For Christian Sisters

A coveted stature

14 January 2019 AnneT Blog, Jude An ordered list of links for each blog series is on the Archive page. (0)

Jude - Third in a series

Jude warns his brothers and sisters about so-called Christians who have infiltrated their church to pollute and overthrow it, and urges them to contend for the faith.

To ready them for this alarm, he begins by reminding them of their stature as members of the body. It is this stature that the Evil One wildly despises. Believers are:

  • sanctified, loved of God,
  • preserved in Jesus Christ, and
  • called. (Jude 1:1)

As we saw in the previous post, the love of God that sanctifies is welcoming and faithful though all others forsake us, not permissive or short-sighted, but forgiving, upbuilding, and it is unending.

The second concept, that of being preserved in Christ, is, like the first, expressed in the Greek "perfect tense" which as in English, "describes an action… having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated." (ref, studylight.org Interlinear Bible)

Some Bible translations read kept for Christ and others, preserved in Jesus Christ. If I am kept for Christ, it is the Father who works, but if by him, then it is Christ working— so which is it?

Here is a reply from the "Divines" who joined together in the 17th century to ruminate all of Scripture and distill the essential doctrines of the Christian faith in what we now call The Westminster Confession. Our preservation is assured because it is based on:

  • The unchangeable mind of our loving God: Those whom he predestined he also called, and those who are called he has justified, and those who are justified are glorified. (Rom 8:30)
  • The merit and intercession of Christ. (John 3:16; Heb 7:25)
  • The abiding of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts. (John 14:26) (See Westminster Confession, Chapter XVII, www.reformed.org)

The summary statements in a good Confession and their attendant scriptures are helpful as a defense against those who would overturn the church in any century whether they be humans or rulers of darkness (Eph 6:12).

A good illustration in Scripture of a believer who was preserved by and for Christ is Peter. Though he denied Christ at the critical moment, he was forgiven and became a church leader. Preservation does not equal continually abiding but God is faithful.

Jude's third word for believers in the KJV is Called, however it precedes the other two in practice as well as in many Bible translations. The Christian's heart is awakened by God's Spirit calling him or her to come near and to follow closely. This call must provoke a certain fear and result in a thirst for finding out what is in God's Word. It will engender a desire to pray and to hear more from God. Eventually, it will lead to a hunger for friendship and community with other believers.

Of course, this last phase is often disturbed by the situation Jude describes, where certain people creep in to spoil the fellowship as we will see. This is why studying Jude’s letter is as relevant now as it was in the first century, for our security in Christ will be menaced and can be eroded when we are off guard.

Welcoming Love

07 January 2019 AnneT Blog, Jude An ordered list of links for each blog series is on the Archive page. (0)

Jude - Second in a series

Jude's letter was written somewhere between 64 and 80 AD, to Christians of an unknown congregation or area: "to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, called"… (Jude 1)

Of the many translations of the Bible, from the King James to the New International and beyond, some say, To them that are sanctified or called, and some say, To those who are loved by God the Father (Jude 1). There is a Greek word that denotes "purification" and "separation" for sanctified (see 1 Cor 7:14, 1 Tim 4:5, 2 Tim 2:21, Heb 2:11, others) or, for called, "invited" or "appointed," but in Jude 1 "God's welcoming love"* is more in view. Let’s combine the language insights and say, "the welcoming love of God that sanctifies."

So, what is the welcoming love of the Lord that sanctifies? Some examples are seen in the life of Sarah, "who gave us birth" (Isa 51:2), the mother of the faithful.

When her husband, Abraham, was called by God to go to a new land, he went out "not knowing where he was going." (Heb 11:8) Sarah faithfully accompanied him, and her biggest problem turned out to be her beauty.

