God's Provision for God's Purposes by Robert Wurtz II

God's Provision for God's Purposes 

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)

The author in our passage is likely dealing with Gnostic influences that were attempting to corrupt the churches towards the latter part of the first century onwards. These men were essentially false prophets or teachers that were allowed of God to test the churches. In Deuteronomy 13:3ff God told Israel; for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Even at that time there were men ordained to the condemnation of telling lies in Israel, but again God told them; Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Notice how this commandment counteracts the influence of the false teacher.

Ye shall:

* walk after the LORD your God
* fear Him
* keep His commandments
* obey His voice
* serve Him
* cleave unto Him

Notice the subject is reiterated over and over; God, Him, and His. Not their own desires. Not the enticements of the false prophet or teacher. The allegiance must be to God alone. The false teacher, whether in Old Testament or New Testament is ordained to this role of 'testing' that allegiance.

Turning Into

Notice again our passage; there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. How could they do this? There is only one way. They have to subvert or undermine the former teachers and their doctrine. Paul writes to Timothy:

Of these things put [them] in remembrance, charging [them] before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, [but] to the subverting of the hearers.(2 Timothy 2:14)

The Greek word for subvert here is katastrophe. Looks familiar, yes? Consecration to Christ is destroyed by false teachers looking to prove some perverse thing by asserting some attained advantage. The Gnostics of the late first century and after did this by suggesting they possessed hidden knowledge (gnosis) or oral traditions that were 'supposed' to have been said by the apostles. The Rabbi's did the same thing, essentially, by claiming an oral law that interpreted the written law. In every case the pupil is made to somehow feel like the teacher is somehow authoritative because of their learning or knowledge. The Pharisaical, non-Hellenistic Jews claimed their knowledge of ancient Hebrew to advantage themselves over those that were familiar with the Septuagint (LXX). There is no new thing under the sun. Paul said, "I will not know the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power (dunamis)."

Crept in Unawares?

Notice our passage calls the men 'ungodly'. The passage reads literally; παρεισέδυσαν γάρ τινες ἄνθρωποι οἱ πάλαι προγεγραμμένοι εἰς τοῦτο τὸ κρῖμα, ἀσεβεῖς; and the word ἀσεβεῖς (asebes) means destitute of reverential awe towards God. There is no fear of the Lord before their eyes. No teacher is qualified in the churches of God, that does not fear God, no matter how popular they are, how many television stations they are on, how many books they have written, how large their church is, how many secular or theological degrees they have, what schools they attended, or what ordinations they possess. Our passage is as plain as anything. The false teacher lacks the fundamental thing; the FEAR OF THE LORD. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Without it, what more need we ask? Yet our passage tells us they crept in unawares. Amazing! If it can happen to them- it can happen to us. We must be sober and vigilant.