Thomas Manton · 4 of 67

Verse 1. · Part 1

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.—Ver. 1.

THIS epistle, as others, beginneth with usual Christian salutations; these are continued through the two first verses, in which you have:

1. The person saluting, Jude, the author of the epistle.

2. The persons saluted, the believers of that age.

3. The form of salutation, ver. 2, mercy, and peace, and love be multiplied.

This first verse presenteth us with the two first circumstances, the saluter and the saluted. (1.) The saluter is described by his name, Judas; his office and condition of life, the servant of Jesus Christ; by his kindred and relation, and brother of James. (2.) The saluted, they are described—(1st.) By their condition, κλήτοις, called, that is to read first, as Beza. (2d.) By the effects and manifestations of it, which are two: First, sanctified by God the Father; secondly, preserved in Jesus Christ. These are the parts: I shall explain them branch by branch in the order propounded, with practical hints from each, which I shall handle in no fuller latitude than the present text will allow.

1. The saluter, and there his name, ‘Judas,’ called also ‘Thaddeus,’ Mat. x. 3, and ‘Lebbaeus;’ these several names implying the same thing, and were given him either by the people or the disciples, partly to distinguish him from Judas the apostate, partly to note his constancy in confessing and praising God; for so it signifieth, as you may see, Gen. xxix. 35, ‘Now Leah said, I will praise the Lord, therefore she called his name Judah.’

Obs. Divers note hence—(1.) That Christian names should be significant, such as may remember us of duty. (2.) That it is lawful to divulge or conceal our names in our writings, according as it may make for the glory of God to do either the one or the other. Jude mentioneth his name, but Paul doth not, or whosoever was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (3.) That godly men and wicked may both be called by the same name; so Judas the apostle and Judas the apostate; there was Enoch, Cain’s son, Gen. iv. 17, and Enoch, Seth’s son, of the church line, that ‘walked with God,’ Gen. v. 22. But to mention these things is more than enough; the next circumstance will afford us more.

2. His office and condition, ‘the servant of Jesus Christ.’ It is a thing usual with the apostles to prefix this among other their honorary titles; as Rom. i. 1, ‘Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ;’ so Phil. i. 1. The greatest honour that he would put upon himself and Timothy was this, ‘Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ.’ This term, a servant of God or Christ, in the use of scripture, is several ways applied. (1.) It may be understood of any kind of subserviency to God’s will and secret counsels, or instrumentality in the execution of his decrees; so wicked men may be said to be God’s servants, so far forth as he serveth his designs of their endeavours; as Cyrus was God’s servant, because he should perform all his pleasure; so Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xxvii. 6, ‘These things have I given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, my servant,’ (2.) It noteth a pious care to perform God’s revealed will; they that out of a sense of his love resign up themselves to do his will are called his servants: so ‘he that is called in the Lord,’ whether he be bond or free, is said to be ‘Christ’s servant,’ 1 Cor. vii. 22. So godly masters are said to have the Lord for their master: Eph. vi. 9, ‘Knowing that your master is also in heaven,’ In the former place he saith a servant is God’s freeman; and here, that a master is God’s servant. (3.) It noteth designation to any public office for God’s glory; those that do more eminently or more nearly serve God in some peculiar office are called his servants; as magistrates: Rom. xiii. 4, ‘He is the minister of God for thy good;’ and ver. 6, ‘God’s ministers attending continually for this thing.’ But yet more especially they are called ministers and servants who sustain the public offices of the church; as 2 Tim. ii. 24, ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient,’ meaning one employed in the public ministry. So the priests of the Old Testament were called the Lord’s servants; as Ps. cxxxiv. 1, ‘Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.’ He speaketh to the priests that were to watch in the temple; and in this sense it is said, Amos iii. 7, ‘I have sent my servants the prophets.’ But now among these ministers and officers of the church the prophets and apostles are styled so by way of eminency. Yea, yet further, Christ, because of his office of Mediator, which is the highest office, and proper to the head of the church, is called God’s servant; as Isa. xlix. 3, ‘Thou art my servant;’ and Isa. liii. 11, ‘By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.’ To apply all now to the case in hand: Jude is called ‘a servant of Jesus Christ,’ not only as one that had given up himself to do his will as a Christian, but as an apostle. Let us now observe something hence.

