Jude 1:1–10

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, etc. Jude the apostle, whom Matthew and Mark call Thaddeus in the Gospel, writes against the same corruptors of the faith whom both Peter and John condemn in their Epistles.

Jude, who wrote the Catholic Epistle, the brother of the sons of Joseph, and very religious, while knowing the near relationship of the Lord, yet did not say that he himself was His brother. But what said he? "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ,"— of Him as Lord; but "the brother of James." For this is true; he was His brother, (the son) of Joseph.

When Domitian ordered that those of the race of David be slain, an ancient story holds that some of the heretics accused the grandchildren of Jude (the brother of the Savior, according to the flesh), on the ground that they really were of the family of David and were related to Christ himself. Hegesippus makes this quite clear.

Hegesippus says that other descendants of one of the so-called brothers of the Lord, Jude by name, lived until the reign of Trajan [98-117], after giving testimony of their faith in Christ in the time of Domitian [81-96].

Jude does his utmost to make sure that nobody confuses him with Judas Iscariot, which is why he confesses that he is Christ's servant and James's brother. Note how he also says that the Father chooses us, Jesus keeps us and the Holy Spirit calls us.

Jude the brother of James, left a short epistle which is reckoned among the seven catholic epistles, and because in it he quotes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch it is rejected by many. Nevertheless by age and use it has gained authority and is reckoned among the Holy Scriptures.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and called for Jesus Christ: may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. It was satisfactory for this present apostle, I say, to the splendor of glory, that Jude was celebrated as a servant of Christ even by James. Indeed, since James was extolled by all for his great virtue, it resulted that he was more easily received by the listeners into the doctrine of the discourse, because the relationship of birth and blood did not seem at all foreign to the morals of the one with whom he shared kinship: and especially if, living under one Lord Christ, Jude proposed to bear the yoke of servitude equally with his brother.

And depreciating the whole of what appeared to be His nearest kindred, they said, "Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?" [Matthew 13:55-56] They thought, then, that He was the son of Joseph and Mary. But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or "The Book of James," that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you," [Luke 1:35] might not know intercourse with a man after that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity. And James is he whom Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians that he saw, "But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." [Galatians 1:19] And to so great a reputation among the people for righteousness did this James rise, that Flavius Josephus, who wrote the "Antiquities of the Jews" in twenty books, when wishing to exhibit the cause why the people suffered so great misfortunes that even the temple was razed to the ground, said, that these things happened to them in accordance with the wrath of God in consequence of the things which they had dared to do against James the brother of Jesus who is called Christ. And the wonderful thing is, that, though he did not accept Jesus as Christ, he yet gave testimony that the righteousness of James was so great; and he says that the people thought that they had suffered these things because of James. And Jude, who wrote a letter of few lines, it is true, but filled with the healthful words of heavenly grace, said in the preface, "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James." [Jude 1]

In my opinion, it was sufficient for this apostle, as proof of his dignity, after having called himself a servant of Christ, to also point to his kinship with James. For James was praised by all for his virtue. This circumstance was bound to earn this apostle greater trust from his listeners regarding the teaching of the word, since it is doubtful that one who shared in birth and blood would prove to be very far in character from the one with whom he shared kinship, especially one who serves the same Master Christ and bears the burden of servitude equally with his blood relative.

The Lord said: "No one can come to Me unless My Father draws him" (John 6:44). This blessed man shows that now this word has been justified. For he says that those loved by the Father are preserved by Jesus Christ, which is why he also calls them called, since they did not come of their own accord, but were drawn and called by the Father.

Jude includes a reference to love here because he has noticed that there is a lack of it among his people.

"Those who are beloved in God the Father, and who are called, are saved by Jesus Christ." The Lord's word, in which He said, "No one comes to me unless the Father draws him," (Jn. 6:44) this blessed man now shows to be true. For those who are beloved by the Father, Jude says, have been saved by Jesus Christ. Therefore, he also calls them the called: for they do not have it from themselves, but from the Father, in that they are drawn, so that they may also be called. He truly prays for them that mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Indeed mercy, for we have been recalled and taken by Him into ministry because of the bowels of the mercy of God: peace, however, because God the Father Himself has granted this to us, bringing us who had sinned back to His friendship through His Son Jesus Christ: and love, indeed, because of the love He had for us, His only-begotten Son was exposed to death for us. Therefore, he prays that these may be abundantly granted to them, saying in harmony with blessed David, who says: "Extend your mercy to those who know you." (Ps. 36:10)

He desires that mercy, peace, and love be multiplied unto them; "mercy" because we are called by God and received as His servants through the compassion of mercy; "peace" because God the Father Himself also granted it to us, having reconciled us, who had offended Him, to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ; "love" because the Only-begotten Son of God gave Himself over to death for us out of love for us. Thus, the apostle prays that these gifts may abound in the faithful, just as David also cries out to the Lord: "Extend Your mercy to those who know You" (Psalm 36:10). Urged by these saving examples, we too, with sincere disposition toward our neighbor, must live worthily of Him Who called us.

