Jude 4 4For certain people have snuck in, who were written long ago for this judgment, ungodly people, who change the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude now makes the threat to the faith clear. He does not hold back strong words but gets right the point with a strong warning about certain people. The problem was that the readers did not recognize the ungodly people in their midst because they had secretly snuck into the fellowship. These unnamed troublemakers had cloaked themselves as innocent and interested so that those in the church accepted them. They were wolves dressed like sheep. They were like the agitators of Galatians 2:4. These interlopers were hard to recognize, so Jude is helping his readers with setting the standard for proper belief and proper practice. Knowing the truth helps determine the false. The best way to notice them is to know and proclaim the true gospel. The full light will reveal the imperfections and distortions. Many other passages in the New Testament deal with false teachers and heresy that were growing in the first century. Much of the New Testament was written to correct these false teachings and to point to the truth about the gospel.
The problem with these people was that they distorted and turned away from the grace of God. The word for change (metatithentes) is also used in Galatians 1:6 for the Galatians who had deserted the gospel and were following the false teaching of legalism. Jude was dealing with a similar problem as Paul with people who did not understand the gospel of grace, but the problem was even worse. They were attracted to the gospel with its guarantee of eternal life, but they wanted to live like the world. Perhaps they thought that simply making a confession of faith in Jesus was enough for salvation. They made the theological error that claims once you are “saved,” you are eternally secure, and it does not matter how you live after that. They did not live out the grace of God in holiness and reverence. Paul dealt with a similar issue in Romans 6:1. They liked Jesus but would not make him Lord of their lives, which is a decision that always leads to change and the call to committed discipleship.
The doctrine of free grace is not an excuse for immorality or denying the sovereignty of Jesus. Genuine faith in Jesus will make a difference in how we live because it puts Jesus on the throne of our lives. If Jesus is truly our Lord, we will obey his commands and live as temples of the Holy Spirit. To call Jesus our Lord requires that we make him sovereign in all of who we are. This decision is a constant journey and commitment, lived out day by day. Any interpretation other than this is a distortion of the gospel as recorded in the New Testament. Jesus must be Lord of all or not Lord at all. It should be no surprise that those who distort the gospel will face judgment because the warning was already given long ago. Jude’s letter just reinforces what people should already have known.