Jude 17-18 – But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
In this time between the times, believers are called to persevere. We are not to give up or give in. It has been promised that there will be “scoffers” who make fun of us, mock us, cancel us, fire us, mark our grades down in college and write us up for not playing by their rules in the workforce.
The “scoffers” will be chasing “ungodly passions”, causing “divisions, as “worldly people, devoid of the Spirit”. Because they do not have the Spirit, they either live by the flesh, which is foolish, or the demonic, which is evil. They have no choice and we who have the Spirit are God’s “beloved”.
We are commanded to not give up, but rather grow up, “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life”.
One Bible commentator says, “Significant theological ideas in the Book of Jude are defense of the truths of the gospel; the necessity of moral purity and humility; and the perseverance of true believers, in spite of pernicious influences.” (1)
The “building up” that Jude mentions would today be called Traditional Theory. The attackers who are deconstructing Christian belief and behavior today would be called Critical Theory. In another book I wrote called Christian Theology vs Critical Theory, which you can get for free in digital format in the store at RealFaith.com, I explain this at length. Unlike building something, which is hard, breaking something is easy.
Traditional theory is basically how we build things. Christianity would fit in with the concept of traditional theory.
How do you build law and order? Our God is a God of law. His Word is filled with laws.
How do you build a family? Scripture talks about husbands and wives, and it has specific things to say to both as it assumes God-assigned roles for our biological sex, gender identity, and sexuality.
What’s the best environment for raising a child? God made marriage and He made us male and female to marry, and then increase in number to fill the Earth, subdue it, and parent, raising our children in the admonition and instruction of the Lord according to Scripture.
Simply stated, the Bible is a Traditional Theory. It is about how to build things like families, societies, theologies, economies, and legacies.
Critical Theory is basically how we break things that other people have built. It is a sledgehammer in the form of an overarching ideology or worldview that comes to dismantle pretty much anything that was previously built in a culture. Traditional Theory is about construction. Critical Theory is about demolition, also called deconstruction.
God works through Traditional Theory. Our God is Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer who is about building perfectly and then faithfully rebuilding what sin has broken. Satan works through Critical Theory. Satan comes to steal what others have created, kill life in the Spirit, and brutally destroy whatever and whomever God loves.
How has Jude helped you interpret what is going on in the culture of the world around you with beliefs and behaviors that are contrary to Christ but very popular and promoted?
- William H. Baker, “Jude,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1191.
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