John 1:35-42

John's Disciples Follow Jesus

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"

39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see."

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).



Dig Deeper

Nicknames are a funny thing. They can be very intimate; they can tell us a lot about a person; they can endear us to those who call us a nickname. When I was in college, there was an upperclassmen on our basketball team who was not only the captain, he was the best player. I quickly discovered after just a day or two as a new player on the team that it was his team, no buts about it. One of the memorable things that he went about each year was to give a nickname to every person on the team. There was a catch, though. We younger players could not figure out when he decided to give someone a nickname. It seemed haphazard, with no rhyme or reason. Mind you, these weren't always the most creative nicknames, but that didn't matter. Getting a nickname from this guy meant a great deal to the younger players. During one game, I got a pass from a teammate and went up and dunked the ball over a defender. A few minutes later, we ran off the court for a timeout and our captain walked over, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "nice play Big Mike." This was huge because until you got a nickname, he only called people by their last name. There it was, he had given me my own nickname. It turned out that you earned a nickname by making a big play, which usually involved dunking on someone. The whole process of his giving nicknames, though, cemented his position of authority on the team, encouraged the younger players, and really made us feel closer to and appreciated by our leader.

There are many quick little scenes throughout the four Gospels where we get to see the wonderfully human side of Jesus. If we slow down and read these scenes and then think about the human reality of the Gospel accounts, we can begin to see why those around Jesus loved him so much and were so loyal to him. As John describes the beginning seeds of Jesus' ministry, this is one of those scenes. Jesus doesn't just woodenly walk around teaching and calling people to follow him intellectually. He creates bonds, build friendships, and shows people how to love one another. This is what is behind his deeply human and endearing act of giving Peter a nickname. In doing so, he establishes his authority and no doubt encouraged Peter. But in the end, what he really did, is create a lifelong friend, and show Peter exactly what the impact their friendship was going to have on Peter's life. Following this teacher was going to make Peter a whole lot more than just a disciple, it was going to make him a rock.

John tells us in 20:31 that the reason that he wrote this Gospel is so that people might read it and believe that Jesus is the son of God. One of the ways that John will demonstrate this is through the recurring theme of new creation. From the opening verse of this Gospel, John made it clear that this was going to be a creation event. The life of Christ was the means through which God would restore His original creation marred by sin. As John moved from the prologue, rich with creation language (terms like "beginning," "life," "light," and "darkness,") he will carefully open his narrative with seven days; the days of the new creation. The first day was John's testimony regarding Jesus (1:19-28), the second was John's encounter with Jesus (1:29-54), and this is the third day.

On this third day of the dawning of the new creation account, John sees Jesus coming once again. Once again he announces that Jesus is the Lamb of God. The true measure of a godly man is his genuine humility, and John is clearly infused with that. This great man doesn't hesitate to point his own followers to a greater man. He is not trying to build his own little castle, but point to the coming of the kingdom of God. We should note that not only was John a great prophet, full of humility, but was apparently a great teacher as well. He had taught his disciples that the true purpose of his ministry was to point to the one that would come. The two disciples (we are told in verse 40 that one is Andrew while presumably the other is John, the beloved disciple) listening to John the Immerser that day had learned well. As soon as John pointed out that the Lamb of God was with them, they knew what to do and immediately began to follow him. This should be instructive to Christians today who usually, at one time or another, have to leave behind our old traditions and religious associations to truly follow the Messiah, just as surely as the Immerser's two disciples did that day.

As they begin to follow Jesus, he turns and asks what they want (it's hard to imagine that as Jesus says to them, "what do you want?" John doesn't mean for his readers to consider that question for ourselves). He hasn't really called them yet so much as they have followed him. He asks them what they want to which they don't really have a a good answer, so they ask him where he is staying, addressing him with the term "Rabbi" (which John has kindly translated for his non-Jewish readers informing us that Rabbi means teacher), a term of respect in that time that had not yet fully become the technical and formal term that it would a century later. They have been waiting and looking for him and, perhaps a little to their surprise, they find that Jesus has been looking for them. If they want to know where he is staying then all they need to do is to follow him, just like their teacher John had prepared them to do.

As they arrive where Jesus was staying, it was already about four in the afternoon. In the first century, people generally did not move around too often after sundown, so when the author tells us that they spent the day with him, the implication is that that went where Jesus was staying and then spent the night there with him.

Whatever they talked about must have been quite enlightening for Andrew and the anonymous disciple (probably John, as mentioned above) because as soon as he got up in the morning, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him. Everything that they had been waiting for was not in vain, the Messiah was here (again, John puts the Aramaic "Messiah" into the Greek "Christ" for his readers).

Andrew wastes no time in bringing his brother Simon to see the newly found Messiah. It is noteworthy that Andrew is mentioned three times in the Gospel of John and every single time he is shown to be bringing someone to meet Jesus (cf. 6:8; 12:22). When Jesus meets the young, brash fisherman that everyone knew as Simon, brother of Andrew, son of John, he gives him a new name. Jesus looked square at Peter in the eye and told him that he would be called Cephas (John once again translates for his readers telling us that in Greek the name is "Petros," or as we have it in English, "Peter"). In that nickname, Jesus has not described who Peter is. Surely a quick glance at the other Gospels shows us that as well-meaning as Peter was, he wasn't yet the most reliable of sorts, certainly not the kind of guy you would choose as a leader in a new religious movement. No, Jesus is not describing Peter as he is, but as he would be under the transforming power of walking with Jesus. He would become "the rock," which is what "Cephas" means. In the Old Testament, God usually changed someone's name to specify a new calling (Abram to Abraham; Jacob to Israel) and also to demonstrate authority over an individual (2 Ki. 23:34; 24:17). Jesus accomplishes both of those things as well as telling everyone around exactly who Peter was going to be in Christ.

As we quickly consider this calling of Andrew, John, and Peter we immediately note that there appear to be some differences with the accounts of Jesus calling his disciples in the other Gospels (cf. 4:18-22; 9:9; mark 1:16-20; 2:13-14; Luke 5:1-11, 27-28). It seems that the disciples go with Jesus immediately, and from the start understand that he is the Messiah in John's version, but follow Jesus at a later point and consistently fail to understand his true identity. Are we dealing with divergent accounts that contradict? Not at all. The difference lies in that John seems to be describing the call to general discipleship that took place first while the other Gospels are describing Jesus' climactic call to special discipleship, apostleship if you will. In fact, the encounters that John has given here help to paint the background to the dramatic decision by the disciple stop, drop everything, and follow Jesus. John's account helps us to understand the account of the other Gospels and, quite frankly, makes their accounts more understandable and more plausible. As for the fact that John describes that they believed Jesus was the Messiah right away while the other Gospels consistently describe the failure of the disciples to understand who Jesus was, again we have no contradiction. They may have known or believed from the beginning that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, but, as the other Gospels make clear, they had no idea what that really meant. They were in for a three-year journey of transforming their thinking about who the Messiah was and what God was doing. As we approach the remainder of the Gospel of John, let's try to approach it with the same open mind, willingness to learn, and realization that we have



Devotional Thought

Have you let Jesus rename and redefine you? You have a birth name, but have you ever embraced the new name that he has given each one of us?: Christian. Let the name Christian truly define who you are and see what Jesus has in mind for you to become.

John 1:29-34

John's Testimony About Jesus

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One."



Dig Deeper

Have you ever seen someone intentionally lose a race? I have. And it was at an important track meet no less. Most athletes train and compete in order to win, so why would someone intentionally lose a race? As crazy as it sounds, it happens all of the time. Usually in a middle distance or longer distance race, you will see someone break out into the lead and run at a pretty good clip for a few laps. Then, suddenly, they will pull up and go to the back, and oftentimes will even stop altogether and step off of the track, quitting the race. Why would they do such a thing? The fact is that many runners will enter a race with every intention of losing. Their purpose is not to win. Their purpose is to set a pace for the race that is comfortable for another runner on their team so that that person can win the race. Once they have set the pace for the appropriate time they will pull out of the race. Their sole purpose is to assist and set things up for the other runner, it is not about themselves.

