Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men… I. NAMELESS MEN. He may have been induced to advert to them merely as "certain men." 1. With the view of avoiding those irritating personalities by which religious controversies are so apt to be characterised. 2. With the view of marking the holy disdain with which he regarded them, as if he considered them unworthy of being more particularly mentioned. 3. For the purpose of not adding to the notoriety which they very probably courted. II. DECEIVERS. "They crept in unawares." This may mean either that the parties in question assumed the office of spiritual teachers without the knowledge or consent of the brethren, or that they contrived by false professions to induce the rulers of the Church to admit them to that office. The latter is probably the real meaning of the words (2 Peter 2:1). III. REPROBATES. "Of old ordained to this condemnation." (W.McGilvray, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. |
    |