any one receives also the epistle of Jude, let him consider what will follow from what is there said, And the angels who kept not their first estate," &c. Wherefore, notwithstanding in Origen's time some doubted of, or denied the authority of this epistle, he himself without hesitation quoted it as written by Jude, one of the Lord's brethren, consequently by an apostle. In the writings of Cyprian, who flourished about the year 284, no notice is taken of Jude's epistle. But it is quoted by the anonymous author against the Novatian heretic, who wrote about the year 255. However, he does not name Jude. His words are, "As it is written, Behold he cometh with ten thousands of his angels to execute judgment upon all; and what follows." He means the 14th and 15th verses of the epistle. Eusebius, who flourished about the year 315, hath mentioned Jude's epistle. See the passage in the Pref. to James, sect. 2. paragr. 2. From that passage it appears, that in the time of Eusebius Jude's epistle was generally received, though not by all. After the time of Eusebius, seven Catholic epistles were generally received by all Christians, Greeks and Latins. Jude's epistle therefore, as well as the rest, was received by Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Didymus of Alexandria, Jerome, Ruffin, the third council of Carthage, Augustine, Isiodore of Pelusium, Cyril of Alexandria, and others. But it was not received by the Syrians. Lardner adds, that he found this epistle oftener quoted by writers who lived about the time of Eusebius, than the epistle of James. Lucifer of Cagliari in Sardinia, about the year 354, hath quoted almost the whole of Jude's epistle. He quotes it expressly as written by the excellent apostle Jude, brother of the apostle James. Epiphanius, about the year 368, in his Heresy of the Gnostics, "cites the catholic epistle of the apostle Jude, brother of James and of the Lord, written by inspiration." Jerome, in his Catalogue of ecclesiastical writers, Art. Jude, says, "Jude the brother of James left a short epistle, which is one of the seven called Catholic. But, because of a quotation from a book of Enoch, which is apocryphal, it is rejected by many. However at length it hath obtained authority, and is reckoned among the Sacred Scriptures.". SECT. III.-Of the Persons to whom the Epistle of Jude was directed, and of the Time when it was written. I. ESTIUS and Witsius were of opinion that Jude wrote to Christians everywhere, but especially to the converted Jews.-Hammond thought this epistle was directed to Jewish Christians alone; and with a design to secure them against the errors of the Gnostics.-Benson also thought it was written to Jewish believers; especially to those of the western dispersion. For, according to him, Jude wrote to the very persons to whom Peter wrote his epistles. But I agree with Lardner in thinking, that the inscription of this letter leads us to believe, that it was written to all, without distinction, who had embraced the gospel. For it runs in this manner, ver. 1. To the sanctified by God the Father, and to the preserved by Jesus Christ, to the called.-3. Beloved, making all haste to write to you concerning the common salvation, I thought it necessary to write to you, exhorting you strenuously to contend for the faith formerly delivered to the saints.' The only reason which hath induced commentators to suppose that Jude wrote to the Jewish believers alone, is, that he makes use of arguments and examples taken from the sacred books of the Jews. But the apostle Paul followed the same course in writing to the Gentiles; and both apostles did so with propriety, not only because all who embraced the gospel acknowledged the authority of the Jewish scriptures, but because it was of the greatest importance to make the Gentiles sensible, that the gospel was consonant to the ancient revelation. II. Learned men, as Lardner observes, have differed in their opinion with respect to the time when Jude wrote his epistle. Mill hath fixed it to A. D. 90; for he saith, "It is certain this epistle was written after the death of Peter, but before the year 95, when the descendants of this Jude were suspected by Domitian, because they were of the family of David." See Pref. to Jude, sect. 1. paragr. 4. "For otherwise the suspicion would have reached to Jude himself, if he had been alive, as much as to his descendants."-But Dodwell, who is followed by Cave, is of opinion that Jude wrote his epistle soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the year 70, or in 71. L'Enfant and Beausobre thought it might be written between the years 70 and 75. Estius and Witsius supposed it was written in the latter part of the apostolical age, when Jude was very old, and when few or perhaps none of the apostles were alive but himself. Oecumenius, in his note on ver. 17. Beloved, remember ye the words which were before spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,' saith, "Jude means Peter in his second epistle, and Paul in almost all his epistles ;" and adds, "Hence it is evident that Jude wrote late after the decease of the apostles."