T H E L E T T E R O F J U D E 1-2 This letter is from Jude, who is identified simply as Christ's servant and James' brother. It is addressed generally to those who are called in to God's love and Christ's keeping. 3-4 Jude is concerned that the membership of the church is not pure. Some people have slipped in and are twisting the gift to fit their own perverseness. They deserve - and in fact are receiving - God's punishment. 5-7 These events should not come as a surprise, since similar events have occurred in the past. Jude cites 3 examples here: i. The judgement which God brought on the Israelites in the desert, after they were saved from slavery in Egypt, is a prototype of the judgement which God will render on the unbelievers within the church. (See Numbers 14, and also Exodus 32.) ii. The story of the fallen angels makes the point that arrogating to oneself the power to decide what is right can become grounds for punishment - even of angels. Jude appears to allude to the popular stories expanding Genesis 6:1-2 (see below). iii. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah also made their own rules, at the expense of proper behavior. Their sins were expressed in sexual immorality, and it seems that Jude wanted to emphasize sexual licentiousness. Jude's choice of examples suggests that the people he was concerned about were engaging in sexual immorality, but it is their arrogance he condemns rather than their specific acts. 8-10 The godless people of this day show the same arrogance as those of the past. Their sins are committed against themselves, which shows how far they have twisted God's created order. They do not accept God's authority, which would lead them out of this perversion to health. Instead, they use insults to separate themselves from whatever they do not understand. In this way, they not only merit punishment, but actually create that separation which is the very essence of the judgement against them. (Compare the same thought in Tertullian's Apology.) 11-13 These people have nothing new. They only repeat the errors of Cain, Balaam, and Korah - errors which turn into nothing. (See Genesis 4:8, Numbers 22, and Numbers 16.) Their entire lives are ephemeral, impermanent in their very essence: blowing foam or stars that have no light. (The stars are an allusion to the popular book of Enoch, quoted below, and this allusion is continued in the next verses.) 14-16 The judgement of God will apply to all, good and bad, angels and humans. The godless people, however, take no responsibility for their own actions. They blame others for everything they do. Rather than making their own decisions they try to manipulate others into making them. 17-19 It is not just events of long past that serve as a warning to us. The apostles themselves warned us that such people would appear in the church. Their wrong thinking and bad motives bring false distinctions to divide us. 20-23 Those of us who are living in Christ should take care to remain in the faith, the power, and the love of God. We wait for the completion of Christ's mercy to us; meanwhile, we should be kind in our judgements of others, snatching those who slip from the fire, but our kindness should be mixed with a fear of contaminating ourselves with their sinfulness. 24-25 It is God who is able to hold us up and keep us free from blame; it is to God that all praise belongs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE STORIES OF THE FALLEN ANGELS The first story is taken from a book called First Enoch, which we know from a translation made into Ethiopic. 1 Enoch seems to have been widely known at the time of Jesus or shortly afterward. It is an apocalypse (that is, a story of the same literary class as the book of Revelation in the Bible). The Bible says Enoch disappeared because God took him (Genesis 5:24) but it doesn't quite say that he died. This led to speculation that Enoch didn't die but went straight to heaven; this, in turn, suggested that perhaps he learned secret things there which he might then have communicated to his family or friends. One such revelation was about the fallen angels: In those days, when the children of man had mulitplied, ... the angels ... said ..., "Come, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the daughters of men ...." And they took wives ... and they taught them magical medicine, incantations, the cutting of roots, and taught them (about) plants. And the women became pregnant and gave birth to giants .... And they began to sin against birds, wild beasts, reptiles, and fish. And they devoured one another's flesh, and they drank their blood. And Azaz'el taught the people (the art of) making swords and knives, and shields, and breastplates; and he showed to their chosen ones bracelets, ... ornamentation, the beauti- fying of the eyelids, all kinds of precious stones .... And there were many wicked ones and they committed adultery and erred, and all their conduct became corrupt. (1 Enoch 6:1-8:2, trans. E. Isaac) Azaz'el, or something similar, was often the name given to the chief of the fallen angels. There was no real agreement among the stories as to the names, number, or organization of the angels. It is easy to see the basis for such stories in Genesis 6. On the other hand, this tale tends to take the blame for sin off of our backs and put it on the fallen angels. This version of the story includes the arrogance of the angels setting their own rules and the twistedness of the life they created through their sin, and it takes special note of the angels' sexual exploits. All of these are points that Jude seems to be thinking of in his allusion, and we know that he was familiar with 1 Enoch (because he quotes the book in verses 14-15). The second story is taken from a similar book, which we call Second Enoch today. (The stories are parallel, not sequels.) This book is known to us from a Slavic translation. In this story, God is reminiscing to Enoch about the Monday when the universe was created. But one of the order of the archangels deviated, together with the division that was under his authority. He thought up the impossible idea, that he might place his throne higher than the clouds which are above the earth, and that he might become equal to my power. And I hurled him out from the height, together with his angels. And he was flying around in the air, ceaselessly, above the Bottomless. (2 Enoch 29:4-5, trans. F.I. Andersen) This version emphasizes the arrogance of the fallen angels but makes no mention of any sexual morality. Earlier in the same book, Enoch sees some of the fallen angels as they are waiting for the final judgement. ... I saw a darkness greater than earthly darkness. And there I perceived prisoners under guard, hanging up, waiting for the measureless judgement. And those angels have the appearence of darkness itself, more than earthly darkness. ... I said to the men who were with me, "Why are these ones being tormented unceasingly?" Those men answered me, "These are those who turned away from the Lord, who did not obey the Lord's commands but of their own will plotted together and turned away ...." (2 Enoch 7:1-3, trans. F.I. Andersen) Again, 2 Enoch emphasizes the sinful angels' willfulness. Here is also added the idea of darkness in punishment. On top of that, it was common to identify angels with stars (something popular religion may still do), and so the fallen angels are tied to falling stars. Thus all these popular stories fed on each other, and an allusion such as Jude used here might bring up a whole range of ideas from many versions of the tale. THE JUDGEMENT OF ALL Both books continue with involved stories about the final judgement and the rewards and punishment of both the angels and human beings. Jude (in verses 14-15) quotes directly from another part of 1 Enoch in which the final judgement is being described. The general wording resembles that used in Revelation for the simple reason that both books are apocalypses; there was a sort of "formula" of apocalyptic style which everyone used. And the earth shall be rent asunder; and all that is upon the earth shall perish. And there shall be a judgement upon all, (including) the righteous. And to all the righteous he shall grant peace. He will preserve the elect, and kindness shall be upon them. They shall all belong to God and they shall prosper and be blessed; and the light of God shall shine unto them. Behold, he will arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgement upon all. (1 Enoch 1:7-9, trans. E. Isaac) Notice how the verses preceding the quotation in Jude add to the emphasis on judgement of everyone. The versions quoted here are taken from James H. Charlesworth, editor, , volume 1, published by Doubleday in 1982. Peter Cardinal June, 1994 ####