Obs. 1. Observe, first, that Jude placeth his service among his titles. He might have urged other things to render himself honourable to the world, but he doth not stand upon those things; it is enough for him to say, ‘Jude, a servant.’ As Jude, the Lord’s cousin, calleth himself his servant, so doth Mary, the Lord’s mother, style herself his handmaid: Luke i. 38, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord.’ And the apostles generally urge it as one of the fairest flowers in their gar land, the honour of being Christ’s servants; yea, Christ himself counteth it no dishonour to be styled God’s servant. The meanest offices about princes are accounted honourable; to be a groom there is better than to be a lord elsewhere. Servire Deo regnare est—it is royal and kingly to be God’s servant; indeed, every servant there is a king, 1 Peter ii. 9, Rev. i. 6; as Zeba and Zalmunna said of Gideon’s brethren, ‘They each one resembled the children of a king,’ so all these are spiritual kings, that live the noblest and freest life in the world. And as we have a glorious master, so consider your fellow-servants, the glorified saints and we make but one family, Eph. iii. 15. And the angels themselves are called his ministers: Ps. ciii. 21, ‘Ye ministers of his that do his pleasure;’ they are a part of God’s attendance, and wait upon their master’s person. When we have such fellow-servants, we should not count our work a slavery and baseness; it can be no disparagement to us to be in the same rank and order with the angels and saints departed. Well, then, learn to value the honour that you have by Christ’s service; as that emperor counted it a greater privilege to be a member of the church than head of the empire. Look upon duty as an honour, and service as a privilege: honorabilia legis, Hosea viii. 12, so the Vulgar. And if ever you be put to your choice, either to enjoy the greatest outward honours, or to serve Christ with disgrace, choose the latter. Moses ‘refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he came to age,’ Heb. xi. 24. 25. Galeacius Carraciolus left the honour of his marquisate for an obscure life and the gospel at Geneva. Indignities and dishonours done you in the way of duty are honours; ‘reproaches for Christ’s sake’ are treasure, Heb. xi. 26. One of Paul’s honorary titles is, ‘Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,’ Philem. 1; and elsewhere he holdeth up his chain in a kind of triumph: ‘For the hope of Israel am I bound with this chain,’ Acts xxviii. 20. Whatever befalleth us in and for our service to Christ, be it never so disgraceful, it is rather a mark of honour than a brand of shame.

