“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. . . .just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, [and] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. . . .These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.” Jude 4, 7, 8, 16

Jude 4-16 gives warnings about false teachers who had crept in to the Church. “Crept in” in the original indicates a secret, stealthy, and subtle insinuation of something evil into a society or a situation. They reject all moral authority even though they claim to be Christians. They indulge in and support immoral sexual behavior just as did Sodom and Gomorrah and will be judged accordingly. In fact, these false teachers, who have rejected the teachings of Christ, already have been designated for condemnation unless they find repentance before death.

The “Believer’s Bible Commentary” describes the false teachers as follows. “Two prominent features of these ungodly persons are their depraved conduct and their corrupt doctrine. In their behavior, they turn the grace of God into lewdness. They twist Christian liberty into license, and pervert freedom to serve into freedom to sin. In their doctrine, they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny His absolute right to rule, His deity, His vicarious death, His resurrection—in fact, they deny every essential doctrine of His Person and work. While professing an expansive liberality in the spiritual realm, they are dogmatically and viciously opposed to the gospel, to the value of the precious blood of Christ, and to His being the only way of salvation. Who are these men? They are supposed ministers of the gospel. They hold positions of leadership in Christendom. Some are bishops or church council members or seminary professors. But they all have this in common—they are against the Christ of the Bible and have invented for themselves a liberal or Neo-Orthodox “Christ”, stripped of glory, majesty, dominion, and authority.”

We see false teachers that have crept into our churches today, sometimes in leadership positions. They do not support the moral laws and precepts of the Bible. They encourage an acceptance of, or at least refrain from speaking out against, sins such as homosexuality, transgender, women teaching men in the Church, and racist theories such as Critical Race Theory that judges white people by the color of their skin rather than how they conduct themselves. They are more concerned with promoting a self-righteous social gospel, defined by them instead of the Bible, then bringing people to faith in Christ and are turning many away from God.

These false teachers will be judged for their false teaching and, in the end, all will come right. In the meantime, as Christians, we should contend for the Faith and “build ourselves up on the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Convince those who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garments polluted by the flesh” (Jude 20-23).