Apostasy

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude 1-2

Jude was one of Mary’s sons by her marriage to Joseph (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3). He was a half-brother to Jesus’ humanity. Jesus’ younger brothers had no respect for His Messiahship until after the resurrection (Acts 1:14). After witnessing His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, they realized His Lordship and James and Jude, at least, became His spiritual slaves.

Jude addressed this epistle to the called, meaning eternally saved by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. The called are also the beloved of God, just as Christ Himself is, and we are preserved forever by the divine decree of sovereign God. The recipients of this letter shared the same faith Peter referred to in 2 Peter 1:1—“faith of equal standing as ours.” That is, faith alone in Christ alone for complete deliverance from the penalty of sin. God’s mercy to us, and His perfect peace, and His agape (undeserved, unconditional, unlimited) love is multiplied to us. There’s always enough to go around.

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4

Jude had intended to write to them about the eternal botherhood of those who have believed in Jesus Christ, apparently desiring to assure them of their security in God’s perfect plan of grace. However, as he began to write, the urgency of the encroaching apostasy became impressed upon him instead. He shared this overwhelming concern with Peter, who was also writing about that threat to the Church at about the same time. They knew it was coming. They saw it beginning. Now, we are apparently in the thick of it. Christianity abounds in the world, still, and technology makes our communications with one another instantaneous and prolific. That is a marvelous thing. With all this technological progress, the apostates are also enjoying maximum infiltration. We must always be on the alert for the wolves.

J. Vernon McGee’s explanation of apostasy:

The expression "depart from the faith" is where we want to center our attention. The word "depart" is the Greek aphistemi, formed by the little preposition apo, which means "away from," and histemi, meaning "to stand." The apostasy (for we bring it over into English by transliteration) means "to stand away from." It means to one time profess something and another time deny that which you once professed. Webster, who always does a good job of defining words, says that the apostasy is the "abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; total desertion of the principles of faith." Abandonment of that which was voluntarily professed. Our Lord used that expression when He was giving the parable of the sower. Referring to the seed that fell on the rock, He said: They on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of testing fall away. (Luke 8:13)

"Fall away" is the Greek aphistemi - they apostatize. They professed to believe, then they moved away from it. They no longer believe; they have departed from the faith. Apostasy would be impossible among unevangelized tribes who have never heard the gospel. An apostate is one who has not only heard the gospel, but who has professed to believe it, and then departs from it. That's apostasy. This word occurs also in Hebrews:

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12) Here are those who have professed to believe, and then they no longer believe.

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Jude5-7

Here’s that repetition again, from a teacher of God’s Word: “to remind you, although you once fully knew it.” Remember the basic Bible doctrines and remember the historical accounts of God’s dealing with His people! Of those who exited Egypt, many did not follow through with faith in the provision of Jesus Christ, and were destroyed. The evil angels who infiltrated and corrupted the human species in Genesis chapter 6 are even now being kept in chains of impenetrable darkness, awaiting their final judgment. Angels are made of light, and apparently are immobilized by a certain thick, supernatural darkness. This same darkness covered Egypt on the night of the exodus, when the firstborn died as the Jews stayed inside their blood-spattered doorposts. It also covered the earth during the atoning judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he cried out in agony, “My God, My God…” It is a deep darkness which can be felt, and in which there is no light (zophos—enshrouding gloom).

Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities will always stand as an example of a civilization which has rejected the authority of God’s Word, despising His standards of conduct and flaunting their lusts. Jude names it: “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire.” That is very expressive, and leaves no doubt as to their evil behavior and God’s condemnation of it. The story is found in Genesis 19 and I recommend that anyone who doesn’t remember the account re-read it, carefully. The intention of the men of Sodom, both old and young, was copulation with the angels (disguised as men) who had come to rescue Lot and his family from the annihilation that was about to happen. Lot was so shocked by their proposition that he offered them his daughters instead (wimp!), but they didn’t want the daughters, and they immediately accused Lot of UNFAIRLY JUDGING THEM (sound familiar?). All they wanted to do, after all, was to rape the newcomers who were visiting under Lot’s roof. How dare he accuse them of wrongdoing? Well, their lusts were soon to be no more, like their cities.

God is not ignoring these insults, brethren. He is omniscient. He always has known how history would proceed, and in His perfect time, He will bring the consequences to bear on those who abuse His grace.