"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 1:4).
In Romans 10:1-4 Paul speaks of unregenerate persons who, in ignorance, are seeking to establish their own righteousness. In the passage above Jude is identifying those whom God predestined from eternity to turn or twist His grace into "lasciviousness." The grace mangled is the grace of God set forth in the true gospel; these theological perverters of grace have NOT received even a nanogram of grace (whether so-called "common operations" or any other similar figment dreamt up by the unregenerate). Grace is found SOLELY in Jesus Christ; "common grace" -- whether the Reformed or Arminian variety -- is a damnable adulteration of true grace.
Having looked up the underlying Greek word for "lasciviousness" and commentaries also, it appears the word refers primarily to flagrant sins such as drunkenness and sexual immorality. One question that comes to mind is, "How were these theological perverts able to sneak in to an assembly who confesses the true gospel of Christ?" It must be they wormed in by means of a painted orthodoxy -- this thin veneer concealing the dead bones of debauchery.
I think the sin of "lasciviousness" logically extends not only to the actual physical commission of these sins, but ALSO to those who "would never dream of doing such and such," but who nevertheless have not a qualm with taking pleasure in those who do what they would not do.
"Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:32).
Again, although the "lasciviousness" mentioned in Jude 1:4 refers primarily to blatant immorality, it can be applied to those who pervert the grace of God into a license for believing in all sorts of damnable heresy. Here is an example of how these theological perverts twist Romans 10:1-4 to their own destruction [though slightly edited and adapted, these are the actual sentiments of various theological perverters of grace]:
“Brothers, truly my heart’s pleasure and supplication to God on behalf of Israel is for [it] to be saved. For I testify to them that they have zeal to God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ [is] the end of Law for righteousness to everyone that believes” (Romans 10:1-4).
Theological Pervert: Fine, Paul. But let us push this out to the end of the logical road, shall we? Multitudes of professing Christians who believe that Jesus Christ died for everyone without exception stumble at the Stone-of-Stumbling in just the same way that national Israel did --tolerant Calvinists like me stumble too, except that most of us are not as honest and forthright about it as others.
I am Reformed, and so it is A MATTER OF COURSE that I believe national Israelite expressions of the gospel are deficient in certain ways. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be Reformed. But -- and this is important -- do these deficiencies (which, like the Galatian Judaizers, amount to a certain level of self-righteousness-establishing) necessarily reveal them to be unregenerate? NO. And the reason I would say “NO” is that I believe in the doctrine of justification by faith ALONE.
So, Paul, in spite of your perfectionistic prayer in Romans 10:1, those who are “ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3) ARE NOT necessarily unregenerate because we are NOT saved by works! I’ll be quite candid here and say that I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN to take seriously what you said in Romans 9:29-33 and 10:1-4 since we are NOT saved by works!! Perhaps there is a textual variant there or something (wishful thinking, perhaps).
Paul, I desire to maintain (at least) a modicum of self-control here and not become too heated about your idiosyncratic version of slimy-sanctimonious-sectarian-man-centered-save-yourself-if-you-can-and-devil-take-the-hindmost form of doctrinal perfectionism. You may think that this is quite a mouthful of misrepresentation, but I must strongly disagree in light of your uncharitable and imperious exhibition of doctrinal merit-mongering in Romans 9:29-33 and Romans 10:1-4.
Dearest Paul, I insist that you do NOT realize that a genuine faith in Jesus can reside (thank God) in a very imperfect and stumbling heart. To stumble at the Stone-of-stumbling can cause us to be humble, sometimes. And sometimes that imperfect and wavering submission “to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3) gets into the doctrine, and bless God, we are still not undone. Why? Because God does not receive us on the basis of our performance in ANY area.
Jesus is my righteousness and His perfection is imputed to me and also to the Galatian Judaizers whom you cruelly and gleefully anathematized in Galatians 1:8-9. This perfection is ALSO imputed to those national Israelites for whom you presumptuously and prematurely prayed (Romans 10:1). You see Paul, Jesus understands the Stone perfectly, and that understanding is mine, national Israel’s, and the Galatian Judaizers’ by imputation. But if God were to take us out of Jesus and run us through our doctrinal paces, with us handling His hardball questions on our own, we are in the highest degree confident that we would be condemned to Hell for our failure to perfectly understand Romans 9:29-33 and 10:1-4.
So again, despite what you say in Romans 9:29-33 and Romans 10:1-4, you are wrong. W-R-O-N-G. Wrong. We -- national Israel, the Galatian Judaizers, and myself -- are going to heaven because of Jesus, and NOT because of our mastery of the dikai-word group.
So here we see a conspicuous and brazen example of how ungodly men have adulterated the grace of our God into a form of doctrinal lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