-I agree with Oecumenius in thinking, that by the words before spoken by the apostles, Jude meant the words committed to writing; because it is not to be supposed that all, or even many of those into whose hands Jude's epistle might come, had heard the apostles preach. This epistle therefore was written when the writings of the apostles and evangelists were generally dispersed; that is to say, towards the end of the first age. -The same thing appears from ver. 3. I thought it necessary to write to you, exhorting you strenuously to contend for the faith formerly delivered to the saints:' for these expressions, I think, imply, that some considerable time had elapsed since the whole scheme of the Christian doctrine had been published to the world, and after the persons to whom Jude wrote had been instructed in it. Upon the whole, although the precise date of this epistle cannot be determined, it is highly probable that it was written in the latter part of the apostolical age; and not long before Jude's death. See however the following sect. paragr. 3. SECT. IV. Of the Occasion on which the Epistle of Jude was written. In the latter part of the apostolical age many false teachers had arisen, and were going about speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them, as St. Paul had foretold to the elders of Ephesus, Acts xx. 30. See Pref. to 1 John, sect. 3. In drawing disciples after them, these teachers had nothing in view but to increase their own gains, that they might have wherewithal to spend upon their lusts. For the first Christians having a great affection for their teachers, willingly and liberally contributed towards their maintenance. The false teachers therefore, to draw the vicious part of mankind after them, perverting Paul's doctrine of justification by faith without the works of law, resolved the whole of Christianity into the speculative belief and outward profession of the gospel. See Pref. to James, sect. 4. And, having thus cancelled the obligations of morality, they taught their disciples to live in all manner of licentiousness; and at the same time flattered them with the hope of the favour of God, and of obtaining eternal life. One of the perverse things which these corrupt teachers spake for the purpose of alluring the wicked was that God is so good that he will not punish men for indulging those natural appetites which he himself hath implanted in their nature, nor be displeased with them for committing a few sins which can do him no harm, but which are necessary to their present happiness. Wherefore, to shew the impiety and falsehood of that doctrine, and to secure the disciples from being seduced by it, the apostle Jude wrote this epistle, in which, by facts recorded in the Jewish scriptures, he proved, that as God had already punished the angels who sinned, notwithstanding their dignity, and the antediluvians notwithstanding their numbers, so he will at length most assuredly punish all obstinate sinners in the severest manner. Estius hath observed, that the subject of Jude's epistle is the same with that of Peter's second epistle; and hath accounted for the likeness of the two epistles by supposing, that Jude had read Peter's epistle before he wrote his own: and that he imitated it; in some places abridging Peter's sentiments, and in others enlarging upon them, and often using his very words. As an example, he mentions Jude, ver. 17, 18. where he thinks Jude copied 2 Pet. iii. 3. In this opinion Estius is followed by Benson, who, in his Pref. to Jude, sect. 3. thus writes: " Upon comparing the two epistles, it appears not only that St. Peter and St. Jude had translated some passages from the same ancient Hebrew author; (in this Benson follows Bishop Sherlock, Dissert. on 2 Pet.); but it seems highly probable that St. Jude had also seen and read the second epistle of St. Peter." But Lardner saith, Canon, vol. iii. p. 353. it seems very unlikely that St. Jude should write so similar an epistle if he had seen Peter's. In that case, St. Jude would not have thought it needful for him to write at all. If he had formed a design of writing, and had met with an epistle of one of the apostles very suitable to his own thoughts and intentions, I think he would have forbore to write. Indeed, the great agreement in subject and design between these two epistles, affords a strong argument that they were writ about the same time. As therefore I have placed the second epistle of St. Peter in the year 64, I am induced to place this epistle of St. Jude in the same year, or soon after, in 65 or 66. For there was exactly the same state of things in the Christian church, or in some part of it, when both these epistles were writ." Thus far Lardner. But I incline to be of their opinion, who, on account of the sameness both of sentiment and language found in the two epistles, think that Jude wrote his epistle after he had seen Peter's, and that he copied it in several passages. For the Spirit may have directed him to write on the same subject with Peter, and even in the words which Peter used, to give the greater authority to both epistles; and that the condemnation of the false teachers, and the exhortations which the two apostles addressed to the faithful in their time, might have the more weight with them, and with Christians in succeeding ages, when they found these things delivered by both, precisely in the same terms. View and Illustration of the Matters contained in the Epistle of Jude. AFTER inscribing his letter to all who were sanctified, and preserved, and called, Jude, after the example of his brethren apostles, gave to the faithful his apostolical benediction, ver. 1, 2.