The Big Deal About the Name

Intimacy Can Be Dangerous.

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

TITLE: The Big Deal About the Name in Jude

SUBTITLE: Intimacy Can Be Dangerous.

MARKETING: Not namby pamby baby Jesus.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/16743561

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

The Big Deal About the Name in Jude

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

I received a question from a listener about a previous episode titled "The Difficult Name in Jude". The listener's question boiled down to this: WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT WHAT NAME IS USED IN JUDE 5?

In that previous episode, I talked about how some versions of English Bibles use the name "Jesus" and most English versions use the word "Lord". For instance, the New King James Version says, 

"But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that *the Lord*, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."

but the English Standard Version says,

"Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that *Jesus*, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."

The big deal about a name might depend on the situation.

If I say, "Hi, I'm Eric." and someone quotes me as saying 'He said, "Greetings, I am Mr. Engelmann."' -- two things have happened.

One is my name has been changed. The reivison may be appropriate in some situations such as a formal meeting or legal process. If you ask the judge or the notary which was a better statement the response might be that the formal "Greetings" statement was more appropriate.

But my first name and possibly the intimacy of my statement have been lost. In other situations, the formal "Greetings..." statement may not be appropriate.

Note that publishing text to be read by a wide audience for posterity can have formalities. For example, in the social media era, a good editor can ask a writer to change words or passages to be more understandable and maybe more acceptable.

Back to Jude 5.

Saying, LORD is consistent with the understanding people already had about the accounts of eliverance from Egypt. The LORD did execute judgment on the people of Israel. Writing "LORD" doesn't give out much new information. The books of Moses say the same thing.

But saying "Jesus" means... it was *Jesus* who executed judgment on the people of Israel and punished those who did not believe.

This means Jesus can be viewed by some as a very mean guy. People who picked up *rocks* to throw at Jesus might have agreed.

I believe that the early Greek versions of Jude used the name Jesus. I believe Jesus risked His life making intimate claims about himself and His heavenly Father.

I also believe Jesus did things no one else could do.

In the future It will be helpful to believe that a very powerful judge -- who has brought curses on the earth based on their attitude -- has paid the price for the world's sin.

Also a phrase will be common in twentieth century English that agrees with the warnings God has given: 

Don't shoot the messenger.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC