Wednesday: Peter and Jude
Many people have observed that Jude 4-19 largely repeats the message of 2 Peter 2:1-3:7. Whenever Scripture repeats a message, we should be aware that God wants to convey something important. In these similar passages, Peter and Jude take great lengths to notify us of an important truth:
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God is in control of the destinies of the wicked. Both Peter and Jude leave us with no doubt that God is closely monitoring evil. Whether unrighteous humanity or the fallen angels, God has taken special note of their evil and has planned their punishment on the day of judgment (2 Pet. 2:9, 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 6).
Read 2 Peter 2:1-3:7 and Jude 4-19. What examples of God’s earlier vengeance do Peter and Jude give to punctuate the fact that God means business in dealing with sin?
Peter and Jude record three examples of God’s vengeance in the past. They include the destruction of the antediluvian world by the Flood, the incineration of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the chaining of angelic beings for destruction (2 Pet. 2:4-6; 2 Peter 3:7; Jude 6-7). All of these episodes are laced with a lingering sense of finality. Though Scripture speaks a great deal about God’s mercy and grace, God’s justice also plays an important role in the final destruction of sin.
What were the sins that engendered such severe punishment? They include introducing destructive heresies; despising authority; enslavement to whatever has mastered them; perverting the grace of God into a license for immorality; denying Jesus Christ as the only Sovereign and Lord; polluters of their own bodies; speakers of empty, boastful words; and slanderers (2 Pet. 2:1, 2 Peter 2:10, 2 Peter 2:19, Jude 4, Jude 8, 2 Pet. 2:18, Jude 10, NIV).
Interestingly, these descriptions do not include violent acts and other wicked atrocities that often outrage us. Instead, they describe more subtle sins that have one commonality. They are sins that are sometimes excused within the church community itself. This fact should awaken us to the great need for sincere repentance and reformation in the church.
| Read 2 Peter 2:12 and Jude 10. Here Peter and Jude describe those who are facing destruction as having degraded into “unreasoning” (2 Pet. 2:12, NIV) or “irrational” animals (Jude 10, NIV) ruled by instinct. How does that description compare to how God originally created humanity, and how can you prevent that from happening in your life? |
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Well from my own perspective or sure people are like animals that are going for slaughter where they do not even know that they are going to die. Sin has greatly perverted the world such that people are out o their senses of knowing who God is and His precepts. People are being carried away at rate we can not comprehend. The scary part is at the judgement day there is going to be gnashing of teeth because full wrath of God will be unleashed to the rebellious. So the time is now for us to to make our ways straight in preparation of this day. So let us not harden our hearts and let us say "Thus says the Lord God our Mighty o the universe". We are into the world but lets not succumb to it and be fully absorbed by it.
We all need to consecrate our lives! Much of the world says "let your instincts out"... While the Word says the opposite. God wants everyone to be saved, so let us sieze that wish. Let us take our hearts to Him in prayer and ask for a change in whatever He thinks is necessary, because we do not see much!
God means business in dealing with sin!!!!! God help us to use our brain matter and not our instincts, for we are not irrational creatures. God leads by example!!!! let us all follow Him!!!!
In this week's lesson Peter is exposing false teachers hidden among God’s people, a situation that he knows is not new (2 Peter 2:1). Jude also deals with false teachers. He warns against false teachers in the church, and exhorts believers to be on be alert to their insatiable greed (2 Peter 2:2). A false teacher is someone who is dangerous in that he/she has plan devised by the devil in order to sow confusion and bitterness among the flock. When we teach error we not only deceive, harm the flock but we bring ill repute to God's glory and reputation. The only antidote against false teachings is studying the Word of God and Spirit of Prophecy and living the truth therein revealed. In Peter's day, virtue was scoffed at while indulgence was taught, encouraged and sought by conniving men. There were those who stood for virtue and morality in a society that abhorred it. God's Word tells us that false teachers are doomed to destruction. A false teacher would promise wisdom and truth, the same promises satan made to Eve, only to deliver cruel deception, disappointment, and frustration. Jude tells us that false teachers cannot provide needed spiritual nourishment (Jude 12). Instead they lure their unsuspecting victims with sin or corruption, promising them liberty. But these false teachers are themselves trapped in their own prison of lies. Peter reacts strongly to these dangerous and false teachings in the church because they promoted in the churches the denial of the Lord (v. 1), licentious teachings (vs. 10, 18), turning away from the Holy Commandment (v. 21), etc. Clearly, Peter’s description of their work justifies the strong language in which he condemns them.
The verses in Jude and Peter demonstrate that there were various theories circulating at the time regarding the fate of past peoples and demons. The Book of Enoch was considered holy scripture by many early Christian writers, and so its speculation is also quoted by Jude.
I think,there are differences and similarities between 2 Peter 2 and the book of Jude. 2 Peter 2:4 is mentioning sinning angels. What kind of sin? The book of Enoch teaches that some angels have married women who gave birth to babies who became giants filling up the earth with all sorts of crime. So God had to bring about the flood as an act of judgement.
Peter knew the words of Christ that angels do not marry. (Matthew 22:29-30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34-36) So Peter does not connect his statemant with the speculation of the book of Enoch. Had Peter done this, he would have knowingly contradicted the words of Christ. Interpreting scripture, one ought to remember that the Holy Spirit reminds us of all that Christ had said. (John 14:26) And his statement on the nature of angels is absolutely true, inasmuch as the angels have been created by Christ. ( Kolossians 2:16; John 1:3)
Moreover, the biblical context of 2 Peter 2:4 is the revealed situation of sinning angels who were cast out of heaven to await judgemant at the end of time (Revelation. (12:9; Matthew 8:29) Sola scriptura means, scripture has to be interpreted by scripture and not by scriptures outside the canon.
As to Jude 14, the author is refering to the second coming of Christ in connection with the judgement at the end of time, which does not belong to the mass of speculations in the book of Enoch. Jude is quoting from Enoch 60:8 where in the middle of all kinds of speculations a true diamond is rescued by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirtit was active in the formation of the biblical canon, excluding the book of Enoch.
Both, Peter and Jude have the same structure: God`s patience with sinners until the day of judgement. God does not spare sinners who refuse to repent. (2 Peter 2:4-5) God always was and is acting with grace and judgement, which gives hope in view of God`s earnestness in the act judgement, which also is reflected in the "golden text" John 3:16 combining both: grace and judgement with the cross in between.
Winfried Stolpmann
Yes, Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, but he thinks the book was written by Enoch the patriarch. In this he is in error, and all the commentaries agree. I think the simpler and truer explanation is that the Book of Enoch was taken at face value; early Christians simply accepted its statements as historically true. The idea that inspiration neatly picked out the one "true" statement in the Book is a form of special pleading with a dubious premise and without any corroborating evidence.
As has been noted 2Peter2and 3 are very similar to the book of Jude. If you have omitted the comparisons , you will have missed some very sobering thoughts. The results of the end of the world and the judgments that we all face, drive us to out knees in pleading for mercy. We know that God is not willing that any should perish, but our perspectives are not as clear as they should be. Psalms 46:1,2