They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God…
Jude begins to describe the people who have secretly slipped in among the believers who are loved by God and kept for Jesus.
He starts by saying they are ungodly people. Thinking back to James, chapter 3, we are reminded that the same tongue can both praise and curse. If someone were to walk into a church and curse God, they could not be said to have “secretly slipped in among you.” So if the ungodly were to sneak in secretly, they would make every effort to appear godly.
So what does it mean to be godly? Is it about what we say, or what we do?
Jude continues by adding that those who slip in pervert the grace of our God. I wrote about grace in a post by that name here. God’s grace is not a “Get out of jail free” card. It is not a blanket statement from on high absolving us from any responsibility for our choices and actions. Grace is a character of God. Yet I have seen it wielded like a club, protecting false doctrine and threatening anyone who would question it.
Application: Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God may not appear ungodly. In fact, they may claim to be very godly. Sometimes they substitute the presence of higher education for the value of actually knowing God personally.
Food for Thought: How do you tell if someone has perverted something?
A perversion is a distortion of God’s intentions. I have had people defend adultery and fornication by saying the relationship was love and God’s gift to them. It is not sin, it is from God. That is a clear perversion of His clearly stated will and creation of sexuality.
Rich gives a great example of perverting God’s Holiness in our actions and words. We are all sinners, imperfect beings serving a perfect God, trying to live in humble obedience to God’s will over our own.
To deliberately, knowingly choose to live in rebellion to God and distort the word of God to justify our acts is a perversion of all God is.
Thank you both for your thoughts today. I appreciate your insights. The point I hear you making is that anything that is not aligned with God’s will is a perversion of that will. To add to what you have said, I would suggest we can tell if a behavior is perverted by comparing it to Scriptural teaching.
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