Are the angels who leave their own place among the one third who fall in Revelation 12:4, or are they different ones? I believe they are different from the original third who fell with Satan. The first part of Jude 6 says, “And angels who did not keep their own principality but abandoned their own dwelling place.” The word principality is translated as “original state” by Darby. It refers not only to their original place but to their original state. Originally, the angels did not marry. For them to not keep their own state means that they engaged themselves in marriage. Principality refers to their state, and dwelling place refers to their place. What has happened to these angels? The last part of verse 6 says that these angels are “kept in eternal bonds under gloom for the judgment of the great day.” Verse 7 provides a further explanation of verse 6; it does not refer to something new. The grammar of Darby‘s and Stevens’s translations indicates that verse 7 is a further explanation of verse 6. These angels are like those in “Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who in like manner with these gave themselves over to fornication and went after different flesh.” They are “set forth as an example” and will undergo “the penalty of eternal fire.” These verses are speaking not of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah who committed fornication but of the angels who committed fornication like the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, they were given to fornication. In other words, they did nothing except commit fornication. They forgot about everything else and only engaged in fornication. They “went after different flesh.” Hence, they are “set forth as an example, undergoing the penalty of eternal fire.” We can say that Jude 6 and 7 are an exposition of Genesis 6.
Let us use another difficult passage in the Bible as an illustration. John 20:23 says, “Whosever sins you forgive, they are forgiven them.” This is indeed a difficult passage. How can man have the authority to forgive other men’s sins? The Roman Catholic Church used this verse as the basis for selling indulgences. Actually, this verse must be linked to the preceding verse which speaks of receiving the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Lord has given the Holy Spirit to His church so that the church, as His representative and vessel, can forgive others. We call this kind of forgiveness “instrumental forgiveness.” Suppose I am preaching the gospel, and I come across a sinner. He confesses that he is a sinner and asks God for forgiveness. He weeps, cries, repents, and sincerely accepts the Lord Jesus, but he can still be ignorant of the matter of forgiveness. If someone in the church stands up and declares to him, “God has forgiven your sins,” this declaration is most helpful to him. The church can decide who is qualified to be baptized and who is eligible for the Lord’s table because it has received the Holy Spirit. Under the authority of the Holy Spirit, it can exercise its instrumental power to forgive or retain men’s sins. The church can only forgive as it is abiding in the Holy Spirit and breathing in this Spirit. No one can forgive when he is standing in the flesh. If we realize that this forgiveness is an instrumental forgiveness, we will have no problem with this passage.
The above verses serve as two illustrations of dealing with difficult passages in the Bible. The interpretation of any difficult passage in the Bible must be supported by enough proof and must take care of the context of the passage. No one can expound out of context or be guided by prejudice.
We can also study the Bible book by book. We can go through the Pentateuch, the books of history, the Psalms, and the books of the prophets. The content of each book should be memorized. In studying the books of the prophets, we have to find out how many of the prophets lived before the captivity and how many lived during and after the captivity. The study of the New Testament has to be conducted in the same manner. We have to know the historical part of the New Testament. We have to know the Epistles to the churches, the Epistles to individuals, and the prophecies. A child of God may not need to expound every book of the Bible, but he must at least know the contents of each book. We have to spend at least two years to get an overview of all sixty-six books of the Bible. If we want more in-depth knowledge, we have to spend five or six years. Once we become familiar with the contents of each book, we will know the nature of each book, and we will be able to relate one to the other. For example, we can link our study of the Old Testament to the books of Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians. These are basic skills, and we have to pay attention to them.
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