Lesson sequence
Jude 1: A Greeting from Jude
Jude 1:1–2; Jude 1:3–16; Jude 1:17–23; Jude 1:24–25
Jude writes a short letter with a serious warning and a strong note of hope. In this sequence, students follow his greeting, his warning about ungodly people, his call to persevere, and his closing praise to God.
Before you teach
Jude introduces himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and writes to people who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. He had wanted to write about their common salvation, but instead urges them to contend for the faith because ungodly people have slipped in secretly. He then calls believers to remember, keep building, and trust God who is able to keep them from stumbling.
Students will be able to trace Jude’s warning and encouragement through the letter, including key examples and commands, and explain one faithful response from the passage.
Your lesson sequence
Use the teaching outline below for each session, with these reading and activity choices.
A Greeting from Jude
Jude 1:1–2
Students identify how Jude describes himself, his readers, and his opening blessing.
Try together: Read the greeting aloud, list the identity words in verse 1, and paraphrase the blessing in verse 2 in simple language.
Contend for the Faith
Jude 1:3–8
Students trace Jude’s reason for writing urgently and the first examples supporting his warning about ungodly people.
Try together: Mark the change in Jude’s purpose in verses 3–4, then list the three warning examples in verses 5–7 and the behaviours named in verse 8.
Examples, Speech, and Judgment
Jude 1:9–16
Students observe how Jude continues his warning through Michael’s words, Old Testament examples, vivid images, and a prophecy about judgment.
Try together: Note exactly what Michael says in verse 9, then trace the passage in order by listing the examples in verse 11, the pictures in verses 12–13, and what the quoted prophecy says the Lord will do in verses 14–15.
A Call to Persevere
Jude 1:17–23
Students identify the commands Jude gives believers and how he says to treat different people.
Try together: Underline every instruction to believers, then write one sentence explaining how perseverance and compassion appear together in this passage.
Doxology
Jude 1:24–25
Students explain how Jude finishes with confidence in God’s power and honour.
Try together: Create a two-column note: ‘What God does’ and ‘What belongs to God’, using only words from the two verses.
Welcome: Who is speaking and to whom?
5 minBegin by reading Jude 1:1–2 aloud. Ask students to notice how Jude describes himself and his readers. List the words servant, called, sanctified, kept, mercy, peace, and love. Explain that Jude begins with identity and blessing before giving warning, so the letter opens with care as well as seriousness.
Jude 1:1, Jude 1:2
Read and explain: Why does Jude write so urgently?
10 minRead Jude 1:3–4 first. Then continue through Jude 1:5–8. Explain that Jude wanted to write about common salvation, but was constrained to urge believers to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The reason is that certain ungodly people have crept in secretly, and Jude supports his warning with examples of unbelief, angels kept for judgment, and Sodom and Gomorrah as an example.
Jude 1:3, Jude 1:4, Jude 1:5, Jude 1:6, Jude 1:7, Jude 1:8
Discuss: What do Jude’s examples and pictures show?
8 minRead Jude 1:9–16. Ask students to observe that Michael says, ‘May the Lord rebuke you!’ rather than using abusive condemnation. Then note Jude’s further warnings: the way of Cain, Balaam’s error, Korah’s rebellion, and the vivid pictures of rocky reefs, clouds without water, fruitless trees, waves, and wandering stars. Read Jude 1:14–15 as a quoted prophecy about the Lord coming to execute judgment on the ungodly.
Jude 1:9, Jude 1:10, Jude 1:11, Jude 1:12, Jude 1:13, Jude 1:14, Jude 1:15, Jude 1:16
Make and respond: Build, keep, look, help
10 minRead Jude 1:17–23 slowly. Students make a reminder card with four prompts from the passage: build yourselves up, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love, and look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Add one careful action towards others from Jude 1:22–23, showing that perseverance includes both personal faithfulness and wise care for others.
Jude 1:17, Jude 1:18, Jude 1:19, Jude 1:20, Jude 1:21, Jude 1:22, Jude 1:23
Closing: End with Jude’s praise
7 minRead Jude 1:24–25 together. Ask students to underline what God is able to do and which words give honour to him. Close by reminding them that Jude’s strong warnings end with praise to God our Saviour, who is able to keep people from stumbling and present them with great joy.
Jude 1:24, Jude 1:25
Questions to explore
Why does Jude change from writing about ‘our common salvation’ to urging believers to ‘contend earnestly for the faith’?
Use Jude’s own reason in the next verse: certain people had crept in secretly, were ungodly, and were turning grace into indecency while denying the Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:3, Jude 1:4
What do you notice about Michael’s words in Jude 1:9, and how does that fit Jude’s warning about proud and harmful speech later in the passage?
Compare Michael’s words, ‘May the Lord rebuke you!’ with Jude’s descriptions of people who speak evil, speak proud things, and slander what they do not know.
Jude 1:9, Jude 1:10, Jude 1:16
How do Jude 1:14–15 strengthen the warning in this letter?
Look for what the Lord comes to do in the quoted prophecy and connect it with Jude’s repeated description of the ungodly.
Jude 1:14, Jude 1:15
Make, think or respond
Jude Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- plain card or paper
- pens or pencils
- Bible text
- markers
Try it together
- Read Jude 1:20–21 and choose one key phrase to place in the centre of the card.
- Add four short prompts around it from the passage, such as build, pray, keep, and look.
- On the back, write one realistic example of how a student could remember Jude’s teaching this week.
- Share the card with a partner and explain which verse shaped your reminder most.
This activity helps students notice Jude’s own commands and turn them into a clear reminder grounded in the passage.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, pre-write the key commands from Jude 1:20–21 on the board and let them copy or circle the ones they can explain.
- For older or more confident students, ask them to trace the warning through Jude 1:3–16 by listing each example or image in order and writing a short note about what it adds to Jude’s message.
An optional closing prayer
Suggested prayer: ‘God our Saviour, please help us remember your truth, keep building on the faith, and trust that you are able to keep your people. Please make us wise, compassionate, and faithful. Amen.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Jude 1
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, 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.
4 For 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.
5 Now 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.
6 Angels 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.
7 Even 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.
8 Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.
9 But 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!”
10 But 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.
11 Woe 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.
12 These 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;
13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
14 About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15 to 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.”
16 These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.
17 But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”
19 These are those who cause divisions and are sensual, not having the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
21 Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
22 On some have compassion, making a distinction,
23 and some save, snatching them out of the fire with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
24 Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,
25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
