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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J U D E.
CHAP. I.
We have here,
I. An account of the penman of this epistle, a character of the church,
the blessings and privileges of that happy society,
II. The occasion of writing this epistle,
III. A character of evil and perverse men, who had already sprung up in
that infant state of the church, and would be succeeded by others of
the like evil spirit and temper in after-times,
IV. A caution against hearkening to and following after such, from the
severity of God towards the unbelieving murmuring Israelites at their
coming out of Egypt, the angels that fell, the sin and punishment of
Sodom and Gomorrah,
V. To these the apostle likens the seducers against whom he was warning
them, and describes them at large,
inclusive).
VI. Then (as specially suitable to his argument) he cites an ancient
prophecy of Enoch foretelling and describing the future judgment,
VII. He enlarges on the seducers’ character, and guards against the
offence which honest minds might be apt to take at the so early
permission of such things, by showing that it was foretold long before
that so it must be,
VIII. Exhorts them to perseverance in the faith, fervency in prayer,
watchfulness against falling from the love of God, and a lively hope of
eternal life,
IX. Directs them how to act towards the erroneous and scandalous,
And,
X. Closes with an admirable doxology in the
| Apostolic Benediction. | A. D. 66. |
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1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to
them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, and called:
2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Here we have the preface or introduction, in which,
I. We have an account of the penman of this epistle, Jude, or
Judas, or Judah. He was name-sake to one of his ancestors, the
patriarch–son of Jacob, the most eminent though not the first-born of
his sons, out of whose loins (lineally, in a most direct succession)
the Messiah came. This was a name of worth, eminency, and honour; yet
1. He had a wicked name-sake. There was one Judas (one of the twelve,
surnamed Iscariot, from the place of his birth) who was a vile
traitor, the betrayer of his and our Lord. The same names may be common
to the best and worst persons. It may be instructive to be called after
the names of eminently good men, but there can be no inference drawn
thence as to what we shall prove, though we may even thence conclude
what sort of persons our good parents or progenitors desired and hoped
we should be. But,
2. Our Judas was quite another man. He was an apostle, so was Iscariot;
but he was a sincere disciple and follower of Christ, so was not the
other. He was a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, the other was his
betrayer and murderer; therefore here the one is very carefully
distinguished from the other. Dr. Manton’s note upon this is, that God
takes great care of the good name of his sincere and useful servants.
Why then should we be prodigal of our own or one another’s reputation
and usefulness? Our apostle here calls himself a servant of Jesus
Christ, esteeming that a most honourable title. It is more honourable
to be a sincere and useful servant of Christ than to be an earthly
king, how potent and prosperous soever. He might have claimed kindred
to Christ according to the flesh, but he waives this, and rather
glories in being his servant. Observe,
(1.) It is really a greater honour to be a faithful servant of Jesus
Christ than to be akin to him according to the flesh. Many of Christ’s
natural kindred, as well as of his progenitors, perished; not from want
of natural affection in him as man, but from infidelity and obstinacy
in themselves, which should make the descendants and near relatives of
persons most eminent for sincere and exemplary piety jealous over
themselves with a godly jealousy. A son of Noah may be saved in the
ark from a flood of temporal destruction, and yet be overwhelmed at
last in a deluge of divine wrath, and suffer the vengeance of
eternal fire. Christ himself tells us that he that heareth his
word and doeth it (that is, he only) is as his brother, and
sister, and mother, that is, more honourably and advantageously
related to him than the nearest and dearest of his natural relatives,
considered merely as such. See
(2.) In that the apostle Jude styles himself a servant, though an
apostle, a dignified officer in Christ’s kingdom, it is a great honour
to the meanest sincere minister (and it holds proportionably as to
every upright Christian) that he is the servant of Christ Jesus.
The apostles were servants before they were apostles, and they were but
servants still. Away then with all pretensions in the ministers of
Christ to lordly dominion either over one another or over the flocks
committed to their charge. Let us ever have that of our dear Redeemer
in actual view, It shall not be so among you,
Matt. xx. 25, 26.
—And brother of James, to wit, of him whom the ancients style
the first bishop of Jerusalem, of whose character and martyrdom
Josephus makes mention, ascribing the horrible destruction of that city
and nation to this wicked cruelty, as one of its principal causes. Of
this James our Jude was brother, whether in the strictest or a larger
(though very usual) acceptation I determine not. He however reckons it
an honour to him that he was the brother of such a one. We ought to
honour those who are above us in age, gifts, graces, station; not to
envy them, yet neither to flatter them, nor be led merely by their
example, when we have reason to think they act wrong. Thus the apostle
Paul withstood his fellow-apostle Peter to the face, notwithstanding
the high esteem he had for him and the affectionate love he bore to
him, when he saw that he was to be blamed, that is, really blameworthy,
and following verses.
II. We are here informed to whom this epistle is directed; namely, to
all those who are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, and called. I begin with the last–called, that
is, called Christians, in the judgment of charity, further than
which we cannot, nor in justice ought to go, in the judgments or
opinions we form or receive of one another; for what appears not is
not, nor ought to come into account in all our dealings with and
censures of one another, whatever abatements the divine goodness may
see fit to make for an honest though misguided zeal. The church
pretends not (I am sure it ought not) to judge of secret or hidden
things (things drawn into the light before time), lest our rash and
preposterous zeal do more harm than good, or I am afraid ever will do.
The tares and wheat (if Christ may be Judge) must grow
together till the harvest
and then he himself will, by proper instruments, take timely care to
separate them. We ought to think the best we can of every man till the
contrary appear; not being forward to receive or propagate, much less
invent, disadvantageous characters of our brethren. This is the least
we can make of the apostle’s large and excellent description of charity
(1 Cor. xiii.),
and this we ought to make conscience of acting up to, which till we do,
the Christian churches will be (as, alas! they are at this day) filled
with envying and strife, confusion and every evil work,
Jam. iii. 16.