John the Immerser certainly wasn't a pace-setter but he does share some things in common with them. John came with a distinct purpose that had nothing to do with winning anything, being anything of any lasting importance, or being about himself at all. He had a distinct job, a specific vocation. In fact, he was so consistently willing to point away from himself that it, at times, confused even his own followers and disciples. But John never wavered. He was not the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet. He was a voice, just a simple voice, whose job it was to prepare people for the one to come. Once he had completed that job he would pull up and exit the race. After all, once a pace-setter has done his job, he doesn't need to stay in the race anymore, it's time for the primary runner to take over. For John, that time hasn't quite come yet, but he certainly understands that it is coming and that even now, at the height of his career, it isn't about him, it's about the one that is about to take over.

The day after being grilled about just exactly who he was and what he was up to, John looks up and sees Jesus coming. The beloved disciple who has authored this book, doesn't take the time time to describe the baptism of Jesus by John the Immerser. Like many other scenes in Jesus life that are described in the other Gospels, he seems to assume that his readers will already be quite familiar with those stories, so he merely alludes to them. We can probably, then, conclude that John knew of the other Gospels and meant this account to complement them and explain other aspects of Jesus' ministry. John knows that his role is to point to another, but he didn't always know who. Imagine having the faith that John did to begin his ministry, calling Israel to repent and get ready for the coming of the Messiah, when he didn't even know who that Messiah was. As he sees him approaching on this day, however, he now knows that Jesus is the one and he is more than happy to begin the process in which he will step aside, having completed his vocation of making things ready for God's Messiah.

As Jesus approaches, John boldly declares that he is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is a statement pregnant with imagery, allusions, and meaning. There were many common allusions to lamb imagery at the time of Jesus and John probably intends all of them in his statement. The Lamb refers, no doubt (and as we go on we will see that the Gospel writer clearly has this meaning in mind throughout his book but will come to a head in 19:36) to the Passover Lamb. Through the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, the people were saved, and this is no doubt what the ultimate Passover Lamb will do. John also likely intends for his hearers to hear echoes of the lamb that was led to slaughter in Isaiah 53:7. Certainly John's reference would have brought to mind the lamb of the daily sacrifices. This lamb was offered every morning and evening in the Temple. Finally, it probably reminded hearers of the lamb of Genesis 22:8.

Each of the previously mentioned lambs had a different function or symbolism attached to it but this Lamb would embody all of those things. He would take away the sin of the world. Whatever the different aspects of lambs were in ancient Jewish thought, they were primarily thought of as the animal who was sacrificed in place of sins. This is God's Lamb, though, the one that He has provided to bear the consequences and deal with the problem of sin for the whole world, not just Israel.

This is the one that John has been talking about all along. The purpose of his ministry was not to draw followers to himself but to point to God's Lamb. John acknowledges that he did not know immediately who this man was. He had been searching and waiting but he did not know him. We should not take this to mean that John and Jesus had never meant. The Gospel of Luke makes clear that John and Jesus were cousins and that their mothers knew each other well. That doesn't guarantee that they knew one another but it does make it likely. Have you ever spent significant time looking for your keys, only to find that they were in your pocket the whole time? Sometimes the very thing we're looking for is right under our nose. John was waiting and looking for the Messiah, the Lamb of God and it turns out to be his cousin. Even before he knew for sure who the Messiah was, though, John was busy with his vocation. This should be instructive to those of us who want to know exactly what God has in store for us before we go about doing His business or acting on faith. John did not even know to whom he was pointing, but began pointing anyway.

John is clear, as the other Gospels bear witness, that his baptism pointed people towards repentance and forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4; Lk. 3:3). Here though, John informs us that although that was the result of his baptizing, it was not the reason. He began his ministry of calling the people of Israel to return to God so that the Messiah could be revealed. Part of God's plan was that there would be a forerunner to the Messiah and John knew his job well.

John didn't know that Jesus was the promised one because someone had told him that or because he just figured it out, but he can bear testimony to his identity because he saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. The Jews, of course, understood that heaven was the realm of God's presence, while earth was the dimension of human existence. Thus, he is saying that the Spirit broke into the realm of the physical universe in the form of a dove (we are not told whether it was a literal dove or simply looked like one). The dove was not a common Old Testament symbol for the Spirit, but it was an occasional symbol for Israel. It is possible then, and quite in keeping with one of the themes that will become common in John's Gospel, that Jesus is being set out as the true Israel as he receives the Spirit. In the Old Testament it was not unheard of for people to have the Spirit come upon them to complete a specific task but in Jesus' case, the Spirit came upon him and remained on him. Although this was perhaps not an expected thing to happen to the Messiah it would not have been completely shocking as it was often prophesied that the messianic age would involve the renewal of God's people through the activity of the Spirit (Isa. 32:15; Ezek. 36:26-27; 37:14). The sign of the Spirit coming down and remaining on someone was the very sign that John had been given by God to be able to recognize the one that was to come. John doesn't give us the details of how God told him and what precisely He did tell him when God gave John the clues as to how he could recognize the Messiah, but the fact is that John's knowledge of Jesus as the Lamb of God came from God, not man.

John administered a baptism which would reveal the true Messiah, a baptism which would foreshadow and point to the true baptism of the Messiah. The Messiah would also baptize, but not just symbolically. He would baptize people into his own life and dispense the Holy Spirit, keeping the Old Testament prediction that God would renew His people by pouring out His Spirit (Isa. 32:15; 44:3; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-32).

John saw and boldly bears witness to the fact that this is God's Chosen One. In using this language, John connects his testimony concerning to Jesus to Isaiah 42:1 which says, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him." Jesus is the Chosen One and now that he is on the scene, John is about to step off the track and let him take center stage.



Devotional Thought

John had a vocation from God to go into the wilderness and preach about and point to the coming of the Messiah, yet he did not even knew who the Messiah was. Do you have that kind of faith? Are you willing to begin to serve God and do His will in your workplace, neighborhood, etc., when you're not even sure of exactly what He has in mind for you to do? Many of us want to know precisely what God's will for our lives is, but oftentimes God won't reveal the full extent of that will until we begin to walk boldly down the path that He has laid out for us.

John 1:19-28

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah."

21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"

He said, "I am not."

"Are you the Prophet?"

He answered, "No."

22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

26 "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.



Dig Deeper

When I was still in high school, I wanted to become more active in my community, so my parents allowed me to begin to volunteer at a local political campaign office. Most of the things I did there were to assist the campaigns of local politicians who were running for small offices like clerk of courts. The campaign office was also responsible for the national presidential election at the time but I didn't do much for that except for delivering a few yard signs for people. One day, though, we were informed that the son of the man running for president of the United States was coming into our town to give a speech for his father. I was assigned the job of going down to where he was arriving and escort him back to the campaign office so he could be taken on to where he was speaking. The problem was, I had no idea at the time who this son was. All I knew back in 1988, was that his name was the same as his father's who was running for president. Because I was expecting him but didn't know who he was, I was preparing to have to ask some questions when I got down there to determine who he was. As it turned out, some older ladies who were connected with the campaign office came and relieved me before he got there because they wanted the prestige of escorting him, but I realized then that when you're expecting someone and don't know who they are, the only way to get around that is to ask questions.

Early first century Israel was full of Messianic expectations. Nearly all of the different groups and factions in Israel at the time were waiting for God's Messiah to come rescue His people. They didn't all agree on what exactly the Messiah would be or what he would accomplish, there was no one common expectation, but virtually everyone believed that they were living in the time when the Messiah would indeed come. When news reached the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, then, that there was someone creating quite a ruckus out in the wilderness around the Jordan river, their ears no doubt perked up. They needed to know who this guy was, what he was doing, and did he think of himself as the Messiah. Of course the best way to determine if he was the one they were waiting for would be to go ask questions.

There were some disturbing things for the Jewish leadership about this man known as John the Immerser (the word translated "baptist" or "baptize" actually means "to immerse," so when people spoke of John the Baptist in the first century, they would have heard "John the Immerser"). Perhaps the most troubling aspect of his ministry was why he was out in the wilderness baptizing Jews. Up to that point, ceremonial washings were used in Judaism for non-Jewish converts to demonstrate the cleansing that they were undergoing in becoming Jewish. This why it would have been puzzling, even troubling that John was baptizing Jews. They were already God's chosen people, set apart to be holy. Why, then, would he be calling them to undergo a baptism? Of course, that was the whole point for John. They weren't God's holy people. They had abandoned God's way long ago, but now the Messiah was coming and they needed to get ready for that. They needed to repent and turn to God's ways and His will so that they would be prepared for what the Messiah was going to do.

