Study in the Epistle of Jude # 14: Verse 4

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study time. Currently, we are going through the book of Jude, which is a one-chapter book that comes right before Revelation in the New Testament. We have reached verse 4 of this Epistle which says:

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.

This verse is a very interesting verse. God has not gone into too much detail in the Epistle of Jude, at least not in what we have read so far as to exactly what He is talking about. He only indicates that there are “certain men crept in unawares.”

We could ask the question, “Who are these men, and where have they crept in?” We could ask all kinds of questions regarding what is in view here. What exactly is God talking about?

We know that God is concerned with the Gospel. He is concerned in the Bible with the sending forth of His Word.

The Epistle of Jude was written at a time when the New Testament churches and congregations were forming. So this Epistle would have been an admonition to the churches and an instruction for the churches.

Here, Jude or Judas, writing under the inspiration of God, is saying that there are “certain men,” certain ones, who have “crept in unawares,” and that they were “ordained to this condemnation.” Then he tells us that they are “ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.”

Lasciviousness is one of those words that we are not very familiar with, and we are not exactly sure what it means. So, we are going to try to take a deeper look into this verse to find out who these men were, where they were creeping in, and what God means when He says that they were “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” We will try to answer some of these questions in this study of the book of Jude. Also, we are going to find that this verse relates in some ways to the parable of the wheat and the tares.

First, though, let us look at the idea that there are “certain men” who have “crept in unawares.” In Galatians 2:3-4, we read:

But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

Now here, Paul is writing. We always have to remember, though, that it is easy for us to say, “Well, Paul wrote this, or Judas wrote that, or Peter said this,” but we always have to keep in mind that this is the Word of God. These are God’s words, so if Paul says anything, he is only speaking as the Holy Spirit has moved him to do, because “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Paul is giving us information in this verse that relates to what we are reading in Jude 4. He says that there were “false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty.” We know that this is dealing with the church and those who are coming into the congregations. This would be the case throughout the whole New Testament Church Age. But here, he is especially referring to the early formation of the church.

There were these certain ones who came in and were compelling some to be circumcised. Titus was one of those. He was a Greek, a Gentile, whom they were encouraging to be circumcised in order to keep the Law of Moses. Therefore, the Apostle Paul is saying that since they were really leading others into a works-grace type of gospel, they were giving evidence that they were false brethren. Since they had been brought in in an underhanded and deceptive way, they were unawares – they were “false brethren unawares brought in.”

Those in the churches were not aware and did not realize that these individuals who were coming into the churches at that time were false brethren. They would have looked like anyone else, and they would have been professing that Christ was the Savior and the Messiah. Therefore, the early church fathers, the Apostles, would not have been able to distinguish between those Jews who had heard the Gospel and responded and were now following the Lord Jesus Christ, and other Jews who had also heard the Gospel and likewise left Judaism, yet were still clinging to certain ideas and certain doctrines from their association with national Israel, one of them being circumcision. That was evidence that those individuals were not truly saved, and that is why Paul calls them “false brethren.” They were not born-again Christians, nor were they recipients of the grace of God. That is why they were desirous to do some type of work to keep the Law of Moses. That is why they desired to, at least, observe the right of circumcision. Therefore, Paul says that they came in privily, privately, secretly “to spy out our liberty.”

We can see how this is cloak and dagger language. This is very much something that is happening in darkness. It is shrouded in mystery. It is something that nobody was watching for or had an eye out for in any way.

The reason that he gives for why they were doing this is because they wanted to “spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.” That bondage would be a return to being under the law.

We see this when a false brother or an elder or the pastor can convince some in the congregation that they have to do some type of work, no matter how small it may seem, and say, “Yes, we are Christians. We are saved by God’s grace. Our sins have been placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but still we have to be circumcised. God said in the book of Genesis of the man-child who was not circumcised that his soul would be cut off (Genesis 17:14).” They would take this and link circumcision as a necessity to salvation. “You must be circumcised,” they would say.

This is just like today when many pastors are indicating that the members of their congregation must do something in order to become saved. It starts with accepting Christ and confessing your sins—those are works that they say someone can do to reach salvation. Then they go on, “Well, you have to be baptized.” Some say that that brings salvation. Or, “You have to be a good member in the church and partake of the Lord’s Table,” or whatever it might be, whatever little thing that they are indicating a man might do. They are actually trying to bring someone back under the yoke of bondage.

It is the same thing as what we read in Galatians 5:1. That verse contains the warning that God gives in speaking to those who have come out from under the law and have been saved by the mercy of God. Galatians 5:1 reads:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

That is liberty from the law. We are forgiven of all our sins. Our debt to the law has been paid by the person of Christ as He was slain by the law of God and as He experienced the wrath of God, the equivalent of an eternity in Hell. That is our liberty that we have in Christ Jesus. We no longer have to, though actually we never could, keep the law to achieve salvation. Therefore, God is warning one and all, “Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” We never want to come back under the law, where we have to do something in order to obtain salvation.

