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God’s Judgment on the Ungodly
Jude urges believers to defend the faith they have received because ungodly people have slipped in among them. This warning focuses on false teaching, corrupt behaviour and God’s coming judgment.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
In this part of Jude’s letter, the writer explains why he changed course. Rather than writing only about shared salvation, he urges his readers to contend for the faith, then describes ungodly intruders, warning examples and the certainty of judgment.
Jude 1:3–16Main takeaway
Jude teaches that believers should hold firmly to the faith because ungodliness in belief, speech and conduct will face God’s judgment.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Called to contend for the faithJude says he wanted to write about their common salvation, yet instead urges them to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Explanation
Jude says he wanted to write about their common salvation, yet instead urges them to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. He gives a reason straight away: certain ungodly men have slipped in secretly, twisting grace into indecency and denying the Lord Jesus Christ.
02Examples that warn of judgmentJude reminds his readers of cases they already know. The Lord saved a people out of Egypt and afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Explanation
Jude reminds his readers of cases they already know. The Lord saved a people out of Egypt and afterward destroyed those who did not believe. He also mentions angels kept for judgment and Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of punishment. These examples support his warning about ungodliness.
03Their conduct and speech are corruptJude says these people defile the flesh, despise authority and slander celestial beings. By contrast, Michael the archangel did not bring an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”
Explanation
Jude says these people defile the flesh, despise authority and slander celestial beings. By contrast, Michael the archangel did not bring an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” Jude adds that these intruders speak evil about what they do not know and are destroyed in their unreasoning ways.
04Empty, dangerous and heading for judgmentJude announces woe on them, then uses names and images to expose their character: the way of Cain, Balaam’s error for hire and Korah’s rebellion, along with hidden reefs, selfish shepherds, waterless clouds and fruitless trees.
Explanation
Jude announces woe on them, then uses names and images to expose their character: the way of Cain, Balaam’s error for hire and Korah’s rebellion, along with hidden reefs, selfish shepherds, waterless clouds and fruitless trees. He ends with judgment on ungodly works and words, describing them as murmurers, complainers and proud flatterers.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does Jude say he wrote this appeal?
02What is the shared point of Jude’s warning examples?
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Jude 1:3–16
3Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
4For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe.
6Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
7Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
8Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.
9But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”
10But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason.
11Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
14About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
16These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.