The Jewish leaders didn't understand all of that when they went out to question John, though. The major question on their mind was whether John was the Messiah. He was certainly attracting a great deal of attention from people all over Israel. This in itself was dangerous because Messianic movements that caught the attention of the people might become dangerous if rebelling against Rome became one of their ideals. The Jewish leadership didn't want to risk anything like that, so they needed to know quickly, exactly who John thought he was and what he was doing.

John the evangelist, the author of this gospel, gives us something akin to a court scene, with the priests and Levites, as well as some Pharisees who went along with them (as verse 24 would make it seem), questioning John, who seems somewhat uncomfortable with the whole process. They get right to the point with their first question. Is John the Messiah? They probably didn't ask that question actually thinking that he was, but were more interested in knowing if he thought he was. John leaves no wiggle room for misunderstanding as he replied, "I am not the Messiah." He was not, after all, doing any sort of Messianic things.

This leads to the next question, then, which is somewhat of a natural progression. If he's not the Messiah, then who he is. He's still doing some rather unusual and remarkable things. He's doing things that seem more like a prophet, and we should not underestimate the power and impact of his ministry which Jesus said was not surpassed by any other prophet (Matt. 11:11). There was a common expectation that Elijah would come before the Messiah based on passages like Malachi 4:5. Because Elijah had never died (2 Ki. 2:11), many Jews expected for Elijah himself to return and introduce the Messiah. To add to those expectations, John seemed to have the demeanor of prophet like Elijah with his rugged and harsh lifestyle (cf. Matt. 3:4; 2 Ki. 1:8). The leaders want to know if John is Elijah. His answer leaves us with a bit of a mystery. John says clearly that he is not Elijah, but Jesus said that he was Elijah (Matt. 11:14; 17:12; Mark 9:13). How can we harmonize these two statements without seeing a contradiction? It's actually rather simple. In one sense he was Elijah and in another sense he was not. John denied literally being the incarnation of Elijah. He doesn't want anyone thinking anything like that. He is nothing special and he wants everyone to know it. Jesus' point though, was that John's ministry was the typological and prophetical fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy and so could rightly call him an Elijah. It seems, actually, that Jesus understood who John was and his situation even a little better than John did.

The questioning continues down the same path. If John is not Elijah, then is he the prophet? That there would be a prophet raised up by God that was like Moses but even greater than Moses, was predicted by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18. With each question, John's answers get shorter and more terse, and we can almost imagine him becoming quite tired with this entire line of questioning because it is focusing on him and that is not what his vocation is all about. He is to be a witness to another not be the focal point. Is he the prophet? A simple "no" is all they get this time.

Growing frustrated from his repeated denials, and no doubt, being driven by a realization that they needed to take some answers back to Jerusalem, the questioners ask John to tell them who he is then. John's answer is classic and in keeping with his vocation in that he takes all of the focus off of himself and puts it back on the coming Messiah. He is not the Word, but is simply a voice. In fact, he is, he believes, the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. He is the one telling everyone that they need to prepare for the coming of the Lord. In Isaiah 40:8, it goes on to declare that people, like grass, wither and fade but the word of God endures forever. John, the Apostle, wants his readers to make the connection between Isaiah 40 and what he has said about the Messiah in the prologue. The enduring Word of the Lord has come and John's role is to announce that and tell people to clear the paths of their heart to prepare themselves for what he is going to say and do.

The Pharisees seem to miss the thrust of John's answer and are more concerned with why he is out here baptizing Jews then if he is not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet. John again throws the focus back to the Messiah. The real question is not who he is or what he's doing, but with who he is pointing to. That one, John says, is one of whom he is not even worthy to untie his sandals. Disciples of rabbis in the first century were expected to perform "all manner of service that a slave must render to his master . . . except that of taking off his shoe" (Rabbi Joshua b. Levi, c. 250 AD reflecting a long-standing tradition). John's point is that the coming Messiah is so beyond anything anyone has ever known, it's not that John wouldn't demean himself to take off his shoes. Quite the opposite. He's not worthy to perform the most menial of tasks. John isn't the light, he's simply giving testimony to the light (1:8). To put it in modern terms, these leaders of Israel came to see if John was the ambulance that they had all been waiting for, or at least though he was, but what John tells them is shocking. He's not the vehicle, he's simply the sound of the siren that one can hear long before they can see the ambulance himself. God's anointed one is coming and they had better be prepared.



Devotional Thought

John's humility is amazing. He was constantly willing and adamant about pushing himself to the back so that the proper spotlight could be focused on Jesus. This is a constant reminder for those of us who teach, preach, or lead in any capacity in the Christian community. Our role, like John's is to exalt Christ not ourselves, our own egos, or our own agendas. This can be quite a challenge sometimes, but it is our vocation. Do you constantly seek to exalt the cause of Christ and push your importance into the background like John did?

John 1:10-18

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, "This is he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' ") 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.



Dig Deeper

The annals of war are filled with leaders and generals who have led their men from a distance. They issue orders from the back and stay in comfortable lodging while their men fight the battles and stay in tents or other uncomfortable temporary housing. Generals like these can definitely be effective but they are rarely loved. It is the generals who go beyond those expectations and norms that are loved by their men. In 2 Samuel 11, we are given a sketch of just such a leader, Uriah the Hittite. David was back in his palace seeking after his own lusts and tries to entice Uriah back into town so that David's sin of adultery might not be noticed. He couldn't get Uriah to agree to it, however. When offered, for instance, to come home and be with his beautiful wife, Uriah replied that he could not do such a thing while his men were out in the field. This was truly a leader that was present in spirit with his men at all times. The generals that are loved are those who wait to eat until every single soldier under him has eaten; the general who waits to go sleep until all of his men are asleep; the general who spurns the comforts that would normally be given to a man of his stature and opts to stay in the same type of tent that his men are in.

That is precisely what made YHWH, the God of the Israelites so different from all of the other supposed gods. He wasn't distant; He wasn't unknown. He tabernacled in the presence of His own people. He went where they went and was with them through every circumstance, providing and caring for them. They knew His presence and could count on it. As they continued to reject Him, however, that presence lessened until it became virtually gone by the time of the minor prophets.

It is into this reality that John drops an incredible revelation. God did not stay distant like so many human leaders. He came as close to His people as He possibly could by becoming flesh. God was not a remote God, He tabernacled among His people in the most humble and intimate way possible. He came among them and became one of them.

He was in the world, the very world that was made through him. It's difficult for us to understand the humility that it would take to enter into a world that you had created as a normal human being with no special privileges. The closest thing I can think of is if a parent could suddenly become young again and enter into their own household as a child the same age as their own children. How would they be treated, especially if their kids didn't know that this new child was really their parent? That's exactly what John says took place when the Word entered into the creation that had been made through him. The world did not recognize him. There is, of course, a bit of clear irony that the very world that was created though the Word did not recognize him when he came to them in the flesh. The fact that they did not recognize him, though, was a sad bit of evidence of their estrangement from him and the will of God. It's a simple fact of human existence, we don't recognize what we don't know.

If the fact that the very world that the Word brought about rejected him is ironic, then the fact that he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him, is bitterly ironic. Israel's very purpose was to be the people through whom the Messiah would come. It was the way that God would use them to put the world to rights. And now he was here, but they were rejecting the very purpose for their existence because they had other ideas of how God should have been working. It would be like the 2008 U.S. Men's Olympic basketball team that was put together to win a gold medal, refusing to get their gold medals because they had something else in mind for the winners. This should serve as instructive for us, though, because it is dangerously easy for us to do similar things. We can pray for God to do something in our lives, for instance, and then reject or fail to recognize His answer to that very prayer because it's not quite what we had in mind.

Yet, John offers a bit of hope and demonstrates that the ultimate purpose of his gospel is missional. All is not lost. He makes clear in 20:31 that he has written this gospel so "that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." In verse 12, John offers perhaps the climax of this entire prologue, as well as the thesis statement for the entire gospel. There are some who will receive him. The concept of someone's name in the ancient world went far beyond just being a title or something to call someone by. When the Jews of John's day spoke of someone's "name," they spoke of their authority, their character, in short, their life. So, when John says to all who believed in his name, he is referring to those who recognized that this was the one, true human being through whom God would restore His creation. Those who trusted in the life of Christ rather than their own are given the right to become children of God. These children are not born through normal human procreation, or through human decision (literally, "will of the flesh," meaning sexual desire or activity), nor of the husband's choice (who represented the family as the traditional leader of the family). In other words, birth into this family does not come about by any normal human means at all. John is not removing human choice from the equation of salvation, but is saying that this is a completely spiritual endeavor, one that could not be accomplished by humans through normal means.

