to execute judgment against all; and to convict all the ungodly of them of all their works of ungodliness, which they have wrought ungodlily, and of all the hard [things] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jude quotes a warning that Enoch spoke before the flood, and that day of judgment has still not come. The verse names what the Lord comes to do — and it lists words alongside deeds on the charge sheet.
This is the earliest prophecy the Bible records. God took Enoch out of the world before judgment fell on it.
To a Christian, the preservation of this prophecy has a moving interest. The passage adds, to a truth taught elsewhere, that Enoch prophesied it. So we have a testimony that even before the flood the man of God had already announced the judgment of the world he was leaving. He "walked with God," and God took him out of the world, as the church will one day be taken. "Known to God are all His works, from the beginning of the world." He fixes all His purposes beforehand. That stays true whatever His patience may be, and however He deals with man in long-suffering and righteousness before He carries those purposes out.
The verse puts two groups in view. The "all" who face judgment are not the ones who arrive with the Lord.
"Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to" — what does Scripture say? — to "execute judgment upon all." This is not the saints. The "all" are completely distinct from the saints. The saints had been caught up, and now come with Him who executes the judgment on all the sinners found in that day. "To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all" — to make it perfectly plain who are meant — all "that are ungodly among them."
required note on non-ESV wording
That order of events explains how believers can be with Him at the very moment judgment falls.
When the wickedness of man rises then to its full height, God will strike in judgment. The Lord Jesus, who once bore judgment for our sakes, is then to be its Executor, and that oldest of all prophecies given through the lips of a man will be fulfilled: "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all" (Jude 14, 15). Beforehand the saints will have been "changed" according to 1 Corinthians 15, and "caught up" according to 1 Thessalonians 4, so they are with Him in a glorified condition.
One word keeps returning in this verse. Each use covers a different part of a person's life.
He will execute judgment, bringing solemn conviction to all the ungodly. This word "ungodly" comes four times in verse 15. It marks first men's characters, second their conduct, third their motives, and fourth their words. In all of these things they choose to refuse any recognition of God, and yet they keep up a pretence of religion. What sheer terror it will be for them when their hypocrisy is unmasked!
Jude charges words as well as deeds. Kelly weighs which of the two does more harm.
Here it is plain that ungodly words are just as bad in their own way as ungodly deeds. Sometimes an ungodly word does more harm than an ungodly deed. For instance, an ungodly deed might be an act of unrighteousness in a man, but an ungodly word might be a slur on Christ. This is worse, especially if people accept it. People are quite ready to cry out against an ungodly deed. Even worldly men can judge ungodly deeds well enough. Yet the same people would be deceived by hard and ungodly words against the Lord and His grace and truth.
Jude charges these words as spoken against the Lord Himself. That charge reaches further than it looks.
We are told that one special thing the Lord is coming to judge is "all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him," Jude 15. There is no present ridicule of His saints that will not be counted as against Himself in that day.
Enoch spoke to the world before the flood. Jude applies the words to a narrower target.
It is important to notice the use the Spirit of God makes of Enoch's words in Jude. He does not apply them to the world, but to the professing Church. This short letter has for its theme the entry, growth, and judgment of evil in Christendom. "The ungodly amongst them" means wicked men amongst Christians. How many in our day, in pulpit and press, are saying "hard speeches against Him"!
Because the verdict is certain, believers can leave insults unanswered.
Hard speeches against the Christ of God must stir the righteous indignation of the true children of God. And yet to a very large extent they can afford to treat the authors of these hard speeches with silent contempt. They know that the time is soon coming when God will deal with all in judgment. For centuries He has kept silence and borne with long-suffering patience. All that time men have grown ever bolder in rebellion, heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. But at last every "hard speech" will receive its crushing answer, and every opposer will be silenced and condemned.
- Spoken first. The earliest recorded prophecy came from a man God took out of the world before judgment fell. God fixes His purposes long before He carries them out.
- Comes with. The saints come with the Lord, not among the "all" He judges. He caught them up first.
