Jude v1 - 4 (18th February 2011)

You can read the whole epistle here.

Here is the brief introduction to the epistle as provided for in the beginning of our discussion questions:-

Jude is a single chapter consisting of 25 verses. The author is the brother of the Lord (see Fleming, p. 42). While 2 Peter teaches believers to beware of and how to deal with false teachers, the teaching of Jude shows that the situation of the early Church had deteriorated since Peter wrote his second epistle. False teachers and heretics have become so entrenched that the church had become an apostate church (see Fleming, p. 41).

We only managed to cover verses 3 and 4.

In verse 3, we discussed what is needed to be done to contend for our faith. Our faith basically is our Christian beliefs and this is found in the Bible. As such, to contend for our faith, we should preserve the integrity and purity of the Christian faith. To do so, we must:-

1. Know the faith! How can we protect it if we do not know it well?

2. Recognise wrong teaching - this is connected with the first point.

3. Warn others about errors - we do not just recognise the wrong teaching but we should help others do the same.

In verse 4, we looked at who the false teachers are. They are godless men (as opposed to godly - see previous studies) and their lives are marked by immorality - lies, cheating, betrayals, adultery, fornication, stealing etc. They are only out for their own gain so we must be careful of who we listen to.

We also discussed how to prepare ourselves so as not to be misled by these false teachings. The conclusion was obvious and unanimous - we must study God's word!!!!

In this area, we all agreed that the short time spent during ahf is clearly NOT sufficient. We have to make time daily, not just for devotion but to study God's word.

Are we doing that? If not, then we should start. A simple way is to purchase some Bible study materials and do it on a daily basis. Let's pray for each other that we will spend time daily to study God's word, to know it and be able to recognise wrong teachings and warn others of it.