In Acts chapter 15, we get a little more information about these Judaizers, these Jews, who were coming in privily unawares. This relates to the “certain men crept in unawares” that we read about in Jude 4. Acts 15:1 says:

And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

We see how severe this was, and how drastically they were compelling people to be circumcised. They are saying, “If you do not become circumcised ‘after the manner of Moses,’ you cannot be saved. You can have everything else in place—you can have belief in Christ and an ongoing desire to do the will of God and so forth—but if your flesh has not been circumcised and if this outward sign has not been placed upon you, then you cannot be saved.” This was a grievous error and sin that these Judaizers were teaching. Then we read in verses 2-5:

When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

This is wonderful. Probably everyone was thinking at first, “Some of the Pharisees are believing in the Lord—the Pharisees, who were so hostile and contrary to Christ. They are the theologians, the teachers of Israel. Now the churches will have teachers. We can have these trained professionals who have been instructed in the Law of Moses but have now come to the knowledge of the truth that Christ is the Messiah, and we can have the best of everything. We can have these men teach us.”

These men undoubtedly were placed into positions of teaching in the early church, but they began to teach error. They began to teach confusion and to say, “You have to be circumcised in order to become saved.” They did not understand the grace of God. They did not truly understand salvation. God does not save by the works of man. A man can do nothing, no work of any kind, to become justified in the sight of God. God saves according to the faith of Christ and His work that He did on the Cross. It is a free gift of salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is the Gospel that God has outlined in the Bible, the Gospel that the Apostles were taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yet in some, who were coming in immediately after Christ had gone to Heaven and the churches were newly forming, we see the activity of Satan. In a sense, Satan is the one who has stirred them up, because we know that if anyone is unsaved, it is because they are still in the kingdom of darkness and that Satan is still in a very real way the ruler over them. These men become his emissaries in the churches. They are the ones whom Satan can manipulate and can stir up, because they are not saved individuals, neither are they broken to the will of God.

Right away, without delay, Satan was working and getting a place, a foothold, in these newly-founded churches. The Pharisees were, of course, a brilliant way of immediately getting Satan’s people into high levels of the church. They would be respected as learned and they would be considered wise in the Law of Moses. After all, the churches were still dealing with the Old Testament Scriptures which these men had been instructed in and had diligently studied. Naturally, as small groups would begin forming and more and more churches would be rising up, there would be a great need for teachers. There would be a great need for individuals who were trained to speak and who could bring a message on the New Testament Sabbath day of Sunday. They might think, “Here we have a Pharisee who, it appears, has been humbled and broken by God. He is no longer in the synagogues, so let us see if he can bring us the message.” Therefore, the Pharisees would certainly be rising quickly to levels of authority where they would be teaching, and right away, we find error creeping into the church by these false brethren unawares brought in. We see that Satan’s assault has begun upon the New Testament churches and congregations.

Then in Acts 15:7-10 it says:

And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples…

Let us again read Galatians 5:1:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

That yoke of bondage is to be placed under the law. Here in Acts 15, Peter is saying the same thing. “‘Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,’ upon these Greeks, these Gentiles, these heathen who are now hearing the Gospel and coming in? Yet we are telling them to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses, and that this is necessary for salvation? How can this be? How is it possible that this kind of Gospel has developed?” Already, the true and pure Gospel message of God’s grace is being perverted and being distorted.

Peter goes on in Acts 15:10 to say regarding this yoke:

…which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

They are telling the people, “You have to keep the law,” but the problem is, who can keep the law? Were the Jews able to keep the law from the very beginning of their nation? Could any of their ancestors, their fathers, achieve righteousness and justification in the sight of God by keeping the law? Not one of them did; not one of their fathers was able to get right with God by keeping the law. Just look at the history of Israel. Again and again, God brought judgment upon them for a failure to keep His Word, His law. Neither they, nor us, were able to bear the yoke. We cannot place ourselves under the law to achieve salvation, for who among us can keep the law? God says that if you place yourself under the law, then you are bound to keep it all (Galatians 5:3). You cannot pick and choose and say, “Well, I will keep this law and ignore all the rest.” Once someone has done that, they are doomed, because there is no way anyone can keep the whole law. This is the yoke of bondage that is being placed on these newly-found disciples who are hearing the Gospel and coming in. They are put under the hearing of another kind of a gospel, the gospel of works instead of grace. Then Peter says in verse 11:

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Peter is stating the fact that we are saved by grace apart from the work of the law. This is the way of salvation, and this is the true Gospel of the Bible. This is the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is what we must hold to.

We go on to read of what happened at the council which met in Jerusalem to examine this issue. It says in verses 19-20:

Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

There is no need to be circumcised. There is no need to keep any part of the Law of Moses in the sense that there is no need for any of the ceremonial laws or sacrificial laws, for we are saved by grace.

It would seem that the early assault by Satan in the first century AD against the true Gospel, the Bible, was quenched, and yet we know that Satan was not finished. He would continue to attack the church. He would continue to attack the Gospel, the foundation of the Word of God, the foundation of the church, and so, more and more, these men would creep in unawares.

In our next study, Lord willing, we will take a look at how this relates to the parable in Matthew 13 of the wheat and the tares. There it says that “while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.” That does seem to relate to this creeping in unawares. May the Lord richly bless you.