It could only have come about by the Word becoming flesh. The Word, who was no less than God, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. In using the term "flesh" rather than "man" or "body," John counteracts groups at the time like the Docetists who were willing to concede that Jesus may have been the Christ but denied that there was any reality to his being human; it only seemed that way. John gives no such wiggle room. He is just as clear on the humanity of the Word as he is his deity. God did become flesh and lived among us. John literally uses a term that means that the Word "tabernacled" among us. This brings to mind God's presence in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Just as God came close His people then, the Word has come even closer. He has become flesh for the sake of his people.

The Word is certainly divine, John makes no mistake about that, but he again confirms his distinction from the Father as he denotes the distinguishing difference between the Father and Son. The Word is the glory of the one and only Son, but he is not indistinguishable from the Father. The somewhat controversial nature of The Word being referred to as the one and only Son of God should not be missed. In the Old Testament, either Israel or David (as Israel's representative) were the firstborn of God (Exod. 4:22; Ps. 89:27). By calling the Word the only Son, John is making another claim that serves as one of themes of his gospel; Jesus Christ came to replace Israel as the true representative of God, His only son (nowhere will this be more obvious than in 15:1 when Jesus takes one . He came from the Father, full of grace and truth, two primary characteristics of the Father. Grace is the unmerited favor that causes joy, a favorite word of the early church, and truth was a concept so closely connected with God, that Jesus could actually say in 14:6 that "I am . . . the truth."

Having connected the Word to the activities of God in the Old Testament as He tabernacled among His people, John will accomplish two important things in the concluding four verses of his prologue. He will show that the revelation of the Word is superior to the revelation of the Old Covenant under Moses, and he will, for the first time, clearly state that the man Jesus Christ is the Word of whom he has been so eloquently speaking.

John, generally considered the last of the prophets in the line of Moses, testified concerning the Son. He was the one who all of history had been pointing. He came after John, which in their culture would have indicated subservience to the older man, but in this case he surpassed John because he was before John, existing eternally. Because of his fullness we have all received new grace that has come on top of the grace given through Moses and the law. The law merely pointed to the grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ.

In verse 18, John brings the prologue to a close, connecting it closely with his statements in verse 1. There the Word was God and was with God. Here the one and only Son is surely himself God and is with God in the closest relationship possible. The Son has made the Father known. In other words, if you want to know the Father and see the Father, then all you have to do is to stare at the Son.



Devotional Thought

God became flesh and tabernacled among the world that had rejected Him. He could not get any closer or get anymore involved in His creation in a more humble way than He did in Jesus Christ. Are you willing to get involved in difficult situations personally and help others out? Are you willing to spend the time, effort, and exercise the humility necessary to get truly involved in places that have rejected or failed to recognize God? God was willing to do that and He calls His sons and daughters in Christ to no less.

John 1:1-9

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.


6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.



Dig Deeper

It seems like everywhere we turn these days, we see the idea of "karma" being put forth. Karma certainly has it's roots in Eastern religions, but it has moved well beyond that these days, with everyone seemingly giving their own spin to what the concept of karma is or what it means. If we were to boil it down to it's most simplistic and most universal roots, karma means something along the lines of a state of equilibrium that is present in the universe ensuring that justice will be done in the long run (kind of a what comes around goes around mentality). This concept has so deeply infiltrated our culture that there is even a television show named "My Name is Earl" (admittedly I have never seen the show but I have seen commercials and have read about it), whose entire premise has to do with a previously shady character going about trying to set things right from his past so that he can achieve good karma.

Most of us have a basic understanding of what karma is, and those who are truly familiar with the concept know that it is decidedly not Christian or biblical in it's popular understanding. What if I took the idea of karma, however, to preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ? What if I took the underlying idea that there must be something or someone that ensures that divine justice take place in the universe eventually, and applied that to Jesus? What if I made a statement that Jesus Christ was the true karma, and that only within him, in his life, can true karma ever take place? What if I boldly declared that real karma can be found in the living, breathing, person of Jesus Christ alone?

This may sound shocking but this is something of what John has done in the opening passage of his gospel. What is translated as "the Word" throughout his book is actually the Greek word logos. Logos was a well-known and much-discussed topic of religion and philosophy in the Greco-Roman world. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus used the word logos, which can simply mean "word" or "explanation," as a specific term that referred to the ordering principle of the universe. Later, the Stoics taught that logos permeated the universe and gave rationality and an order to all things. Greek philosophers argued that the logos within humans enabled them to move in harmony with the logos of the universe. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher, wrote that "The Logos is designed to distinguish the beneficial from the harmful, and thus also the right and the wrong. . . Man. . . alone has the ability to perceive good and bad and right and wrong [because only man can possess the Logos]." It is into this philosophical discussion that John steps and blows it all up with the controversial assertion that the logos, in a sense was a correct philosophy, but only in as much as people understood that Jesus Christ was the embodiment and the existence of the logos. The logos is not just some abstract principle, but a living breathing human (although he's more than that as well), and John is going to show us exactly who he is. He is the ordering principle of the entire universe and everything in it.

John opens his Gospel with an incredibly, almost poetic introduction that goes beyond Matthew and Luke's birth narratives. John's intention is to show us the place of the Messiah, the true logos, in the eternity of the universe. The whole of John's gospel is every bit as unique as his opening section. If the other three Gospels, known as the synoptics have walked us through the life and times of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death, then John has taken us to the top of the mountain, to a place where you can look down and see everything. In John we can look out at the whole landscape of Christ against the backdrop of eternity and let it take our breath away.

John doesn't give us a birth narrative put describes the living word in eternal terms. This section not only gives the eternal perspective of the word, but it serves as an introduction for many of the theological themes that John will develop throughout his gospel.

Even a casual reader of the Bible will see that as John begins with the phrase, In the beginning, that he intends for us to hear an echo of the opening verse of the book of Genesis. In John's mind what he is about to write is an act of new creation, one that hearkens back to initial formation of the universe. This new creation, however, has everything to do with the Word, whom John will reveal in the next section, is none other than Jesus Christ. The Word, John says, was both with God and was God. How can both of those statements be true? They only can be if we expand our understanding of the world and realize that we can apprehend God without ever fully comprehending Him. The Word is God in His essence, yet He is not synonymous with God; He is distinct because the Word can also be said to be with God. This also makes the point that the Word is eternal and is not created, but fully God in His essence. Right here in the first verse, then, we have two primary themes of John's gospel. The new creation is here in the Word, and the Word became flesh, he became human, but he is God. If, in other words, you want to see God, take a good, long, hard look at the Word.

In verse 3, having already declared the divine essence of the Word, John demonstrates his divinity through his mighty works. Through him all things were made. Again John stresses the eternity of the Word, as without him nothing was made that has been made, while at the same distinguishing the Word from the Father. John doesn't claim that the Word created, that was the role of the Father, only that everything was created through him. Thus, the Father and the Word are intimately connected, but not synonymous. They share the same essence but are not identical.

John continues the creation theme in verses 4-5, while introducing a double meaning, something that John does frequently throughout his Gospel. The Word was the light and life of the original creation, but also of the new creation. In him was life, says John, introducing yet another theme of the Gospel. Those who desire the life and light of the new creation must find that life in the Word. John will go on throughout his gospel of new creation to demonstrate how the Word is the only life. He is the only light of creation and the darkness has not overcome it. The Word challenged and defeated the darkness of the initial creation and now will do the same for the darkness and evil that is found within the fallen creation.

Some people in the generation following Christ still exalted John the Immerser and thought that perhaps he was the Messiah. Maybe they thought, he was the light of the new creation. John, the evangelist, wants to make quite clear that that was not the case. John's role was vital, but he was not the light that overcomes the darkness of chaos. He came as a witness to that light. As he writes his gospel, John desires to make it clear to anyone who might be confused that John the Baptist clearly and consistently pointed away from himself and to the Word as the true light. John the Baptist was important but subordinate. Throughout his gospel John will stress the importance of the Baptist as a witness (1:7, 8, 15, 19, 32, 34; 3:26; 5:33). In the ancient world, the concept of a witness was importance as it established the veracity of an individual. John will show that there are seven (a thematic number that will pop up frequently throughout the gospel) witnesses to the Word: The Father (5:31-32, 34, 37; 8:18; Jesus himself (8:14, 18; cf. 3:11, 32; 8:37), the Spirit (15:26; cf 16:14); the works of Christ (5:36; 10:25; cf. 14:11; 15:24); Scripture (5:39, 45-46); John the Baptist; and various other human witnesses (4:39; 12:17; 15:27; 19:35; 21:24). Testimony substantiated the truth of the matter and John the evangelist is careful to show that Jesus had plenty of it. After all, the matter of the true light that gives light to every man coming into the world, is no small matter. It is an act of new creation that can be appropriately testified to.



