The letter of Judah.

It's a short letter at the end of the New Testament written by a brother of Jesus, a man named Judah.

It's an emergency letter warning his community about certain people who are causing serious problems.

And what's so fascinating, he never highlights their teaching as such,

like false teaching or false doctrine, bad theology as such. What he highlights is the way they

see the world. Judah shows us the way they see the world by comparing them to stories,

characters in the Hebrew Bible. They're like the wilderness generation.

They're like the rebellious angels.

They're like the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.

They think like Kane.

They're motivated like Balaam.

And they rebel like Cora.

Now, Judah just assumes you understand these stories

and how they're all connected.

All of those are really about one thing, the divine justice that holds humans accountable for

destructive behavior.

Judah references all these stories from the Hebrew Bible.

He also quotes other Second Temple literature, but he ends with a quote from the apostles

of Jesus, people who knew Jesus personally.

And they say, and I'm paraphrasing here, watch out for people who are motivated by serving themselves

rather than being motivated by the Spirit of God.

The genuine message about Jesus is so surprising to like basic human instinct and desire. And it's much

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