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THE CHARACTER OF APOSTASY (XIV)
THURSDAY, APRIL 23
Jude 19
Philippians 2:1-2
 
“… if any fellowship
of the Spirit …”
 
THE CHARACTER OF APOSTASY (XIV)
 
These apostates of whom Jude warns are the very ones predicted by the Apostles. The final description given by Jude is of the apostates as those who “separate themselves” ‒ the final and inevitable conclusion of apostasy. The Apostle Paul had said to the Corinthians, “there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Cor 11:19). God has ordained that heresies and false doctrines should be a means of proving and testing, in order that those who are truly “approved” should be “made manifest.”
 
Now Christians are indeed called to “separate themselves.” We are to separate from unbelievers: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers… come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord…” (2 Cor 6:14-17; but cf. 1 Cor 5:9-10). And we are to separate from disorderly believers: “we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly” (2 Thess 3:6).
 
What these apostates are doing, however, is quite different. They do not “separate themselves” in the same sense that Christians are commanded to be separate. Instead of a biblical separation from unbelief, theirs is, as it were, an unbiblical separation from true belief. They creep into churches (Jude 4); they begin to voice their dissent, promulgate their false teachings, and attract others to their cause (Jude 16); then they “separate themselves” from the true church (Jude 19). This they do, because they are “sensual, having not the Spirit.” Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they are unable to receive the truth of God (cf. 1 Cor 2:14). They do not participate in that “fellowship of the Spirit” (Phil 2:1) that leads true believers to be “likeminded … of one accord, of one mind” (Phil 2:2).
 
Dear reader, what is needed in these last days is both unity and division: unity in the truth, and division from falsehood. Let us therefore be diligent students of scripture, prayerful and thoughtful, so that we neither unite with that from which we ought to separate, nor separate from that with which we ought to unite.
 
THOUGHT: Unity has its place, so does division.
PRAYER: Father, give me discernment to serve Thee rightly!

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