-Then told them that he judged it necessary, in the then state of the church, to exhort them strenuously to contend for the faith formerly delivered to the holy apostles and prophets, and by them to the disciples of Christ, ver. 3.--because certain ungodly men, under the mask of being inspired, had come in among the faithful, and, from the goodness of God in pardoning men's sins as published in the gospel, had inferred that God would not punish sinners; and, by thus perverting the mercy of God, had encouraged their disciples in all manner of lascivious practices. Moreover, when in danger of suffering for their faith, they had not scrupled to deny both God and Christ; vainly fancying that God would not punish them for so doing, ver. 4.-But, to shew how ill-founded the doctrine of these deceivers was, Jude put the faithful in mind, how God, having saved the people of Israel from Egypt, afterwards utterly destroyed the whole of them in the wilderness for their sin of unbelief, except Caleb and Joshua, ver. 5.-and, how he bound the rebellious angels with everlasting chains, under darkness, in order to their being punished at the judgment of the great day, ver. 6.-Moreover he told them, seeing the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha and of the neighbouring cities, who had given themselves up to unnatural lusts as the false teachers likewise did, are, in the punishment which was inflicted on them, set forth as an everlasting example of God's just indignation against such crimes, ver. 7.-so, in like manner, said he, these wicked teachers and their disciples shall assuredly be punished, who having lost all sense of virtue, defiled their bodies with unnatural lusts, and despised the office of magistrates, and reviled those who exercised it, because they punished them for their misdeeds, ver. 8.—With this insolence of the heretical teachers towards the heathen magistrates, the apostle contrasted the behaviour of the archangel Michael towards the devil. For, as the pro phet Zechariah informs us, that great and holy angel, when, contending with the devil who opposed him in his benevolent designs towards the Jews, he disputed about restoring the Jewish church and state, he did not attempt to revile even that apostate spirit, but said to him mildly, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan, ver. 9.-Whereas the wicked teachers who are now gone abroad, speak evil of magistrates, the origin and end of whose office they do not understand; and corrupt themselves by the only knowledge they possess, namely, that knowledge of the use of their body which is suggested to them by their natural appetites, and which they have in common with brute beasts, ver. 10.-The apostle, therefore, declared the misery which was awaiting these impious teachers, whose wickedness in slaying the souls of men by their false doctrine he compared to that of Cain, who slew his brother; and whose excessive love of money he compared to that of Balaam, who, to obtain the hire which Balak promised him, attempted to curse the Israelites contrary to his conscience; and whose miserable end, for opposing Christ and his apostles, he compared to that of Korah and his companions for opposing Moses and Aaron, ver. 11. These wicked teachers, the apostle told the faithful, were spots in their love-feasts, being guilty of gluttony and drunkenness; so that, even if they had taught true doctrine, they would have rendered it ineffectual by their bad example. For which reason he compared them to clouds without water, and to trees absolutely dead, ver. 12. And because by their wicked practices they disgraced themselves, he called them 'raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;' and meteors which were to be extinguished for ever, ver. 13.-Further, to terrify these wicked men, he declared, that Enoch prophesied, not to the antediluvians only, but to them also, when he said, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his holy angels, ver. 14.-to inflict condign punishment on all the ungodly, both for their impious speeches and for their wicked practices, ver. 15.-And that the faithful might be at no loss to know them, he mentioned it as a trait in their character, that they murmured against God, and complained of the unequal distribution of the good things of this life, as if their share of them was not proportioned to their merits; for they wished to indulge all their own lusts without restraint. And to persuade their disciples to supply them with money for that end, they spake in the most pompous manner in their own praise; and pretended to have the utmost respect for the rich, and flattered them with the hope of salvation, without any regard to their character and actions, ver. 16.