Devotional Thought

Could it be said of your life that you serve as a witness to the light of the Word? If people were to examine your life for evidence of the new creation and the light of life that comes from entering into the life of the Word, would they find any? Determine today to live in such a way that you clearly demonstrate the new creation and life that has been made available to the world caught in darkness through the Word.

Jude 1:17-25

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love and mercy of Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Doxology

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence wihtout fault and with great joy—25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.



Dig Deeper

One night while I was in college, it was well past midnight, and for some reason a bunch of us thought that it would be a great idea to go cliff diving at a place about twenty minutes from our campus. Once we got there, I realized, as it was my first time, that the cliff was about forty feet up from the water. Oh, and did I mention it was pitch black because it was well after midnight. At that point, I wasn't really planning on actually jumping, until I realized that a bunch of young ladies had also come to the cliff to watch the group of guys jump in. With that pressure, of course I had to jump. So I went in without being able to see the water at all. Once I got into the water, we were trying to swim out when one of the other guys yelled that there was a water moccasin, a type of poisonous snake common in Oklahoma, in the water. I quickly found my way to the shore and got out but one of my friends couldn't get himself out of the water. He had found a piece of shore that was a couple of feet above the water, and in the dark he couldn't find his way up the bank and out. He called for help, and although I wanted to get far away from the water and that snake, I went over to help him. I was in such a rush that I simply reached down to help him out without stabilizing myself first. As soon as he grabbed my hand and pulled, we both went right back into the water where the dangerous snake was lurking somewhere.

Many people read the book of Jude once or twice and then don't really go back to it very often, assuming that it is simply a tirade against false teachers that doesn't hold much value or interest for a church or individual that is not directly battling false teachers. That's not really true, though. Jude does spend a great deal of the letter dealing with characterizing and describing the false teachers but he also, in this last section, offers timeless advice for those dealing with false teachers; advice that is so wise and timeless that it offers great guidelines to anyone helping another Christian out of sin or struggles. Jude's basic advice in this section can be boiled down to this: Help others out of their struggles but because Satan is always lurking in the form of false teachers, temptations, etc., make sure that when you reach down to help someone else that you are firmly braced and ready for the task at hand. If you're not, you both might wind up in the water.

Jude makes it clear that he is turning his attention from the false teachers and fully onto his readers as he addresses them as dear friends, literally beloved ones (a word that finds its roots in the word agape). Jude specifically has three things that he urges believers to do. First, he wants them to remember that the apostles had predicted the kind of false teaching that they are now encountering. Second, they need to commit themselves to their own spiritual growth and security. Third, they need to be willing to reach out and help those who have been affected by the false teachings and have found themselves swayed by them.

When Jude tells them to remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold, we should remember that in the biblical thinking, to remember something was not just an act of the memory but also of the will and actions. If you remembered something, you lived in accordance with its ideals. Specifically he wants them to not be rocked by the appearance of false teachers who are denying the return of Christ and who are far more interested in exalting their own ungodly desires. They need to remember and order the life of their community as ones who know that false teachers will come and need to be dealt with. Jude appears to take his wording loosely from 2 Peter 3:3, but it is possible that this is something that other apostles who had helped establish or visited these churches also taught when they were there. The apostles taught that the days following Pentecost until Christ returned would be the last days and that they should be prepared for scoffers and false teachers. The men that are now threatening them fall into those warnings. They are the ones who divide the body and mock God. These men, says Jude, follow mere natural instincts, which is a single word that literally means "soulish." Paul uses this same word in a negative sense to contrast someone who is animated by their own soul and desires rather than someone whose will is animated by the Spirit. What Jude implies with the first part of verse 19, he states explicitly in the latter half. They do not have the Spirit. Based on Jude's earlier mention of their visions and dreams (v. 8), this may be a direct counter-claim to their assertions that they were more spiritual than others. Not only are they not spiritually advanced, they do not have the surefire mark of a Christian at all, the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:8-10).

The first thing that one must do when facing false teachers as these believers were, is to secure their own spiritual footing. If you are going to help others that have been affected by false teaching, as Jude calls them to, then you had better know what you believe firmly or you too might be drawn in. As a biblical teacher I have had to examine and confront many false teachings and have experienced this in reality. False teachers usually have well thought out arguments for their little niches, and quite often these are areas that Christians haven't thought through in detail. I have had to help several people who thought they were going to help someone out of a false teaching but who were not firmly established in their own biblical understanding and were sucked in by the very false teaching that they were hoping to counter. False teachings are so effective precisely because they are clever, usually very thorough, quite convincing, and they appeal to things that people like to hear or make sense to us. We must be rooted firmly in biblical truth in order to stand up to the assault of false teaching. 5th century theologian, Gregory Nanzianzus argued that for this reason only trained theologians and teachers should confront other teachings. Although it's probably not necessary to go that far in guarding against false teachings, each believer must be prepared in the truth before trying to help someone entangled in heresies.

Jude gives four separate commands to those preparing to help others. First, they are to build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Jude addresses this to the entire body, not just individuals, as the new Temple of God. The body must build itself up in the faith as those set apart from the world. Second, believers should pray in the Holy Spirit as opposed to those who don't pray at all or pray prayers that are directed by their own soul and desires rather than the Spirit. Third, he says to keep yourselves in God's love, meaning be careful to remain in the life of Jesus Christ, the full revelation of God's love, and not wander back to our old way of life (cf. Jn. 15:9; Eph. 4:22-24). Fourth, he urges them to remain in the life of Christ so that they will be brought to eternal life, the life of the age to come that believers are to partake in now, but look forward to full consummation of the age to come when Christ returns.

Jude urges the believers to specifically reach out to three separate groups. He says to be merciful to those who have heard the false teachings and have been thrown into confusion and doubt. Usually these are well meaning people who simply want to follow the truth but are not yet firmly established and have trouble discerning the truth for themselves. He also urges them to reach out and snatch up from the fire (Jude uses imagery here from Zech. 3:1-4) those who have gone past doubt and begun to embrace the teachings as their own. Because they have begun to embrace these heresies, they are literally standing on the brink of hell as they prepare to walk out of the genuine life of Christ. Finally, he says to show mercy mixed with fear for the influence of the false teachers that might influence others or even themselves. By showing mercy to this final group, Jude likely means to keep praying for them and show kindness where they can. What is this final group, though? Again using language from Zechariah 3, Jude describes those who have been corrupted by their own fleshly desires and are wearing clothes that have been soiled like a diaper. Christians, Jude is saying, must hate the false teachings and be uncompromising in their opposition to it, while at the same time, showing love and mercy to those entangled in the false teaching.

Jude brings his short letter to a close with one of the most beautiful doxologies in the entire Bible. He balances the earlier exhortation for believers to stay in Christ with the truth that God is able to keep us from falling and to present us in Christ without fault. God has given us all that we need if we will only remain in Christ. It is to God alone, accessible through the life of Christ, that we ascribe glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all ages, now and forevermore! What a God we serve!




Devotional Thought

Jude calls Christian to the incredible challenge of hating teachings that oppose the true gospel, while still showing mercy to those who hold to those teachings. Think about other religions or even other political views. Have you found the balance of biblically opposing those philosophies or teachings while still showing mercy and kindness to the people who espouse those beliefs?

Jude 1:11-16

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. 12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.