Beloved, making all diligence to write to you, etc. He speaks of their common salvation, that salvation which was common to both him and them. For the salvation, faith, and love of Christ are one and common to all the elect.

Exhorting to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Exhorting them not to learn another faith than that which was once delivered to them by the apostles, but always to contend for it even unto death.

People will tell you, for instance, that theology became elaborate because it was dead. Believe me, if it had been dead it would never have become elaborate; it is only the live tree that grows too many branches.

The faith was first delivered to these people by the apostle Paul, who said: "No other foundation can anyone lay, than the one which is already laid."

True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most holy "faith delivered unto us," which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not "giving heed to endless genealogies," but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.

My dearest, I have had such a strong desire to write to you about our common salvation that I could not cease from writing to you: urging you to contend again for the faith once delivered to the saints. For certain ungodly men have secretly entered in, who were long ago marked out for this condemnation: who turn the grace of our God into vileness and deny the only Master God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Through this, the argument of the epistle is hinted at, which, for the providence of their salvation, is now presented to prevent them from being ensnared by the most wicked heretics due to simplicity: it renders their speeches as if marking and making them obvious to the ignorant through the exposure of their lustful lives. Peter also spoke about these matters, but here it is stated more openly and extensively. Jude describes them as abandoned: because both Peter and Paul spoke of those who will be such seducers in the last times. And before these, Christ himself said: "Many will come in my name and will deceive many: therefore do not follow them." (Matt. 24:5) For claiming to be Christians, they deceive many in this name. He mentions Nicholas, Valentinus, and Simon, and those who followed them, the most wicked and impure. For being gluttons and lustful, they pretended to teach, so that under this pretext they might gain a hidden entrance into homes and lead captive women burdened with sins. (2 Tim. 3:6) For they have given themselves over to nighttime mysteries in their beds and lasciviousness (Rom. 13:13). What he says, "They turn to lasciviousness," means that they corrupt themselves, twisting away from abstinence to lasciviousness; therefore they even deny our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, how do they not deny Him, who, through the impurity of life, reject the Teacher of all temperance with a vulgar and loud voice? For what unity is there between light and darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14) "urging you to contend again." Jude urges those who have once received Christ the Savior and believed in Him, to continue striving or to endeavor, that is, not to be affected with a disheartened mind, but to contain themselves and embrace even greater zeal regarding this. For we have received the incarnate Word; if we were to say that there is another who was with the Father before the ages, and another who was born in His own hypostasis (ὑπόστασιν) from the Mother in the last times, would we not deny that there is one Lord and Master? For there is one Lord Jesus according to a certain privilege of union. For the Word and God before the ages, having assumed flesh for the glory of divinity, which He received from the divine Virgin from the moment of conception, is one and the same Lord of all. "turn the grace:" that is, they transform, corrupt.

If we wish woodenly to preserve unchanged the good things once given to the saints and will not adapt the events of the historical account, we will by such action appear to do something like what the heretics do, by not preserving the harmony of the narrative of the Scriptures from beginning to end.

"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; "watching unto prayer," and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God "not to lead us into temptation," as the Lord has said: "The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Here the apostle indicates the motivation for writing the epistle. Namely: he writes the present epistle out of concern for the salvation of the faithful, so that they in their simplicity would not be carried away by the most vile heretics; he writes in order to expose them through a description of the depraved life of the heretics and make them known to those who are unaware. The apostle Peter had already spoken about them, but the apostle Jude writes more extensively. He says that they were "designated beforehand" (v. 4), because the apostles Peter and Paul had already written that in the last times deceivers of this kind would come (2 Pet. 1:1–2, 3:3; 2 Tim. 3:1–8). Even before them, Christ Himself said: "many will come in My name and will deceive many; do not go after them" (Luke 21:8), because by calling themselves Christians, they will deceive many by this name. The apostle speaks of the followers of the most vile Nicholas, Valentinus, and Simon. For being gluttons and intemperate, they gave their teaching a fair-seeming cover in order to gain access to homes and captivate women mired in sins. Having invented certain nocturnal rites, they gave themselves over to debauchery. From this it also follows that they deny our Lord Jesus Christ. For how can those who by their impure life drive away from themselves the Teacher of all chastity not deny Him? For what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14).

Jude means that their condemnation was predestined, for even the betrayal of Judas had been foretold. Here he is talking about the Simonians, for they are gluttonous and intemperate, pretending to teach godliness so that they can worm their way into people's houses.

Certain men have crept in, etc. He means into this judgment, into this condemnation, which the impious deserve by their actions. Hence the Lord says: And they shall come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment (John V), that is, condemnation.