-Now, that the success of these impostors might not occasion too much grief to the faith ful, Jude, by observing that their rise and progress had been foretold, insinuated that they were permitted in the church for wise purposes. But, beloved,' said he, ' remember the words which were before spoken by the apostles,' ver. 17.-How they foretold that, after the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth, scoffers were to arise in the church, who, ridiculing the holy precepts of the gospel, would follow the direction of their own ungodly lusts, ver. 18.—and at the same time would separate themselves from the real disciples of Christ, on pretence that they were ignorant of the true doctrine of the gospel, and void of the Spirit. Whereas they themselves were mere animal men, utterly deserted of the Spirit of God, ver. 19.-But the faithful, shunning to associate with these impostors, were to build one another firmly on their most holy faith, by pious conference. And by praying in their public assemblies with the Holy Spirit, which neither the false teachers nor their disciples could do, ver. 20.-they were to keep one another effectually in the love of God; because such prayers, dictated by the Spirit, would be an evidence to them of NEW TRANSLATION. VER. 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,' to them who are sanctified by God the Father, and to the preserved Br Jesus Christ,2 to the called ;3 2 May mercy, and peace, and love, be multiplied to you.' 3 Beloved, making all haste' to write to you concerning the common salvation,2 I thought it necessary to write to you, exhorting you strenuously to contend for the faith (ra) formerly delivered to the saints.6 God's presence in their assemblies; and, being conscious of their loving God, they would on good ground expect the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ exercised towards them in the pardon of their sins, accompanied with eternal life, ver. 21.-And as their love to God would lead them to attempt the reformation of those who erred, whether they were teachers or private Christians, the apostle desired them to make a distinction in their manner of treating them. They were to exercise compassion towards those who erred through ignorance and weakness; that is, they were to instruct and reclaim such by the gentle method of persuasion, ver. 22.-But the false teachers, who erred wilfully through corruption of heart, they were to save from destruction by the power of terror, reproving them sharply, and censuring them severely, that they might snatch them out of the fire of the wrath of God, which was ready to devour them. But in doing them this friendly office, they were to shun all familiarity with them, as carefully as they would shun touching a garment spotted by the flesh of a person who had a plague-sore, lest they should be infected by their vicious conversation, ver. 23. Having thus finished what he judged necessary for their instruction and direction, the apostle encouraged the faithful to persevere in the true doctrine and practice of the gospel, by a solemn ascription of praise to him who was both able and willing to keep them from falling into error, and to present them faultless in conduct at the day of judg ment, with exceeding joy to themselves, ver. 24.-even to the only wise God our Saviour, whose glory as God and Saviour will last through all ages. Then, to shew his firm persuasion of all the things which he had written, the apostle concluded his epistle, with an Amen, ver. 25. COMMENTARY. VER. 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them who are separated from the idolatrous world by their faith in the true God, the Father of all, and to them who are preserved by Jesus Christ from the corrupt practices of idolaters, and from the errors disseminated by false teachers, even to all the called seed of Abraham; 2 May pardon of sin, and happiness, temporal and eternal (see Rom. i. 7. note 4.), and love to God and man, abound to you. 3 Beloved, making all haste to write to you concerning the common salvation, instead of spending time in explaining the nature of that salvation, and shewing that it is common to Jews and Gentiles, or in proving any of the doctrines of the gospel, I thought it more necessary to write to you, exhorting you strenuously to contend for the faith formerly delivered to the holy prophets and apostles of Christ, and by them published to the world. Ver. 1.-1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.] -For the history of Jude, see Pref. sect. 1. and sect 2. where it is shewed, that by this designation Jude declared himself an apostle. Jude might have called himself the brother of Jesus Christ, rather than the brother of James. But he avoided that designation in the inscription of a letter which he wrote in the character of an apostle, to shew, that whatever respect as a man he might deserve on account of his relation to Christ, he derived no authority from it as an apostle, nor indeed claimed any. 2. The preserved by Jesus Christ.]