Or, the apostle may speak of their being called to be
Christians, by the preaching of the word, which they gladly
received, and professed cordially to believe, and so were received into
the society and fellowship of the church–Christ the head, and
believers the members; real believers really, professed believers
visibly. Note, Christians are the called, called out of the world, the
evil spirit and temper of it,–above the world, to higher and better
things, heaven, things unseen and eternal,–called from sin to Christ,
from vanity to seriousness, from uncleanness to holiness; and this in
pursuance of divine purpose and grace; for whom he did predestinate
those he also called,
Rom. viii. 30.
Now those who are thus called, are,
1. Sanctified: Sanctified by God the Father. Sanctification is
usually spoken of in scripture as the work of the Holy Spirit, yet here
it is ascribed to God the Father, because the Spirit works it as the
Spirit of the Father and the Son. Note, All who are effectually called
are sanctified, made partakers of a divine nature
(2 Pet. i. 4);
for without holiness no man shall see the Lord,
Heb. xii. 14.
Observe, Our sanctification is not our own work. If any are
sanctified, they are so by God the Father, not excluding Son or Spirit,
for they are one, one God. Our corruption and pollution are of
ourselves; but our sanctification and renovation are of God and his
grace; and therefore if we perish in our iniquity we must bear the
blame, but if we be sanctified and glorified all the honour and glory
must be ascribed to God, and to him alone. I own it is hard to give a
clear and distinct account of this, but we must not deny nor disregard
necessary truth because we cannot fully reconcile the several parts of
it to each other; for, on that supposition, we might deny that any one
of us could stir an inch from the place we are at present in, though we
see the contrary every day and hour.
2. The called and sanctified are preserved in Christ Jesus. As
it is God who begins the work of grace in the souls of men, so it is he
who carries it on, and perfects it. Where he begins he will perfect;
though we are fickle, he is constant. He will not forsake the work
of his own hands,
Ps. cxxxviii. 8.
Let us not therefore trust in ourselves, nor in our stock of grace
already received, but in him, and in him alone, still endeavouring, by
all proper and appointed means, to keep ourselves, as ever we would
hope he should keep us. Note,
(1.) Believers are preserved from the gates of hell, and to the
glory of heaven.
(2.) All who are preserved are preserved in Jesus Christ, in him as
their citadel and stronghold, no longer than they abide in him,
and solely by virtue of their union with him.
III. We have the apostolical benediction: Mercy to you, &c. From
the mercy, peace, and love of God all our comfort flows, all our real
enjoyment in this life, all our hope of a better.
1. The mercy of God is the spring and fountain of all the good
we have or hope for; mercy not only to the miserable, but to the
guilty.
2. Next to mercy is peace, which we have from the sense of
having obtained mercy. We can have no true and lasting peace but what
flows from our reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ.
3. As from mercy springs peace, so from peace springs love, his
love to us, our love to him, and our brotherly love (forgotten,
wretchedly neglected, grace!) to one another. These the apostle prays
may be multiplied, that Christians may not be content with scraps and
narrow scantlings of them; but that souls and societies may be full of
them. Note, God is ready to supply us with all grace, and a fulness in
each grace. If we are straitened, we are not straitened in him, but in
ourselves.
| The Common Salvation; Monuments of Judgment. | A. D. 66. |
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3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord
God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew
this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land
of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like
manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after
strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire.
We have here, I. The design of the apostle in writing this epistle to
the lately converted Jews and Gentiles; namely, to establish them in
the Christian faith, and a practice and conversation truly consonant
and conformable thereunto, and in an open and bold profession thereof,
especially in times of notorious opposition, whether by artful
seduction or violent and inhuman persecution. But then we must see to
it very carefully that it be really the Christian faith that we
believe, profess, propagate, and contend for; not the discriminating
badges of this or the other party, not any thing of later date than the
inspired writings of the holy evangelists and apostles. Here observe,
1. The gospel salvation is a common salvation, that is, in a most
sincere offer and tender of it to all mankind to whom the notice of it
reaches: for so the commission runs
Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature, &c. Surely God means as he speaks; he does not delude us
with vain words, whatever men do; and therefore none are excluded from
the benefit of these gracious offers and invitations, but those who
obstinately, impenitently, finally exclude themselves. Whoever will
may come and drink of the water of life freely,
Rev. xxii. 17.
The application of it is made to all believers, and only to such; it is
made to the weak as well as to the strong. Let none discourage
themselves on the account of hidden decrees which they can know little
of, and with which they have nothing to do. God’s decrees are dark, his
covenants are plain. “All good Christians meet in Christ the common
head, are actuated by one and the same Spirit, are guided by one rule,
meet here at one throne of grace, and hope shortly to meet in one
common inheritance,” a glorious one to be sure, but what or how
glorious we cannot, nor at present need to know; but such it will be as
vastly to exceed all our present hopes and expectations.
2. This common salvation is the subject-matter of the faith of all the
saints. The doctrine of it is what they all most heartily consent to;
they esteem it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation,
1 Tim. i. 15.
It is the faith once, or at once, once for all, delivered to the
saints, to which nothing can be added, from which nothing may be
detracted, in which nothing more nor less should be altered. Here let
us abide; here we are safe; if we stir a step further, we are in danger
of being either entangled or seduced.
3. The apostles and evangelists all wrote to us of this common
salvation. This cannot be doubted by those who have carefully read
their writings. It is strange that any should think they wrote chiefly
to maintain particular schemes and opinions, especially such as they
never did nor could think of. It is enough that they have fully
declared to us, by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, all that is necessary
for every one to believe and do, in order to obtain a personal
interest in the common salvation.
