Bible in One Year Day 358 (Jude, 2 Timothy 1-2, Proverbs 31:1-7)

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Day 358: From Rebellion to Faithfulness 

Agape Bible Study Jude

The Letter of Jude verses 1-4: Introduction and Purpose for the Letter

Question: How does the writer identify himself?  Who is he?
Answer: He identifies himself simply as "Jude"; Ioudas in the Greek text of the New Testament and Judah in Hebrew.  In English translations of the New Testament his name is usually translated as "Jude" to distinguish him from the traitor Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.  There were two Apostles named "Judah"'one who rejected Jesus' Messiahship and the other, Judas son of Alphaeus, who embraced Jesus as the Messiah.  Both these men represented the reaction of the Jews as a people to the advent of the Messiah, both acceptance and rejection.  The other Judah mentioned in the Gospels is the kinsman of Jesus who is believed by many Catholic scholars to be the author of this inspired letter.  

Jude 3-4: 
Jude will use the endearing address "beloved", agapetoi, three times: here in verse 3, and again in verses 17 and 20.

Question: In verses 3-4 Jude first says he intended to write about one subject but then felt the urgent need to write about another topic.  What was the intended subject of his letter and what required Jude to set aside his original plan to make this specific response?
Answer: His original plan was to write about their shared experience of salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ but when a crisis surfaced he felt the need to warn his "beloved friends" of this danger facing the Church.

Question: What is the crisis?
Answer: The rise of false teachers who have "infiltrated among you." These false teachers have been baptized into the New Covenant in Jesus Christ but are now spreading heresy.

 Jude 5-10: The Certain Judgment of False Teachers

In Jude 5-10 Jude provides examples to remind Jewish-Christians of their past history beginning with the great event of the Exodus which defined them as a holy people "called" by God and which has brought them to the present age.  It is the sum of these experiences, Jude tells the readers of his letter, which was given to them as an example or a lesson in what to avoid in living out their faith. Each case listed by Jude involves a falling away from God followed by divine judgment - the same fate which will fall upon the false teachers who deny Jesus Christ as Lord.  The mention of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in connection with sexual immorality probably relates to the same kind of sin being tolerated or promoted in the problem communities influenced by the false teachers.  Notice the connection in verse 8.

Jude 6:  and the angels who did not keep to the authority they had, but left their appointed sphere, he kept in darkness in eternal bonds until the judgment of the great Day.  
The fall of Satan and the rebellious angels is recorded in Revelation 12:7-9:  Now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon.  The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.  The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.

Archaeological note: Archaeologists believe they have discovered the site of the ancient city of Sodom on the southeastern side of the Dead Sea, at a site known as Bab edh-Dhra.  Archaeologists have found a significant layer of ash and burned debris and evidence of an earthquake associated with a furious fire that had burned at very high temperatures in the Early Bronze Age III level which dates to some time between 2350-2000BC.  The site appears to have been permanently abandoned after this great catastrophe.  

 Jude 8-10: "Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well.  Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.' But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand, merely by nature like unreasoning animals, will turn out to be fatal to them.

Question: How does Jude compare the sins of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah with the sins of Jewish-Christians who are false teachers?  What three charges does he bring against them in verse 8?
Answer:

1. They defile their bodies engaging in sexual immorality
2. They disregard authority
3. They abuse the Glories or glorious ones

The charge of defiling their bodies, which in Christian baptism became Temples of the Holy Spirit, is the first charge.  The charge of rejecting "authority" may be an allusion to the false teachers rejection of the authority our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ in verse 4.  And the abuse of the "Glories" or the "glorious ones" may refer to the saints or charges 2 and 3 may refer to two classifications in the hierarchy of angels.  Saint Paul lists the hierarchy of the angels in the Heavenly Kingdom in Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16.  The false teachers may be promoting heresy about the angels.  Paul lists these angelic forces as: 

• Thrones (Principalities)
• Ruling forces
• Sovereignties
• Powers
  
  

  
  
  

Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.' The Hebrew name "Michael" means "Who is like God?"  References to the archangel Michael are found in the Book of the Prophet Daniel [10:13, 21; 12:1] and in the Book of Revelation [12:7].  Jude is referring to an episode that is not recorded in sacred Scripture but which can be traced to the lost Jewish apocryphal work known as The Assumption of Moses. According to Deuteronomy 34:1-6 God allowed Moses to view the Promised Land from the top of Mount Nebo before his death.  After he died his people buried him in the valley, in the country of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; but to this day no one has ever found his grave [Numbers 34:6].  According to the traditions of the Assumption of Moses, parts of which survive, recorded in other documents, the angel Michael was commanded to bury Moses but Satan protested the burial, claiming Moses' body since Satan is "the lord of all matter", and because Moses was guilty of the sin of murder [Exodus 2:11-15].  In this story Satan is fulfilling his role as the Adversary of both man and God who will accuse all sinners after their deaths, before the throne of God at Judgment, just as he accused Moses of his sin.  The archangel Michael showed great patience in refraining from cursing Satan, an angel who may have been equal in rank to himself, for blasphemy, leaving that judgment to God, but simply rebuked Satan by saying, as Jude records: 'May the Lord rebuke you.' In this rebuke Michael is petitioning God to deal with Satan; a phrase that is echoed in Zechariah 3:2 where Satan accuses the high priest Joshua (translated Jesus in New Testament English): He then showed me the high priest Joshua/Jesus, standing before the angel of Yahweh, with Satan standing on his right to accuse him.  The angel of Yahweh said to Satan, 'May Yahweh rebuke you, Satan!  May Yahweh rebuke you, since he has made Jerusalem his choice.  Is not this man a brand snatched from the fire?' 

Jude brings a 4^th charge against the false teachers, followed by a prediction in verse 10:
But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand, merely by nature like unreasoning animals, will turn out to be fatal to them.  

1. Denunciation: Condemning what they do not understand
2. Prediction: What they believe they "understand" through the power of their fleshly desires will lead to their judgment and eternal punishment.

 Jude 11-19: A Covenant Curse Against the Teachers of False Doctrine

In this passage Jude will use 3 more examples of rebellious behavior from the Old Testament, beginning with the language reminiscent of the Semitic covenant curse: Woe or alas!  It is the kind of language invoked by the Prophets of Yahweh in the Old Testament [see Isaiah 5:8-25] and by Jesus as God's holy Prophet in Matthew 23:13-32.  The word translated in English as "Woe" or "Alas" serves as a Semitic formula for calling down Yahweh's covenant judgment against an apostate people. Also see Matthew 11:21; 18:7; Mark 14:21; Luke 6:24-26; 11:42; Revelation 8:13; 9:12; 11:14; etc.

Jude 12b-13: They are like the clouds blown about by the winds (waterless clouds) and bringing no rain, or like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead; like wild sea waves with their own shame for foam; or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up for ever.

In beautifully poetic language Jude compares the false teachers to:

1. waterless clouds
2. fruitless, uprooted trees
3. foaming sea waves (an image of scum carried by the waves)
4. wandering stars or dying stars who give no light

All these descriptions illustrate that unsound teaching is only something impotent and "good for nothing." 

Jude 14-16: It was with them in mind that Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam, made his prophecy when he said, 'I tell you the Lord will come with his holy ones in their tens of thousands, to pronounce judgment on all humanity and to sentence the godless for all the godless things they have done, and for all the defiant things said against him by goodness sinners.'  They are mischief-makers, grumblers governed only by their own desires with mouths full of boastful talk, ready to flatter others for gain.

Question: Who was the Patriarch Enoch?  
Answer: Enoch was the 7^th generation from Adam and a descendant of Adam's son Seth in whom the "promise seed" of Genesis 3:15 is protected from whom the Messiah will come.  Enoch was completely faithful and obedient to God and therefore did not taste physical death but was translated into heaven.  Only two men in Old Testament Scripture did not experience physical death: 

1. Enoch: Genesis 5:21-24
2. the prophet Elijah: 2 Kings 2:1-13    

Enoch's translation into heaven foreshadows the Christian's promise of eternal life.  The third person to have been translated into heaven without suffering physical death may have been the Virgin Mary, having been preserved from original sin, the cause of physical death, it is unlikely that she would have died physically before being assumed into heaven.  Enoch is Jude's third good example of faithfulness and obedience to God: Moses, Michael, and Enoch.