After arriving in the promised land, it became necessary to travel to Egypt to water their flocks. Knowing Sarah was an object of desire, Abraham entreated her, "I know that thou [art] a fair woman to look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee." (Gen 12:11-13)

She was in fact taken into Pharaoh's house, which was quickly overrun with plagues (Gen 12:17) and Pharaoh understood he had taken a man's wife. Yet he had not touched her, as he said to Abraham, "Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way." (Gen 12:19)

The welcoming love of God that sanctifies is expressed in his protection and help when others forsake us. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. (Ps 27:10)

You may ask, Why didn't God keep Pharaoh from taking Sarah and she could have avoided the situation altogether? But recall, her beauty was very great so that Pharaoh desired her for his harem. Is it better to have no gift? We, too, have gifts coveted by controlling types, but the Lord is with us. Again and again in Scripture, God rescues his own from the attacks and strongholds of their enemies, and as we read the Bible, we begin to believe in our hearts that God will show us welcoming love in our worst straits. If we are His then we are Sarah's daughters, and must not be afraid of any fear (1 Pet 3:6): If God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31).

It appears that Sarah was given a maid as a gift for her time in Pharaoh's harem, Hagar the Egyptian (Gen 16:1). In her mid-70s Sarah still had not had children, so she offered Hagar to Abraham as a means of securing an heir. Thus was Ishmael, Abraham's first son, born.

But Sarah remained barren till she was 90 years old and then gave birth to Isaac. In time she demanded that Hagar, whose life she had upset considerably, be cast out with Ishmael, and God agreed with her judgment (Gen 21:10-12). He understood that she needed the conflict between Hagar's son and hers to be resolved. (Gen 21:9)

God’s special love for his called and kept people does not coddle them in human sin and failure. Sarah was required to live with Hagar till Ishmael was old enough to become a man on his own; yet the Lord agreed that Isaac should not grow up taunted by an adversary, even despite her being the root cause of the problem. Welcoming love does not imprison its children by guilt, shame and conflict, but rather sets us free and resolves confusion.

Before Isaac's birth, Abraham again gave Sarah into the arms of a foreign king to save his own life, and this was in the time frame of Sarah's conception! Yet, once again God protected her: And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night… (Gen 20:4) and he sent her back to Abraham.

Sarah remained faithful throughout the years and the insults. She welcomed the welcoming love of God. [Many of these insights are found in the God Remembered Abraham Bible Study on SistersSite.]

In comparison, what do those outside of God's family have that is of any comfort? Why does it take some people so long to enter his gates? Why are hard-hearted souls so slow to embrace the better land where the welcoming love of God sanctifies?

Perhaps they do not feel quite ready to forego the self serving enjoyment of forbidden pleasures, and dreaming that they are in control of their personal agendas, like those whom Jude exposes. But as humans we all serve a higher power, whether the Lord or Satan, and there is no middle ground. We may think we have our own place in the sun, but we do reside in one territory or the other, in the Welcoming Love or the despising of it.

*My sources are the Interlinear Bible on Studylight.org and The Interlinear KJV-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English by Alfred Marshall.

Who is my brother? Who am I?

01 January 2019 AnneT Blog, Jude An ordered list of links for each blog series is on the Archive page. (0)

Jude - First in a series

There is only one instance in the New Testament of the word Jude, the first word in the Book of Jude— or, counting the name of the book, two.

We understand why the author differentiates himself by his nickname and as the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James (Jude 1:1). Who would want to bring to mind the prophecy, Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; [and] let another take his office. (Ps 109:6-8) Those words were for Judas Iscariot.

Yet, Judas means "He shall be praised." The Old Testament catalogs:

  1. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob
  2. Judah, the tribe that brought forth the Christ; the territory of this tribe; the Southern Kingdom of Israel
  3. Various men who helped Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 11:9; Ezr 3:9; Neh 12:8, 34)

In the New Testament, the spelling changes to Judas or Juda and we find, in order:

  1. Mention of the territory; Bethlehem was in Juda (KJV) (Mat 2:6)
  2. Judas, also called Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus (Mat 10:3), one of the 12 disciples, the brother (KJV) (or son? ESV) of James (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13)
  3. Judas Iscariot (Mat 10:4)
  4. A brother (half-brother: same mother, different father) of the Lord, along with James, Joses, and Simon (Mat 13:55). Was this the same as the disciple?
  5. Various men, one a provocateur (Acts 5:37), two who served the Lord (Acts 9:11, Acts 15:22, 27, 32)

This is man: One can uphold a name and another defame it, or one can do both. Adam gave us birth— and death.