4. Those who preach or write of the common salvation should give all
diligence to do it well: they should not allow themselves to offer to
God or his people that which costs them nothing, or next to nothing,
little or no pains or thought,
This were to treat God irreverently, and man unjustly. The apostle
(though inspired) gave all diligence to write of the common salvation.
What then will become of those who (though uninspired) give no
diligence, or next to none, but say to the people (even in the name of
God) quicquid in buccam venerit–whatever comes next, who, so
that they use scripture-words, care not how they interpret or apply
them? Those who speak of sacred things ought always to speak of them
with the greatest reverence, care, and diligence.
5. Those who have received the doctrine of this common salvation must
contend earnestly for it. Earnestly, not furiously.
Those who strive for the Christian faith, or in the Christian course,
must strive lawfully, or they lose their labour, and run great hazard
of losing their crown,
The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God,
Jam. i. 20.
Lying for the truth is bad, and scolding for it is not much better.
Observe, Those who have received the truth must contend for it. But
how? As the apostles did; by suffering patiently and courageously for
it, not by making others suffer if they will not presently embrace
every notion that we are pleased (proved or unproved) to call faith, or
fundamental. We must not suffer ourselves to be robbed of any essential
article of Christian faith, by the cunning craftiness or specious
plausible pretences of any who lie in wait to deceive,
Eph. iv. 14.
The apostle Paul tells us he preached the gospel (mind it was the
gospel) with much contention
that is (as I understand it), with earnestness, with a hearty zeal, and
a great concern for the success of what he preached. But, if we will
understand contention in the common acceptation of the word, we
must impartially consider with whom the apostle contended, and how, the
enlarging on which would not be proper for this place.
II. The occasion the apostle had to write to this purport. As evil
manners give rise to good laws, so dangerous errors often give just
occasion to the proper defence of important truths. Here observe,
1. Ungodly men are the great enemies of the faith of Christ and the
peace of the church. Those who deny or corrupt the one, and disturb the
other, are here expressly styled ungodly men. We might have
truth with peace (a most desirable thing) were there none (ministers or
private Christians) in our particular churches and congregations but
truly godly men–a blessing scarcely to be looked or hoped for on this
side heaven. Ungodly men raise scruples, merely to advance and promote
their own selfish, ambitious, and covetous ends. This has been the
plague of the church in all past ages, and I am afraid no age is, or
will be, wholly free from such men and such practices as long as time
shall last. Observe, Nothing cuts us off from the church but that which
cuts us off from Christ; namely, reigning infidelity and ungodliness.
We must abhor the thought of branding particular parties or persons
with this character, especially of doing it without the least proof,
or, as it too often happens, the least shadow of it. Those are ungodly
men who live without God in the world, who have no regard to God
and conscience. Those are to be dreaded and consequently to be avoided,
not only who are wicked by sins of commission, but also who are ungodly
by sins of omission, who, for example, restrain prayer before God, who
dare not reprove a rich man, when it is the duty of their place so to
do, for fear of losing his favour and the advantage they promise
themselves therefrom, who do the work of the Lord negligently,
&c.
2. Those are the worst of ungodly men who turn the grace of God into
lasciviousness, who take encouragement to sin more boldly because
the grace of God has abounded, and still abounds, so wonderfully, who
are hardened in their impieties by the extent and fulness of gospel
grace, the design of which is to reduce men from sin, and bring them
unto God. Thus therefore to wax wanton under so great grace, and turn
it into an occasion of working all uncleanness with greediness, and
hardening ourselves in such a course by that very grace which is the
last and most forcible means to reclaim us from it, is to render
ourselves the vilest, the worst, and most hopeless of sinners.
3. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness do in effect
deny the Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, they deny
both natural and revealed religion. They strike at the foundation of
natural religion, for they deny the only Lord God; and they
overturn all the frame of revealed religion, for they deny the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now his great design in establishing revealed
religion in the world was to bring us unto God. To deny revealed
religion is virtually to overturn natural religion, for they stand or
fall together, and they mutually yield light and force to each other.
Would to God our modern deists, who live in the midst of gospel light,
would seriously consider this, and cautiously, diligently, and
impartially examine what it is that hinders their receiving the gospel,
while they profess themselves fully persuaded of all the principles and
duties of natural religion! Never to tallies answered more exactly to
each other than these do, so that it seems absurd to receive the one
and reject the other. One would think it were the fairer way to receive
both or reject both; though perhaps the more plausible method,
especially in this age, is to act the part they do.
4. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness are ordained
unto condemnation. They sin against the last, the greatest, and most
perfect remedy; and so are without excuse. Those who thus sin must
needs die of their wounds, of their disease, are of old ordained to
this condemnation, whatever that expression means. But what if our
translators had thought fit to have rendered the words palai
progegrammenoi—of old fore-written of, as persons who
would through their own sin and folly become the proper subjects of
this condemnation, where had the harm been? Plain Christians had not
been troubled with dark, doubtful, and perplexing thoughts about
reprobation, which the strongest heads cannot enter far into, can
indeed bear but little of, without much loss and damage. Is it not
enough that early notice was given by inspired writers that such
seducers and wicked men should arise in later times, and that every
one, being fore-warned of, should be fore-armed against them?
5. We ought to contend earnestly for the faith, in opposition to those
who would corrupt or deprave it, such as have crept in unawares:
a wretched character, to be sure, but often very ill applied by weak
and ignorant people, and even by those who themselves creep in
unawares, who think their ipse dixit should stand for a law to
all their followers and admirers. Surely faithful humble ministers are
helpers of their people’s joy, peace, and comfort; not lords of
their faith! Whoever may attempt to corrupt the faith, we ought to
contend earnestly against them. The more busy and crafty the
instruments and agents of Satan are, to rob us of the truth, the more
solicitous should we be to hold it fast, always provided we be very
sure that we fasten no wrong or injurious characters on persons,
parties, or sentiments.
