Now unto him, &c.— "Now, to conclude with a solemn doxology, which belongs, as to all the Persons in the adorable Godhead, so particularly to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we have been speaking of under such characters as are peculiarly suitable to your encouragement and relief under all your present troubles (Jude 1:14-15; Jude 1:21); I would express it in the following lofty and endearing strain:—To Him who has almighty power originally in himself as God, and all office authority and qualifications as Mediator; and, having graciously undertaken, is as willing as he is able,to preserve all that perseveringly trust in him from apostacy, from stumbling, and from falling into and by the errors of the wicked; and, after their state of warfare is accomplished, to present them to himself, and to his Father, a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27.), and should stand with complete acceptance in his immediate presence, when he shall appear in all his glory, and they shall appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:4.), and with triumphant and extatic joy; and all the glorified saints and holy angels shall exceedingly rejoice to all eternity.—To this God our Saviour, who, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is infinitely, originally, essentially and communicatively the only wise God: to him, as well as to those other adorable Persons, be ascribed, as is equally due, all the glory of his divine nature and attributes as God, and of all his love and grace, designs, undertakings, and performances, as likewise all the grandeur of heavenly Majesty as God-man Mediator, together with universal rule and government, might and authority, over all persons and things, in the kingdom of providence and of grace, now, henceforth, and for evermore. In this ascription of glory, may we and all the saints and angels join, as with one heart and voice! Amen." It seems to me, that the divine Person here most immediately intended, is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is principally spoken of all along in the preceding context, and is often styled, by way of eminence, The Saviour, and God our Saviour, as in Ephesians 5:23.Philippians 3:20. Titus 2:13. 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:21 and is here called the only wise God (Jude 1:25.), not to the exclusion of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but only of all idols. And as his presenting his saints faultless before the presence of his glory, manifestly relates to the time of his glorious appearing to judgment, for executinga dreadful sentence on the ungodly, and shewing mercy to his faithful saints unto eternal life; so this exactly agrees with the work which is peculiarly ascribed to him, as the Saviour of the body and Head of the church (Ephesians 5:23-27.). But I do not find that the presentation of the church at the last day is ever ascribed to God the Father. Mr. Jones, in his "Catholic Doctrine of a Trinity," chap. 1: art. 41 reasons on this text as follows: "That is, the only wise God who is able to present us before the presence of his glory; but Christ is to present us, as members of the church in glory, to himself (Ephesians 5:27.); therefore He is the only wise God, to whom also appertains the presence of glory; for that is no other than his own presence; himself. This is another express instance, that μονος Θεος, the only God, is not 'God in one person,' but the Unity of the Trinity: for, if you confine this phrase (with the Arians) to the single person of the Father, then of course you exclude the person of Christ; and then, it is manifest, you contradict the scripture: for, though it be affirmed in this place, that the only wise God is to present us before his own presence, yet the same is elsewhere expressed by Christ's presenting us to himself; which is no way to be accounted for, unless you believe Christ to be a partaker in the being, attributes, and offices of the one, undivided, only wise God, our Saviour:—and then there is no further difficulty."
Inferences.—Let those, who have the honour of being numbered among the disciples of Christ, stand at the remotest distance from the evils with which the unhappy creatures described in this epistle are branded by the apostle. And may divine grace preserve all his churches from such spots in their feasts of charity! May our horizon be secured from those dark and gloomy clouds without water; the plantations of God among us be free from the incumbrance and disgrace of those withered and fruitless trees, twice dead, and plucked up by the roots! How illustrious was the prophesy, with which Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was inspired; and how precious is that fragment of antediluvian history, which is here preserved, and which shall surely be accomplished in its season! The day is now much nearer, when the Lord will come with ten thousands of his saints: may the ungodly remember it, and suppress in time the speeches which will then assuredly be reproved, and repent of the deeds, which, if unrepented of, however forgotten now, will be brought into open view, and draw down upon their heads the destruction which at present seems to linger. That we may have confidence before him at his coming, let us remember the words of the apostle, and implore the influences of the divine Spirit, which sensualists, who walk after their own lusts, quench and stifle, and which they mock and deride. Let us, however, be concerned to edify ourselves in our most holy faith, and to pray in the Holy Ghost, under his influence, direction, and assistance. The security of the heart amid so many temptations, and its richest cordial in all its afflictions, is the love of God: but how soon does the celestial flame languish and die, if it be not constantly fed with new fuel! Let it then be our care in humble dependance upon divine grace, to keep ourselves in the love of God; which will be cherished in proportion to that degree of faith and hope, with which we look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life: for what can so powerfully excite our love to God as such a consideration?
