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Epistles Part 7

 

Jude 12-13 Part 1

 

Epistles

 

E 07 Jude 12-13
January 8, 2017
Part 7

 

NKJ Jude 1:12-13
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Within these two verses are 5 comprehensive physical analogies, figures of expression which provide a lot of useful descriptive information into the truth of what the false teachers were like and what had really been going on in this church, all from God’s perspective.

NKJ Jude 1:12-13
These are
(1) spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.
They are
(2) clouds without water, carried about by the winds;
(3) late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
(4) raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame;
(5) wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

“These are (1) spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves…”

The word translated ‘spotsGreek for spotsis a figurative extension of meaning having two possible senses; namely, obvious “spots” as in blemishes and stains which ruin a garment; or “hidden dangers” as commonly used to describe the destructive presence of craggy rocks which are hidden beneath the water near the seashore, jagged reefs that are extremely dangerous to vessels passing by.

In this instance, ‘spots’ is better translated as “hidden or unseen threats,” a descriptive analogy of the self-serving false teachers whose minds were fueled by wholly egocentric passion for their own interests, and no concern whatsoever for the interest of others.

While they were like visible dirty stains on the social propriety and function of the fellowship meals, they moreover remained an unrecognized threat that was far more heinous and potentially destructive to the greater purpose of the love feasts than the church may have realized.

The Greek simply says “Greek for the agapes of you,” the agapes of you, and was a well-established reference to a sacred meal shared by the early Church, a special type of communal meal having particular significance for early Christians as a means to express their mutual affection and concern, a “fellowship meal” the purpose of which was to demonstrate sacrificial Christian love for one another as they all ate together and shared of what they had; not just food, but joy, encouragement, acceptance, faith, helpful information, insights, recognition, etc…

The meaning here is that at these feasts of sharing (agape feasts) the false teachers were undermining the whole purpose of these elaborate meals, as well as the faith and decent comportment of their fellow Christians who shared with others in a true spirit of koinonia, while the spies ate together unto themselves (middle-voice) expressing only their general selfishness and concern for their own interests.

They exhibited this divisive behavior fearlessly; that is, in a manner of attitude that was shamefully irreverent and disrespectful to others, to God, and to His purposes in all this.

The gathering was intended to provide a godly environment of graciousness where one could forget his own concerns for a time and give his attention to the concerns and interests that others might have.

Again, as the term implies, the overall purpose of “their agapes” was to promote true Christian-fellowship, koinonia.

Let’s turn our attention to thinking about the use of analogies, their construction and usefulness to teaching as demonstrated here by Jude in his address to the early church.

It is interesting to observe the level of sophistication of the author’s thinking at the time of this writing.

I doubt that most commentators do justice to crediting Jude’s ability in forming these 5 meaningful analogies.

By the way, do you realize that IQ tests are fundamentally the measure of an individual’s ability to perceive or recognize the logical relationships of difficult ratio associations; that is, the ratio relationship of one thing to another (this is to this).

The word ratio, means “to reason,” especially to reason using formal logic.

However, the use of formal logic does not provide a good measure of an individual’s native IQ, since formal logic can be learned.

Formal logic is the stuff of propositions and arguments, a realm where learned techniques and applied rules play a major role.

Which relationship figure below most closely matches the relationship of this figure:   Two balls one larger, one smaller, overlapping side by side

    a.two balls one smaller one larger facing left        b. a box and a ball facing left        c. two boxes one large one smaller facing right         d.two off sized triangles

Why?

So, what?

So, Jude was very intelligent and a good teacher.

He used the analogy and the ratio to get his points across to the church through the use of these figures of expression which provide a lot of useful and colorful descriptive information into the truth of what the false teachers were like and what had really been going on in this church, all from God’s perspective.

So, if we take a careful look at these ratios, we should get a clear understanding of what Jude is teaching.

What is the abstract, overarching purpose of ships?

Shipping

Now we can construct the familiar ratio:

un-avoided submerged rocky reefs/shipping

What is the abstract, overarching purpose of fellowship dinners?

Koinonia

So, the teaching lesson ratio:

self-serving behavior at fellowship dinners/koinonia

un-avoided submerged rocky reefs/shipping

                              as

self-serving behavior at fellowship dinners/koinonia

That is something to take home and think about.

____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN

Copyright January, 2017
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserved

 

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