Perverting the grace of our Lord into licentiousness. The grace of our Lord has softened the hardness of the law, because when it said, If anyone does this or that, let them be stoned; if anyone does this or that, let them be burned with fire; the Lord, having relaxed the strictness of the law, gave through the grace of the Gospel the license to purge committed crimes through penance and the fruits of almsgiving. But they pervert this grace of His into licentiousness, who now sin all the more freely and easily, as they see themselves less immediately examined by the harshness of the law for their admitted crimes.

And denying the only Sovereign and Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Sovereign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, just as the Father is the only Sovereign with the Son and the Holy Spirit, and just as the Holy Spirit is the only Sovereign with the Father and the Son. The whole Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is the only Sovereign. For whichever person you name in the same holy and indivisible Trinity, it is the only God. And when you name the whole Trinity together, you name the only true God. Hence it is rightly understood that any heretics who deny that the Father of Christ is the true, good, and just God deny our only Sovereign and Lord. Whoever denies that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, they also deny our only Sovereign and Lord. Whoever diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit, they also contradict the majesty of our only Sovereign and Lord, for the same Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is undeniably our only Sovereign and Lord.

For certain men have entered unawares, ungodly men, who had been of old ordained and predestined to the judgment of our God;" not that they might become impious, but that, being now impious, they were ordained to judgment.

These words were written about those who, after attributing the glory of sonship only to the Word begotten of God the Father, say that another son of the seed of David and Jesse has been united with him and been given a share in the sonship and in the glory proper to God.

There are some godless men who twist Scripture wickedly and who have come into the church, pretending to preach the gospel. Their judgment was decreed long ago, and they have condemned themselves by their actions. As a result, they have been handed over to their impure lusts. By their great ungodliness they have turned the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into wantonness, and by their wickedness even people who have been called by the gospel have denied the one Lord Jesus Christ. It is in order to win them back that Jude goes on to talk of what God did in the past to people who behaved in that way.

He exhorts those who once acknowledged our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and believed in Him, to contend for the faith. For if we have accepted the incarnate Word and yet say that He Who is from the Father before the ages is one, and He Who is from the Mother is another, and that He is a separate person, then how do we not deny the one Lord and Master? For the Lord Jesus is one by the union of the economy; because the pre-eternal Word of God and God, having flesh grafted into the glory of the Godhead, which He assumed from the Holy Virgin, from the very conception, is one and the same Master of all.

Jude shows that although God led his people out of Egypt, they turned away from him, and for that reason he gave them over to destruction if they would not repent.

I wish to remind you, although you know these things once and for all. Namely, knowing all the mysteries of the faith and not needing to hear new teachers as if they were holier.

Because Jesus, saving the people from the land of Egypt, etc., he calls Jesus not the son of Nave, but our Lord, showing first that he did not have his beginning from the birth of the holy Virgin, as the heretics affirm, but according to the mystery of his name, he has existed as the eternal God for the salvation of believers; then indicating that in the same way he mercifully saves believers, he also justly condemns the unbelievers. For just as he first saved the humble who cried out to him from the affliction of Egypt, he later cast down the proud who murmured against him in the wilderness. He emphasizes this so that we now remember that he saves believers through the waters of baptism, which the Red Sea signified, so that even after baptism he demands a humble life in us, apart from the filth of vices, such as the conversion of the wilderness in its seclusion rightly indicated. Indeed, if anyone defiles this life, whether by deviating from the faith or by acting wrongly, just as if returned in heart to Egypt, he will merit to perish among the wicked rather than reach the promised homeland of the kingdom. Alternatively: Secondly, he destroyed those who did not believe, because as a just judge, he strikes some now and later due to their faults. He frees solely those from punishment whom he transforms in suffering. For those whom present evils do not correct, they lead to future evils.

"For the Lord God," he says, "who once delivered a people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not;" that is, that He might train them through punishment. For they were indeed punished, and they perished on account of those that are saved, until they turn to the Lord.

When Moses delivered the people from Egypt, all those who did not believe perished.

