Agonizing For The Faith

By Thomas Coutouzis

Jude is the second to last book in scripture (right before Revelation). Unfortunately, it is one of the least taught books in Christendom even though it is quite possibly one of the most important. This short 25 verse book written by the half-brother of Jesus is call to arms for believers to stand up against the false teaching that has invaded the church. This timely book was not just relevant in Jude's day, but was a admonition for the church in the centuries to follow to be on guard for the agents of Satan who desire to taint the word of God. This book is commentary on Jude and will dive deep into some of the ancient Greek, as well as many other supporting biblical texts to reveal the deep truths the Holy Spirit penned through Jude. There will be many examples of apostasy of the past in the early church, and apostasy in the present. And yes, there will be apostates in this book who are named and their heresy will be presented against the fires of scripture. This book is meant to equip the saints to "agonize" (ἐπαγωνίζομαι) for the faith against the false teaching that is so pervasive in our culture and around the world. The title of this book was inspired by Jude's command to "ἐπαγωνίζομαι" (epagonizomai) in verse 3, which means "to contend earnestly" for the faith (in context). The Greek root word is where our English word "agonize" comes from. It is literally a call for believers to oppose those who would revile the word of God. If we do not oppose those who slander Christ our Savior and His word, then error will find its way into the church and taint all of those exposed. This book will show you the schemes and motives of the false teacher as Jude pulls no punches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Coutouzis
• Release date: Dec 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386617471

Book preview

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Foreword

Introduction

1 - Contending for the faith

2 - False Teaching in the Early Church

3 - Apostasy of the Past

4 - Apostasy and the Judgment of Sodom

5 - Three Distinct Marks of False Teachers

6 - False Teachers are like Unreasoning Animals

7 - The Hall of Shame

8 - A False Teacher is like...

9 - The Savagery of Apostates

10 - False Teachers and the Art of Murmuring

11 - Remember the Words Spoken Beforehand

12 - Have Mercy on Those Who Have Been Deceived

13 - Jude’s Doxology

Acknowledgments

TO MY LORD AND SAVIOR Jesus Christ who started planting a desire in me to study the book of Jude in my early thirties. To my wife Kathy, I could not have written this without your sacrifice. Any fruit that is born from this book will be treasure credited to your account by God in Heaven. I would like to thank my pastor Jay Waggoner for his willingness to read this book and even support it by writing the Foreword. I would like to thank my Twitter Friends that encouraged me to write a commentary after my blog series through Jude. I would not have written this without your encouragement. Thanks as well to Joel Medley and the Common Grace Sunday School class that allowed me to teach through the book of Jude as I was blogging through it. Lastly, you can’t write a book without a gifted designer. Thank you Stephen Melniszyn for using your gift for His glory.

foreword

PAUL TELLS US THAT God has gifted men to serve many functions in the Body of Christ. One of those gifts is teaching. Although God’s gifts are not fully developed when received, they are characterized by two distinct indications. One is that a gifted person is drawn to that aspect of ministry. It may be called an inclination or an inner motivation supplied by the Spirit of God. The second is a capacity to function in that area of ministry. Such capacities are then developed and honed over many years, but they cannot be developed where there is no capacity. One thing I always look for in potential leaders and teachers is a God-given capacity coupled with a desire to serve the body. The writer of this book has demonstrated both. His spiritual insight and passion for teaching is evident.

As far as the book itself is concerned, I thoroughly appreciate the scholarly work that has been done on the Greek text. The many clearly defined and illustrated Greek word meanings make this book a worthwhile addition to any Bible teacher’s library. Add to this, the fact that there are so few commentaries available on the Book of Jude, and it is a must have volume. The nuances of word meanings and the contextual connections will help any student get a handle on this sometimes over-looked, but very important Book of Scripture. Most significant is the emphasis given to defending the Faith that is brought to the forefront by the author.

Dr. R. Jay Waggoner is the Senior Pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church in Willow Spring, North Carolina, and the author of several books, including, Enticed By Evil: The Believers Battle with Temptation.

INTRODUCTION

WE LIVE IN A TIME UNPRECEDENTED in church history where false teachers have become the face of Christianity. One only has to turn on the television to see a multitude of teachers that proclaim anything but biblical Christianity. They have their own TV programs asking for money and promising a 100-fold return, and many times they will frequent talks shows to the accolades of the crowd as they teach a form of Gnosticism. This movement is so pervasive that if you inspected the libraries of many churches you would more than likely find many of their books present. How could something so vile be happening to the church? The short answer is that the church has gotten away from the exegesis of Scripture, so much so, that many don’t even know how to identify false teachers and the error they spew. When discernment is absent, error will sneak in uninhibited every time.

