Jude 1:4 (GNV)

Passage

For there are certaine men crept in, which were before of olde ordeined to this condemnation: vngodly men they are which turne the grace of our God into wantonnesse, and denie God the onely Lord, and our Lord Iesus Christ.

Nearby Context

Jude 1:2 Mercie vnto you, and peace and loue be multiplied.

Jude 1:3 Beloued, when I gaue al diligece to write vnto you of the common saluation, it was needful for me to write vnto you to exhort you, that yee should earnestly contend for the maintenace of ye faith, which was once giuen vnto the Saintes.

Jude 1:4 For there are certaine men crept in, which were before of olde ordeined to this condemnation: vngodly men they are which turne the grace of our God into wantonnesse, and denie God the onely Lord, and our Lord Iesus Christ.

Jude 1:5 I wil therfore put you in remebrance, forasmuch as ye once knew this, how that the Lord, after that he had deliuered the people out of Egypt, destroied them afterward which beleeued not.

Jude 1:6 The Angels also which kept not their first estate, but left their owne habitation, hee hath reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "condemn", "grace", "certaine", "crept", "before", "olde", "ordeined", and "condemnation". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "condemn" and "grace", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Beloued when I gaue al diligece to..." into verse 5's "I wil therfore put you in remebrance...", so "condemn" and "grace" belong inside that flow. In Jude context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "condemn" and "grace" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.