III. The fair warning which the apostle, in Christ’s name, gives to
those who, having professed his holy religion, do afterwards desert and
prove false to it,
We have here a recital of the former judgments of God upon sinners,
with design to awaken and terrify those to whom warning is given in
this epistle. Observe, The judgments of God are often denounced and
executed in terrorem–for warning to others, rather than from
immediate or particular displeasure against the offenders themselves;
not that God is not displeased with them, but perhaps not more with
them than with others who, at least for the present, escape. I will
put you in remembrance. What we already know we still need to be
put in remembrance of. Therefore there will always be need and use of a
standing stated ministry in the Christian church, though all the
doctrines of faith, the essentials, are so plainly revealed in express
words, or by the most near, plain, and immediate consequence, that he
who runs may read and understand them. There wants no infallible
interpreter, really or conceitedly such, for any such end or purpose.
Some people (weakly enough) suggest, “If the scriptures do so plainly
contain all that is necessary to salvation, what need or use can there
be of a standing ministry? Why may we not content ourselves with
staying at home, and reading our Bibles?” The inspired apostle has here
fully, though not wholly, answered this objection. Preaching is not
designed to teach us something new in every sermon, somewhat that we
knew nothing of before; but to put us in remembrance, to call to
mind things forgotten, to affect our passions, and engage and fix our
resolutions, that our lives may be answerable to our faith. Though
you know these things, yet you still need to know them
better. There are many things which we have known which yet we have
unhappily forgotten. Is it of no use or service to be put afresh in
remembrance of them?
Now what are these things which we Christians need to be put in
remembrance of?
1. The destruction of the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness,
v. 5.
Paul puts the Corinthians in mind of this,
of that chapter (as the scripture is always the best commentary upon
itself) are the best explication of the
fifth verse
of this epistle of Jude. None therefore ought to presume upon their
privileges, since many who were brought out of Egypt by a series of
amazing miracles, yet perished in the wilderness by reason of their
unbelief. Let us not therefore be high-minded, but fear,
Rom. xi. 20.
Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it,
Heb. iv. 1.
They had miracles in abundance: they were their daily bread; yet even
they perished in unbelief. We have greater (much greater) advantages
than they had; let their error (their so fatal error) be our awful
warning.
2. We are here put in remembrance of the fall of the angels,
v. 6.
There were a great number of the angels who left their own
habitation; that is, who were not pleased with the posts and
stations the supreme Monarch of the universe had assigned and allotted
to them, but thought (like discontented ministers in our age, I might
say in every age) they deserved better; they would, with the title of
ministers, be sovereigns, and in effect their Sovereign
should be their minister–do all, and only, what they would have him;
thus was pride the main and immediate cause or occasion of their fall.
Thus they quitted their post, and rebelled against God, their Creator
and sovereign Lord. But God did not spare them (high and great as they
were); he would not truckle to them; he threw them off, as a wise and
good prince will a selfish and deceitful minister; and the great, the
all-wise God, could not be ignorant, as the wisest and best of earthly
princes often are, what designs they were hatching. After all, what
became of them? They thought to have dared and outfaced Omnipotence
itself; but God was too hard for them, he cast them down to hell. Those
who would not be servants to their Maker and his will in their first
state were made captives to his justice, and are reserved in
everlasting chains, under darkness. Here see what the condition of
fallen angels is: they are in chains, bound under the divine
power and justice, bound over to the judgment of the great day;
they are under darkness, though once angels of light; so
horribly in the dark are they that they continue to fight against God,
as if there were yet some small hope at least left them of prevailing
and overcoming in the conflict. Dire infatuation! Light and liberty
concur, chains and darkness how well do they agree and suit each other!
The devils, once angels in the best sense, are reserved, &c.
Observe, There is, undoubtedly there is, a judgment to come; the fallen
angels are reserved to the judgment of the great day; and shall
fallen men escape it? Surely not. Let every reader consider this in due
time. Their chains are called everlasting, because it is impossible
they should ever break loose from them, or make an escape; they are
held fast and sure under them. The decree, the justice, the wrath of
God, are the very chains under which fallen angels are held so fast.
Hear and fear, O sinful mortals of mankind!
3. The apostle here calls to our remembrance the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah,
v. 7.
Even as, &c. It is in allusion to the destruction of
Pentapolis, or the five cities, that the miseries of the damned
are set forth by a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; they were
guilty of abominable wickedness, not to be named or thought of but with
the utmost abhorrence and detestation; their ruin is a particular
warning to all people to take heed of, and fly from, fleshly lusts
that war against the soul,
1 Pet. ii. 11.
“These lusts consumed the Sodomites with fire from heaven, and they are
now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; therefore take
heed, imitate not their sins, lest the same plagues overtake you as did
them. God is the same holy, just, pure Being now as then; and can the
beastly pleasures of a moment make amends for your suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire? Stand in awe, therefore, and sin
not,”
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8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh,
despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he
disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a
railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not:
but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things
they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and
ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished
in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit
withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
The apostle here exhibits a charge against deceivers who were now
seducing the disciples of Christ from the profession and practice of
his holy religion. He calls them filthy dreamers, forasmuch as
delusion is a dream, and the beginning of, and inlet to, all manner of
filthiness. Note, Sin is filthiness; it renders men odious and vile in
the sight of the most holy God, and makes them (sooner or later, as
penitent or as punished to extremity and without resource) vile in
their own eyes, and in a while they become vile in the eyes of all
about them. These filthy dreamers dream themselves into a fool’s
paradise on earth, and into a real hell at last: let their character,
course, and end, be our seasonable and sufficient warning; like sins
will produce like punishments and miseries. Here,
I. The character of these deceivers is described.
1. They defile the flesh. The flesh or body is the immediate
seat, and often the irritating occasion, of many horrid pollutions; yet
these, though done in and against the body, do greatly defile and
grievously maim and wound the soul. Fleshly lusts do war against
the soul,
1 Pet. ii. 11;
and in
we read of filthiness of flesh and spirit, each of which,
though of different kinds, defiles the whole man.
