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a doubt as to the free unmerited favour sovereignly bestowed by "grace", also plainly
warns the reader of the dangers of abusing that grace. We shall therefore devote the
remainder of this article to that phase of doctrine which reveals the pitfalls awaiting one
who holds an ill-balanced view of the grace of God. Let us note Jude 3, 4:--
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the
faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in
unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord
Jesus Christ."
There is no idea in the words translated "ordained to this condemnation" of a
predestination to commit sin. The expression is a legal term meaning: "those cited to
trial" by posting up their names. The Scriptures had already indicated that such
characters would come, and what their punishment would be. The particular evil was in
their "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness".
The word translated "turning" means "to alter anything from its original purpose", and
so to misuse or abuse. These ungodly men were teachers, who taught licence instead of
liberty, and instead of using the grace of God to promote and encourage sanctification of
life and walk, they opened the door to all manner of excess.
Peter speaks of the same class as does Jude. He calls them "false teachers . . . . . who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them"
(II Pet. 2: 1). Describing their teaching further, he says:--
"For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts
of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who
live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the bond slaves
of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage"
(II Pet. 2: 18, 19).
Lest some should object to the intrusion of the teaching of Peter into that of Paul,
we would ask such to note the complete harmony of argument of II Pet. 2: 19 with
Rom. 6: 16:--
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves bond slaves to obey, his bond slaves
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness"
(Rom. 6: 16).
We do well to discount much of the "great swelling words" used in speaking of the
"grace of God", for such may but "allure" and lead to "wantonness", or--as the word is
translated in Jude 4--"lasciviousness". To quote Peter once more:--
"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the bond
slaves of God" (I Pet. 1: 16).