the guides provided by Hovav son of Reuel the Midianite at the behest of Moses:

And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.” But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.” (Numbers 10:29-32)

Caleb is later chosen by Judah as one of the men from each tribe sent into Canaan to spy out the land, and it is Caleb who later encourages the Israelites to enter the land despite the reservations of other spies:

And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” (Numbers 13:25-32)

Though not an Israelite by birth, Caleb’s faith gains him a choice inheritance in the territory allotted to Judah (Joshua 14:6-14): 

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD tent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land won which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ 

And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.” Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. 

Caleb is thereafter numbered among the descendants of Judah through Perez and Hezron:

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death. His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. (1 Chronicles 2:3-5)

Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. (1 Chronicles 2:18)

In effect, Caleb was grafted into the line of Jacob by faith.

Reading Scripture: Jonah

 

Sadao Watanabe: "Jonah and the Fish" (1965)

The book of Jonah, one of the most misunderstood books of the Hebrew scriptures, poses two fundamental questions: (1) Who is God? (2) What does it mean to be a kingdom of priests? 

Regarding the first question, note how God describes himself to Moses at Sinai:

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7)

Regarding the second question, note how God describes his relationship with Israel:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exodus 19:6)

The Lord thus describes himself as both just and merciful, and he describes the nation of Israel as his chosen instrument to restore the peoples of the Earth to himself. Why then does Jonah choose to be thrown into the sea (the most terrifying fate imaginable to a Hebrew) rather than prophecy against Nineveh, and why does Jonah resent God’s mercy towards the repentant Ninevites?

Note how the opening and closing verses frame the book:

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.  (Jonah 1:1-3)

And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10-11)

We know very little about Jonah other than that he was the son of the prophet Amittai from Gath-hepher, that he too was a prophet, and that he prophesied that God would restore the borders of Israel from Hamath (in Syria) to the Dead Sea:

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. (2 Kings 14:23-27)

However, God did not relent indefinitely, and both Zachariah (14:5) and Amos (3:14, 6:11, 8:8, 9:1) recall a great earthquake (understood as divine judgment) that occurred late in the reign of Jeroboam II (790-750 BCE), which the geological record indicates was the largest such event ever experienced along the Dead Sea Transform. The Kingdom of Israel was indeed later conquered and sent into exile by Assyria in 740 BCE, never to return despite the Lord’s pledge to restore his people to the land should they repent in exile and remember him (Deuteronomy 30:1-10).

Nineveh meanwhile experienced a period of crisis and decline. The troubled reigns of Shalmaneser IV (783–773 BCE) and his successor Ashur-dan III (772-755 BCE) were marked by an incidence of plague in 765 BCE, followed by famine from 765-758 BCE with a second incidence of plague in 759 BCE. Moreover, there was a total eclipse of the sun (understood as a divine warning) directly over Nineveh in 763 BCE, which is quite possibly around the time Jonah arrived there with his message of judgment.

What then might account for Jonah’s reluctance to preach to a struggling Nineveh? Perhaps Jonah foresaw that Nineveh might repent and be spared destruction only to become an instrument of God’s judgment on Israel. Jonah may have fled to Tarshish to forestall judgment on Israel, thereby becoming sin for the sake of his people.

Tarshish is understood to be the ancient kingdom of Tartessus, which lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules (i.e. the Straits of Gibraltar) that marked the western edge of the world. Tartessus supplied the Phoenicians with copper and tin (to make bronze) as well as gold, commodities in sufficient demand that the Phoenicians built seafaring ships with large hulls to conduct long-distance trade. Jonah seems to have booked passage on such a ship (sep̄înāh = decked) and descended into the hull to avoid participating in the frantic prayers by each to his own god in response to the terrible storm.

Jonah seems completely unconcerned with sacrificing the lives of the pagan sailors and only confesses after God causes the lot to fall to him. This is at odds with the fact that Jonah is a prophet of Israel, which was created to be a nation of priests tasked with proclaiming YWHW to the rest of humanity. The pagan sailors, who would have been devotees of the Sea (Yam/Poseidon) and the Evening Star (Astarte/Venus) who walks on the water, would have been terrified to hear that the god who created the land and the sea was the one angry with them–hence: "What have you done!" 