Jude 17-19: But remember, my dear (beloved) friends, what the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  At the final point of time, they told you, 'there will be mockers who follow nothing but their own godless desires.'  It is they who cause division, who live according to nature and do not possess the Spirit.

Question: What is the reminder/warning that Jude gives in verses 17-19?
Answer: He reminds his beloved friends that the Apostles warned this time would come when false teachers would try to deceive the faithful.  

 Jude 20-25: The Duty of the Faithful and Jude's Solemn Closing

Jude writes that as Christians we must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith,
The foundation of our faith was firmly established in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Church that Jesus established and entrusted to His Apostles.  It is Mother Church who carefully safeguards that deposit of faith handed on by Jesus to His Apostles and from them to the first bishops of the Church and from them, down through the generations of the faithful: The Church, 'the pillar and bulwark of the truth,' faithfully guards 'the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.'  She guards the memory of Christ's words' it is she who from generation to generation hands on the apostles' confession of faith.  As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church # 171

Jude addressed the 3 Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity in verses 20-21 in connection with the blessings of prayer, love and mercy:

1. praying in the Holy Spirit
2. keep yourselves within the love of God
3. wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

Jude addresses 3 different degrees of Christians who have lapsed in their faith and gives sound advice on how to deal with them within the community.  He classifies them as:

1. Those who are wavering to whom compassion must be shown
2. Those who are deep into sin but still have a chance to be saved: "snatched from the fire"
3. Those who are completely lost in their apostasy, one must be compassionate but careful not to be tainted by their destructive influence.  

 Jude 24-25: To him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and joyful, to the only God and our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, authority and power, before all ages, now and for ever.  Amen.

Jude ends his letter with a triumphant hymn of glory in this stirring doxology.  It is addressed to "Him who can keep us from falling." Beginning with Adam, every champion in the Old Testament, with very few exceptions, experienced his own fall from grace.  Adam in the garden of Eden, Noah in his drunkenness and resulting debasement; Abraham for his cowardliness in calling his wife his sister; Israel in her sin of the Golden Calf; the adultery of King David and the woman Bathsheba that escalated from lust to murder; the list goes on.  And yet we have the assurance that God can not only keep us from falling but He can pick us up and forgive us after we fall if we only have the faith and humility to come to Him in repentance in the sacrament He has given us for just this purpose. And when we have been forgiven our sins through the atoning work of the blood of His Son we can come into His presence and share a meal at His table and He will raise us up to eternal life. 

In this letter Jude has invoked each of the 3 divine persons of the Most Holy Trinity in verses 20-21.  In the conclusion of his letter, he urges us to pray in the Holy Spirit. And in his lovely doxology, Jude announces the mystery of the Godhead when he acknowledges Jesus Christ as both Lord and God: to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord... Jude closes in verse 25 by giving a four-part tribute to the One True God:

• glory 
• majesty 
• authority/dominion 
• power 

Jude gives equal glory to the Father and the Son in all things and for all time and eternity. He declares that glory, majesty, dominion and power should be attributed to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, refuting those who teach falsely that the Son is inferior to the Father. 

Expressing the hope of our promised destiny in eternity Jude closes with the assurance that Jesus Christ the Son does not have his beginning at one point in time but He has been present from all ages, is here now and will be here tomorrow and will be here forever as Jude closes with the words: before all ages, now and for ever. Amen!

Saint Jude, pray for us!

Agape Bible Study 2 Timothy 2-3 

2 Timothy 1:1-5 ~ Greeting and Thanksgiving for Timothy's Faith

The greeting in Paul's letters follow a standard form based on the common Greco-Roman practice of letter writing, but with the addition of Semitic and Christian elements. The three basic components are:

1. the name of the sender
2. the name of the addressee
3. a greeting, which in Paul's case usually includes a blessing and or a thanksgiving.²

As in most of his letters, Paul begins by declaring his authority as an apostle of Christ Jesus and adds by the will of God.

