The Little Letter

The Little Letter
Words of Faith 7-3-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Jude 1
[1] Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ…

The Little Letter of Jude is the second-to-last book of the Bible. Though brief, this letter is powerful. It focuses on the problem of false teaching in the Church and warns those in the Church to beware of those who have gained entry to church circles and are perverting the one true faith with false teaching.
The original readers of the letter were most likely Christian Jews who were gathered into local fellowships. Still, the first readers may also have included Gentiles familiar with Jewish customs and history. Many Jewish references would be unknown to typical gentile readers yet are assumed to be known by the readers.
The writer of the letter was Jude, the brother of James (the Just), the leader of the Jerusalem church. Jude and James were half-brothers of Jesus. The Gospel accounts show that Jude did not believe in Jesus' messiahship until after the Resurrection. This may explain the deep humility with which Jude introduces himself in 1:1 as a servant (slave) of the brother (now recognized as the Messiah), which he had denied.
The heresy of Gnosticism had raised its head in the region, and this is answered in this letter. All of the main characteristics that went to make up later Gnosticism-- emphasis on knowledge free from the claims of morality, arrogance toward church leaders, interest in angels, divisiveness, and lasciviousness-- are alluded to in this letter. These Gnostic influences denied the lordship of Christ, exercised sinful license, rebelled against authority, gave in fleshly desires, concerned themselves only with personal gain, and were divisive, fault-finding, and boastful. Does any of this sound familiar?
Gnosticism declared that the spirit was good and the material world was evil. Therefore, the spiritual was to be cultivated and fed, free to pursue good inclinations. In addition, Gnostics felt free to vent the desires of the flesh. The heart of this apostasy was that it turned the grace of God into license and lasciviousness. Jude wrote to warn of this dual apostasy of wrong conduct and false doctrine.
Jude warns against allowing the false teachers to continue to have influence. Jude calls the Church to defend the truth aggressively against this infiltration. This little book is a solemn warning to Christians everywhere since all are subject to the same doctrinal and practical errors. Though its theme regarding apostasy was explicitly directed to first-century Jewish Christians, its message applies to all Christians. All believers need to avoid the pitfalls of denying Christ's lordship, promiscuously following fleshly desires, rejecting authority, being divisive, and living for self.

Father God, keep me close to Your heart. Give me mercy, peace, and love in abundance. Keep me close to the Truth of Jesus, my Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.