I want to remind you, when we know once that the Lord, after He had saved the people from Egypt, again destroyed those who did not believe: and that He kept the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their own dwelling, in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, which were similarly defiled with them through sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. After Jude spoke of the corruption of the impure Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, and as if by a certain branding he marked them out from their own foul filth, he also adds this: "after He had saved the people from Egypt," etc., indeed showing through these things that the same God is the author of both the Old and the New Testament: and not, as these wicked ones say, that there was one God of the Old Testament, vengeful and cruel, and another of the New, gentle and humane: and Jude also states that neither those who now sin will remain unpunished, just as neither did those who were brought out of Egypt. For indeed, by the enormous power of God, and because of the oath made to their ancestors, God had freed them from the slavery and tyranny of Egypt: yet those who acted immorally did not remain unpunished, but they received deserving penalties; and it did them no good that God had been generous towards their ancestors: nor did the enormous evidence of signs presented for them have any effect: just as neither did the angels who had fallen, although they were formed by God and endowed with intellectual nature; nor did the Sodomites, because they dwelt with Lot. But those who first crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land, later became unbelievers and perished. Those who had indeed received the honor of angelic position, since they did not remain in their origin, but corrupted the gift given to them from the goodness of celestial life, were reserved and kept for judgment or condemnation on the day of great and intolerable punishment. For this also now signifies kept (τετήρηνε). According to what Christ said: "Who is prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41) And certainly, the Sodomites are presented as a sign of the eternal fire that will receive them. "and pursued strange flesh," and committed fornication, that is, turning aside, which means to engage in prostitution (πορνεύειν). But strange flesh refers to male flesh, which does not benefit the union that is for the sake of generation. For the flesh that engages in union is the flesh of a woman, according to what was said by the first parent: "Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." (Gen. 2:23) The flesh of men, however, is strange, I say, from sexual intercourse. Although in a woman, indeed joined by the laws to one man, her flesh is her own and moral: but that which is poured out and public is foreign and strange, and left almost to the atonement of male wickedness. But when Jude had set forth these examples, he left it to the listener to understand what followed from them. What is that? To bear what follows from it. If, therefore, he has so destroyed these, not satisfied by their previous happiness, does he now allow these to act immorally and lustfully, when the Son of God came into the world for men and suffered injuries and afflictions for them? No one would ever say this. For although he is kind and compassionate, yet he is also truly just: and for the sake of true justice, he did not spare those who have sinned (2 Peter 2:4): but for the sake of kindness, he introduced harlots and tax collectors into the kingdom (Matt. 21:31). Since it was thus necessary that the discourse should promise, he himself omitted it, for the reason we have mentioned. Or also speaking in a similar manner with blessed Peter, when he said: "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned," etc. (2 Peter 2:4) And indeed it has been said of these things.

Having spoken about the debauchery of the impious Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, he adds also that the Lord delivered the people from the land of Egypt, and so on. By this he shows that the Founder of the Old and New Testaments is one and the same God, and not as those vile ones say, that one God, wrathful and cruel, gave the Old Testament, and another God, without wrath and loving of mankind, gave the New Testament. By this he also shows that those who now act impiously will not remain unpunished, just as those who came out of Egypt did not remain so. For although God by His surpassing power and by the oath to their fathers freed them from Egyptian slavery, nevertheless, when they transgressed the law, He did not leave them without punishment, but rendered to them the due retribution: neither the favor of God toward their ancestors nor the supernatural power of miracles helped them in the least; and those who at that time crossed the Red Sea on dry land later perished for their departures from the faith.

They are being kept until they are thrown into the ultimate fire and bound in those chains which cannot be seen because of the darkness. That he has kept them for the coming judgment can be seen from what Peter has written.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of the judgment by which the ruler of this world has been judged, in these words of the apostle Jude.

The angels, indeed, who did not keep their own position, etc. And in this sentence, as in the previous one, we must first remember that Jesus our Lord punished the transgressing angels. For He, the man born at the end of the ages from a Virgin, who received the name Jesus by the angel's declaration, being God born from the Father before all ages, arranged every creature with the Father as He willed, and from the beginning condemned the haughty angels under the darkness of this air, reserving them for greater punishment on the day of judgment. And therefore, rightly are they to be condemned who contend that Christ Jesus was not true God, but only a man, and born of both genders. Furthermore, it must be inferred that He who did not spare the sinning angels will not spare haughty men either; but those who did not keep their position, namely, by the grace of adoption made sons of God, but forsook their abode, that is, the unity of the Church, in which they were reborn unto God, or certainly the seats of the heavenly kingdom which they would have received if they kept the faith, He will also condemn severely before the judgment and more severely in the universal judgment.

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.

And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven...

To which also we shall add, that the angels who had obtained the superior rank, having sunk into pleasures, told to the women the secrets which had come to their knowledge; while the rest of the angels concealed them, or rather, kept them against the coming of the Lord.

"But the angels," he says, "that kept not their own pre-eminence," that, namely, which they received through advancement, "but left their own habitation," meaning, that is, the heaven and the stars, became, and are called apostates. "He hath reserved these to the judgment of the great day, in chains, under darkness." He means the place near the earth, that is, the dark air. Now he called "chains" the loss of the honour in which they had stood, and the lust of feeble things; since, bound by their own lust, they cannot be converted. "As Sodom and Gomorrha," he says.

In the same way, let the convert, or still more the semi-convert, face any one fact that does seem to him to deface the Catholic scheme as a falsehood; and if he faces it long enough he will probably find that it is the greatest truth of all. I have found this myself in that extreme logic of free will which is found in the fallen angels and the possibility of perdition. Such things are altogether beyond my imagination, but the lines of logic go out towards them in my reason. Indeed, I can undertake to justify the whole Catholic theology, if I be granted to start with the supreme sacredness and value of two things: Reason and Liberty. It is an illuminating comment on current anti-Catholic talk that they are the two things which most people imagine to be forbidden to Catholics.

