EXPLORE THE TEXT
Believers should not be surprised when unspiritual people create division in the church.
17 But you, dear friends,
remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
18 They told you,
“In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”
19 These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.
Like Peter, Jude stood tall against the false teachers.
Early in the short letter, he described himself as a servant of Jesus and a brother of James.
Most likely, this “James” was the half-brother of Jesus who also served as a leader in the Jerusalem church.
If so, that would mean that Jude also would have been a half-brother of the Messiah.
In fact, he was likely the “Judas” mentioned in Matthew 13:55.
Yet, he focused on servanthood.
Despite having serious concerns about Jesus early in His ministry (John 7:1-5),
Jude now was a fully devoted follower of Christ and refused to sit by as false teachers wreaked havoc on the churches. "
Jude wrote this short epistle to condemn those who were determined to redefine Christianity
in their own self-centered terms (Jude 4).
Jude concluded his letter with encouraging instruction on how to respond to false teachers and those who had been influenced by them.