Topical Studies
What the Bible says aboutUngodliness
(From Forerunner Commentary)The far country symbolizes forgetfulness of God (Deuteronomy 8:11, 14, 19), the condition Paul describes as "alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:17-19). All the dissatisfied young man wants to do is to satisfy his senses and desires. After disillusionment, destitution, and degradation, the prodigal, feeling no longer worthy to be called a son, decides to ask his father to make him one of his servants.
The far country is the place people go to remove themselves as far from God the Father as possible. It represents the world, the place where evil flourishes, where it is the norm, popular, and acceptable. In it, the perversions of society—lying, adultery, abortion, hom*osexuality, and many others—are tolerated and even celebrated (I John 2:15-17).
The far country signifies the abode of the ungodly, those with whom the prodigal son feels most comfortable. The righteous cause him discomfort because he cannot over-drink, smoke, cuss, or tell dirty jokes when he is with them. The godly stifle him because he feels pressured to produce the fruit of self-control. The far country is the state of mind that is enmity toward God (Romans 8:7).
Martin G. Collins
Parables of Luke 15 (Part Three)In Romans 5:6, the apostle Paul declares that “Christ died for the ungodly.” The Greek word for “ungodly” is asebes, meaning “those without any reverence toward God.” The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, showed little reverence toward God. They were heedless when He warned them of the deadly outcome of their disobedience (Genesis 2:17; 3:3).
Since then, all humans have followed their example, falling from God's favor because of unbelief, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Essentially, man is unwilling or unable to recognize God's sovereignty and holiness, which causes him to fall short of being what God intends him to be.
The countermeasure for man's sinfulness is the perfect, sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, culminating in our opportunity for justification (Romans 4:25). The objective of justification is not merely to render a guilt-free verdict for the repentant sinner, nor does it provide a special certificate of eternal life to its recipient. Instead, it is a spiritual act—part of a spiritual process—with spiritual effects that open the way to salvation and eternal life.
Martin G. Collins
The Fruit of JustificationRelated Topics: | All Have Sinned| Christ's Redeeming Sacrifice| Christ's Sacrifice| Forgiveness of Sins after Justification| God's Sovereignty| Irreverence for God| Justification| Justification not a Right| Resurrection of Christ| Reverence Toward God| Salvation as a Process| Sanctification as Process| Ungodliness| Ungodly| Ungodly Men
Renouncing ungodliness appears here in an interesting context. People in the congregation were getting into heated discussions about genealogies, meanings of words, and technicalities of law. Paul called this "ungodliness" (or irreligion) and instructed Timothy to shun such things. These brethren had missed the point of God's way of life, which Paul says is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Being technically correct about a minor point is not as important as building right relationships through kindness, forgiveness, service, and sensitive concern for others.
The word also appears in Romans 1:18-32 within a broad denunciation of obvious ungodliness, shown as the fruit of an unholy marriage of idolatry and immorality. When grace truly comes into a person's life, he must consciously repudiate and utterly reject ungodliness. That is, he must rid himself of the leaven of those sins. It will not happen all at once, but one must make consistent effort in that direction.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Five Teachings of GraceRelated Topics: Grace| Leaven| Leaven as a Type of Sin| Legalism| Relationships| Righteousness| Sin| Ungodliness
Ungodliness is simply not being like God. It is equally easy to determine whether "worldly lusts" is a trait of God or of Satan.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Two)Related Topics: Lust| Lust as a Trait of Satan| Satan's Attitudes | Satan's Character| Ungodliness
The ungodly are sinners. God, being the just God that He is, judged according to His law. He wanted to save these people so that they could be resurrected and given an opportunity for salvation at a better time. Not being able to abide their rebellion, He wiped them out because they were sinners, ungodly, breaking His law.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Sixteen)Related Topics: Fate of the Wicked| God's Judgment| Resurrections , Order of | Salvation, Periods| Salvation, Periods of| Ungodliness
The godly are those who do righteous deeds, and the ungodly, then, are those who commit unlawful deeds.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Sixteen)Related Topics: Godlike Characteristics| Godliness | Godly Behavior | Godly Character| Godly Character, Evidence of | Lawlessness| Ungodliness| Ungodly Behavior| Ungodly Living | Unholy
Verse 15 emphasizes ungodliness. These false ministers are the total opposite of what God is, and if we know what God is—what godliness is—then we can identify and avoid them.
Jude then gives four more descriptors to help us identify false teachers: 1) They are discontented murmurers and complainers. They always have something to gripe about. Discontent with their lot in life, they find fault with everything. Nothing is ever right for them. 2) They live to satisfy their every desire, a trait Jude has already explained thoroughly. 3) They speak bombastic bragging words, and 4) they are respecters of persons, if it will benefit them. They will do anything to get ahead.
In verse 17, we were warned that such people will enter the church and try to ruin it, so we have no excuse. They are here already, and we need to make sure they do not stay here by keeping an eye out for them and giving no quarter to them when they begin their ungodly work.
Jude then gives three final descriptions of them in verse 19. He calls them 1) "sensual" or worldly. They are based totally in this world, in the realm of the five senses. They have no connection to the heavenly. 2) They "cause divisions," meaning when they appear, the congregation begins taking sides. 3) He ends his description with the opposite of his description of true church members in verse 1: False teachers do not have God's Spirit. They are not of us. They may be among us, but they are not God's spiritual children (Romans 8:9-17). We can see from their fruits that the spirit they have is not God's.
With these descriptions of false teachers, we can be more confident in testing the spirits (I John 3:24; 4:1-6).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
JudeRelated Topics: Discontent| Division| Division, Causing| False Ministers/Prophets| False Religion| False Teachers| False Teachers, Characteristics of| False Teaching| Murmuring| Self Absorption| Self Centeredness| Self Concern| Self Gratification| Self Indulgence| Self Satisfaction| Self Seeking| Selfish Ambition| Selfishness| Test the Spirits| Testing the Spirits| Ungodliness
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