Who can understand God's love for his people or figure out the truth just by his own reasoning? For because of the truth he did not spare the angels who sinned, but on account of his kindness toward us he has allowed harlots and publicans into his kingdom.

Since the Son of God is always one and the same, He gives to those who believe on Him a well of water [springing up] to eternal life, but He causes the unfruitful fig-tree immediately to dry up; and in the days of Noah He justly brought on the deluge for the purpose of extinguishing that most infamous race of men then existent, who could not bring forth fruit to God, since the angels that sinned had commingled with them, and [acted as He did] in order that He might put a check upon the sins of these men, but [that at the same time] He might preserve the archetype, the formation of Adam. And it was He who rained fire and brimstone from heaven, in the days of Lot, upon Sodom and Gomorrah, "an example of the righteous judgment of God," that all may know, "that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire."

For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land.

God, when He had made the whole world, and subjected things earthly to man, and arranged the heavenly elements for the increase of fruits and rotation of the seasons, and appointed this divine law-for these things also He evidently made for man-committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begat children who are those that are called demons; and besides, they afterwards subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings, and partly by fears and the punishments they occasioned, and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices, and incense, and libations, of which things they stood in need after they were enslaved by lustful passions; and among men they sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness. Whence also the poets and mythologists, not knowing that it was the angels and those demons who had been begotten by them that did these things to men, and women, and cities, and nations, which they related, ascribed them to god himself, and to those who were accounted to be his very offspring, and to the offspring of those who were called his brother), Neptune and Pluto, and to the children again of these their offspring. For whatever name each of the angels had given to himself and his children, by that name they called them.

Not only man, but also the "sons of God, seeing the daughters of men that they are fair, took for themselves wives of all whom they chose," and consistently all those who left "their own dwelling" and did not preserve their own principality - and by "principality" I mean not in reference to power but to the beginning and foundation; just as for man, the beginning was to be in paradise, but the end perhaps due to transgression in Hades below or some such place, so also for each of the fallen ones a particular beginning is given.

For they, withal, who instituted them are assigned, under condemnation, to the penalty of death — those angels, to wit, who rushed from heaven on the daughters of men; so that this ignominy also attaches to woman. For when to an age much more ignorant (than ours) they had disclosed certain well-concealed material substances, and several not well-revealed scientific arts — if it is true that they had laid bare the operations of metallurgy, and had divulged the natural properties of herbs, and had promulgated the powers of enchantments, and had traced out every curious art, even to the interpretation of the stars — they conferred properly and as it were peculiarly upon women that instrumental mean of womanly ostentation, the radiances of jewels wherewith necklaces are variegated, and the circlets of gold wherewith the arms are compressed, and the medicaments of orchil with which wools are colored, and that black powder itself wherewith the eyelids and eyelashes are made prominent. What is the quality of these things may be declared meantime, even at this point, from the quality and condition of their teachers: in that sinners could never have either shown or supplied anything conducive to integrity, unlawful lovers anything conducive to chastity, renegade spirits anything conducive to the fear of God. If (these things) are to be called teachings, ill masters must of necessity have taught ill; if as wages of lust, there is nothing base of which the wages are honourable. But why was it of so much importance to show these things as well as to confer them? Was it that women, without material causes of splendour, and without ingenious contrivances of grace, could not please men, who, while still unadorned, and uncouth and — so to say — crude and rude, had moved (the mind of) angels? Or was it that the lovers would appear sordid and — through gratuitous use — contumelious, if they had conferred no (compensating) gift on the women who had been enticed into connubial connection with them? But these questions admit of no calculation. Women who possessed angels (as husbands) could desire nothing more; they had, forsooth, made a grand match! Assuredly they who, of course, did sometimes think whence they had fallen, and, after the heated impulses of their lusts, looked up toward heaven, thus requited that very excellence of women, natural beauty, as (having proved) a cause of evil, in order that their good fortune might profit them nothing; but that, being turned from simplicity and sincerity, they, together with (the angels) themselves, might become offensive to God. Sure they were that all ostentation, and ambition, and love of pleasing by carnal means, was displeasing to God. And these are the angels whom we are destined to judge: these are the angels whom in baptism we renounce: these, of course, are the reasons why they have deserved to be judged by man. What business, then, have their things with their judges? What commerce have they who are to condemn with them who are to be condemned? The same, I take it, as Christ has with Belial. With what consistency do we mount that (future) judgment-seat to pronounce sentence against those whose gifts we (now) seek after? For you too, (women as you are,) have the self-same angelic nature promised as your reward, the self-same sex as men: the self-same advancement to the dignity of judging, does (the Lord) promise you. Unless, then, we begin even here to pre-judge, by pre-condemning their things, which we are hereafter to condemn in themselves, they will rather judge and condemn us.