Obs. 2. Observe, again, his relation to Christ is expressed by service; as he describeth himself to be James’s brother, so Christ’s servant; by that means he was entitled to Christ; if we would be Christ’s we must do his will: our relation ariseth from service, John xii. 26. Therefore I shall here take occasion to show you what it is to be Christ’s servants. (1.) Whoever is Christ’s servant must resign and give up himself wholly to the will of Christ; for he that is Christ’s servant, he is so by covenant and consecration. We are indeed Christ’s by all kind of rights and titles; ‘he made us, and not we ourselves;’ no creature is of itself, and therefore it is not its own, but another’s. It is God’s prerogative alone to love himself and seek himself, because he alone is without obligation and dependence; but we owe ourselves to him, and therefore cannot without robbery call ourselves our own. Your tongues are not your own to speak what you please, Ps. xii. 4, nor your hearts your own to think what you please, nor your hands your own to do what you please; by virtue of your creation you are another’s, and are bound to live and act for another, according to his will, for his glory. But this is not all; by redemption you are Christ’s: ‘Ye are bought with a price,’ 1 Cor. vi. 20, as the redeemed are bound to serve him that ransomed them. If a man had bought another out of captivity, or he had sold himself, all his strength or service belonged to the buyer. Christ hath bought us from the worst slavery, and with the greatest price; no thraldom so bad as bondage to sin and Satan, no prison so black as hell; and certainly Christ’s blood is better than a little money. So that to live as if we were at our own disposal is to defraud Christ of his purchase. Thus we are Christ’s by creation and redemption; but now, if we would be his servants, we must be his by voluntary contract and spiritual resignation: ‘Yield up yourselves,’ &c., Rom. vi. 13. Christ loveth to have his right and title established by our own consent. We take Christ for lord and master, and give up ourselves to him, that we may be no longer at our own disposal, and therefore it is not only robbery, but treachery and breach of covenant to seek ourselves in anything. This resignation must be made out of a sense of Christ’s love to us in his death and sufferings: 2 Cor. v. 15, Christ died, ‘that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves, but unto him that died for them.’ We enter upon other services out of hopes, but we enter upon Christ’s service out of thankfulness. Again, this resignation must be universal, without reservation of any part. You must have no other master but God: Mat. vi. 24, ‘Ye cannot serve two masters, ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ Usually men divide themselves between God and the world; they would give their consciences to Christ, and their hearts to mammon. The devil pleadeth for a part, for by that means he knoweth that the whole will fall to his share; therefore all, the whole man, in vow, purpose, and resolution, must be given up to God. (2.) Having given up yourselves to God’s service, you must walk as his servants; that is, not as you list, but as the master pleaseth. The angels are God’s ministers, ‘doing his pleasure,’ Ps. ciii. 21. A servant hath no will of his own, but hath given up his liberty to the directions and commands of another; therefore, if you be God’s servants, you must earnestly desire the knowledge of his will, and readily comply with it; you must not do things as they please self and flesh, but as they please God. David beggeth for knowledge as God’s servant: Ps. cxix. 125, ‘I am thy servant, grant me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.’ A faithful servant would not willingly offend his master, and therefore would fain know what is his will. They plead with God, and search themselves, Rom. xii. 2, and all to know his pleasure; and not only to know it, but to do it, otherwise they are worthy of many stripes by Christ’s own sentence. The master’s will should be motive enough, 1 Thes. iv. 3, v. 13; 1 Peter ii. 15. If God will have it so if Jesus Christ will have it so, it is enough to a faithful servant. I he very signification of God’s will carrieth with it reason enough to enforce the practice of it. Yea, you must equally comply with every will of God, not only with the easy and pleasant ways of obedience, but such as cross lusts and interests. When two men go together, a man cannot tell whom the servant followeth till they part. When God and our lusts or our interests command contrary things, then you are put to the trial whether you are God’s servants.