I recall a Scripture written by my grandmother's hand on the fly page of the Bible she gave me as a Christmas gift when I was about seven: A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. (Prov 22:1) Whatever ones name, it is up to the individual to make it a good name, and it makes a difference, especially to those of his or her immediate family.

In reference to Jude 1:1, who was James? In the New Testament we meet:

  1. James, brother of John. These were called by the Lord, "Sons of Thunder"; this James was martyred early in the narrative of Acts (Acts 12:2).
  2. James, son of Alphaeus, a disciple, probably the brother or half-brother of Matthew who was also a son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14).
  3. James, the half-brother of Jesus, (Mat 13:55; Mark 6:3). Many Bible scholars state that this James was the leader of the early church. He was also called an apostle by Paul: "But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." (Gal 1:19) (Other references: Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18; 1 Cor 15:7; Gal 2:9, 12)
  4. James, the brother of Juda(s) (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13), or his father (?), probably the same James as the previous one. In the Greek, the phraseology, "Jude of James," is the same as "James of Alphaeus." It is clear from other passages that Alphaeus was the father of James. If the phrase suggests hierarchy, then James was Jude's older brother.

Bible scholars differ over whether Jude the disciple could also have been a half-brother of Jesus. Some commentators believe the brothers mentioned in Matthew 13 were actually cousins, not brothers. Catholics do not believe Jesus had siblings.

However, it is likely that Jude "of James" and James, head of the early church, were Jesus' half-brothers, and that Jude was also one of the 12 disciples. By identifying himself as Jude "of James" and since we know he did not mean James "of Alphaeus" who had a different father, nor James who had died a martyr, we can deduce that he meant James whom Paul met with and called the brother of Jesus and an apostle. (Gal 1:19)

BUT since Scripture states that Jesus' brothers did not at first believe in him (John 7:3), we may question if Judas (Lebbaeus), the disciple, was also Jesus' half-brother. However, there are many examples in Scripture of words that are not inclusive or definitive in all instances, so perhaps Jude was not among his brothers in the John 7:3 passage.

The main argument against Jude being one of the twelve, is his reference to "the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ" in verse 17 of his epistle, rather than including himself in that group. But then, this could show he looked up to many of them and did not think of himself as their equal; or that he thought of himself more as a family member than as one of Christ's disciples.

Since the authors of Scripture were moved by the Holy Spirit as they wrote the Bible, it seems logical that they would carefully describe Jude as "Jude of James" to make clear that this disciple was also Jesus' half-brother. Nevertheless, there is not agreement among Bible scholars on this point.

If we should take the view that Jude was Jesus' half-brother, we would see him as one who was a hearer of the Word from his birth, taught by Christ's words and example from his infancy. That would be different and better than the other disciples.

The main differentiation to uphold as we look at the book of Jude is that he considered himself a servant of Jesus Christ, not an equal. He looked to Christ as his master.

So, too, in our fellowship with Christ, as his mother, brothers and sisters (Mat 12:48-50), we, the royal priesthood, chosen generation and holy nation (1 Pet 2;9); we who cannot be separated from the Lord by death nor angels nor anything at all (Rom 8:38); who have been enlightened of mysteries that angels long to penetrate (1 Pet 1:12); his friends (John 15:13-15) — we are above all, his servants, even unworthy servants (Luke 17:10). He is Lord.

Looking for children's activities?

Help your child learn to use a keyboard while memorizing Scripture.

Start now!