Jude 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Having spoken of the corruption of the impious Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, he adds that the Lord “saved the people out of the land of Egypt,” and so forth.

By this he shows that the Founder of the Old and New Testaments is one and the same God. It is not as these vile men say, that one wrathful and harsh God gave the Old Testament, and another unwrathed and man-loving God gave the New Testament.

By the same words he also shows that those now acting impiously will not remain unpunished, just as those who came out of Egypt did not remain unpunished.

For although God freed them from Egyptian bondage by His surpassing power and by His oath to their fathers, when they transgressed the Law He did not leave them unpunished. He gave them their due recompense.

Neither God’s favor toward their forefathers nor the supernatural power of the miracles helped them at all. Those who then crossed the Red Sea on dry land later perished for their apostasies from the faith.

Clearly, this was in order to instruct them through punishment. At the present time, of course, until they turn to the Lord, they are punished and perish alongside those who are being saved.

It would take long to gather countless examples of this from the writings. Let us present one testimony, where this world is especially clearly called Egypt. In his Catholic Epistle, the Apostle Jude, the brother of James, writes thus: “But I wish to remind you, though you once knew this, that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 1:5). Lest you think that this speaks of Jesus the son of Nun, he immediately adds: “And the angels who did not keep their own principality, but left their own dwelling, He has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (v. 6).

Jude shows who the one is whom they denied. It is He Who led Israel out of Egypt. At the same time, the Apostle threatens them with destruction if they are unwilling to repent.

Having spoken of the licentiousness of the unclean Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, and having branded them, as it were, from their inherent filth, the Apostle adds these words: “The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,” and so forth.

Through this he shows at the same time that one and the same God is the establisher of the Old and New Testaments.

It is not as those abominable men say, that one is the God of the Old Testament, punitive and harsh, and another is the God of the New, merciful, man-loving, and provident.

He also shows that these dishonorable men will not endure forever. For even those who came out of Egypt did not remain unpunished.

You know all the mysteries of the faith, and you have no need of teachers, since no one can teach you anything holier than what you have already heard.

The Apostle points to the example of the Hebrews, who were brought out of Egypt and perished in the wilderness. The meaning of this example is revealed by comparing Christians with the Hebrews. If Christians, saved from slavery to sin and the devil, cease to obey the commandments of Christ, they will be treated as the Hebrews were. Though saved from the Egyptian yoke, they were destroyed in the wilderness because they resisted the will of God.

“I want to remind you,” and so forth. The Apostle gives three striking examples of divine judgment and punishment for impieties: the judgment and punishment of the Israelites brought out of Egypt, of the fallen angels, and of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

“To remind you”: 2 Pet 1:12.

“The Lord”: the Apostle Jude, just like the Apostle Paul (1 Cor 10:1 and following), attributes the Old Testament events of divine revelation not to God Jehovah, God the Father, but to God the Son before His Incarnation.

He does this because the Son, as the hypostatic Word of God, appeared and acted in the history of Old Testament revelation as the Angel of Jehovah.

II. The exposition. In it, first, the Apostle proves by examples how the Lord, according to His unchanging justice, changes His mercy into wrath in cases of disobedience and corruption among beings whom He had formerly benefited.

This remains true despite their former degree of nearness to Him and despite their great number. These examples are the Hebrews miraculously led out of Egypt, the fallen angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah with the neighboring cities (Jude 5-7).

“I want to remind you,” writes the Apostle, “though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

That is, He destroyed them during the wandering in the wilderness. Thus only two of those who came out of Egypt entered the promised land, Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb (cf. 1 Cor 10:5-10).

The examples are not given in historical order, but in the order that comes closer to Christians. Then the other two examples are presented.

They strikingly prove how the Lord punished even the higher spirits for contempt of their station, and how whole cities and regions were destroyed for sins against nature.

The same fate is threatened to all who corrupt their body by sinful life and who, in proud madness, deny every authority in general and every order of rank in particular.

This denial begins with the authority of the Lord and of the Angels, and ends with human authority in the pastors and teachers of the Church. Diotrephes, for example, slandered them (cf. 2 Pet 2:4; 3 Jn 1:9-10).

The Apostle calls the day of the universal judgment “great” in verse 6 because of the greatness of the events of that day. He also does so because endless eternity will begin with that day (cf. 2 Pet 2:9).

In the Old Testament the Israelites were God’s chosen people. The Lord showed them an especially great mercy when He miraculously saved them from Egyptian captivity.

But they did not value this mercy, nor the many other mercies connected with the exodus from Egypt. When they reached the borders of the land of Canaan, which was appointed for their possession, they despaired of taking it.

They resolved of their own will to return to Egypt. This self-will, accompanied by rebellion against Moses, testified to their unbelief in the promise of God that He would settle them in the land of Canaan.

Jesus, Who once delivered the people from the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.