And those who, having received the honor of angelic dignity, through negligence did not remain in their original state, but cast off the heavenly manner of life given to them by grace, God has hidden away in punishment for the judgment, that is, for the condemnation, of the great day; for this is what the word "keeps" means. Therefore the Lord also says: "Depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41).

As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, etc. Because He had given an example of condemnation in those who solely deny the Sovereign and our Lord Jesus Christ, by recalling the ruin of the murmuring and unfaithful people in the desert, or those rising against the author of the wicked angels, so He gives an example of the punishment of those who turn the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into licentiousness, recalling the burning of Sodom.

Secondly, if, according to the Scripture, they who shall be "apprehended" by the faith in (the state of) Gentile marriage are not defiled (thereby) for this reason, that, together with themselves, others also are sanctified: without doubt, they who have been sanctified before marriage, if they commingle themselves with "strange flesh," cannot sanctify that (flesh) in (union with) which they were not "apprehended.

As an example that unquenchable fire will encompass them, the inhabitants of Sodom are also brought forward. "Other flesh" refers to the male nature, as not serving such intercourse as to give birth. For such intercourse the female flesh is capable, according to the saying of the forefather: "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23), while the flesh of the male, as I said, is alien to such intercourse. And even female flesh, according to the laws, belongs as one's own and proper flesh to one alone, but that which mingles with many is other and alien flesh, and in defilement falls little short of the male.

Jude calls them "dreamers" because they have no idea of the truth but fantasize as if they were dreaming and concoct doctrines full of impiety. They say that our flesh, that is to say, our body, is the work of the devil and blaspheme the lordship and glory of the Holy Trinity, accepting the Father as the eternal and uncreated One but reducing the Son and the Holy Spirit to the status of creatures made in time. These are the noxious teachings of Marcion and Arius, which explains why the apostle expresses himself so sharply against them. They do not confess that there is one God, Maker of both the visible and the invisible worlds, but they deify matter and darkness and detest the flesh. Jude condemns these people, even to the point of saying that they have polluted their mind and their entire being.

Similarly, those who indeed defile the flesh, etc. It must be understood that these, like the Sodomites who defiled the flesh, are also to be damned, like the unbelieving people who blasphemed the majesty of divine power, like the angels who despised the dominion of their Creator.

"Similarly to the same," he says, "also those dreamers,"—that is, who dream in their imagination lusts and wicked desires, regarding as good not that which is truly good, and superior to all good,—"defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of majesty," that is, the only Lord, who is truly our Lord, Jesus Christ, and alone worthy of praise. They "speak evil of majesty," that is, of the angels.

Likewise, these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious beings. Furthermore, what he says: "Likewise, these dreamers defile the flesh," it is worthy of admiration that Jude has expressed the speech so modestly. For he indeed testifies much filthiness and nerve about them, saying that their life is impure, and their tongue is especially lustful: however, he rightly comprehends the fervent immorality of their actions through this word ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (that is, dreaming or agitated by sleeplessness), which we will briefly and appropriately reveal, taking understanding from the work that blessed Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, published about these, which he called the Panarion (26). For he says here that those wicked Borborites (that is, those filled with filth and sludge) when they mixed with foul women, did not dispense semen into the womb, but with an imperfect abomination, they received it with their own hands, and immediately inserted it into the mouths of the women with whom they had been corrupted: and thus they departed from each other impure, thinking they had accomplished something great. This unclean drama is called a dream because such things are also found in dreams. Therefore, by this filthy assumption, they further rage against the divine nature, Jude says, despising its dominion and the authority it has over the universe. Moreover, blessed Irenaeus of Lyons spoke more broadly about these things in his Refutation of the So-called Knowledge, from which anyone who wishes may gain understanding. They reject authority, that is, the perfection of the mystery that is according to Christ: in order and in turn, fulfilling their shamelessness through the mysteries of angels. However, the term "glorious " (Δόξας) that is, splendors, is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments: as Paul says, "For if what was brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory." (2 Cor. 3:11) And again: "For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, much more will the ministry of righteousness abound in glory." (2 Cor. 3:9) Or it also refers to the ecclesiastical authorities, upon which they heap blasphemies: as can be learned even from the third Epistle of John the beloved, among whom he mentions Diotrephes, who gossiped against them with malicious words. (3 Jn. 10)