Obs. 3. Again, observe from the proper acception of the phrase, as it is applied to those that stand before the Lord in some special office and ministration; as to the apostles, and by consequence to the ministers of the gospel. The note is, that ministers are servants of Jesus Christ; Paul a servant, and Jude a servant. We are to deal between God and the soul, factors for heaven. There is many a good inference may be collected from this notion. I shall refer all to two heads, the ministers’ duty and the people’s. (1.) It hinteth duty to ministers; it teacheth us diligence in our Lord’s work, for we are servants, and must give an account, Heb. xiii. 17, what good we have done in our places, how we have employed our parts, improved our interests, for his glory: Mat. xxv. 19, ‘After a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.’ We are entrusted with the talent of gifts, with the talent of office and authority in the church; now God will see what we have done for his glory, whether we have beaten our fellow-servants, or helped them in the way of salvation; whether our pound hath been hidden in a napkin, or laid out for the gain of souls. Again, it hinteth faithfulness. We are not to trade for ourselves, and to drive on our own designs of credit and advantage; we are servants, employed for the master’s uses: Gal. i. 10, ‘Do I yet please men? If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.’ A man that sets up for himself is to trade for himself; but all that a servant doth should be for his master’s honour and profit. (2.) It hinteth duty to the people. Regard ministers as servants of Christ, that you may give their persons all due honour. Consider, God hath retained them as for a nearer service to himself: 1 Cor. iv. 1, ‘Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of the gospel.’ The world counteth the calling probrosum artificium, a sordid artifice and way of living, whereby men set their tongues and parts to sale, and think that of all callings this can best be spared, therefore it is high time to assert the dignity of the office. Men should not think so basely of those who are Christ’s servants, not only to do his business, but to wait upon his person, his special attendants; nay, ambassadors, that impersonate and represent their Master, 2 Cor. v. 20. Again, bear our doctrine with meekness and patience; we are but servants. If the message which we bring be displeasing, remember it is the will of our master; it is not in our power to comply with your lusts and humours, if the scripture doth not. As God said to Jeremiah, Jer. xv. 19, ‘Let them return unto thee, but return not thou to them.’ So you should comply with the word; we cannot comply with you. The false prophets returned to the people, complied with their humours. We must deliver our message, pardon to whom pardon, terror to whom terror is due: servants must be faithful. Thus must you look upon them as servants, yet but as servants, that you may not fondly idolise their persons: ‘What is Paul and Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe?’ 1 Cor. iii. 5. It is the old way of flesh and blood to sacrifice to the next hand. And that you may know to whom to go for the fruit of the ordinance, when we have done our work, ‘there is one that cometh after us who is mightier than we,’ Mat. iii. 11, who ‘giveth the increase’ to what we have ‘planted and watered,’ 1 Cor. iii. 6.

3. The author of the epistle is described by his kindred and relation, and brother of James. There were two in the college of the apostles of that name, James of Zebedee, and ‘James the son of Alpheus,’ who was also called ‘the brother of the Lord,’ that is, his cousin-german, who is the person intended, for Jude was his brother, as Mat. xiii. 55, ‘Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?’ Now this clause is added, partly to distinguish him from the other Judas, called Iscariot, who betrayed our Lord.

Obs. It is good to prevent all visible scandals and exceptions against our persons. I observe this, because the scripture doth elsewhere: John xiv. 22, ‘Judas saith unto him, not Iscariat, How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?’ The scripture would not have you mistake him that said so. Men drink less freely of a suspected fountain. Partly because this would make the epistle the more welcome. James was of great credit and repute, reckoned by Paul among ‘the pillars,’ Gal. ii. 9. From whence observe:—

Obs. 1. That it is lawful to use the credit of others, for the advantage of the truth. In the 15th of the Acts, the apostles might have deter mined the case by their own infallible spirit, but for the greater credit sake they take in the consent of others: ver. 23, ‘The apostles, and elders, and brethren,’ &c. Paul, dealing with heathens, quoteth the sayings of their own writers in divers places, which may justify the unaffected use of sentences and passages out of the ancient writers of the church. It is good to bait the naked hook of truth sometimes with the advantage of carnal credit. Again, observe:—

Obs. 2. That we should walk so that we may be an honour to our relations. This is one of Jude’s titles, ‘the brother of James.’ He took it for an honour to. be related to so eminent an apostle. Worthy men reflect a credit upon their families. To be brother, father, son, to such as have deserved well of the church, is no mean honour and engagement to virtue. Well, then, live so that you may not disgrace your lineage; and you that come of worthy ancestors, walk answerably to the dignity of your extraction. The images of your progenitors are not more sullied with dust, and smoke, and age, than they are with your vices. The Spirit of God brands a degenerate issue for walking unworthy their birth and the privileges of their blood, 1 Chron. iv. 22, 23. Vide Junium et alios in locum. So much for the saluter.

Let us now come to the saluted; they are described by their condition, called; by the effects and manifestations of it, which are two, sanctification and preservation.