-The preposition ", by which the Greek datives are governed, is often wanting, especially when it is expressed in a preceding clause, as in the present verse, where we have wave you. But in translating these da tives into English, it is generally necessary to supply the preposi tion, as I have done in translating zz Inσou Xeise To ThenMUVOIS, and to the preserved by Jesus Christ.' 3. To the called ]-This designation may denote those who are called to believe the gospel by the preaching of the word, and who, having obeyed that call, make an outward profession of the gospel; or it inay denote those who, on account of their possessing faith and holiness like Abraham, are called his seed. See Rom. viii. 30. note 1. Ver. 2. May mercy, and peace, and love, be multiplied to you.]-Estius saith, this is sancta et vere apostolica salutatio, a holy and truly apostolical salutation; and observeth, that from this, and the benedictions in the two epistles of Peter, we learn, that the bene. dictions in Paul's epistles are to be completed by adding the word multiplied. Ver. 3.-1. Beloved, making all haste.]-So are σoudy sv literally signifies. Jude, being informed of the assiduity, and perhaps the success, with which the false teachers were spreading their pernicious errors, found it necessary to write this letter to the faithful without delay. 2. To write to you concerning the common salvation.]-The salvation preached in the gospel is called common, because it belongs equally to all who believe-to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; to men of all nations and conditions. For the same reason Paul termed the belief of the gospel the common faith, Tit. i. 4. because an opportunity of believing it was afforded to all." 3. I thought it necessary to write to you, exhorting you strenu ously to contend.]-In the circumstances in which the faithful were when Jude wrote this letter, an exhortation to hold fast and maintain the true doctrine of the gospel, against the false teachers, was more necessary and profitable for the disciples than explications of the particular doctrines of the gospel.-By strenuously contending for the faith, the apostle did not mean contending for it with fire and sword; but their endeavouring, in the spirit of meekness and love, to establish the true doctrine of the gospel by arguments drawn, not only from the Jewish scriptures, but especially from the writings of the evangelists and apostles, which were all, or most of them, published when Jude wrote this letter.-In the saine manner they were strongly to oppose and confute the errors of the false teachers.-The word v. properly signifies to strive as in the Olympic games; that is, with their whole force. 4. For the faith.)-Here faith, by an usual metonymy, is put for the objects of faith; namely, the doctrines and precepts of the gospel; both being equally the objects of men's faith, and both being in the apostle's view when he wrote this, as is plain from the epistle itself. 5 Formerly.So I translate araž, because it is used in that 4 For certain men have come in privily," who long ago have been before-written to this very punishment; ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God to lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.6 JUDE. that is, under the mask of being inspired, who long ago, in what is written concerning the lascivious Sodomites, and the rebellious Is 4 For certain false teachers have come in to the church privily, raelites, have been foretold as to suffer this very punishment which I am going to describe; ungodly men, who, pretending that God is so good that he will not punish sinners, pervert the grace of our God, in pardoning sinners, to an encouragement to lasciviousness; and deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to avoid persecution. teachers, put you in remembrance, although ye formerly knew this, that the Lord having saved the people of Israel out of the land of 5 I will therefore, to prevent you from listening to these wicked Egypt, afterward destroyed them in the wilderness, because they did not believe his promises, and refused to go into Canaan, Numb. xiv. xxvi. Heb. iii. 18, 19. was originally allotted to them, but left their proper station, by in6 Also the angels who kept not their own office, the office which sense, ver. 5. and 1 Pet. iii. 20.-Estius and Beza adopt the common 6. Delivered to the saints.]-By the saints Jude means, the holy Ver. 4.-For certain men have come in.]-The ungodly teachers 2. Come in privily.-IIaesurav. Though the false teachers went about openly making disciples, they are said to have come in, or established themselves privily, because, under the pretence of teaching by inspiration, they rendered the faithful inattentive to the consequences of their pernicious doctrine. 3. Who long ago have been before-written.]