Jude 1 - What is the Difference Between the Anti-Christ and antichrists?

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1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The best evidence is the author Jude is the half-brother of Jesus, who is the a brother of James. Literally his name means "Judas", but he was known as "Jude", because they did not want to confuse the two. James was often considered the leader of the church at Jerusalem. 

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

You can see right away that Jude's purpose in writing is very similar to John's three letters. They were probably written about the same time in the late 1st century.  His main purpose is to encourage them to "contend for the faith". You also might say, "fight for the faith".  Faith is worth fighting for. Sometimes we need to step out to defend our faith, especially when it is being assaulted in our culture. We have been entrusted with the faith, which holds us responsible to "guard the faith". 

Also, we see the heresy of Gnosticism being brought up again, which perverted the grace of God. This heresy viewed the body as bad and the spirit as good. Since the body was already bad there was no use in trying to restrain it.  As you will see later in this letter false teaching led to all kinds of sexual immorality. 

This was the great need that Jude interrupted his intended letter to address. The ancient Greek word translated “contend” comes from the athletic world – from the wrestling mat. It is a strengthened form of the word meaning “to agonize.” Therefore “contend” speaks of hard and diligent work.

We contend earnestly for the faith because it is valuable. If you walk into an art gallery and there are no guards or no sort of security system, you must draw one conclusion: there is nothing very valuable in that art gallery. Valuables are protected; worthless things are not. - Guzik

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

We see Jude's audience is Jewish, as he talks about Israel's deliverance from Egypt and other stories of judgment from the Old Testament. Instead of trusting and obeying God, the Israelites still went after idols even after seeing God's incredible of parting the  Red Sea and judging the Egyptian soldiers chasing after them.  

The warning through Jude is clear. The people of Israel started out from Egypt well enough. They had many blessings from God along the way. But they did not endure to the end, because they did not believe God’s promise of power and protection. - Guzik

In the same way the dark angels who followed Satan rejected worshipping God. Though God has not judged them yet, there will be a day when they receive recompense for their sin. 

Jude’s letter is famous for bringing up obscure or controversial points, and this is one of them. Jude speaks of the angels who sinned, who are now imprisoned and awaiting a future day of judgment. - Guzik

Next, he brings up Sodom and Gomorrah, and the judgment they received due to their extreme sexual immorality among other sins. 

Jude refers to the account in Genesis 19, where the homosexual conduct of the men of Sodom is described. Ezekiel 16:49 tells us of other sins of Sodom: Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Sexual depravity was not their only sin, but it was certainly among their sins, and Jude makes this plain. - Guzik

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!" 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

Jude brings up the archangel Michael, an angel who is praised in the bible. An angel is a "messenger of God", and Michael faithfully executed the purpose for which God created him. Note the angels had free will. God never forced them to serve or worship him, but allowed them to worship themselves, which led to their demise. In the same way God will never force us to worship Him. God delights in our "sacrifice of praise". We worship God intentionally in response to who He is and what He has done for us. 

Michael the archangel: This angelic being is mentioned by name in four passages of the Bible: Daniel 10, Daniel 12, Revelation 12 and here in Jude. Every time Michael appears, it is in the context of battle or readiness to fight. He is an archangel, which simply means a “leading angel.” If the devil has an opposite, it certainly isn’t God. It is Michael the archangel – another high ranking angelic being.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude condemns these false teachers with the strictest terms.. For God to judge these people this decisively shows the full extent of their evil and idolatry. He includes the way of Cain, Balaam's error, the rebellion of Korah as similar examples which are deserving judgment. 

"The greedy error of Balaam was that he was willing to compromise everything for money. The certain men Jude warned about had the same heart." 

Jude says that Cain typifies a way that the certain men follow in. It is the way of unbelief and empty religion, which leads to jealousy, persecution of the truly godly, and eventually to murderous anger.

The rebellion of Korah “lies in the broader idea of a contemptuous and determined assertion of self against divinely appointed ordinances.” (Salmond, The Pulpit Commentary)

These three men came from quite different backgrounds: Cain was a farmer, Balaam was a prophet, and Korah was a leader in Israel. Apostasy is never confined to one group of people. “There are apostates in the pulpit, in the palace, and in the poorhouse.” (Coder)

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Of course none of this behavior and perversion should be surprising to us. This happened in the Old Testament, it happened in the New Testament, and it has happened over last 2,000 years in increasing measure. Jesus predicted all of this 2,000 years ago, so we should not be surprised. There will always be people who will try to bring a divisive spirit into the church. The apostle John calls them, "antichrists",  the Anti-Christ. The word "anti-Christ" means "against Christ".  

The Anti-Christ is a specific individual, who will be a leader of the rebellion against God and God's people in the end times. Antichrists are individuals who oppose God and His purposes in the church today specifically by perverting the grace of God and creating divisiveness in the church.  

The antidote Jude gives to these Jewish believers is to build themselves up in faith,  pray in the Holy Spirit, and to abide in God's love. In regards to how they should treat others, they should be merciful to those who are doubting or straying, as they might be snatching them from the fire. I.e. Saving them from hell. Though they need to be merciful to people, they still need to hate false teaching that can stain the clothing of the saints. 

New Testament David Guzik summarizes what Jude is saying here quite nicely. 

Using wisdom we approach different people in different manners. By being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, we can know when we should comfort, and when we should rebuke. Christians should not abandon a friend flirting with false teaching. They should help him through it in love. The means we continue to love them. No matter how bad a person is, or how misleading and terrible their doctrine, we are not allowed to hate them – or to be unconcerned for their salvation.

In what ways to we need to contend for the faith today? Where do we need to stand up for Jesus and fight for the truth? Do we do a good job of confronting people who are divisive in the church? Pray for your church that it would stand up for the truth and show love and mercy to those who are struggling.