2. They despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, are of a
disturbed mind and a seditious spirit, forgetting that the powers
that be are ordained of God,
Rom. xiii. 1.
God requires us to speak evil of no man
(Tit. iii. 2.);
but it is a great aggravation of the sin of evil-speaking when what we
say is pointed at magistrates, men whom God has set in authority over
us, by blaspheming or speaking evil of whom we blaspheme God himself.
Or if we understand it, as some do, with respect to religion, which
ought to have the dominion in this lower world, such evil-speakers
despise the dominion of conscience, make a jest of it, and would banish
it out of the world; and as for the word of God, the rule of
conscience, they despise it. The revelations of the divine will go for
little with them; they are a rule of faith and manners, but not till
they have explained them, and imposed their sense of them upon all
about them. Or, as others account for the sense of this passage, the
people of God, truly and specially so, are the dignities here spoken of
or referred to, according to that of the psalmist, Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm,
Ps. cv. 15.
They speak evil, &c. Religion and its serious professors have
been always and every where evil spoken of. Though there is nothing in
religion but what is very good, and deserves our highest regards, both
as it is perfective of our natures and as it is subservient to our
truest and highest interests; yet this sect, as its enemies are
pleased to call it, is every where spoken against,
Acts xxviii. 22.
On this occasion the apostle brings in Michael the archangel,
&c.,
v. 9.
Interpreters are at a loss what is here meant by the body of
Moses. Some think that the devil contended that Moses might have a
public and honourable funeral, that the place where he was interred
might be generally known, hoping thereby to draw the Jews, so naturally
prone thereto, to a new and fresh instance of idolatry. Dr. Scott
thinks that by the body of Moses we are to understand the Jewish
church, whose destruction the devil strove and contended for, as the
Christian church is called the body of Christ in the New-Testament
style. Others bring other interpretations, which I will not here
trouble the reader with. Though this contest was mightily eager and
earnest, and Michael was victorious in the issue, yet he would not
bring a railing accusation against the devil himself; he knew a
good cause needed no such weapons to be employed in its defence. It is
said, he durst not bring, &c. Why durst he not? Not that he was
afraid of the devil, but he believed God would be offended if, in such
a dispute, he went that way to work; he thought it below him to engage
in a trial of skill with the great enemy of God and man which of them
should out-scold or out-rail the other: a memorandum to all disputants,
never to bring railing accusations into their disputes. Truth needs no
supports from falsehood or scurrility. Some say, Michael would not
bring a railing accusation against the devil as knowing beforehand that
he would be too hard for him at that weapon. Some think the apostle
refers here to the remarkable passage we have,
Satan would have represented Moses under disadvantageous colours, which
he, good man, had at that time, and upon that occasion, given but too
much handle for. Now Michael, according to this account, stands up in
defence of Moses, and, in the zeal of an upright and bold spirit, says
to Satan, The Lord rebuke thee. He would not stand disputing
with the devil, nor enter into a particular debate about the merits of
that special cause. He knew Moses was his fellow-servant, a favourite
of God, and he would not patiently suffer him to be insulted, no, not
by the prince of devils; but in a just indignation cries out, The
Lord rebuke thee: like that of our Lord himself
(Matt. iv. 10),
Get thee hence, Satan. Moses was a dignity, a magistrate, one
beloved and preferred by the great God; and the archangel thought it
insufferable that such a one should be so treated by a vile apostate
spirit, of how high an order soever. So the lesson hence is that we
ought to stand up in defence of those whom God owns, how severe soever
Satan and his instruments may be in their censures of them and their
conduct. Those who censure (in particular) upright magistrates, upon
every slip in their behaviour, may expect to hear, The Lord rebuke
thee; and divine rebukes are harder to be borne than careless
sinners now think for.
3. They speak evil of the things which they know not, &c.,
Observe, Those who speak evil of religion and godliness speak evil
of the things which they know not; for, if they had known them,
they would have spoken well of them, for nothing but good and excellent
can be truly said of religion, and it is sad that any thing different
or opposite should ever be justly said of any of its professors. A
religious life is the most safe, happy, comfortable, and honourable
life that is. Observe, further, Men are most apt to speak evil of
those persons and things that they know least of. How many had never
suffered by slanderous tongues if they had been better known! On the
other hand, retirement screens some even from just censure. But what
they know naturally, &c. It is hard, if not impossible, to find any
obstinate enemies to the Christian religion, who do not in their stated
course live in open or secret contradiction to the very principles of
natural religion: this many think hard and uncharitable; but I am
afraid it will appear too true in the day of the revelation of the
righteous judgment of God. The apostle likens such to brute
beasts, though they often think and boast themselves, if not as the
wisest, yet at least as the wittiest part of mankind. In those
things they corrupt themselves; that is, in the plainest and most
natural and necessary things, things that lie most open and obvious to
natural reason and conscience; even in those things they corrupt,
debase, and defile themselves: the fault, whatever it is, lies not in
their understanding or apprehensions, but in their depraved wills and
disordered appetites and affections; they could and might have acted
better, but then they must have offered violence to those vile
affections which they obstinately chose rather to gratify than to
mortify.
