I felt it necessary to write to you, urging you to strive earnestly for the faith... For certain men have crept in surreptitiously... ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God into sexual immorality. (Jude 1:3-4)


From the very beginning of the Lord's Church, those who seek to transform God's grace into something it is not have posed a constant threat. Attempts to change it are always linked to either debauchery or legalism.

Jude addressed this problem in his forceful warning letter. He called on all of Christ's followers to engage in a zealous fight for the integrity of God's word. "I felt it necessary to write to you, urging you to contend earnestly for the faith." Such a fight is essential because carnal religious people desire to corrupt grace, operating discreetly within the churches. "For certain men have crept in surreptitiously [...] ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God into sexual immorality."



The changes they wanted to make consisted of transforming grace into a license.

Grace is the means by which God forgives our sins and transforms the sinner so that he sins less and less. Grace is not a punishment from God that allows us to plan and excuse our personal indulgences.

This question also appears in the Epistle to the Romans, for some have misused God's grace in an unjustifiable way. They have started from a glorious truth: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). What a magnificent truth! No matter how atrocious our sins, God's grace for forgiveness and transformation is far greater. Yet, what a licentious thought it is to believe that greater indulgence in sin would be a good thing, for it would only present another opportunity for more abundant grace. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). The answer is a resounding no. “Certainly not! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2). The grace we await is never an excuse to plan sin.

In Galatians, the opposite problem of legalism is addressed. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is not really a gospel at all. In fact, some are throwing you into confusion and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). Here, some were trying to add legalistic requirements to the good news of God’s grace. This attempt to turn grace into a performance standard is described as a perversion, a serious distortion of grace. Whether it is license or legalism, both change and undermine God’s grace.