Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Jude Chapter 1
Metaphysically Interpreting Jude 1:1-4
1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 1:2Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
1:3Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. 1:4For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
October 10, 1937: Jude 1:1-4
How does one keep oneself in the love of God? Through keeping the thought of God in mind and devoting oneself to the needs of one’s fellow men.
How are mercy and peace and love multiplied to any one? Mercy is multiplied to the one who shows mercy to others in thought, word, and deed. Through remaining peaceful and peaceable even under stress one realizes greater peace. The same rule holds good as regards love.
Explain how one builds oneself upon faith. With faith in spiritual reality as a foundation, one builds up the superstructure of character and constrictive living day by day. Faith grows stronger only as it is acted upon.
July 27, 1941: Jude 1:3
What is the “faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints”? This is man's firm faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring him into the kingdom.
Metaphysically Interpreting Jude 1:5-16
1:5Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 1:6And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 1:7Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
1:8Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities. 1:9But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 1:10But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. 1:11Woe unto them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. 1:12These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 1:13Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved forever.
1:14And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 1:15to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 1:16These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.
Metaphysically Interpreting Jude 1:17-23
1:17But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 1:18That they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.1:19These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit. 1:20But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 1:21keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 1:22And on some have mercy, who are in doubt; 1:23and some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Metaphysically Interpreting Jude 1:24-25
1:24Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy, 1:25to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for evermore. Amen.
November 16, 1947: Jude 1:17-21,24-25
Can we also keep ourselves loving toward God? Yes, by loving godliness in others as well as expressing it ourselves habitually. To love “the things of God” is to love God.
On what foundation do we thus build ourselves up? On the faith that God is all good and that we as sons of God are fundamentally good and upright.
What is brought us by such a faith? An awareness of the “glory, majesty, dominion, and power” of the Christ life in us.
October 10, 1937: Jude 1:17-25
Interpret the various degrees of mercy that the believer is admonished to have toward others. To have mercy toward those who are in doubt means to refrain from judgment until the inquirer has his doubt solved. Those who are in danger of losing their faith are kept from doing so by the mercy that is manifest in instant action. Another form of mercy is founded in understanding of another's need of deliverance from sense consciousness.
What is “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ”? This is the loving-kindness and charity that we extend to others, when we are consciously one with the Christ.
What have we within us that guards us from stumbling? The clear vision and good judgment given us by the Christ Spirit of love and wisdom keep us from stumbling. To walk surely and easily we need to keep our thoughts stayed on both love and wisdom.
What thought is summed up in the closing verse of this lesson? The thought of complete absorption in spiritual life and power is uppermost in this verse, as in the first commandment “Glory, majesty, dominion and power” are terms of acknowledgement of absolute spiritual supremacy.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 12-16-2013