- Convicts fourfold. "Ungodly" appears four times over character, conduct, motives and words — the whole person, religious pretence and all.
- Counts words. Hard speeches stand beside ungodly deeds, and mockery aimed at His people is counted as spoken against Him.
- Closes the case. Jude aims the warning at Christendom itself. Mocked believers can stay silent now, because every hard speech will get its answer then.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts; and their mouth speaks swelling words, admiring persons for the sake of profit.
Jude has just recalled Enoch's prophecy of the Lord coming to judge. Now he turns back to the men he is exposing and describes their words, their motives and their manners. The picture is ugly: grumbling, self-pleasing, big talk and flattery for profit. Commentators press one uncomfortable question. Is this only about them?
The first two words are not just synonyms. One commentator explains the exact sense of the second:
He says, "These are grumblers," and he adds, "malcontents" — not content with their lot. That is the strict literal meaning of the word. They are people who like to be something more and greater than they are — greater than God ever called them to be. They want to be somebody.
That explains why their grievances never get resolved. The problem is not where they think it is:
Jude calls them grumblers and complainers. They are dissatisfied people with grievances. But the cause of it all does not lie in the people they blame. It lies in their own lusts. Their lusts so dominate them that nothing would satisfy them.
Many read "following their own sinful desires" as sexual sin only. Kelly, using the older wording "lusts", widens it and links that appetite to the flattery at the end of the verse:
"These are grumblers, malcontents"; and what is the cause of that? "Walking after their own lusts." Do not suppose that lust means only gross lust. There are refined lusts — vanity, pride, ambition. What are all these but lusts? They are all lusts. They are the lusts of the devil... They love to gather a party around them, above all if they can count some rich people in it, "to gain advantage."
Jude's words carry the reader back to a nation that grumbled its way through the desert. They also expose what the flattery is for:
Grumbling and complaining marked Israel in the wilderness, above all the mixed crowd who travelled with them... The next clause goes down to the root of the evil — following their own sinful desires. They were governed by their own inclinations and desires, and not by the will of God... Finally, they were loud and boastful talkers, using swelling words. They were flatterers too, fawning on anyone they could make a profit out of. Scripture tells us again and again that God shows no favoritism. But favoritism is exactly what these "dreamers" showed, and they showed it for their own advantage.
The verse before speaks of harsh words against the Lord. This verse speaks of boastful words about men. One writer sets the two side by side:
But those who have belittled Christ have always exalted man. If they have spoken harsh words against the Christ of God, they have also spoken boastful words about sinful men. Belittling Christ is always linked with admiring man. And behind the harsh words against Christ there is always a low way of life... Lust is the real secret of antagonism to Christ and admiration of man.
The habit Jude names is not confined to the men he is exposing. It can hide behind a good profession:
We may put on a good show of faith in front of one another. Yet too often, in our hearts which God sees, we may be "showing favoritism to gain advantage". We then value riches and social position more than spirituality and the lowly graces of the One who was "gentle and lowly in heart".
Why aim a prophecy from Enoch's day at people troubling Christians now? Because the type of man has not changed:
Enoch prophesied of these. I do not know anything more striking than that. There are the same people now as in Enoch's day... But Jude carried us on to the coming of the Lord. The people on the earth when the Lord comes will be the same kind of wicked people as in the days of Enoch and of Jude. Evil, you see, goes on. Evil retains its own terrible character.
- Root — Their own desires drive everything else in the verse. Those desires include the refined kinds: vanity, pride and ambition.
- Grumbling — Desire rules them, so they grumble and complain. Their grievance lies in themselves, not in the people they blame.
- Flattery — The same appetite produces big talk and flattery. They fawn on important people to get something out of them.
- Exchange — Belittling Christ and admiring man travel together. They keep their praise from Him and spend it on people who can pay.
- Mirror — This fault is not far from us. A good show of faith can still hide a heart that values riches and status above the lowly graces of Christ.