In verse 4 Jude goes on to say, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who of old have been written of beforehand for this judgment, ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Verses 4 through 19 of Jude are in close parallel with chapter two of 2 Peter. This indicates that the Epistle of Jude was written in the time of the church’s apostasy and degradation.
In verse 4 Jude says that certain men have “crept in unnoticed.” Literally the Greek means to get in by the side, or slip in by a side door. We may compare this with “secretly bring in” in 2 Peter 2:1. As the enemy crept in to sow tares among the wheat (see Matt. 13), the apostates have crept in unnoticed.
The words “this judgment” refer to the judgment of the creeping in unnoticed of the apostates, the judgment unfolded in the following verses. Judgment here is the condemnation for punishment, and it refers to being condemned to be punished.
Here Jude speaks of ungodly men, who pervert the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The evil of these heretical apostates is twofold: perverting the grace of God into wantonness, that is, into the abuse of freedom (see Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:16), and denying the headship and lordship of the Lord. These two go together. Turning the grace of God into an abused freedom for wantonness requires denying the Lord’s rule and authority.
In verses 5 through 7 Jude gives some historical examples of the Lord’s judgment upon apostasy. The first example is that of the children of Israel: “But I intend to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (v. 5). There was apostasy among those who were led out of the land of Egypt. This means that the unbelieving children of Israel became apostates. In this verse Jude tells us that the Lord destroyed those who did not believe.
Verse 6 says, “And angels who did not keep their own principality, but abandoned their own dwelling place, He has kept in eternal bonds under gloom for the judgment of the great day.” The angels here are the same as those in 2 Peter 2:4; they are the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. The Greek word translated “principality” is arche. This word means the beginning of power, the first place of authority; hence, original dignity in a high position. The fallen angels did not keep their original dignity and position, but abandoned their own dwelling place, which is in heaven, to come to earth at Noah’s time to commit fornication with the daughters of men (Gen. 6:2; 1 Pet. 3:19). The “gloom” is the gloomy pits of Tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4), and the judgment of the great day will probably be the final judgment of the great white throne.