Thinking in 3’s” Two States Contrasted

Thinking in 3’s” Two States Contrasted

Last Sunday I used North and South Carolina to illustrate the link and difference between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Those are not the states that I’m referring to here.

The two states from Jude 4 are radically different from one another. To move from one state to another requires a change of heart that can only be accomplished by the power and grace of God. That is, we cannot change ourselves so completely. We can perhaps achieve some cosmetic of stylistic changes - but here we are considering a true restoration into the image of Christ, the Head of God’s new, redeemed humanity. 

Jude writes to warn believers of “certain people (who) have crept in unnoticed. Here is his description of them: “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v.4)

“Ungodly” is the opposite of “godly.” To be godly is to have one’s life oriented around God, with God at the center. The opposite of “godly” is “worldly.” To be worldly is to have pushed God to the periphery of one’s life, so much so that He does not (seem to) matter. So, to be “ungodly” means to be “worldly.”

“Ungodliness” or “worldliness are not on a continuum with “godliness.” It’s not like “partly cloudy” or “mostly sunny.” In its pure form, these two states are radically divergent. They will have different views of self, of life, of meaning, and of destiny.

Jude also says that these people “pervert the grace of God.” Rather than living in gratitude for the life-changing difference wherein a person is transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, these people do whatever things they do, even in the realm of religion, for the sake of their own senses, or sensuality. They are not driven by God’s Spirit, but by their own senses.

Jude also says that they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” To use “Master” and “Lord” together is rare in the Bible. It seems that Jude is intent here on showing that this Jesus is to be the authority of a believer’s life. And these “creepers” have specifically rejected that authority. They may use religious words, but they really only care about what they care about, since they are the the sole authority of their own lives, or so they think. Jude makes clear that this will not last.