Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Jude 1:4

"For there are certain men crept in privily, [even] they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." — Jude 1:4 (ASV)

Jude now explains the reasons why he was compelled to write. Ungodly men had “secretly slipped in” among the believers (cf. Galatians 2:4), whose condemnation “was written about long ago.” This phrase could refer to God’s writing down from eternity the destiny (i.e., reprobation) of the wicked, but more likely it refers to previously written predictions about the doom of the apostates.

After stating the destiny of these men, Jude describes them as “ungodly” or “impious” (GK 815), a term often used of notorious sinners. This general word is made more specific by the two charges that follow. (1) They “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality.” Evidently their understanding of grace and perhaps of the forgiveness of sins led them to feel free to indulge in all forms of sexual depravity (cf. comment on 2 Peter 2:2). (2) They “deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (cf. 2 Peter 2:1). Exactly how they denied Jesus Christ, Jude does not say. Certainly they denied him by immoral living that ran counter to his commands. Perhaps they also denied him in teaching a Christology that denied either his full humanity or his full deity. However, the word translated “Sovereign” (GK 1305) is commonly used of the Father (Acts 4:24), and the word “only” makes it difficult to apply this word to Jesus. Thus this phrase can also be translated, “the only Sovereign [the Father] and our Lord Jesus Christ.” If this is adopted, then the error of the godless men was moral rather than theological (cf. Titus 1:16).