Could you explain Jude 1:4? Because the translation of my Bible says “these men were predestinated to it.” So they had no choice?<\/p>\n\t
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>” (Jude 4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sometimes subtle things are lost when statements are translated from one language into another. The question you should ask yourself is what was predetermined, the men or the condemnation? What you learn by going back to the original language is that it was condemnation or consequence of their behavior that was marked out long ago.<\/p>\n
In this case, Peter in II Peter 2, discusses almost the same thing: “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber<\/em>” (II Peter 2:3).<\/p>\n
Many times we see wickedness and wonder why God doesn’t do something about it. Both Jude and Peter are telling us that God hasn’t overlooked these wicked people. In fact, God declared the consequence of their deeds long ago. It will eventually catch up with them. They have a choice as to whether to continue their bad behavior or to stop. But they have no choice as to what God will do to them if they continue their bad behavior. There is no plea bargaining with God.<\/p>\n
“Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me — until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction<\/em>” (Psalms 73:13-18).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Could you explain Jude 1:4? Because the translation of my Bible says “these men were predestinated to it.” So they had no choice? Answer: “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[892,562],"class_list":["post-27624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-jude","tag-predestination"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18123,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-to-contend-for-the-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":0},"title":"What does it mean to contend for the faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am reading\u00a0the book of Jude and he said in verse 3, \"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-michael-and-satan-arguing-about-the-body-of-moses\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":1},"title":"Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the body of Moses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a Bible question about Jude:\u00a0 Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the corpse of Moses? Answer: \"Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17250,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-call-upon-you-to-obey-allahs-command-and-convert-to-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":2},"title":"I call upon you to obey Allah’s command and convert to Islam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a former Christian who converted to Islam after reading the Qur'an with an open mind. I am now a devout Muslim. I write this letter to you so that you might consider converting to Islam and becoming a Muslim. Peace be upon he who follows the right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-jude-contain-quotes-not-found-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":3},"title":"Why does Jude contain quotes not found in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When we study the book of Jude in our Bible study group, I found that in verse 9 and verse 14, Jude quoted \"The Lord rebuke thee\" and \"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,\" but they were not in the Old Testament. A brother told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17731,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-jude-said-the-faith-was-once-delivered-could-revelation-be-included-if-it-was-written-after-jude\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":4},"title":"If Jude said the faith was once delivered, could Revelation be included if it was written after Jude?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about whether Jude was written before Revelation or not. If everything was once and all delivered to the saints does that make Revelation a newer testament or is it ok because it coincides with the rest of the Bible? Sorry, something came to mind about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65101,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/irresistible-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":27624,"position":5},"title":"Irresistible Grace","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 23:34-39 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John Calvin and his followers believe that God is so totally sovereign in His will that no one can change His creation. He is all powerful and irresistible \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Westminster Confession of Faith states, \u201cGod from all eternity, did ... unchangeably ordain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}