我是耶稣基督的奴仆、雅各的兄弟犹大,现在写信给蒙父上帝呼召、眷爱、被耶稣基督看顾的人。

愿上帝丰丰富富地赐给你们怜悯、平安和慈爱!

捍卫真道

亲爱的弟兄姊妹,我一直迫切地想写信跟你们谈谈我们所共享的救恩,但现在我觉得有必要写信劝勉你们竭力护卫一次就完整地交给圣徒的真道。 因为有些不敬虔的人偷偷地混进你们中间,以上帝的恩典作借口,放纵情欲,否认独一的主宰——我们的主耶稣基督。圣经上早已记载,这样的人必受到审判。

前车之鉴

以下的事情,你们虽然都知道,但我还要再提醒你们:从前上帝[a]把祂的子民从埃及救出来,后来把其中不信的人灭绝了。 至于不守本分、擅离岗位的天使,上帝也用锁链将他们永远囚禁在幽暗里,等候最后审判的大日子到来。 此外,所多玛、蛾摩拉及其附近城镇的人同样因为荒淫无度、沉溺于变态的情欲而遭到永火的刑罚。这些事都成为我们的警戒。

假教师的恶行

同样,这些做梦的人玷污自己的身体,不服权柄,亵渎有尊荣的。 当天使长米迦勒为摩西的尸体跟魔鬼争辩的时候,尚且不敢用毁谤的话谴责它,只说:“愿主责罚你!” 10 这些人却毁谤自己不明白的事,像没有理性的野兽一样凭本能行事,结果自取灭亡。 11 他们大祸临头了!他们步了该隐的后尘,为谋利而重蹈巴兰的谬误,又像可拉一样因叛逆而灭亡。 12 这些人在你们的爱宴中是败类[b]。他们肆无忌惮地吃喝,是只顾喂养自己的牧人;是没有雨的云,随风飘荡;是深秋不结果子的树,被连根拔起,彻底枯死。 13 他们是海中的狂涛,翻动着自己可耻的泡沫,是流荡的星星,有幽幽黑暗永远留给他们。

14 亚当的第七代子孙以诺曾经针对这些人说预言:“看啊!主率领祂千万的圣者一同降临, 15 要审判所有的人,按不虔不敬的罪人所行的恶事和他们亵渎上帝的话定他们的罪。” 16 这些人满腹牢骚,怨天尤人,放纵自己的邪情私欲。他们口出狂言,为了谋利而阿谀奉承他人。

牢记警告

17 亲爱的弟兄姊妹,要谨记主耶稣基督的使徒从前给你们的警告。 18 他们曾对你们说:“末世的时候,必定有不敬虔、好讥笑的人放纵自己的邪情私欲。” 19 这些人制造分裂,血气用事,心中没有圣灵。

20 亲爱的弟兄姊妹,你们要在至圣的真道上造就自己,在圣灵的引导下祷告, 21 常在上帝的爱中,等候我们主耶稣基督施怜悯赐给你们永生。

22 那些心存疑惑的人,你们要怜悯他们; 23 有些人,你们要将他们从火中抢救出来;还有些人,你们要怀着畏惧的心怜悯他们,甚至要厌恶被他们的邪情私欲玷污的衣服。

祝颂

24 愿荣耀归给我们的救主——独一的上帝!祂能保守你们不失足犯罪,使你们无瑕无疵、欢欢喜喜地站在祂的荣耀面前。 25 愿荣耀、威严、能力和权柄借着我们的主耶稣基督都归给祂,从万世以前直到现今,一直到永永远远。阿们!

Footnotes

  1. 1:5 上帝”有些抄本作“主”。
  2. 1:12 败类”希腊文是“暗礁”或“污点”的意思。

Greetings from Jude

This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.[a]

May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

The Danger of False Teachers

Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus[b] first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings.[c] But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels,[d] did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. 11 What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.

12 When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.[e] They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. 13 They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

14 Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones 15 to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[f]

16 These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.

A Call to Remain Faithful

17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. 18 They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. 19 These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

20 But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,[g] 21 and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

22 And you must show mercy to[h] those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others,[i] but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.[j]

A Prayer of Praise

24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Or keeps you for Jesus Christ.
  2. 5 Other manuscripts read [the] Lord, or God, or God Christ.
  3. 8 Greek at glorious ones, which are probably evil angels.
  4. 9 Greek Michael, the archangel.
  5. 12 Or they are contaminants among you; or they are stains.
  6. 14-15 The quotation comes from intertestamental literature: Enoch 1:9.
  7. 20 Greek pray in the Holy Spirit.
  8. 22 Some manuscripts read must reprove.
  9. 22-23a Some manuscripts have only two categories of people: (1) those whose faith is wavering and therefore need to be snatched from the flames of judgment, and (2) those who need to be shown mercy.
  10. 23b Greek with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

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

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.