Part III: Wrapping it All Up

In verse 20, he ties everything he’s discussed together and connects back to his “thesis statement” in verse 3. He once again addresses them as “dear friends.” In setting things up in v.3, he urgently encouraged his readers to “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” Based on all he’s presented, he gives legs to the concept of “contending” for this vital concept by “building yourselves up in your most holy faith.” He’s adjusted the metaphor just a bit — from “contend” to “build;” from something that is adversarial to a concept that unifies. Because Jude is speaking to an audience that is steeped in the Jewish culture of the time, to speak of “building” probably suggested the concept of the construction of the Jerusalem Temple...

Part II: The Details

In verse 5, Jude digs into the details and begins to warn his listeners to avoid these teachers/leaders. First, he says that the presence of these false teachers is no surprise. (“Though you already know all this” – v.5). He presents two sets of Old Testament illustrations, with three historic examples in each set.

Part I: Opening

A simple summary of Jude’s letter could be, “What are we willing to fight for?” Jude starts out saying he intended to write a longer letter about the salvation believers share in Jesus but seems to have heard reports about what’s been happening in this church, and instead sends them a shorter, more direct memo addressing the problem. He specifically urges his audience to “contend for the faith” (v.3 — he identifies them as “dear friends,” a title he repeats two more times. While used often in the New Testament epistles, it is significant in that the adjective translated here as “dear” also means beloved, and is the same adjective God the Father used in relation to Jesus when he audibly spoke the words “my beloved son” at Christ’s baptism (Mark 1:11) and the transfiguration (Mark 9:7). It’s about as “dear” as the concept of “dear” or “beloved” can be).