The pagan sailors proclaim their faith in YWHW and pledge (Abrahamic) sacrifices to him after he calms the sea following the odious sacrifice of Jonah. Jonah thereby inadvertently leads the pagan sailors to the one true God despite himself, a mistake that he has no intention of repeating with Nineveh. In this regard, it's important to note that the imagery of Jonah's psalm (which alludes to resurrection from the grave) fits the circumstances of being in the belly of a fish, but the sentiments express faith in God’s mercy to a chosen one rather than any sort of repentance. We should therefore examine the psalm independently before considering its role in the story. 

God has the fish spit Jonah up on the eastern shore, effectively as a way of demonstrating to Jonah that resistance is futile. Jonah consequently decides to comply with God's command, but only in the most minimal sense possible. To his profound dismay, the people of Nineveh repent despite not even knowing the identity of the God who threatens them with destruction, and God relents on witnessing their contrition—even their animals are required to fast. Jonah is indignant, prompting God to prod him (by means of a shading plant that springs up quickly and just as quickly withers) to consider what it means to bear witness of a God who is both awesome and merciful.

Reading Scripture: Romans 9–10

Marc Chagall: "Moses and His People" (1973)

People often ask: “How can there can be a God who is both just and loving given all the unpunished evil and unmitigated suffering that we witness in this world?” This question betrays a sense that God should judge the world by punishing the wicked but also show mercy by saving the helpless—which is exactly what God does though his timetable is not our timetable and his standards are not our standards. We are all guilty and we are all helpless in God’s eyes. Consider Romans 9:30–10:10:

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes; for Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them, but the righteousness based on faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (i.e. ‘bring Christ down’)” nor ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (i.e. ‘bring Christ up from the dead’).

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (i.e. the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Unlike the Jews, whose concept of Law was tied to the holiness of God, the laws of non-Jews were primarily a matter of social order not tied to the nature of their gods, who were not known for their morality. Yet more non-Jews than Jews attained the righteousness of God—how could this be?

The non-Jews who attained righteousness did so by accepting their unrighteousness and casting themselves upon the mercy of God, who justified them because: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” The Jews who stumbled did so because they trusted in their ability to keep the Law, which could have justified them—as it did Jesus—if they were truly holy, but they of course fell short. They failed to tremble before the Law because “being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness;” and they did not appeal to God for mercy because their zeal for God was “not according to knowledge” that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” They did not understand that justification is by faith.

In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Moses exhorts Israel regarding the Law: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” Paul interprets this passage to mean that we are not tasked with something as impossible as fetching Christ from Heaven or raising him from the dead. We have only to proclaim that he is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. By this means, Christ becomes “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” How is this accomplished?

Though Jesus himself is justified by the Law, he is also condemned by the Law on our behalf for owning the sins of those who belong to him. The resurrected Jesus is both holy and a living sacrifice for our sins—but only if he is our Lord (because he does not own the sins of those who do not belong to him) and only if he has been resurrected (because the dead have no claim on the living). This is why Paul says: “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

One might understandably wonder how confessing Jesus as Lord squares with the teaching that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”? Consider Romans 6:20-23:

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The larger passage frames our options as either being slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to God, which leads to eternal life. The latter option is only available by the grace of God, in which sense salvation is free to us, but being redeemed means that we now belong to God. Thus we read in 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Returning to the question of how there can be a God who is both just and loving given all the unpunished evil and unmitigated suffering that we witness in this world, my own understanding is that we are learning empathy for one another and trust in God because this life is merely a period of training for the life to come when we will be tasked with something greater that demands a well-developed sense of empathy and trust.

Reading Scripture: Jude

Marc Chagall: "The Accordionist" (1957)

Though the brothers of Jesus were not among the twelve apostles, Paul reports James as being one of the leaders in Jerusalem alongside the apostles Peter and John, and other brothers of Jesus also played a prominent role in the early Church (see Galatians 1:19 and 1 Corinthians 9:5). They clearly benefitted from their long association with Jesus though they did not initially understand his public ministry (see Mark 3:21, 29-35), and they were held in esteem by the early church (see Eusebius 3:11). 

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. (1-2 NIV)

Jude addresses his listeners as those whose salvation was the work of God himself, who loves them and will preserve them for the sake of Jesus against all threats. To these he extends mercy, peace, and love. This second triplet lays the groundwork for the central message that Jude will develop: dealing with the threats posed by (a) those who abandon godliness, (b) those who rebel against authority, and (c) those who condemn the godly.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (3-4 NIV)

Jude would have preferred to build up his listeners in the faith, but he instead warns them not to lose what faith they have, which is under threat from ungodly individuals who are corrupting them and leading some astray. 

