In the epistle of Jude, we are confronted with a sobering reality: not all who speak of grace understand it, and some who claim to defend holiness are, in truth, its greatest enemies. Jude exposes a class of people who have crept into the church, not to celebrate the grace of God, but to pervert it. These are not the open libertines many imagine, but the legalistic accusers who, in their zeal for self-made righteousness, undermine the very foundation of the gospel.
The Real Perverters of Grace: The Way of Cain
Jude identifies these infiltrators as those who have “gone in the way of Cain” (Jude 11). This is not a charge of open immorality, but of religious presumption. Cain’s error was not that he promoted sin, but that he sought to approach God on his own terms—through the sweat of his own effort—rejecting the blood sacrifice that pointed to Christ. In the same spirit, these accusers reject the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work, insisting instead on a righteousness built by law and works.
This is the root of their hostility: those who rest in Christ’s accomplishment provoke the deepest resentment in those still striving under the law. The way of Cain is the way of self-righteousness, and it always breeds hatred for those justified by faith alone.
“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain…” (Jude 11)
The Accuser’s Logic: Denying Christ by Defending Law
These are the ones who bring “railing accusations against dignities” (Jude 8). Their entire posture is accusatory. They look at those who trust in Christ alone and charge them with turning grace into a license for sin. But this accusation reveals a heart still chained to the law, unable to comprehend the scandal of free justification.
By accusing the saints, they betray their own unbelief in the power of Christ’s sacrifice. They cannot accept that God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5), so they project their own fears and lusts onto others. Their complaints and warnings are not born of spiritual discernment, but of a conscience unpurged by the blood of Christ.
“These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts…” (Jude 16)
What Is Lost: The Collapse of Justification and Inheritance
If we accept the logic of these accusers, we lose everything that matters. The ground of our justification is no longer Christ’s finished work, but our own performance. Sonship is replaced with servitude, and inheritance is forfeited for the sake of a law that can only condemn. The sufficiency of Christ is denied—not with words, but with doctrine and practice. This is not a secondary matter; it is the difference between life and death, between the gospel and another gospel that is no gospel at all.
The True Power of Grace
The irony is devastating: in their attempt to prevent licentiousness, these accusers are the ones who truly pervert grace. By reducing it to a mere aid for self-improvement, they strip it of its power and deny the reality of the new creation. They insist on a Christianity indistinguishable from any other works-based religion, and in so doing, “deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4)—not overtly, but in practice, by nullifying the efficacy of His finished work.
But the testimony of Scripture is clear: it is the grace of God—not law, not threats, not self-effort—that both saves and transforms. Grace does not merely forgive; it empowers. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and live righteously—not by fear, but by the life of Christ within.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” (Titus 2:11-12)
Stand in the Finished Work
Do not be unsettled when you are accused of “abusing grace” for trusting Christ alone. Such accusations are the mark of those who have not yet entered into the rest that comes from justification by faith. Their railing reveals their bondage; your assurance reveals your inheritance. Stand firm in the finished work of Christ. Let no one move you from the ground of grace, for to yield that ground is to forfeit everything Christ has won.
Verses Referenced
- Jude 4 – “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.”
- Jude 8 – “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”
- Jude 11 – “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”
- Romans 4:5 – “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
- Jude 16 – “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and they speak great swelling words having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.”
- Titus 2:11-12 – “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”