Dig Deeper
"I can't believe you would do that to us." There was an annual competition between classes at the school at which I taught. The goal of the competition was to collect coins and raise money for charity. Each class competed against one another and it always created a bit of fun as the classes not only competed but strategized to try to outdo the other teams. They did this to the point of engaging in a bit of espionage against one another, and would even entice students from other classes to collude with their class in order to help them win in exchange for a share in the pizza party that the winning class received at the end of the week. The students from my class had, all on their own, convinced a young man from another class to tell them his class' strategy in order to counteract it and defeat them. He had agreed it and provided valuable information. His class was bluffing, trying to convince the other classes that they had a big stash of coins that they were going to drop into their jars on the final day of competition. The reality was, they didn't have much at all. This allowed my class to not worry about that class which we otherwise would have done, and concentrate on putting pennies, which counted as negative to a team's total points, into the jars of classes that were real threats. When the winners were announced and they began to celebrate their win with the pizza party, this young spy was welcomed into the party. A young lady from his class was somewhat miffed, however. She couldn't believe that he would have done that to his own class. He said that he knew his class wasn't going to win and so he wanted some pizza. She went on to call him names, somewhat with a good-nature, but names that made her point (some were more appropriate to the particular situation than others, but she wasn't exactly a history buff). She declared that he was a "Benedict Arnold," a "Hitler," a "snake." Everyone knew what she meant by these titles, because they carry a certain meaning in our culture to the point that they can be used as adjectives and almost everyone will understand the point. Certainly Benedict Arnold, the American traitor during the War for Independence, and snake made the point that he was a traitor. Hitler wasn't really appropriate technically, but even his name has become somewhat synonymous with wronging someone, so it fit somewhat.

As Jude continues to describe the character and natures of the false teachers, he does something very similar to that young lady at my old high school. He uses cultural examples that had become so familiar to everyone in his world that they had virtually become adjectives. Their names now carried much more of the symbolic meaning that had become associated with their previous actions. Thus, just as Hitler and Benedict Arnold have come to mean things that go far beyond the men themselves, such as evil and traitorous, Jude uses three examples from his day to show just what kind of men these false teachers are.

Woe, says Jude, to the false teachers. This was a word usually reserved for the judgment announced on a rebellious people or individuals by the prophet of God. Jude thus invokes the wrath of God on those who would teach the gospel falsely. Jude uses three cultural examples (a pattern of threes which should be quite familiar to us) to demonstrate in clear terms for the people exactly what kind of men these teachers are. They are nothing to be exalted or followed. Rather, they have taken the way of Cain. Cain had become a common cultural symbol for one who murdered his brother, one who corrupted others (Jewish historian Josephus claimed that Cain "inited to luxury and pillage all whom he met, and became their instructor in wicked practices."), as well as a selfish cynic and skeptic (The ancient document, the Jewish Targum presented Cain as believing that "There is no judgment, no judge, no future life; no reward will be given to the righteous, and no judgment will be imposed on the wicked"). Jude, then, makes the point that like Cain, who murdered his brother, the false teachers are murdering the souls of the believers that follow them, as well as corrupting others in the process, and denying the judgment of God. His other two examples continue the assault. They are like Balaam, who had become a notorious example of greed and inciting Israel into pagan practices (compare Num. 25:1-2 and Num. 31:16). They are also like those that were destroyed in Korah's rebellion. Jude makes two points with linking these teachers to Korah's rebellion. Just like those involved, they are engaged in heresy and rebellion against God-appointed leadership, and, he says, they have been destroyed in that rebellion. They will suffer the same fate, but in a sense, because they have gone the way of Korah, they have already been punished with those men. In other words, they are as good as punished; it's a done deal.

Rather than being a part of the body of Christ, loving one another (John 13:34-35), and proclaiming the message of the gospel in the death of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 11:26), these false teachers have become quite the opposite. They denigrate the very purpose of the love feast and the observance of the Lord's Supper that took place as a part of those feasts in the first century. The words that the TNIV renders "blemishes" also means "hidden reef" and is probably the better understanding. If it is "blemish" then Jude's point is that they are a stain on the fellowship rather than the spotless and blameless individuals that Christians are to be. If it is hidden reef, which seems to be more in line with Jude's context, then he is suggesting that they are like hidden reefs that rip open the bottom of a boat; they lie in wait, with designs of sinking the faithful.

Jude continues on with five more descriptions of these false teachers just so that there can be no misunderstanding what kind of people they were dealing with. They are shepherds who feed only themselves, meaning that rather than being godly leaders and caring for God's people, they were only concerned with their own interests. They are clouds without rain, promising something on things which they do not deliver (cf. Prov. 25:14). They are autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They had been dead in their sins, but made alive in Christ. Sadly, by rebelling against God's truth, they have returned to their state of spiritual death (cf. Heb. 6:4-8; 2 Pet. 2:18-22). They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame, by which Jude uses concepts from Isaiah 57:20, meaning that they continue to pile up their shameful ways with no end. Finally, Jude says they are wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Ancient people believed that anything in the sky should display order, so a wandering planet (which they had difficulty in explaining) came to be viewed as something for which there was no pattern, no accounting and was symbolically caused by evil angels (although some believed that literally). Jude may be connecting them again to evil angels, but his primary point is that they are unstable and unreliable. This instability will result in their own judgment.

Jude chooses to strengthen his overall point by turning once again to the ancient book of Enoch. The quote he takes from that writing makes sense for it backs up two things that Jude has claimed about these hucksters. They are ungodly and will suffer the condemnation of the Lord. Further stressing Enoch's righteousness and reliability as a prophet is that he was the seventh, or the complete number, from Adam (Jews often counted inclusively, meaning that Enoch is the seventh if Adam is included in the counting). Enoch clearly, according to Jude, prophesied about the certain destruction of ungodly men, and he makes the connection that these false teachers number among that group, but does not necessarily imply that they are the only ones. They are like the Israelites in the wilderness; they are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. They complain against God's leadership and the way that God has chosen to work, following their own fleshly lusts rather than the life of Christ. In fact, rather than following the genuine life of Christ which has everything to do with sacrificing one's own life for the benefit of others (cf. 1 Pet. 2-4), they do everything for their own desires, their own pleasure, and their own advantage. When set up against the genuine life of Christ to which believers are truly called, there simply is no comparison.




Devotional Thought

One of Jude's criticisms of the false teachers was that they made promises and claims on which they did not deliver. Christians, by virtue of our name, claim that we will be followers of Christ that love one another deeply. Do you and your Christians community truly do that in a biblical fashion, or is it closer to a rain cloud without rain?

Jude 5-10

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 Yet these people speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.



Dig Deeper

Everybody has a role. This is an important concept to remember. The tricky part, however, is usually not in remembering that in whatever we do, we each have a role. The hard part is often in sticking to the proper role. We have a tendency to want to define our own role, our own place rather than the one given to me. I know this all too well. One summer I had taken a job that I absolutely loved giving tours at a major historical site in my hometown called the Lincoln Tallman Restorations. The house is the only private residence still standing in Wisconsin today in which Abraham Lincoln stayed and spent time. I loved giving tours of this incredible historical site, but one weekend they were having a fundraising arts and crafts sale on the grounds. I did not at all agree with this and thought it was exploitative. What really angered me though, if I'm being honest, was that the female tour guides were placed in the house to give tours to the many visitors that weekend, while the male tour guides were asked to be in charge of picking up trash during the event. There was no way that I was going to do this. This was not the role I wanted and so, in essence, I refused to do it. I found quickly that I was not as valuable as I thought, and refusing to fulfill my proper role got me in trouble rather quickly. When we are given a role by an authority figure, not staying in that role is simply wrong.

Jude is certainly dealing with the dangers that false teachers are presenting to the recipients of his letters, but it seems that he is particularly concerned with them going outside of their bounds. Teachers in the kingdom of God have been given a serious role with a great deal of responsibility. When teachers go outside of that role and begin to teach things that appeal to their own desires rather than the truth, a major problem results. Jude is very clear that the Lord does not stand for or take kindly to those who go outside of their appointed role or domain, and, in fact, always brings the appropriate judgment on those that reject God by rejecting their proper roles.

Looking back through the Old Testament and Jewish traditional literature, one thing becomes quite clear. When people rebel against God and go outside the roles that Has has laid out for them, the only sure thing that will ensue is appropriate and just punishment. Jude makes this point quite clear as he again shows his affinity for describing things in threes. Here he describes three historic and well know, at least at the time, examples of rebellion against God and the subsequent punishment.

Jude makes clear that he is going to talk about things that he expects his readers already know, but he wants to remind them of these things. They need to be on their toes and not think that because they have entered into Christ that their subsequent behavior doesn't matter. It will matter for the false teachers and it would matter for them if they step outside of their domain, which is the life of Christ. At one time, God delivered His people out of Egypt, and that might have seemed like the end of things, but it wasn't. This wasn't, we should note, because of some failing on God's part, but because they did not believe. Their appointed role was as the people of God but when they stepped outside of that role, they received the just punishment of not being able to enter into God's promise land. Indeed the whole generation was kept out of the promised land, save for Caleb and Joshua.