 

2 Timothy 1:6-14 ~ Reminding Timothy of His Responsibilities and the Characteristics of a Faithful Minister

"For this reason" refers to Timothy's sincere faith. Paul reminds him of the fullness of grace he received from the Holy Spirit when Paul and a gathering of Church elders ordained him to his priestly ministry as a bishop by the imposition of hands. He must use that power to stir into flame the gift of God to courageously complete his mission in Ephesus. Then as now in the Church, the imposing or "laying on of hands" signifies a transfer of spiritual power (CCC 1558, 1577). 

8 So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
Paul refers to his imprisonment in Rome because he has dared to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He urges Timothy not to be ashamed of defending his belief in the Gospel and not to be ashamed of Paul who is in prison like a common criminal. He wants Timothy to have his same fortitude to bear hardship for the sake of the Gospel with the spiritual strength that comes from God. 

2 Timothy 1:15-18 ~ Paul's False and True Friends 

Paul expresses his disappointment in the Christian co-workers from Asia who deserted him in his hour of need, perhaps also failing to appear in his defense at his trial. Asia was the Roman province that is today southwestern Turkey. The exception was Onesiphorus, a Christian from Ephesus who was not afraid to visit Paul in prison. 

18 May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well the services he rendered in Ephesus.
Apparently, Onesiphorus had died recently:

1. Paul does not indicate that he is with him any longer.
2. He prays that the Lord will grant Onesiphorus mercy at the Final Judgment.
3. He asks Timothy to greet Onesiphorus' family in his name but not Onesiphorus himself (4:19).

Paul offers a prayer for God to grant Onesiphorus mercy on "that day" of Onesiphorus' judgment. In verse 13, Paul's first "the Lord" refers to Jesus and the second to God the Father and Divine Judge. Praying for the dead was a practice in the Old Covenant and continues in the New Covenant Church as we pray for the Church suffering in Purgatory. Judas Maccabee prayed for his dead soldiers (2 Macc 12:43-46), Jesus prayed for dead Lazarus (Jn 11:41-44), and Peter prayed for Dorcas, a dead holy woman (Acts 9:37-43). 

Before the Christ descended to Sheol/Hades to raise the dead (Apostles' Creed; 1 Pt 3:18-22; 4:6; CCC 634), all those who had died, the righteous and the wicked, went to the abode of the dead where they awaited the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah. However, their conditions were not the same; the righteous dead banqueted with Father Abraham while the wicked suffered in atonement for their sins (see Jesus' description of Sheol in Lk 16:19-31 in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and CCC 632-33, 958, 1032). After Christ preached salvation to the souls in Sheol, He took the righteous into Heaven. From then onward, Sheol became only a place of purification for those destined for Heaven but in need of further purification. The Church then called this state of purification "Purgatory" (see 1 Cor 3:12-15). Sheol/Hades/Purgatory will remain until the Final Judgment (Rev 20:13-14). Paul will mention his friend's family again in 4:19. 

2 Timothy 2:1-7 ~ The Characteristics of a Good Soldier in Christ

Paul uses this affection expression again because he considers Timothy his spiritual son who he has raised to Christian maturity through his teachings. In this passage, Paul shows a concern for Timothy's responsibility to safeguard the faith. In verse 2, Paul writes about the chain of succession that reaches back from Jesus to the apostles to the bishops they ordained like Timothy. Paul charges Timothy to transmit these same traditions in the way he received them to those who will succeed him. He will do this through public instruction in the faith, the sacramental imposition of hands (baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, ordination), and the witness of a holy life (1 Tim 5:22; 6:20; 2 Tim 1:6, 13-14; 3:10).

2 Timothy 2:8-13 ~ The Unchained Word of God

Jesus is the heart of Paul's Gospel, a word he has repeated three times (1:8, 10 2:8). "Gospel" literally means "good tidings" or "good news;" in Greek the word is evangelion. When Paul uses the word he means the sum of Jesus' teachings which those who believe in Him accept with their minds and hearts and strive to put into practice in their lives. It is "news" because what Jesus revealed had previously been hidden "from the foundation of the world" (1 Pt 1:20). It is "good" because it reveals the infinite goodness of God, who became man. And it is through Jesus Christ that all the benefits of divine grace have been conferred on a fallen humanity.