⁵Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

Licentious living is not good—that is an understatement! We need to carefully sort out the teaching here lest someone think that Jude is warning genuine believers not to fall into fleshly, sinful behavior so that they will be “marked out for this condemnation.” Yes, Jude is writing to true believers, to whom he refers as the “called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1). In contrast, he describes “certain persons who have crept in” (vs. 4), writing of them as being lookalikes who pass as genuine believers but are not. Jude’s use of OT illustrations clarifies that in all generations, the congregation of God’s people included pseudo-believers.

Jude’s warning to believers, though, is not to let “posers”—people posing as believers but living immoral lifestyles—get away with feeling comfortable and fitting right in to the Christian community. To be sure, broken people need healing, and sinners need the gospel. (Some make the case we should go into the world to preach the gospel and not expect unbelievers to come to us. That is true, but we recognize that some unsaved are among us in our church meetings.) Jude’s warning, when read in the church, may hopefully lead to repentance of nonbelievers present (1 Cor. 14:25, Jude 22–23).

Jude now draws our attention to relevant OT stories. During the Exodus, God brought the entire Jewish people out of Egypt, including some nonbelievers. Who were they? The unbelievers would probably have included some who did not care for the God that Moses told them about but who nonetheless benefitted from being in the homes with blood-smeared doorposts. They went along, as we might say, “for the ride,” as long as they could escape the harsh living conditions of slavery in Egypt. In time, when life in the wilderness got rough, they grumbled at God and rebelled against Moses, quickly turning back to the idol worship of Egypt—maybe those gods could make their lives better than following Yahweh, Moses’ God, in the desert.

Today, some people pretend to be Christians because of the social and emotional benefits but ignore NT teachings about God’s holiness and purity, morality, integrity, love, and sacrifice. They live for themselves and participate in the Christian community when it benefits them—but they refuse to submit to the Lordship of Christ. Woe to the church where people think they don’t need to repent to become a true Christian but can just blend in.

Lord, help me to not go soft on sin in my own life.