For the second example, Jude turns to something mentioned briefly in Genesis 6:1-4, but is expounded upon in the book of 1 Enoch, a very popular book during the first century. Jude refers to the sons of God of Genesis 6, the fallen angels who left their appointed domain and went in and had offspring with human women. The angels that are in heaven (that is those that remain in God's presence and loyal to their appointed role) were not to marry (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25), but these angels did and were punished with everlasting chains, being kept for judgment on the great Day. These angels rebelled, motivated by pride and lust, and did not keep their positions of authority that had been given to them by God. Instead, they abandoned their proper dwelling. And so, they discovered the same thing that the Israelites of the Exodus did. Those who rebel against God and step outside of their proper domain will suffer the consequences of those choices.

Jude's third example also comes from the Old Testament, the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a similar way that the angels previously referred to stepped outside of their proper domain due to arrogance and lust, so did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. As the account in Genesis 19 makes clear, the men of these towns went outside of their proper domain and gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. The stepped outside of God's created domain by engaging in the unlawful behavior of homosexuality and, although they didn't know it, were so full of lust that they attempted to have sex with angels. Because of this, the punishment of these towns by fiery destruction stands to this day as an example of the eternal fire that awaits those who rebel against God.

In the very same way that the beings in the three examples Jude has given rejected God and stepped outside of their proper domain, so have the false teachers. Jude is not claiming that the sins are the exact same, although, there certainly are similarities. He is saying that just as they rebelled against God, so have the false teachers. His charges against them are threefold, which at this point, should come as little surprise.

First, Jude says that these ungodly people pollute their own bodies on the justification and strength of their dreams. They certainly would not have thought of themselves as ungodly or in rebellion against God, false teachers rarely do. Often part of their appeal is that they appear so sincere and are always so confident. Why would they be so confident and what does Jude mean when he talks of their dreams. The term he uses clearly refers to spiritual visions. These men were evidently claiming to have had revelatory visions that served as the basis for their teachings which included sexual freedom.

Second, they rejected authority and slandered angels, particularly fallen angels. We simply don't know how they were slandering celestial beings, but it may have had to do with either a denial of their existence or a denial that they would ever find themselves in the situation of judgment that these beings did. Even the archangel Michael, Jude says, wasn't so foolish as to slander the devil when they were in dispute over the body of Moses. Again, with this story, Jude steps outside of the Biblical testimony and appeals to the Jewish traditional book, The Assumption of Moses, that has since been lost to history. It is from there that Jude draws the point that the great angel Michael would not slander Satan, but left that for the Lord to do. Jude's point is that Michael wouldn't slander things that he well understood, but these men are so ridiculous that they slander things about which they clearly do not understand. If the greatest of the archangels would not speak evil of the most evil of beings, then any human should tread lightly when thinking of speaking evil of any angel.

Third, these men have so given into their own desires and unthinking lusts that they have reduced themselves so far below the standard of being a human being that they can be compared to nothing more than unreasoning animals that live by instinct. Their preference for their own base lusts over their God-appointed domain will lead to their own judgment and destruction.




Devotional Thought

What are the roles in your life that God has placed upon you. We have many roles and domains that stretch from our roles in marriage, to the moral and ethical restraints God has placed on His people. Do you embrace those roles or do you constantly seek to subvert and get around those roles? Spend some time thinking about the roles that God has given you and how you can bet fulfill them?

Jude 1:1-4

1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The sin and doom of Godless men

3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.



Dig Deeper

Last year I was preparing to teach at a biblical teaching conference in the Midwest known as the UnConference. It was the second annual gathering of this conference and I had very much enjoyed the first one. From the completion of the first UnConference, I had known what I wanted to teach about at the second one. I spent the next several months preparing the material that I was going to teach. Not everyday of course, but from time to time. As the time for the second UnConference approached, something became very clear to me. I was praying one morning and I had the very clear realization that I needed to teach on something else that was more pressing. Although I was personally invested in my original topic, I realized that God had other plans, and that the young college students who attended this conference had differing needs than what I originally planned. So, with this growing realization in mind, I changed the topic of my entire teaching track and taught on this entirely different subject. I had been eager to teach on one topic, and I still hope to get a chance in the future to teach on that topic as thoroughly as the format of the UnConference allows, but through the leading of the Holy Spirit and from discerning the current state of affairs, I felt that I needed to teach students on how to correctly discern the word of God and contend for the faith despite the morass of false and confusing teaching that young people will face everyday.

Apparently, Jude, while sitting down to write this letter, went through a similar process. His original intent was to write about something encouraging and uplifting. And although that is important, God had clearly laid something on his heart. Jude likely had the same choice to make that I did. He could go ahead and write about what he wanted to originally, effectively ignoring the leading of the Spirit and disregarding his own better judgment in favor of doing what he might prefer. Or he could do what he did. Rather than going with his original intent, Jude writes to warn his readers of false teachers and urges them to be on their guard against such poisonous venom.

We don't really know all that much about Jude, the author of this short letter. We do know that there are six separate men identified in the New Testament as Jude, but it would appear that this Jude is none other than the younger brother of Jesus. As he begins this letter, though, he curiously does not identify himself as such, but only says that he is a brother of James. It would have been a bit unusual in the first century to mention a brother at all in the opening of a letter rather than your father unless your brother was uniquely significant. James certainly would fit that bill. He was not a follower of Jesus during his lifetime but quickly became one following the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:7). James became well known as the leader of the church in Jerusalem and a primary pillar of the early Christian church. His reputation was so good, even among non-Christian Jews that he was known by them as James the Just. Certainly James was an important figure, but no would argue that he was more important the Jesus Himself. So, why then does Jude only call himself a servant of Jesus Christ rather than a brother. The most likely explanation is that being his brother was of little importance in the kingdom of God. It didn't confer any type of special status or privilege. Being a servant of Christ, however, was important. In fact, it is noteworthy that neither James nor Jude make mention of their status as brothers of Jesus, but both call themselves servants. The fact that they were Jesus' siblings was of no spiritual importance, but that they were servants was important. The word for "servant" could also be translated "slave," and certainly signified a status of humility and subservience to Christ. The title also could be used, however, to indicate a role of leadership, following the examples of Old Testament leaders who were also called servants such as Moses (Josh. 14:7; 2 Ki. 18:12) and David (Ps. 18:1; Ezek. 34:23). Thus, Jude is certainly indicating that he is a fellow humble Christian, but he writes this letter as a leader, one who serves and represents Christ and has something important to impart to the Master's sheep.

Jude writes to those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ. Notice as we go along in this short letter, Jude's affinity to describes things in trios. Here he writes to those called, loved, and kept. Those who have been called are those who have received God's call of salvation in Christ Jesus and have entered into the life of Christ. They are the ones that are in Christ and are loved by God as His own sons and daughters. Those who are loved by the Father are those that are preserved spiritually in Christ until He returns and brings to completeness our transformation into the image of God (Col. 3:10). It is Christ who will bring those in Him into eternal life, the age to come (Jude 1:21). It is to these beloved Christians that Jude blesses them with mercy, peace, and love. . . in abundance (note again the trio of categories). Mercy likely refers to the undeserved grace and favor that God lavishes on those in Christ. He also blesses them with the peace that comes from a restored relationship with God as ones who have taken part in the new creation, and to understand and embrace the love that God has for His children.

In the first two verses Jude has masterfully summarized the comfort and benefits of the salvation that belongs to those in Christ. This is what he wanted to talk about. This is clearly what motivates Jude and makes his soul soar. He has entered into the life of Christ, receiving and experiencing the reconciliation between God an man. Sometimes, though, maybe even oftentimes, God calls us to do what He wills rather than what we will. As much as Jude wanted to write a letter of comfort and encouragement, one that would strengthen their faith and love for God, and no doubt, do his soul a bit of good as well, God had other plans. He has called to Jude's attention to a dangerous false teaching that has emerged.