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (5-7 NIV)

The reference to Israel in the wilderness recalls the rebellion of Korah who questioned why Moses should be regarded with greater authority than any other Israelite (see Numbers 16:1-35). The fate of Korah and his followers is presented as a warning to those who “reject authority.” The reference to “angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling” recalls an obscure passage in Genesis as interpreted by Enoch, which records a legend about angels who abandoned heaven out of lust for the daughters of Cain (see Genesis 6:1-5; Enoch 6:1-7; 7:1-2). Lastly, Sodom and Gomorrah are proverbial examples of “sexual immorality and perversion.” 

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. (8-10 NIV)

The references to fallen angles and to Sodom and Gomorrah have their parallels in “ungodly people [who] pollute their own bodies,” and the reference to Korah has its parallel in those who reject authority. The reference to Sodom and Gomorrah also has a less obvious parallel in those who “heap abuse on celestial beings” given that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah intended to rape Lot’s visitors.

The story about Michael not personally denouncing Satan for slander was an oral tradition (later included in The Testament of Moses) about the mysterious burial of Moses who was alone with the Lord on Mount Nebo when he died (see Deuteronomy 34:1-6). The legend recounts that Satan sought to claim the body of Moses as that of a sinner because Moses had killed a man in Egypt. Michael objected to this denouncement of Moses but did not retaliate by denouncing Satan—he left that to God. Though not canonical, the legend nevertheless forcefully illustrates the point Jude is trying to make about refraining from slander.

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. (11 NIV)

In an extreme sense, “the way of Cain” is analogous to slander, because the latter is a form of personal violence. “Balaam’s error” recalls a treacherous scheme suggested by the prophet Balaam, who sought to collect a fee from the Moabites for destroying Israel after originally failing to collect a fee for cursing them (see Numbers 22:1-20). Following Balaam’s advice, the Moabites and the Midianites sent their daughters to seduce the men Israel into worshipping Baal (see Numbers 25:1-17). The Israelites who were seduced, and the Moabite and the Midianite women who seduced them, were are killed; and Balaam himself was killed when he was found among the Moabites whom God ordered destroyed for their treachery (Numbers 31:16).

These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (12-13 NIV)

The statement “These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves” paints a picture of individuals so puffed up with their own self-importance and so completely self-absorbed that they are oblivious to the unseemliness of their presence at a love feast. They give an appearance of offering guidance, example and, support but offer nothing but degradation. They are like elements of nature that no longer correspond to their place or function on the earth, sea, sky, or heavens. Their barrenness and waywardness mark them out as false shepherds who do not share the inheritance of Christ.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. (14-16 NIV)

The use of Enoch requires some explanation. Up until the latter half on the first century, when the book of Revelation was written, Enoch was the only comprehensive explanation God’s overarching plan for creation. Though this book was not ultimately accepted as canonical, many of its passages nevertheless rang true, and these are the ones directly or indirectly referenced by Jude. Enoch 1:9, which Jude quotes verbatim, actually sounds remarkably like the words of Jesus himself that “the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” (see Matthew 16:28; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:27). 

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (17-19 NIV)

The apostolic prophesy that “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires” echoes Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3:1-9 as well as Peter’s warning in 2 Peter 3:3. The warning in bother is clear: believers in the last days will have to contend with immorality, rebellion, and slander within their midst. Believers are therefore urged to grown in godliness as a bulwark against unbelief.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (20-23 NIV)

Jude encourages his listeners to persevere by growing in faith and praying in the Spirit, and he urges them to show mercy mixed with fear to those who are led astray while guarding against their own deception. The way forward is not to focus on those who are ungodly but to focus instead on learning the ways of God, practicing the things of God, and trusting in God.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (24-25 NIV)

Jude concludes by reminding us that (as he stated in his salutation) God himself who called us and loves us will keep us for Jesus our Lord and one day present us blameless before himself. He alone deserves our admiration, devotion, fear, and obedience.

Application:

1. What is the basis of our hope that we will persevere in the faith to the end even if we stumble on the way?
2. Why are we sometimes attracted to prominent individuals whose conduct or temperament are ungodly?
3. How should we interact with any people who are a corrupting influence or with those under their influence?
4. What steps have we taken to ground ourselves in the truth so that we may be transformed from within by the Spirit and walk with God as Adam did in the Garden?