This book is a commentary on the epistle of Jude. It is a thorough exposition for the sole purpose of equipping the saints to contend for the faith. It is a call to arms for the believer to stand up against the blasphemy that these men and women proclaim to millions each day. The book of Jude is a precious gift that God has left the elect to enable us to contend for the faith. Sadly, this 25-verse book is probably the least taught epistle in the church today. This commentary will open the eyes of the believer to the full depth and breadth of the message that Jude is conveying to the church through the study of the original language (Greek). This book will identify apostasy of the past, both in the Old Testament and early church. It will reveal distinct marks of false teachers so that we can identify them. This book will interpret Jude’s very descriptive metaphors to reveal the character of a false teacher, their motives, and how they operate, to name a few. Included in this exposition are some modern day false teachers whose heresy relates specifically to verses within this epistle. These heresies will be addressed in the light of God’s word to show how far they fall short of the glory of God. There are also some challenging passages within the book of Jude that will be tackled, giving wisdom to those who have struggled to understand them. Three of the most well-known are Jude’s quotations from the pseudepigraphal Assumption of Moses (V9) and Book of Enoch (V14-15), as well as verse 6, the angels who did not keep their domain.

Though Jude blasts these false teachers throughout the book, he also exhorts us to help those who have been deceived at the end of the epistle. It is one thing to discern false teaching, but it is also another to confront those deceived by it in a spirit of grace. If we speak only truth without grace, we will bludgeon those whom we desire to help, pushing them further away. We must point out error because we love these people and want to see them no longer enslaved to sin. Agonizing for the Faith is a call to stand up against the heresy that abounds in this world, but it is also a call for believers to refocus on Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf. If we are indeed followers of Christ then we must contend continuously for the faith until we are called home. Jude’s book is polemical, but the Gospel is its foundation.

1 – CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ; May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every opportunity to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. Jude 1-3

The greatest threat to the church since its formation has always been false teaching. This epistle is a polemical letter to the church in every age. It is a gift from God that is meant to protect the flock from the corruption of sin propagated by false teachers. To begin with, false teaching was not prevalent in the church until around 68-70 A.D. Satan had attempted to destroy the early church by persecution initially, but his plan backfired and instead the church grew exponentially. In light of this failure, Satan took a more clandestine approach. Our great enemy devised a plan to come in under the radar of those who lacked discernment. He came into the church through unbelievers posing as Christians and began to teach false doctrine.

History

The book of 2 Peter was written around 67-68 A.D. before Peter’s death. This is important because it helps us to date the book of Jude. Many scholars believe that Jude was written after 2 Peter, but before Jerusalem was sacked in 70 A.D. The support for this lies in several areas, most notably in Jude 17-18 where Jude makes a direct quotation from 2 Peter 3:3 in verse 18. In verse 17, Jude tells us to remember what the apostles said beforehand (primarily Peter) as he quotes 2 Peter 3:3. This shows us that Jude indeed was written after Peter for him to make this citation. Keep in mind that Jude more than likely lived in Jerusalem at this time. The letter must have been written before the Roman Emperor Titus destroyed the city in 70 A.D. or Jude would most certainly have included it in the epistle. Lastly, there is commonality between Jude 6-7 and from 2 Peter 2:4-9 about Sodom and Gomorrah and the angels who did not keep their domain. The book of 2 Peter is more prophetic about the coming apostasy, whereas Jude reveals to us the fulfillment of those wolves that have entered the church.

Author

Who is Jude? There are two possibilities as to the identity of Jude (Judas): Jude the apostle who was the son of James and Jude the half-brother of Jesus. There are many liberal commentators that espouse that we cannot know who this Jude really was. The fact is that we can because there really isn’t a lot of ambiguity. The people who mislead Christians with statements like this are nothing more than wolves in service of Satan himself looking to discredit Scripture any way they can. With this said, We can immediately rule out the apostle Jude, son of James simply by looking at verse 1 which says, "Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." The apostle Jude was the son of James (See Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13). This would give credence to the fact that the author was indeed Judas the half-brother of Jesus.

James was the leader of the Jerusalem church, the writer of the epistle of James, and the half-brother of Jesus. Mark 6:3 reveals, Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? John 7:5 shows us that none of his brothers believed He was the Christ. For not even His brothers were believing in Him. Then in Acts 1:14 after Jesus death the faithful all gathered in the upper room. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. So at some point between John 7:5 and Acts 1:14 Jesus’ brother Judas, using his own words became a "bond servant