Having set forth the examples just mentioned, the apostle left it to the listener himself to infer the conclusion from them. What conclusion? If God dealt thus with those people, not regarding their former good lot, then will today's impious ones be saved by the fact that the Son of God came into the world for mankind, endured reproach for them, and bore sufferings? No one can say this. For although He is merciful, He is also truly righteous, and in true justice He did not spare those who sinned, while in His mercy He brought harlots and tax collectors into the Kingdom (Matt. 21:31). Such is the conclusion that follows; but the apostle omitted it, and did so either for the reason we stated before, or following the example of holy Peter, when he said: "if God spared not the angels that sinned" (2 Pet. 2:4), and so on. Thus we speak of this. The words "dreamers who defile the flesh" are spoken with remarkable modesty; for by the expression "dreamers" the apostle only hinted at the extremely shameful side of the matter. Let us reveal it in part and insofar as is fitting, borrowing information about this from the work of Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, which he called the Panarion. He says: these fornicators and defilers, shamefully uniting with women, do not release seed into the womb, but, not completing the defilement, take it into their own hands and immediately place it into the mouths of the women with whom they were debauching themselves, and thus these impure ones withdraw from each other, imagining that they have done something great. It is this unclean handful, on account of the incompleteness of the act, that the apostle calls dreaming, for such defilement occurs during sleep. Defiling their flesh with such vile offering, they also madly rise up against the Divine nature, rejecting Its sovereignty and dominion over all. Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, spoke of this more extensively in his work "Exposure of Falsely-Named Knowledge." Otherwise: the apostle testifies to the depravity of the heretics, saying that they are impure in life and utterly vile in knowledge. They, he says, "reject authorities," that is, they reject the performance of the mystery of Christ — they reject it because instead of angelic mysteries they perform their own abominations. "They speak evil of dignities" (δόξας). By "dignities" one should understand the various opinions of wise men, called among the notable Greeks "theses" (θέσεις), by which they mean lofty opinions, accessible not to everyone, but only to those acquainted with philosophy. A witness to what we have said is the Apostle Paul. When the Athenians brought him to the Areopagus and he preached to them the teaching about God, they considered him a babbler (Acts 17). Thus, just as they called the teaching of the apostles babbling, so also they called the aforementioned "dignities." For this reason, speaking of men gifted by God and inspired by God, the Apostle Jude used the word "dignities," as a common and universally known term. Another explanation: by "dignities" he perhaps means the Old and New Testaments. Or: by "dignities" he means ecclesiastical authorities, whom they spoke evil of, as the beloved John indicates in his third epistle (3 John 1:9–10), where he writes that Diotrephes reviles them with wicked words.

Here Jude shows that the Old Testament agrees with the New and that they were both given by the same God. For the devil objected, claiming that the body was his because he is the lord of matter.… But Michael would not accept this and brought on the devil a punishment worthy of his blasphemy, though he abandoned him to the discretion of his own master. For when God brought Moses to the mount of transfiguration, the devil said to Michael that God had broken his promise, because he had sworn not to do such a thing. Michael is said to have taken care of the burial of Moses, and the devil is supposed to have objected to this. God then came to the rescue and wanted to show those who at that time saw only a very little that eventually our souls would be changed and we would all ascend into heaven. But the devil and the evil spirits with him wanted to cut off the way to heaven and tried both to do their evil deeds and at the same time weaken the righteous by this angelic warfare. This is what the blessed Antony saw in his vision.

When Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil, etc. From which Scriptures Jude took this testimony is not easily clear. But it should be known that we find something similar to these things in the prophet Zechariah. For he says: Because the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you (Zech. III). But it is very easy to understand in this place that Jesus the high priest desired the people of Israel to be freed from Babylonian captivity and to return to their homeland. But Satan opposed him, not wanting the people of God to be liberated, but rather to be made slaves to enemies and nations; and therefore the angel who was the helper of the people rebuked him and removed him from the injury against that same people. But when Michael contended with the devil about the body of Moses, we have no certainty. However, there are those who say that the same people of God were called the body of Moses, because Moses himself was part of that people; and so Jude, having read what was done about the people, could rightly say it was done about the body of Moses. But wherever and whenever this dispute between the angel and the devil took place, it should be diligently considered, because if Michael the archangel did not wish to say a blasphemy to the devil opposing him, but restrained him with modest speech, how much more should all blasphemy be avoided by men, and especially lest they offend the majesty of the Creator with undisciplined words.

There was never any question of tracing all evil to man; in fact, the New Testament has a good deal more to say about dark superhuman powers than about the fall of Adam. As far as this world is concerned, a Christian can share most of the Zoroastrian outlook; we all live between the 'fell, incensed points' of Michael and Satan. The difference between the Christian and the Dualist is that the Christian thinks one stage further and sees that if Michael is really in the right and Satan really in the wrong this must mean that they stand in two different relations to somebody or something far further back, to the ultimate ground of reality itself.

"When Michael, the archangel, disputing with the devil, debated about the body of Moses." Here he confirms the assumption of Moses. He is here called Michael, who through an angel near to us debated with the devil.

For he does not say to blaspheme no man: but absolutely no one: not an angel, nor any creature of God. Because everything that was made by God is very good. For when Michael the Archangel disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a judgment of blasphemy, but said, "May God rebuke you" (Jud. 9). If Michael therefore did not have the audacity to bring judgement upon the devil, certainly deserving of a curse, for blasphemy: how much more should we be pure from every curse? The devil deserved a curse: but it should not have come out through the mouth of an archangel.