If we do expect it, let us express our regard to the salvation of others, as well as to our own; and apply ourselves to those who seem to be in danger, with such different addresses of awe or tenderness, as their different circumstances and tempers may require. But some way or another let us exert ourselves to pluck them out of the fire, who are in danger of falling into it, and perishing for ever.
A care to preserve our own characters and conscience unspotted, will be necessary to our courage, and hope of success, in such efforts as these. Let us therefore be more frequently looking up to him who is able to keep us from falling, and to improve, as well as maintain, the work he has wrought in us, till we shall be presented blameless before the presence of his glory. Then shall our hearts know a joy beyond what earth can afford, beyond what heaven itself shall have given us in the separate state: then shall God also rejoice over us, and the joy of our compassionate Saviour be completed in the seeing the full accomplishment of the travail of his soul. To him who has so wisely formed the scheme, and will faithfully and perfectly accomplish it for every faithful soul, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The apostle opens with,
1. An account of the sacred penman. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, whose highest honour is to minister in the gospel; and brother of James, the son of Alpheus.
2. The persons to whom it is addressed. To them that are sanctified by God the Father, entirely devoted to his service through the influence of his grace; and preserved in Jesus Christ, brought into the fellowship of his religion, and guarded by his grace in the midst of a thousand snares; and called to the participation of those gospel privileges which Jesus hath purchased, and God the Father promised to bestow on the faithful followers of his Son. Note; Hope towards God, without holiness, is but delusion.
3. The apostolical benediction. Mercy unto you from a pardoning God, and peace flowing from a sense of his reconciliation, and love both to him and towards each other, be multiplied.
4. He exhorts them to hold fast the truth which they had received both in doctrine and practice. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, which all believers enjoy through our adored Redeemer and Saviour; it was become needful for me to write unto you, because of the multitude of deceivers, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, firmly holding fast the unadulterated doctrines of truth, and zealously maintaining them against all heretical opposers. Note; (1.) The salvation of the gospel is a common salvation for Jews and Gentiles, and sinners of every kind without exception. (2.) They who have received the truth, in the light and love of it, need be exhorted still to stand fast against all the wiles of deceivers. (3.) That faith which God, by his inspired servants, once delivered to his saints, for the use of his church to the latest ages, we must contend for, not with anger, or carnal weapons, but with holy zeal, tempered with meekness, and arguments drawn from the sacred treasury of the scriptures.
5. He describes the false teachers against whom they need be on their guard. For there are certain men crept in unawares, by craft and subtilty into the church and the ministry, who were before of old ordained or registered to this condemnation, by God's righteous sentence denounced against crimes like theirs, long before they appeared in the world; (see the Annotations;) ungodly men, whose spirit, temper, and conduct, are directly opposite to the divine will and word; turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, perverting the richest doctrines of grace to the vilest purposes of impurity, and abusing them to encourage men in all immorality with the hopes of impunity; denying the only Lord God, in works, if not in words; practical, if not speculative atheists; and rejecting also the gospel testimony concerning the person, character, and offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note; (1.) Deceivers were rife in every age; we need not wonder therefore if such ungodly men are found in our own, perverting the glorious grace of the gospel. (2.) They who are vile upon principle, and plead God's word to countenance their impurities, are of all men most desperately wicked. (3.) When ungodly men meet their appointed condemnation, they receive but the just reward of their deeds.
2nd, The apostle, to enforce his warnings, reminds them of the judgment which God formerly executed on such ungodly men. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, the perpetual memory of which needs to be preserved; and it is good to be often reminded of these things, that they may be present before our minds, and the impression of them more deep and lively.