4. In
the apostle represents them as followers of Cain, and in
as atheistical and profane people, who thought little, and perhaps
believed not much, of God or a future world–as greedy and covetous,
who, so they could but gain present worldly advantages, cared not what
came next–rebels against God and man, who, like Core, ran into
attempts in which they must assuredly perish, as he did. Of such the
apostle further says,
(1.) These are spots in your feasts of charity–the
agapai or love-feasts, so much spoken of by the
ancients. They happened, by whatever means or mischance, to be admitted
among them, but were spots in them, defiled and defiling. Observe, It
is a great reproach, though unjust and accidental, to religion, when
those who profess it, and join in the most solemn institution of it,
are in heart and life unsuitable and even contrary to it: These are
spots. Yet how common in all Christian societies here on earth, the
very best not excepted, are such blemishes! The more is the pity. The
Lord remedy it in his due time and way, not in men’s blind and rigorous
way of plucking up the wheat with the tares. But in the heaven we are
waiting, hoping, and preparing for, there is none of this mad work,
there are none of these disorderly doings.
(2.) When they feast with you, they feed themselves without
fear. Arrant gluttons, no doubt, there were; such as minded only
the gratifying of their appetites with the daintiness and abundance of
their fare; they had no regard to Solomon’s caution,
Note, In common eating and drinking a holy fear is necessary, much more
in feasting, though we may sometimes be more easily and insensibly
overcome at a common meal than at a feast; for, in the case supposed,
we are less upon our guard, and sometimes, at least to some persons,
the plenty of a feast is its own antidote, as to others it may prove a
dangerous snare.
(3.) Clouds they are without water, which promise rain in time
of drought, but perform nothing of what they promise. Such is the case
of formal professors, who at first setting out promise much, like
early-blossoming trees in a forward spring, but in conclusion bring
forth little or no fruit.–Carried about of winds, light and
empty, easily driven about this way or that, as the wind happens to
set; such are empty, ungrounded professors, and easy prey to every
seducer. It is amazing to hear many talk so confidently of so many
things of which they know little or nothing, and yet have not the
wisdom and humility to discern and be sensible how little they know.
How happy would our world be if men either knew more or practically
knew how little they know.
(4.) Trees whose fruit withereth, &c. Trees they are, for they
are planted in the Lord’s vineyard, yet fruitless ones. Observe, Those
whose fruit withereth may be justly said to be without fruit. As good
never a whit as never the better. It is a sad thing when men seem to
begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh, which is almost as
common a case as it is an awful one. The text speaks of such as were
twice dead. One would think to be once dead were enough; we none
of us, till grace renew us to a higher degree than ordinary, love to
think of dying once, though this is appointed for us all. What then is
the meaning of this being twice dead? They had been once dead in their
natural, fallen, lapsed state; but they seemed to recover, and, as a
man in a swoon, to be brought to life again, when they took upon them
the profession of the Christian religion. But now they are dead again
by the evident proofs they have given of their hypocrisy: whatever they
seemed, they had nothing truly vital in them.–Plucked up by the
roots, as we commonly serve dead trees, from which we expect no
more fruit. They are dead, dead, dead; why cumber they the
ground? Away with them to the fire.
(5.) Raging waves of the sea, boisterous, noisy, and clamorous;
full of talk and turbulency, but with little (if any) sense or meaning:
Foaming out their own shame, creating much uneasiness to men of
better sense and calmer tempers, which yet will in the end turn to
their own greater shame and just reproach. The psalmist’s prayer ought
always to be that of every honest and good man, “Let integrity and
uprightness preserve me
(Ps. xxv. 21),
and, if it will not, let me be unpreserved.” If honesty signify little
now, knavery will signify much less, and that in a very little while.
Raging waves are a terror to sailing passengers; but, when they have
got to port, the waves are forgotten as if no longer in being: their
noise and terror are for ever ended.
(6.) Wandering stars, planets that are erratic in their motions,
keep not that steady regular course which the fixed ones do, but shift
their stations, that one has sometimes much ado to know where to find
them. This allusion carries in it a very lively emblem of false
teachers, who are sometimes here and sometimes there, so that one knows
not where nor how to fix them. In the main things, at least, one would
think something should be fixed and steady; and this might be without
infallibility, or any pretensions to it in us poor mortals. In religion
and politics, the great subjects of present debate, surely there are
certain stamina in which wise and good, honest and
disinterested, men might agree, without throwing the populace into the
utmost anguish and distress of mind, or blowing up their passions into
rage and fury, without letting them know what they say or whereof they
affirm.
II. The doom of this wicked people is declared: To whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness for ever. False teachers are to expect
the worst of punishments in this and a future world: not every one who
teaches by mistake any thing that is not exactly true (for who then, in
any public assembly, durst open a Bible to teach others, unless he
thought himself equal or superior to the angels of God in heaven?) but
every one who prevaricates, dissembles, would lead others into by-paths
and side-ways, that he may have opportunity to make a gain or prey of
them, or (in the apostle’s phrase) to make merchandize of them,
But enough of this. As for the blackness of darkness for ever, I shall
only say that this terrible expression, with all the horror it imports,
belongs to false teachers, truly, not slanderously so called, who
corrupt the word of God, and betray the souls of men. If this
will not make both ministers and people cautious, I know not what
will.
Of the prophecy of Enoch,
we have no mention made in any other part or place of scripture; yet
now it is scripture that there was such prophecy. One plain text of
scripture is proof enough of any one point that we are required to
believe, especially when relating to a matter of fact; but in matters
of faith, necessary saving faith, God has not seen fit (blessed be his
holy name he has not) to try us so far. There is no fundamental article
of the Christian religion, truly so called, which is not inculcated
over and over in the New Testament, by which we may know on what the
Holy Ghost does, and consequently on what we ought, to lay the greatest
stress. Some say that this prophecy of Enoch was preserved by tradition
in the Jewish church; others that the apostle Jude was immediately
inspired with the notice of it: be this as it may, it is certain that
there was such a prophecy of ancient date, of long standing, and
universally received in the Old-Testament church; and it is a main
point of our New-Testament creed. Observe,
1. Christ’s coming to judgment was prophesied of as early as the
middle of the patriarchal age, and was therefore even then a received
and acknowledged truth.–The Lord cometh with his holy myriads,
including both angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. What a
glorious time will that be, when Christ shall come with ten thousand
of these! And we are told for what great and awful ends and
purposes he will come so accompanied and attended, namely, to
execute judgment upon all.