-goyy TOUTO TO Xe. Jude means, that these wicked teachers had their punishment before-written, that is, foretold, in what is written concerning the wicked Sodomites and rebellious Israelites, whose crimes were the same with theirs; and whose punishment was not only a proof of God's resolution to punish sinners, but an example of the punishment which he will inflict on them.-Others think the apostle alludes here to the prophecy of Enoch, ver. 14. in which the utter destruction of the ungodly is foretold.-Others, that in the word eyyeμuvo there is an allusion to the ancient custom of writing laws on tables, which were hung up in public places, that the people might know the punishment annexed to the breaking of the laws. If this is the allusion, the apostle's meaning will be, that the wicked teachers of whom he is speaking were, by the divine law, condemned to severe punishment from the beginning. 4. To this very punishment.]-So xe signifies, Rom. xiii. 2. Jude not having mentioned any punishment hitherto, his meaning must be the very punishment he was going to describe; namely, the punishment inflicted on the wicked Sodomites.-The apostle, on this occasion, mentioned the punishment of the rebellious Israelites, and of the angels who sinned, and of the wicked Sodomites, not only to terrify the false teachers by shewing them the great ness and certainty of the punishment which awaited them, but to Inake the faithful sensible that, although wicked teachers are allow ed to enter and remain awhile in the church, for purposes known to God, they are to be destroyed both here and hereafter. 5. Ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God to lasciviousness.] The 'grace of God,' which these wicked teachers perverted to lasciviousness, may be either the goodness of God, which they af firmed to be so great that he will not punish man for any sin whatever; or it may be the gospel itself, called 'the grace of God,' Tit. ii. 11. For these ungodly men interpreted the gospel doctrine of justification by faith without the works of the law, in such a manner as to free believers from all obligation to obey the law of God; and taught them, that they might commit the worst actions without being liable to punishment, if they possesed faith; by which they 1. And denying the only Lord God, even our Lord Jesus Christ.' meant, the speculative belief and outward profession of the gospel. According to this translation one person only is spoken of here, 6. Denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.]-K τον μόνον δεσποτην Θεον και κυρίου ήμων Ιησουν Χρισου αρνούμενοι, This sentence may be translated various ways, all equally literal:namely, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the only Lord God. 2. 'Denying both the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' According to the translation two persons are distinctly spoken of, ing, I have adopted, not only because, according to it, two persons namely, the only Lord God, or God the Father, and our Lord Je sus Christ, his Son. 3. And denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' This, which is the translation in our English Bible, and which in sense is not different from the second renderare spoken of as denied, namely, the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, but because it represents Jude's sentiment as preprefixed only to Ovo ov, and not repeated before xvesov v cisely the same with John's, 1 Epist. ii. 22. He is the antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son. By declaring that those ungodly and xugiov, belong all to Jesus Christ. But the want of the article teachers denied both the Father and the Son, the apostle shewed to what a pitch of impiety they had proceeded. Because the article is Ιησούν Χρισον, Beza is of opinion that these epithets, δεσπότην, Θεον, is too slight a foundation to build so important a doctrine on. For in the following passages, John xvi. 3. Eph. v. 5. 1 Tim. v. 21. vi. 13. 2 Pet. i. 1, 2. God and Jesus Christ are mentioned jointly, with the article prefixed to one of them only. Yet every reader must be sensible that they are not one, but two distinct persons. Besides, Sons is a title not commonly given to Jesus Christ, whose proper Also they denied the Lord Jesus Christ, by denying that they were title is & xvgs. See, however, 2 Pet. ii. 1. note 3.-Jude's meaning in this passage is, that the ungodly teachers of whom he wrote, in order to avoid persecution, denied the only Lord and God of the universe, by acknowledging and worshipping the heathen deities. his disciples. after it, and by inserting the article before xogov, the whole clause Ver. 5.-1. I will therefore put you in remembrance, &c.]-On (Texx Ty souri) to the power and authority of the governor." hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness,3 unto the judgment of the great day.1 7 (s, Parkh.) As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities around them,' which in a manner like to these had habitually committed whoredom, and gone after other flesh, are set forth an example,1 having undergone the punishment of an eternal fire, 8 (Ομοιως μεν τοι, 294.) In like manner, indeed, these also SHALL BE PUNISHed.' Being cast into a deep sleep,2 they defile the flesh, and despise (nuguTnTa) government, and revile (das) dignities.3 truding into the offices and stations of the angels who were greater than they, God hath driven out of heaven, notwithstanding their numbers and power; and hath kept them, ever since, in everlasting chains of confinement under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day, to be punished. 