Scholars are divided as to why 2 Peter and Jude are so similar, but they certainly are connected in one way or another. It is not of the greatest significance of how they are related and we will likely never know the answer for sure, but the scenario that seems likeliest to me is that Jude found himself dealing with a groups of churches that were facing the same or very similar kind of heresy that Peter had written about in 2 Peter. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Jude borrowed liberally, and where appropriate from 2 Peter, while adding his own thoughts and crafting the material to meet his particular needs. From here on out, however, we will consider Jude by itself rather than constantly look back and attempt to find significance in it's similarities and differences with 2 Peter.

If there is a singular theme in Jude, we find it in verse 3. Jude urges his readers to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. The word that Jude uses here that is translated "contend" comes from the world of sports. It was a word used when someone competed fiercely to win or for their position (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25). The word came to be used often in the New Testament for those who made an vigorous defense of the true gospel (cf. Col. 1:29; 1 Tim. 4:10; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). It is the general faith, the truth of the gospel message, then, that Judge urges them to fight energetically for.

Why do they need to contend for the faith? Because there are false teachers, wolves in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15), who have concealed their real nature and purpose and have secretly slipped into the fellowship. These men, although seemingly sincere (and these men may have even thought that they were sincere), were more concerned with their own pride, egos, and drawing followers than with defending the faith. Jude says four important things about these false teachers. First, as is clear from the Old Testament (vv. 5-8, 11), from traditional Jewish literature (vv.9, 14-16), and from apostolic teaching (vv. 17-18), the condemnation of these men has long been written about and established as something that would take place. No one should be surprised that there were false teachers then. Second, They are godless, meaning they deny God practically by their actions and teachings. Third, they have changed God's grace into a license for immorality. Fourth, they deny the sovereignty and lordship of Jesus Christ by calling people to live in a manner not in keeping with the life of Christ. Clearly, Jude knew not just Jesus as a sibling, but he knew the life of Christ as a servant and did not take kindly to men who would deny the truth of that life to the followers of Christ.



Devotional Thought

Do you so greatly value the life of Christ that you would instantly drop what you were doing to help someone who was struggling with a false teaching? Would you be equipped to help them? Would you show the same love, care, and concern that Jude shows here? Would you be prepared to do so?

2 Peter 3:14-18

14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.



Dig Deeper

"Okay, thanks for help. We’ll see you soon." I had just gotten off the phone with my friend’s wife. She had given me directions to meet them at their new house for the day. Truth be told, though, I had a little trouble understanding her directions. They sounded pretty difficult to follow. I don’t consider things like "go down about a mile or two and turn at the left just after the big brown house," as legitimate directions that can be followed by any normal human being. What she had given me, though, was the address of our destination. With this information I was able to go on the internet and get directions that included distances, cardinal directions, and street names. Now these were directions that made sense. These were directions that could be understood and followed. As we were leaving, however, I realized that I was pretty tired and was going to catch a little nap while my wife drove. She looked at the hand-written directions and the printed set from the internet, and actually grabbed the hand-written ones. "What are you doing," I asked her. She responded that she was grabbing the driving directions and was ready to go. She actually preferred the directions that I found to be rather confusing. I kind of laughed, and it was then that I realized that the directions were actually the same. They were saying the same things, just in very different ways. If followed properly, they would both get us to the same exact place.

As Peter concludes his letter of exhortation, reminding his readers that they should hold tightly to the promise of the return of Christ and the reality of the age to come. His letter, if we were to put it side by side with any of Paul’s letters, is quite different and unique in the scope of the New Testament. Yet, Peter tells us something quite instructive. The things that he has written about are the same sorts of things that Paul has written about in his letters. They might look very different on the surface, but they are actually the same in all of the ways that matter. Peter and Paul, we soon realize, share a common theology, they just say it in very different ways. If followed properly, they will both get us to the same exact place.

Once again Peter reminds his readers that the genuine Christian community orders themselves according to the hope of resurrection and the age to come. Paul echoes that sentiment in 1 Corinthians 15:58 when, after a long explanation of the resurrection and the coming age, he says that Christians should, "Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." The point of these two great Christian apostles is not so much that Christians should keep things ship-shape because Christ is coming back one day and we don’t want to be found out-of-order (although that is certainly true). The primary point is that the Christian communities hold tightly to the belief that Christ will return one day and bring the restoration of the universe with him, the age to come. Our lives and communities in the present age should be lived in light of that reality and anticipate it. The way we live now should demonstrate for people and be a shadow of the values of heaven and the age to come.

This is why we should make every effort of be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him. As communities that are called to live out and demonstrate the love and forgiveness of God and be people who do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven, imagine what damage we do when we spiral instead into petty jealousies, lack of forgiveness, gossip, bitterness, selfishness, and become people perfectly comfortable with doing our own will rather than His. It would be about as effective as a light that is not plugged in. A light that offers no light is worthless. A Christian community that offers no taste of the age to come is equally pointless. The fact that Jesus has yet to return in the fullest sense should not cause us, as it did the false teachers that Peter has been referring to, to imagine that God will not eventually judge the entire universe against the standard of His holy presence. Instead we should realize that the delay in the onset of the age to come means salvation for many. It gives us all the more opportunity to demonstrate God’s ministry of reconciliation to the world (2 Cor. 5:16-21) and draw them into His great plan of setting the world to rights.

Peter’s words in the second half of verse 15 and verse 16 serve as quite instructive for those who would interpret what he has written in chapter 3 as being a description of the fiery end of the entire physical universe as we know it, ushering in a purely spiritual existence. Peter says that Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. Not only does this inform us that Peter’s recipients had at least some of Paul’s letters and were quite familiar with them, he also reminds his readers that Paul writes the same things concerning the same matters that Peter has. Nowhere in any of Paul’s letters do we find anything remotely like the fiery destruction of the physical universe. Rather, Paul speaks often of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5), the age to come (Eph. 2:7; 1 Tim. 6:19), the renewal of the universe (Rom. 8:18-25), and the reconciliation and new creation (2 Cor. 5:16-21). What we quickly realize is that Peter has been speaking of the same sorts of things that Paul wrote about but in a very different way. Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, became immersed in Gentile language and culture and tended to speak and write in terms that Gentiles could understand. Peter, on the other hand, has written about the same things, but in a very Jewish way, using very Jewish terminology and imagery. We have very different looking writings, but they get us to the exact same place. Christ will return and bring the resurrection and the age to come with him.

Peter also warns that Paul’s letters contain some things that are hard to understand. This should serve as a bit of a solace for those who find the Scriptures difficult to comprehend at times. Even an apostle, a man who spent three years learning from Christ, concedes that Paul’s writings can easily be taken the wrong way. This is why it is so vital for Christians to be firmly established in the truth and people who take study of the Bible as a serious calling for every believer. It is ignorant and unstable people who distort Paul’s letters, as they do the other Scriptures. With this, Peter has informed us of two important details; one of which is clearly stated and one can be implied. First, is that Peter, writing around 62 or 63 AD, already considers Paul’s writings as Scripture, meaning they were seen on par with the Old Testament Scriptures, a remarkable situation when we consider how early this was written. The second thing that we can imply from Peter’s statement is that the false teachers were apparently the types of ignorant and unstable people to whom Peter was referring, meaning that they were twisting Paul’s writings for their own benefit and gain. It appears that this was not an uncommon occurrence in the early church. 2 Thessalonians may have been written as a corrective to those who misunderstood 1 Thessalonians; Paul himself needed to correct things the Corinthians were saying that may have been twisting his own teachings (cf. 1 Cor. 6:12)’ James may have written the second chapter of his letter to, in part, correct those who were twisting Paul’s teachings on grace and justification. Those who twist Paul’s writings, or any Scriptures, for their own benefit, will find, sadly that it really does no benefit to them in God’s reality, but leads to their own destruction.

Peter concludes his letter with incredibly wise advice for any saints any where. We must always be aware and on guard for those that would twist the Scriptures. If we do not exercise discernment and a constant desire to know the Scriptures better, we will be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from our secure position, it’s really just a matter of time for believers that don’t take the study of the word of God seriously. Rather than being in constant danger like this, we should know the word of God and allow ourselves to grow in the grace and knowledge of the life of Christ that God has made available to us. What an amazing God we have. To him be the glory both now and forever! Amen.



Devotional Thought

Would you be able to recognize as false, teaching that was 98 % correct. Our society seems to be quite comfortable with something that is 98 % pure. Yet, biblical teaching that is anything other than 100% pure is quite dangerous. What steps do you take regularly to firmly establish yourself in the truth of the word of God? Do you spend as much time doing that a you do watching TV, movies, or talking on the phone?