1. Their condition, called, for that both in the construction of the words, and the order of nature, is to be read first. There is an outward calling, and in that sense Christ speaketh, Mat. xx. 16, ‘Many are called, but few are chosen;’ that is, outwardly called in the invitations of the word; so all wicked men that live within the hearing of the gospel; but it seemeth they are only called obiter, by the by, as they live among the elect: those are called κατὰ πρόθεσιν, ‘according to purpose.’ Rom. viii. 28. But there is an inward and effectual calling, by the persuasion of the Spirit, or ‘the voice of the Son of God,’ which causeth life, John v. 25. The apostle speaketh here of the ‘called according to purpose,’ and that by an inward and effectual calling. Whence note:—

Obs. That it is the condition of the people of God to be a called people; this is first in their description: see Rom. i. 6, ‘Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ.’ So the Corinthians are said to be saints by calling, 1 Cor. i. 2, and Heb. iii. 1, ‘Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.’ Now the saints are a called people, first, because all they have and enjoy is from God’s calling; a Christian is nothing and hath nothing but what God is pleased to work in him by his creating word: ‘Calling the things that are not as though they were.’ Rom. iv. 17. Now God is pleased to work this way, partly to give us a warrant, that we may possess our privileges in Christ without intrusion and usurpation: ‘No man taketh this honour upon him till he be called of God,’ Heb. v. This is that they have to show to conscience, that we do not presume and usurp; we have a calling so to do. Why dost thou, vile wretch, go to God in the name of Christ? How dost thou that art a sinner look him in the face, lay hold of Christ, hope for glory? Still the call is our warrant and title. If it should be asked of the guests that came in a wedding garment, Friends, how durst ye come hither, and approach the presence chamber of the king’s son? they might answer, We were bidden to the wedding, Mat. xxii. So in Mat. xx., ‘Why do not you go into the vineyard?’ Their answer was, ‘No man hath hired us;’ they had no calling. Partly to give us encouragement: we need not only leave to come to God by Christ, but also quickening and encouragement, for we are backward. In other preferments there needeth nothing but leave, for there men are forward enough; but here guilt maketh us shy of God, and God is forced to call and holloa after us. By nature we are not only exiles, but fugitives. Before God banished Adam, he first ran away from him, he ran to the bushes, and then God called him, ‘Adam, where art thou?’ Gen. iii. 9. How often doth God holloa after us in the word before we return and come out of the bushes! He maketh proclamation, Isa. lv. 1, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth,’ &c. We are under spiritual bondage, as the Israelites were in Egypt under corporal bondage, and God sendeth again and again, and out of very anguish of heart we will not believe him; therefore he calleth and crieth, Sinners, where are you? why will you not return unto me? God’s outward call is managed by men, and therefore it is very hard to persuade them to discern the voice of God; as Samuel would not be persuaded but that it was Eli called him, when it was the Lord. We think it to be the charity of the minister, and will not easily acknowledge a call from God, and therefore do not only need leave, but encouragement. Partly because God will work in a way suitable to his own nature and ours; fortiter et suaviter, strongly like himself, and sweetly with respect to us; and therefore he doth not only draw but call; not only put forth the power of his Spirit, but exhort and invite by the word. The efficacy of divine grace is conveyed this way more suitably to the nature of man; there is grace offered in the gospel, and the Spirit compelleth to come in. In all the works of God, there is some word by which his power is educed and exercised. In the creation, ‘Let there be light,’ &c. At the resurrection there is a trump, and the voice of an archangel, ‘Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.’ In all Christ’s miraculous cures there are some words used, ‘Be thou clean,’ and ‘Be thou whole,’ and ‘Be thou opened;’ and to Lazarus in the grave Christ useth words of ministerial excitation, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ So in converting a sinner, there is not only a secret power, but a sweet call and invitation; some word by which this power is conveyed and represented in a way suitable to our capacity. For all these reasons doth God work grace by calling.