Three awful instances of divine vengeance are enumerated, to warn and deter others from the like crimes. Remember,
1. How that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not, though he had done great things for them; and if he spared not these, let not the perverters of the gospel, whose crime is so much more aggravated, expect a less fearful doom. And remember also,
2. That the angels (though creatures of such superior excellence and dignity, according to original creation,) which kept not their first estate, who were not content with the station allotted them, but left their own habitation, affecting to be as the Most High, and were therefore hurled from those bright regions which were before their blest abode;—these he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, like criminals fast bound in prison, and kept in custody, in spiritual darkness, misery, and black despair, unto the judgment of the great day, when sentence will finally be executed upon them, and their torment be as complete as eternal. And if God thus punished rebel angels, what severity shall not they meet with, who fight against the word of his truth, and the honour of his Son! Apostates in heaven or earth must perish together.
3. Another instance of God's wrath is produced. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, Admah and Zeboim, in like manner abandoned to impurity, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, guilty of the most shocking acts of uncleanness, and the most unnatural crimes, are set forth for an example of God's tremendous wrath, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; the liveliest image of what the damned must endure in the lake which burneth with tire and brimstone for ever and ever. Woe to those who are partakers of their sins! the same fearful vengeance awaits them.
3rdly, The apostle describes these seducers as guilty of the same crimes which had brought down wrath both on sinning angels and ungodly men.
1. Their impurities were great. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh; sleeping and waking, their minds are ever running after impure objects, dishonouring their bodies by their lewd practices, and drawing in others to gratify their lawless appetites.
2. They cast off all respect for lawful authority. They despise dominion, treating the civil government with insolence and contempt; and speak evil of dignities, reviling the persons of magistrates, and those who are high in office. Yet even Michael the archangel, eminent as his rank and station is, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, wicked as he was, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. And therefore if the devil himself, wicked as he is, was not rebuked with railing, much less ought any magistrates or rulers whom God hath ordained, to be treated with insolence and indignity. But these seducers speak evil of those things which they know not, ignorant of the excellence and importance of religion and of the scriptures, and of the usefulness of that ministry and magistracy against which they rail: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, governed merely by their sensitive appetites,—in those things they corrupt themselves, giving a loose to all their brutish passions, without fear or shame, till they bring upon themselves swift destruction. Note; When men live like beasts, they must expect to perish like devils.
3. They copied the vilest examples. Wo unto them! the most fearful vengeance hangs over them; for they have gone in the way of Cain, filled with his malignant spirit and envy, hatred, and murder toward the righteous, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, ambitious, proud, covetous, and, like that wicked prophet, insatiate after gain; and they have perished in the gainsaying of Core, like those rebels who rose up against Moses and Aaron, and ready with them to be swallowed up in the yawning pit of hell. Note; Companions with sinners must expect to share their plagues.
4. He describes these deluders under a variety of images. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; whether in a way of civil intercourse, or religious communion, they let loose their luxurious appetites, without any fear of that judgment which awaits them: clouds they are without water, that seem to promise rain, but prove like noxious vapours, or noisome fogs, carried about with winds, variable, and tossed about with every blast of error; trees whose fruit withereth, deceiving our expectations and bringing nothing to maturity; without fruit, their specious appearances, like blasted fruit, drop off, and the hypocrite and apostate are detected; twice dead, by nature and grace, plucked up by the roots, and thus irrecoverably ruined; all hope respecting them is become desperate, and they are now only fit fuel for the flames; raging waves of the sea, turbulent, ungovernable, foaming out their own shame, belching forth their blasphemies against Christ, or their reproaches against his cause and people; wandering stars, resembling fiery meteors that kindle in the atmosphere, and, after a momentary blaze, are extinguished; or, like the comets, wandering wide from the system of truth and holiness; or, like opaque planets, being spiritually dark, possessing no real light in themselves; to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever, in that place where total despair completes the misery of the damned, whose worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched.