7 Further, seeing Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities around them, which in a manner like to these wicked teachers had habitually committed whoredom and bestiality, are publicly set forth as an example of that terrible punishment which is to be inflicted on the ungodly after the general judgment; having from the immediate hand of God undergone the punishment of an eternal fire—a fire whose effects will remain while the world remains ; 8 In like manner, indeed, those ungodly men shall be punished with eternal fire. Being cast into a deep spiritual sleep through the intoxication of sin, they, under the pretence of Christian liberty and a superior illumination, defile their body, like the Sodomites, with libidinous practices, and despise every kind of government, and revile magistrates when they punish them for their lewd practices. 9 But how different was the conduct of Michael the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the restoration of the Jewish church and state by Joshua the high-priest, Zech. iii. 1. 9 (A) But Michael the archangel,' when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses,2 did not attempt to bring translation of this clause, viz. who kept not their first estate,' expresseth its meaning very well; but it is a paraphrase, and not a translation.-Hunt, in his Dissertation on the fall of man, saith, the office of the angels who sinned was to attend the visible manifestation of the divine presence in paradise, and to minister to mankind. But this is to be wise above what is written. See note 4. 2. But left their proper habitation.]-Oxтne denotes the place in which God appointed the angels who sinned to execute the offices and functions which he had assigned to them. According to Hunt, their habitation was this earth. It is of more importance to observe, that by saying, The angels kept not their own office, but left their proper habitation, the apostle insinuates that they at tempted to raise themselves to a higher station than that which God had allotted to them; consequently, that the sin for which they are to be punished was pride and rebellion. 3. He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness.] Everlasting chains is a metaphorical expression, which denotes a perpetual confinement, which it is no more in their power to escape from, than a man who is strongly bound with iron chains can break them. See the explication of the phrase under darkness, given 2 Pet. ii. 4. note 3. 4. Unto the judgment of the great day.]-This great day is else. where called the day of the Lord, and that day, emphatically. In our Lord's description of the general judgment, Matt. xxv. 41. he tells us, that the wicked are to depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' This implies that these wicked spirits are to be punished with the wicked of mankind. Hunt, in his Dissertation referred to in note 1. on this verse, saith, Upon the supposition that the fallen angels belong to our system, their punishment with the wicked of our species will appear the more congruous. If the angels who sinned were originally appointed to minister to mankind, as Hunt imagines, and were discontented with this earth in its paradisaical state as an habitation, the atmosphere which surrounds the earth in its present altered state, is very properly made the prison-house in which they are confined till the general judgment. Ver. 7-1. And the cities around them.]-These cities were Ad. mah and Zeboim The four are mentioned Deut. xxix. 23.-Zoar, the fifth city in the plain of Sodom, was spared at the request of Lot, for a place of refuge to him and his family. 2. Which in a manner like to these.] Τον όμοιον τούτοις τρόπον. I have followed our translators in completing the construction of this clause, by supplying the preposition Ta, which the sense likewise requires-like to these. The relative Tours, being mas culine, may refer to the ungodly teachers mentioned ver. 4.; or, though be a feminine word, yet, as it signifies the inhabitants of a city as well as the city itself, the relative Tours may very properly be in the masculine gender, to denote the inhabitants of the other cities of the plain. See Ess. iv. 64.-I make these observations, because some commentators suppose TOUTOS stands for the angels who left their proper habitation, as if their sin had been lewdness; which is a very false idea. 3. Had habitually committed whoredom.]-This is the literal sig. nification of the compound word xvsuara; because I increas es the signification of the word with which it is compounded. In the language of scripture, evEVELY signifies to commit any sort of whoredom or uncleanness, and among the rest sodomy. See 1 Cor. v. 1. note 1. and Parkhurst in voc. EXOVUOμ Estius saith the preposition in this compounded word denotes the Sodomites committing whoredom out of the order of nature. They committed the unnatural crime which hath taken its name from them. 4. Are set forth (y) an example.]