Yet Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the Devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not think to pronounce a condemning judgment against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" But these people blaspheme what they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that they, like irrational animals, understand instinctively. Since he remembers the blasphemy, he restrains not only them alone, but also all men, so that they may have pure tongues from such evil, and do not use it against those who are worthy of blasphemy, saying: "Michael the archangel," etc. But what does this mean? That these indeed rashly and intemperately use blasphemies against all. However, this should not happen, since it is not even fair to attack those who are worthy of blasphemy with curses, as is evident from the archangel Michael. For when there was a dispute between him and the Devil about the body of Moses, an opportunity was given to him to attack him with a blasphemy because of his boldness, But the archangel did not dare to bring a railing accusation against the Devil, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" How do these men dare to blaspheme the glorious beings? It is written in another way: If the archangel was in this condition, we should not heap up blasphemies and curses against the brother of a man of the same condition as us. And indeed, these things have been said about them. Furthermore, this is the judgment concerning the body of Moses. It is said that Michael the archangel provided ministry in burying Moses: the Devil could not bear this but brought an accusation because of the killing of the Egyptian (Ex. 2), as if it were Moses' own, and therefore did not allow him to obtain an honorable burial. But also wishing to signify through this, the Apostle presents in the open that the law is prescribed to all men after their departure from the body, and that the same God is of the Old and New Testament. For when God wished to reveal the hidden things to men who were then more grossly affected, namely that the Devil, with his wicked demons, rises against our souls after they have been freed from here, wanting to hinder their journey to the heavens (and indeed he resists, but the good angels of God are there to assist them: as blessed Anthony also saw): He permitted these things to happen at that time. Nevertheless, Michael then dared to repel the Devil, not with the authority to rebuke, but he granted judgment to the Lord of all, and said: "May God rebuke you, O Devil." But these do not know what they speak. Michael indeed acted so, nor did he bring any accusation against a man or Moses: but these compose slanderous speeches about doctrines they do not understand; those who, by natural motion or judgment, as beings experienced in reason, pursue these things like maddened horses towards mares, or like swine.

The angels were present at the death of Moses, and God himself took care of his burial.

Since the apostle mentioned evil speaking, he reproves not only the blasphemers, but also persuades all people not to defile their tongues with such evil, not to employ it even against those who deserve it, and says: "Michael the Archangel," and so on. He speaks as if to say: they hastily and uncontrollably speak evil of everyone, but this ought not to be so. For it is unjust to speak evil even of those who deserve evil speaking, as is evident from the conduct of the Archangel Michael. Contending with the devil about the body of Moses, he could have reproached the devil for his shamelessness, yet he did not do so, but only said to him: The Lord rebuke you, devil! In another sense: if the Archangel acted this way, then we too, in a dispute with a man, our brother and kinsman, ought not to employ evil speaking. The dispute about the body of Moses was as follows. In the apocryphal writings it is said: the Archangel Michael ministered at the burial of the body of Moses; the devil would not allow this, but charged Moses with the guilt of killing the Egyptian, and on account of such guilt declared Moses unworthy of burial. The Apostle Jude recalls this in order not only to teach us not to be quick to speak evil, but also to show us that all people, upon departing from the body, must give an account of everything; that the God of the Old and New Testaments is one and the same; that upon our passage from this world, the devil together with his evil demons rises up against our souls, wishing to cut short their blessed journey: he opposes them, while the good angels fight on their behalf, as the holy Anthony saw. So it could have happened then as well. Only Michael repelled the devil at that time by rebuking him, not by his own authority, but by committing the judgment to the Lord of all, saying: The Lord rebuke you, devil!

You can search them out for yourself from sacred Scripture without my help. And it will become clearly evident to you that this likely is the age of which it was said, "Believe not in friends and trust not in princes," and that the prophecy is now being fulfilled: "The leaders of my people have not known me; they are foolish and senseless children. They are wise to do evils, but to do good they have no knowledge." We should rather pity such people than hate them and should rather pray for them than revile them. For we were created to bless and not to revile. Thus also Michael, when he was arguing with the devil over the body of Moses, did not dare to bring an accusation of blasphemy against him even for such a serious offense but said, "May the Lord rebuke you." Even in Zechariah, we read something similar to this. "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke you." And so we also pray that those who refuse to be rebuked by their friends with humility may be rebuked by the Lord.

Not knowing the true doctrine, these people concoct blasphemies for themselves. They are so caught up in lust that they are no different from dumb animals.

"But these," he says, "speak evil of those things which they know not; but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves." He means that they eat, and drink, and indulge in uncleanness, and says that they do other things that are common to them with animals, devoid of reason.

Michael, he says, did not endure the blasphemies of the devil against a man, that is, Moses, yet these compose blasphemous speeches against teachings which they do not know; and what they know by natural inclination, confusedly, like irrational animals, they pursue like horses.