4thly, We have,
1. A prophesy of Enoch's, recorded, concerning these men. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, in the line of descent, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, in glorious majesty, swift to avenge the wrongs of his people, and the blasphemies against himself; to execute judgment upon all, who must stand at his bar, and receive from his lips their decisive sentence; and to convince all that are ungodly among them, by the vengeance he will inflict, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, in defiance of his authority; and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Note; (1.) There is a dreadful day of judgment at hand, when vengeance shall overtake the ungodly. (2.) However impious and stout-hearted sinners may now be, every impenitent heart in that day will tremble, and every hardened face gather blackness. (3.) Though mockers now make light of ridiculing the word, and the ways, and people of God, they will find a fearful reckoning for their hard speeches in the day of recompence.
2. A farther description of these wicked men. These are murmurers, against God and his providences; complainers, discontented with their condition in life; finding fault with the doctrines and dispensations of the Lord; walking after their own lusts, gratifying every vile and sensual appetite without restraint: and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, making a pretended ostentation of their knowledge and piety, while they are in the very depth of error, and in the gall of bitterness; having men's persons in admiration because of advantage; caressing and flattering those, however vile, who are rich, in order to make gain of them. Note; (1.) Discontent with our lot is, in God's sight, rebellion against his providence. (2.) Men-pleasers, and smooth-tongued flatterers of the great, have the sure brand upon them of ministers of Satan.
5thly, The apostle concludes,
1. With his kind admonitions. But, beloved, be deaf to the arts of these seducers, and remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, which now have received their fulfilment, and should confirm the doctrines which they taught: how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts; scoffing at the genuine religion of Jesus, that without restraint they may give a loose to every lawless passion. And these be they, of whom the apostle spake, who separate themselves; fomenting factions, and, from base and interested motives, forming new sects and parties, while they are utterly sensual, and slaves of worldly-mindedness and fleshly lusts; having not the Spirit, and strangers to his grace and influence. Note; (1.) The only way to be preserved from the wiles of deceivers, is to cleave to our Bibles. (2.) We must not be ashamed of mocking; remember who will mock last. See Proverbs 1:26.
2. With warm exhortations. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, on the glorious foundation of it, Jesus Christ, continue steadfast in your holy profession, seeking to establish each other in the truth: and, praying in the Holy Ghost, under his gracious teaching and influences, who helpeth our infirmities, keep yourselves in the love of God; use all appointed means to preserve and increase the heavenly fire, and to approve yourselves in all holy obedience and humble resignation; looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and that complete felicity, both in body and soul, for which, if you obtain it, you must own yourselves wholly indebted to the riches of his grace. And of some have compassion, making a difference between those who err wilfully, and those who are misled through weakness and the wiles of deceivers, whom with all kindness and tenderness labour to recover from the snare: and others save with fear; using that sharpness, severity, and terror with them, which their more dangerous case requires; pulling them, if possible, out of the fire, which is ready to consume them; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh; detesting all impure conversation, and testifying an unremitting displeasure against sin, and whatever would lead thereto; as the Jews were under the law obliged to shun every touch that communicated defilement, and to burn the garment that had the spot of leprosy, Note; (1.) Faith in lively exercise, is the great preservative from all delusion. (2.) Prayer must be our daily employment,—spiritual prayer, not the mere task of the lip and the knee, but the warm effusions of the heart, where the Holy Ghost abides. (3.) They who would keep themselves in the love of God, must carefully shun whatever they know must offend him. (4.) We should shew a holy jealousy over our brethren, tenderly desirous to snatch them from the dangers to which they are exposed; kindly warning them; and, where sharpness is needful, faithfully declaring those terrors of the Lord, which may rouse the lethargic conscience.
3. He closes with a solemn doxology. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, that blessed Jesus who alone can preserve you from all evil and apostacy through faith in him; and to present you faultless, perfect and without blame before the presence of his glory, in the great day of his appearing, with exceeding joy, when every tear shall be wiped from the eyes of his faithful people, and eternal triumphs fill their happy souls; to the only wise God our Saviour, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Note; The service of eternity will begin even here below; and every faithful soul will delight to proclaim the Saviour's praise.
*.* The Reader is referred to the different Authors mentioned often already.