Again, God’s people are well styled a called people, because they are so many ways called: from self to Christ, from sin to holiness, from misery to happiness and glory. They are called from self to Christ: Mat. xi. 28, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden.’ The main end of a call is to bring Christ and the soul together; every dispensation of God hath a voice; and God speaketh to us by conscience, by his works, by benefits, by crosses, but chiefly by his word, the application of which by the Spirit is, as it were, an awakening call; but the chief call of God is by the voice of the gospel, wherein the offers of grace are discovered to us: Come, poor wearied soul, come to Christ, and thou shalt find ease and comfort. Again, they are called from sin to holiness: 1 Thes. iv. 7, ‘God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.’ Though the immediate end of divine calling be faith, yet the intermediate end is holiness, as the ultimate end is glory. Thus we are called out of Babylon into Sion, from the tents of Kedar into the tents of Shem, from nature to grace, and the power of Satan into the kingdom of God; in short, this call is a separation from uncleanness, and all common and vile uses. Again, they are called from misery to happiness and glory, from aliens to be friends, from darkness to light, 1 Peter ii. 9, from being enemies to be reconciled, from bastards to become sons, from vessels of wrath to be heirs of glory. With respect to all these sorts of calling it is termed sometimes ‘a high calling,’ Phil. iii. 14; sometimes ‘a holy calling,’ 2 Tim. i. 9; and sometimes ‘a heavenly calling,’ Heb. iii. 1. It is ‘a high calling,’ because of the honour and dignity of it; it is no small matter to be children of God, John i. 12; co-heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 17; kings and priests to God, Rev. i. 6. Many are lifted up because they have borne offices, and are called to high places in the world: a Christian hath a calling more excellent, he is called to be a saint, a spiritual king, a holy priest to God. It is ‘a holy calling,’ because of the effect and purpose of it. Man’s calling may put dignity and honour upon us, but it cannot infuse grace; it may change our condition, but not our hearts. It is ‘a heavenly calling’ because of the author of it, God by his Spirit; and because of the aim of it; the grace whereby we are called came from heaven, and its aim and tendency is to bring us thither. See 1 Thes. ii. 14; 2 Peter i. 3, ‘Called us to glory and virtue,’ &c. We are first called to grace, and then to heaven; first the sweet voice saith, ‘Come unto me,’ and then the great voice, ‘Come up hither:’ from self, sin, and the world we are called off, that we may enjoy God in Christ for evermore. You see the reasons, let us apply it now.

Use 1. First, It serveth to press us to hearken to the Lord’s call. Many are kept off by vanity and pleasures, others by their own fears. To the first sort I shall only represent the danger of neglecting God’s invitation, and slighting a call: Prov. i. 25, 26, ‘Ye have set at nought my counsel, therefore I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh.’ God’s wrath is never more terrible than when it is stirred up to avenge the quarrel of abused mercy. Men cannot endure that two things should be despised—their anger or their kindness. Nebuchadnezzar, when he thought his anger despised, he biddeth them heat the furnace seven times hotter; and David, when he thought his kindness despised, threatened to cut off from Nabal ‘every one that pisseth against the wall.’ Certainly the Lord taketh it ill when the renewed messages of his love are not regarded; and that is the reason why where mercy is most free, God is most quick and severe upon the refusal of it: the Lamb’s wrath is most terrible, Ps. ii. 10; no fire so hot as that which is enkindled by the breath of the despised gospel. What a terrible threatening is there in the place alleged! ‘I will laugh at their calamity.’ It is the greatest happiness when the Lord ‘rejoiceth to do us good,’ and the greatest misery when he rejoiceth to do us evil: God’s laughing will certainly be the creatures’ mourning. Consider, then, what an affront you put upon grace, when every vile thing is preferred before it. When the Lord offered Canaan to the Israelites, and they preferred Egypt before it, he swore, ‘They should not enter into his rest,’ Ps. xcv. 11; and those that preferred a yoke of oxen, a farm, or marriage, before the king’s feast, the king protesteth against them, Luke xiv. 24, ‘None of those that were bidden shall taste of my supper.’ Whoever have glory and grace by Christ, they shall have none.