In their short letters, Peter and Jude were addressing a nascent threat arising in the early church: false teachers who denied the future return of Christ, and accordingly taught that there was no future judgment and no need to pursue sanctification. They preyed upon the Christians’ exilic fatigue in the world and subtly deceived them into giving up and walking away from the faith. It was like a precursory postmodernism. Apostasy is a real allurement, but a slow—almost inadvertent—one that progresses from impatience to doubt and skepticism, to cynicism and bitterness, to eventual rejection and desertion. Savage wolves in sheep’s clothing are creeping into the church, casing the fold, and culling out who they might devour next.

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