2. It was spoken of then, so long ago, as a thing just at hand:
“Behold, the Lord cometh; he is just a coming, he will be upon
you before you are aware, and, unless you be very cautious and
diligent, before you are provided to meet him comfortably.” He
cometh,
(1.) To execute judgment upon the wicked.
(2.) To convince them. Observe, Christ will condemn none without
precedent, trial, and conviction, such conviction as shall at least
silence themselves. They shall have no excuse or apology to make that
they either can or dare then stand by. Then every mouth shall be
stopped, the Judge and his sentence shall be (by all the impartial)
approved and applauded, and even the guilty condemned criminals shall
be speechless, though at present they want not bold and specious pleas,
which they vent with all assurance and confidence; and yet it is
certain that the mock-trials of prisoners in the jail among themselves
and the real trial at the bar before the proper judge soon appear to be
very different things.
I cannot pass
without taking notice how often, and how emphatically, the word
ungodly is repeated in it, no fewer than four times: ungodly
men, ungodly sinners, ungodly deeds, and, as to the manner, ungodly
committed. Godly or ungodly signifies little with men now-a-days,
unless it be to scoff at and deride even the very expressions; but it
is not so in the language of the Holy Ghost. Note, Omissions, as well
as commissions, must be accounted for in the day of judgment. Note,
further, Hard speeches of one another, especially if ill-grounded, will
most certainly come into account at the judgment of the great
day. Let us all take care in time. “If thou,” says one of our good
old puritans, “smite (a miscalled heretic, or) a schismatic, and God
find a real saint bleeding, look thou to it, how thou wilt answer it.”
It may be too late to say before the angel that it was an error,
I only here allude to that expression of the divinely inspired
writer.
| Exhortation to the Faithful; Conclusion. | A. D. 66. |
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15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own
lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having
men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before
of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last
time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not
the Spirit.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Here, I. The apostle enlarges further on the character of these evil
men and seducers: they are murmurers, complainers, &c.,
Observe, A murmuring complaining temper, indulged and expressed, lays
men under a very bad character; such are very weak at least, and for
the most part very wicked. They murmur against God and his providence,
against men and their conduct; they are angry at every thing that
happens, and never pleased with their own state and condition in the
world, as not thinking it good enough for them. Such walk after
their own lusts; their will, their appetite, their fancy, are their
only rule and law. Note, Those who please their sinful appetites are
most prone to yield to their ungovernable passions.
II. He proceeds to caution and exhort those to whom he is writing,
Here,
1. He calls them to remember how they have been forewarned: But,
beloved, remember, &c.,
“Remember, take heed that you think it not strange (so as to
stumble and be offended, and have your faith staggered by it) that such
people as the seducers before described and warned against should arise
(and that early) in the Christian church, seeing all this was foretold
by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the
accomplishment of it in the event is a confirmation of your faith,
instead of being in the least an occasion of shaking and unsettling you
therein.” Note,
(1.) Those who would persuade must make it evident that they sincerely
love those whom they would persuade. Bitter words and hard usage never
did nor ever will convince, much less persuade any body.
(2.) The words which inspired persons have spoken (or written), duly
remembered and reflected on, are the best preservative against
dangerous errors; this will always be so, till men have learnt to speak
better than God himself.
(3.) We ought not to be offended if errors and persecutions arise and
prevail in the Christian church; this was foretold, and therefore we
should not think worse of Christ’s person, doctrine, or cross, when we
see it fulfilled. See
and 2 Tim. iii. 1, and 2 Pet. iii. 3.
We must not think it strange, but comfort ourselves with this, that in
the midst of all this confusion Christ will maintain his church, and
make good his promise, that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it,
Matt. xvi. 18.
(4.) The more religion is ridiculed and persecuted the faster hold we
should take and keep of it; being forewarned, we should show that we
are fore-armed; under such trials we should stand firm, and not be
soon shaken in mind,
2 Thess. ii. 2.
2. He guards them against seducers by a further description of their
odious character: These are those who separate, &c.,
Observe,
(1.) Sensualists are the worst separatists. They separate themselves
from God, and Christ, and his church, to the devil, the world, and the
flesh, by their ungodly courses and vicious practices; and this is a
great deal worse than separation from any particular branch of the
visible church on account of opinions or modes and circumstances of
external government or worship, though many can patiently bear with the
former, while they are plentifully and almost perpetually railing at
the latter, as if no sin were damnable but what they are pleased to
call schism.
(2.) Sensual men have not the Spirit, that is, of God and Christ, the
Spirit of holiness, which whoever has not, is none of Christ’s,
does not belong to him,
(3.) The worse others are the better should we endeavour and approve
ourselves to be; the more busy Satan and his instruments are to pervert
others, in judgment or practice, the more tenacious should we be of
sound doctrine and a good conversation, holding fast the faithful
word, as we have been (divinely) taught, holding the mystery of
the faith in a pure conscience,
Tit. i. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 9.
3. He exhorts them to persevering constancy in truth and holiness.
(1.) Building up yourselves in your most holy faith,
v. 20.
Observe, The way to hold fast our profession is to hold on in it.
