Long Island Abundant Life Church 長島豐盛生命教會
  • Home
  • About Us 關於教會
    • Mission Statement - 使命宣言
    • Statement of Faith - 信仰立場
    • Biblical Marriage - 合乎聖經的婚姻
    • Church Leadership - 教會同工
    • Directions - 路線圖
    • Documents - 表格與文件下載
    • Contact Us - 聯絡我們
    • Ministry openings
  • Chinese Ministry 華語事工
    • 崇拜
    • 講道集 >
      • 主日信息
      • 特會 / 講座
    • 主日學
    • 門訓小組 >
      • 門訓小組介紹
    • 團契
    • 讀經
  • English Ministry 英文事工
  • Youth 少年事工
    • Worship
    • Sunday School
    • Youth Fellowship
    • Events
    • Our Vision
    • Connect with Us
    • Parent Resources
    • Youth Prayer Requests
  • Children's Ministry 兒童事工
    • Children's Worship - 兒童崇拜 >
      • Children's Songs - 歌曲
      • Junior Worship, Archive - 學習內容
      • Junior Worship, Current - 學習內容
      • Preschool Worship, Archive - 幼兒崇拜
    • Sunday School - 主日學 >
      • Preschool - 低年級
      • Middlers, Current - 高年級
      • Elementary, Archive - 高年級
    • VBS-特别暑期聖經班 >
      • EVENTS- 特別活動
    • Nursery - 幼兒照顧
    • Resources - 資源
  • Missions/Evangelism 宣教/佈道
    • Global Mission 全球宣教
    • Missions Ministry 宣教事工
  • Chinese School 中文學校
  • Church Activities / News / Calendar 教會活動 / 消息 / 行事曆
    • Special/urgent 特別/緊急
    • Calendar 教會行事曆
    • Bulletin 週報
    • Archive 檔案 >
      • Pray for Hindus 2018 為印度人禱告
      • Seek God 2019 尋求神
      • Misc. 其他
  • Chinese Student Ministry 学生事工
    • Campus Ministry 校园事工
    • CSF 衣
    • CSF 食
    • CSF 住
    • CSF 行
  • Links 资源鏈接
  Long Island Abundant Life Church 長島豐盛生命教會

Jude

12/13/2012

 
Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

Jude

AUTHOR
    A.      Jude (Hebrew, Judah, or Greek, Judas) characterizes himself by two designations
      1.      “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ” - This is not exactly the same as Paul’s usual designation, although they look the same in English.
      2.      “a brother of James” - There are many persons in the NT named James (Jacob), but the name by itself, without any description, reminds one of James 1:1. James, the half-brother of Jesus, was the leader of the Jerusalem church during Paul’s missionary journeys (cf. Acts 15). It has been speculated that both half-brothers chose, out of humility, not to identify themselves as biologically related to Jesus.

    B.      The simple opening reflects someone who was well-known and active (cf. I Cor. 9:3) in the early church, but about whom no information has survived. If someone writing at a later period wanted to write in the name of a famous person from the past (pseudography), Jude would not be a good candidate.

    C.      The ancient tradition that Jude was a Hebrew Christian and half-brother of Jesus (cf. Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3) rests on several assumptions
      1.      a family relationship to James (cf. James 1:1)
      2.      the extensive use of the OT
      3.      the characteristic Hebrew literary use of threes
         a.      3 OT events of apostasy
         b.      3 OT characters
         c.      opening greeting
           (1)      three verbs: “called,” “beloved,” “kept”
           (2)      three prayer requests: “mercy,” “peace,” “love”

RECIPIENTS AND OCCASION
    A.      The early church was not theologically monolithic; even the Apostles emphasized different aspects of the gospel. As the Apostles began to die (or at least were too few and too far away to be consulted) and the Second Coming continued to be delayed, the early church faced the challenge of “standardizing” acceptable parameters for gospel teachings. The OT, the words and stories of Jesus, and the preaching of the Apostles became the standards.

    B.      Jude was written in a day of flux and disruption of clear authority. The believers (whether a local church or geographical area is uncertain) were facing massive invasion of error through speculative theology/philosophy. What is known of the heresy:
      1.      the heretics were part of the church meetings (“love feasts” cf. v. 12)
      2.      the heretics were immoral, manipulative teachers who were causing divisions among God’s people (cf. v. 19)
      3.      the heretics seem to have used or discussed “angels” in their theology
      4.      the heretics seem to have emphasized “knowledge” (gnosis)
      If one is familiar with the Greco-Roman world of the first and second centuries, these characteristics imply the philosophical/theological movement known as “Gnosticism.” It is surely true that the origins of these specific second century heretics were a common element of much near-eastern thought. Elements of the dualism so characteristic of Gnosticism is present in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of the NT books (Eph. - Col, the Pastorals, I, II John) were written to combat a similar type of false teaching/teachers.

PURPOSE
    A.      The author desired to write about their common salvation (cf. v. 3).

    B.      The invasion of false teachings and teachers into the inner fellowship times of the church (cf. v. 12) caused the author to address the burning issue of “the faith once and for all given to the church” (cf. vv. 3, 20). His goal was orthodoxy, but he approached the subject through godly living (orthopraxy), not doctrine (very similar to James 2:14–24). How people lived was a clear window into their theology.

    C.      The author wants to encourage believers to
      1.      grow spiritually (cf. v. 20)
      2.      be assured of salvation (cf. vv. 21, 24–25)
      3.      help the fallen (cf. vv. 22–23) [1]

[1] Robert James Dr. Utley, vol. Volume 11, Jesus' Half-Brothers Speak: James and Jude, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2000), 79-81.
Andrei
12/13/2012 05:51:19 pm

Wow... thinking about false teachers... picturing skeletons with sharp teeth.

Kevin Kuo
12/14/2012 11:37:27 pm

I think false teachers are pretty easy to spot especially if you read your Bible faithfully. However I believe the danger is "half" prophets teachers who do not preach the whole Gospel. Like saying God is love and stops there without acknowledging God is also just. Meaning we can come before God as we are but we can continue to live life as we are.

greg
12/15/2012 04:07:44 am

Yes and no. Some heresies are easy to spot, but some are so close to the truth that they sound true and can be very deceiving. We need to always keep a sharp eye out and use our brains. We need to think about the implications of statements when taken to their conclusion. The most insidious heresies sound reasonable but lead later to really wrong ideas.


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.