-See 2 Pet. iii. 6. The burning of the cities of the plain being represented here as an example or type of that punishment by fire which at the general judgment God will inflict on the wicked, the consideration thereof should terrify the ungodly of every description, and bring them to repentance. For when God is about to punish them in that dreadful manner, will they be able to flee from him, or resist him? Ver. 8.-1 In like manner. indeed, these also shall be punished.] -I put a full point after the words xx ; and to finish the sentence, I supply the words shall be punished, from the end of the foregoing verse, with which this clause is connected in the sense, being the reddition to the clause in the beginning of ver. 7.—'026 Zodoμx *** Icμseex, 'Since, or as Sodom and Gomorrha are set forth as an example,' &c. ver. 8. μg MITO, 'in like manner certainly these also shall be punished.'-In the next clause of this 8th verse a new sentiment is introduced, which therefore should have been made the beginning of the verse. 2. Being cast into a deep sleep.]-This is the proper literal translation of the word #viv, as Beza hath shewed. Besides, in other passages of scripture, the wicked are represented as fast asleep. See Rom. xiii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 6. 3. And despise government, (see 2 Pet. ii. 10. note 2.), and revile dignities. Ens de Baxσonuovo, literally they revile glories, that is, those who possess the glory of the magistrate's office. This must be the meaning of dogs, as distinguished from xveтT, govern. ment. The Jews, fancying it sinful to obey the heathen magistrates, despised both them and their office. The ungodly teachers of whom Jude speaks carried the matter still farther; they reviled all magistrates whatever, as enemies to the natural liberty of mankind. Ver. 9.-1. But Michael the archangel.]-Michael is mentioned Dan. x. 13. 21. xii. 1. as standing up in defence of the children of Daniel's people. Because it is said, Rev. xii. 7. that Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels,' Estius conjectures that Michael is the chief or prince of all the angels. But this argument is not conclusive. Because the book of Daniel is the first sacred writing in which proper names are given to particular an. gels, some have fancied, that during the Babylonish captivity the Jews invented these names, or learned them from the Chaldeans. But this seems an unfounded conjecture. For the angel who ap peared to Zacharias, Luke i. 19. called himself Gabriel, which shews that that name was not of Chaldean invention. 2. When, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. In the passages of Daniel's prophecy quoted in the preceding note, Michael is spoken of as one of the chief angels who took care of the Israelites es a nation. He may therefore have been the angel of the Lord, before whom Joshua the high-priest is said, Zech. iii. 1. to have stood, Satan being at his right hand to resist him,' namely, in his design of restoring the Jewish church and state, called by Jude the body of Moses, just as the Christian church is called by Paul the body of Christ. Zechariah adds, 'And the Lord,' that is, the angel of the Lord, as is plain from ver. 1. 'said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee.' Le Clerc gives a different interpretation of this passage. By Satan in Zechariah's vision, and Acos in Jude's epistle, he understands Tatnai and Shetherboznai, the king of Persia's lieutenants, who opposed the restoration of Jerusalem, and who on that account might be called Satan, or the adversary of the Jews, in the same manner that Peter was called Satan by his Master for opposing his suffering at Jerusalem. According to this interpretation, Jude's meaning is, that the angel in Zechariah's vision brought no reviling accusation against the adversaries of the Jews, but reproved them with modesty on account of their being magistrates. This Jude mentioned to shew the ungodly teachers who reviled the Roman magistrates, that they were culpable in doing what the angels, who, as Peter, observeth 2 Ep. ii. II. are greater in power than they, did not attempt to do. Beza, Estius, Tillotson, and others, by the body of Moses, about which the devil contended with Michael, understand his dead body, which they suppose the devil contended should be buried publicly, on pretence of doing honour to Moses; but that his intention was to give the Israelites an opportunity of raising his body and worshipping it: That Michael, knowing this, rebuked the devil in the words mentioned by Jude; and to prevent the Israelites from committing idolatry, buried Moses's body so privately, that none of the Israelites ever knew where his sepulchre was. Vitringa, instead of the body of Moses, proposes to read the body of Joshua; but without any authority whatever. The first mentioned account of this |