Having laid our foundation well in a sound faith, and a sincere upright
heart, we must build upon it, make further progress continually; and we
should take care with what materials we carry on our building, namely,
gold, silver, precious stones, not wood, hay, stubble,
1 Cor. iii. 12.
Right principles and a regular conversation will stand the test even of
the fiery trial; but, whatever we mix of baser alloy, though we be in
the main sincere, we shall suffer loss by it, and though our persons be
saved all that part of our work shall be consumed; and, if we ourselves
escape, it will be with great danger and difficulty, as from a house on
fire on every side.
(2.) Praying in the Holy Ghost. Observe,
[1.] Prayer is the nurse of faith; the way to build up ourselves in
our most holy faith is to continue instant in prayer,
Rom. xii. 12.
[2.] Our prayers are then most likely to prevail when we pray in the
Holy Ghost, that is, under his guidance and influence, according to
the rule of his word, with faith, fervency, and constant persevering
importunity; this is praying in the Holy Ghost, whether it be done by
or without a set prescribed form.
(3.) Keep yourselves in the love of God,
v. 21.
[1.] “Keep up the grace of love to God in its lively vigorous actings
and exercises in your souls.”
[2.] “Take heed of throwing yourselves out of the love of God to you,
or its delightful, cheering, strengthening manifestations; keep
yourselves in the way of God, if you would continue in his love.”
(4.) Looking for the mercy, &c.
[1.] Eternal life is to be looked for only through mercy; mercy
is our only plea, not merit; or if merit, not our own, but another’s,
who has merited for us what otherwise we could have laid no claim to,
nor have entertained any well-grounded hope of.
[2.] It is said, not only through the mercy of God as our Creator, but
through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ as Redeemer; all who
come to heaven must come thither through our Lord Jesus Christ; for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved, but that of the Lord Jesus only,
compared with v. 10.
[3.] A believing expectation of eternal life will arm us against the
snares of sin
a lively faith of the blessed hope will help us to mortify our cursed
lusts.
4. He directs them how to behave towards erring brethren: And of
some have compassion, &c.,
Observe,
(1.) We ought to do all we can to rescue others out of the snares of
the devil, that they may be saved from (or recovered, when entangled
therein, out of) dangerous errors, or pernicious practices. We are not
only (under God) our own keepers, but every man ought to be, as much as
in him lies, his brother’s keeper; none but a wicked Cain will
contradict this,
We must watch over one another, must faithfully, yet prudently, reprove
each other, and set a good example to all about us.
(2.) This must be done with compassion, making a difference. How
is that? We must distinguish between the weak and the wilful.
[1.] Of some we must have compassion, treat them with all
tenderness, restore them in the spirit of meekness, not be
needlessly harsh and severe in our censures of them and their actions,
nor proud and haughty in our conduct towards them; not implacable, nor
averse to reconciliation with them, or admitting them to the friendship
they formerly had with us, when they give evident or even strongly
hopeful tokens of a sincere repentance: if God has forgiven them, why
should not we? We infinitely more need his forgiveness than they do, or
can do, ours, though perhaps neither they nor we are justly or
sufficiently sensible of this.
[2.] Others save with fear, urging upon them the terrors of
the Lord; “Endeavour to frighten them out of their sins; preach
hell and damnation to them.” But what if prudence and caution in
administering even the most just and severe reproofs be what are
primarily and chiefly here intimated–(I do but offer it for
consideration); as if he had said, “Fear lest you frustrate your own
good intentions and honest designs by rash and imprudent management,
that you do not harden, instead of reclaiming, even where greater
degrees of severity are requisite than in the immediately foregoing
instance.” We are often apt to over-do, when we are sure we mean
honestly, and think we are right in the main; yet the very worst are
not needlessly, nor rashly, nor to extremity, to be provoked, lest they
be thereby further hardened through our default.–“Hating even the
garment spotted with the flesh, that is, keeping yourselves at the
utmost distance from what is or appears evil, and designing and
endeavouring that others may do so too. Avoid all that leads to sin or
that looks like sin,”
III. The apostle concludes this epistle with a solemn ascription of
glory to the great God,
Note,
1. Whatever is the subject or argument we have been treating of,
ascribing glory to God is fittest for us to conclude with.
2. God is able, and he is as willing as able, to keep us from
falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his
glory; not as those who never have been faulty (for what has once
been done can never be rendered undone, even by Omnipotence itself, for
that implies a contradiction), but as those whose faults shall not be
imputed, to their ruin, which, but for God’s mercy and a Saviour’s
merits, they might most justly have been.–Before the presence of
his glory. Observe,
(1.) The glory of the Lord will shortly be present. We now look upon it
as distant, and too many look upon it as uncertain, but it will come,
and it will be manifest and apparent. Every eye shall see him,
Rev. i. 7.
This is now the object of our faith, but hereafter (and surely it
cannot now be long) it will be the object of our sense; whom we
now believe in, him we shall shortly see, to our unspeakable joy and
comfort or inexpressible terror and consternation. See
(2.) All real sincere believers shall be presented, and the Lord
Redeemer’s appearance and coming, by him their glorious head, to the
Father, in order to his approbation, acceptance, and reward. They were
given to him of the Father, and of all that were so given to him he
has lost none, nor will lose any one, not an individual, a single
soul, but will present them all perfectly holy and happy, when he shall
surrender his mediatorial kingdom to his God and our God, his Father
and our Father,
John vi. 39,
with ch. xvii. 12, 1 Cor. xv. 24.
(3.) When believers shall be presented faultless it will be with
exceeding joy. Alas! now our faults fill us with fears, doubts, and
sorrows. But be of good cheer; if we be sincere, we shall be,
our dear Redeemer has undertaken for it, we shall be presented
faultless; where there is no sin there will be no sorrow; where
there is the perfection of holiness, there will be the perfection of
joy. Surely, the God who can and will do this is worthy to have
glory, majesty, dominion, and power, ascribed to him, both
now and for ever! And to this we may well, with the apostle, affix
our hearty Amen.
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