Jude

Study Questions

False teachers spread the lie that God’s grace allows for an immoral lifestyle. Jude lays down the truth—God has created boundaries for how we use our bodies. To be in line with the gospel is to deny ourselves, modeling our lives after a merciful God who denied himself in order to redeem us.

Application

1. Reflect on an area of your life, past or present, where your desires are in conflict with God’s desires. What does it look like to deny yourself and submit to God in this area? If you are currently living a self-directed life, what authority over you needs to know?

2. Jude encourages his audience to build each other up in their faith in order to guard against false teaching. How can you intentionally invest in your faith? What does it mean to do that in community?

3. We are also called to show mercy to others who are deceived by false teachers. What kind of relationships need to be in place for you to be able to call others to a life of holiness? Which people in your life do you need to move towards in order to do this kind of work?

Key Points

• Many in Jude’s audience have believed the lie that God’s grace allows them to live immoral lives. However, when God’s boundaries are violated, he judges swiftly and sternly.

• Even as believers, we will have desires that oppose God’s desires. However, we are not our own authority—self-denial is core to the gospel.

• False teachers claim authority within themselves. They are marked by boasting and flattery.

• Any time we bend our lives around our own desires, we become slaves to those desires.

• We are called to invest in our faith—to point one another to the truth that God set aside his privilege, grew a body, and denied himself to redeem us.

Other Scripture References

Exodus 32

2 Peter 2

Genesis 6:1–4

Genesis 19

Romans 8

Mark 8:34–35