Jude 8-11 Apostates Identified

Introduction

Once again we are exposed to the manner and character of false teachers Jude is warning us about. He has introduced us to them in v.4 as to their style and audacity. Here Jude gives us another trilogy to show us more clearly who these false teachers are.

To begin with he uses the word ‘Likewise’ to show the comparison to those who were just mentioned and were judged in vss. 5-7. IN other words these false teachers who are the same ones mentioned in v.4 are acting in the same way as those who rebelled through unbelief in the wilderness, the angels and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah acted. In spite of these warnings that were in the OT they ignore them in their own practice.

These false teachers mentioned in v.4 act the same way that those who rebelled through unbelief in the wilderness, the angels and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah acted. In spite of these warnings they still . . .

They turn the grace of God into a license to practice sexual immorality and they deny the Lord.

they also -defile their flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones

So first of all we read that they Rely on dreams,

-relying on dreams-ie. new revelation that is extra-biblical

Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (houtoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.

T Hese are dreams or visions that become their authority rather than the Scriptures. In fact, these become their new revelation. cf. .

Relying on their dreams:

ON the one hand they

-defile the flesh- to be stained with sin, cf its use in .

this refers to sexual immorality, see the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah or that of Balaam which is mentioned in v.11.

Defile=miaino - to stain or pollute, to paint in color, to spot. like dirt or infection as well. Doesn’t just stain oneself but is passed on to others. it is to be defiled that of ;,. Thus unclean, to be contaminated from the inner turning away from God and thus being polluted and polluting others, .

On the other hand they

-reject authority - ie. the authority of Scripture and those who call them to account with Scripture.

They set at nought, annul, not a place , they treat as casual and of no import dominion,

They reject the Lord and this ties in with v.4 'denying . . . the Lord'. They place their new revelation over and above the Bible.

Let’s just take someone who claims to have spoken in tongues. They know they spoke in a tongue. To themselves they cannot deny something happened. However, even though they may acknowledge that the tongues of the bible are languages, which can be easily proven, they will still say they have the gift of the Holy Spirit called tongues. Even though, their ‘tongues speaking’ doesn’t match that of the Biblical tongues: a language they have never tried to learn, for the purpose of exalting Jesus as the Christ, for public not private use, have to have an interpreter, and so on. Though their ‘tongues’ doe not match scripture they will still say they spoke in tongues. Their experience trumps or supersedes the authority of Scripture. They redefine biblical terminology, such as tongues, by their own experience.

However, even though they may acknowledge that the tongues of the bible are languages, which can be easily proven, they will still say the have the gift of the Holy Spirit called tongues. Even though, their ‘tongues speaking’ doesn’t match that of the Biblical tongues: a language they have never tried to learn, for the purpose of exalting Jesus as the Christ, for public not private use, have to have an interpreter, and so on. Though their ‘tongues’ does not match scripture they will still say they spoke in tongues. Their experience trumps or supersedes the authority of Scripture.

and on another hand they

-blaspheme the glorious ones

Who are the glorious ones? probably angelic beings , as well as v.9 in our text suggest these are angels, likely fallen ones. For it seems Jude gets this from Peter's text.

Some on the other hand say this refers to the Jewish tradition that the law of God was given at Sinai by angels and that the blaspheming of angels here implies the rejection of obedience to God’s law.

The idea is that not even Michael the Archangel did this. It is the height of audacity that these false teachers would do what he would not do. that is rebuke them. or say evil against them.

Summary:

They rely on their dreams, or justify their conduct by own revelations rather than what the Scripture says. And in doing so they justify their sexual deviancy. The following two statements seem more to be the basis or a further statement as to why they defile the flesh rather than a continuation founded on the dreams. In other words, it seems that they defile the flesh both because their authority is their dreams and they have rejected the authority of Scripture. That works if the meaning of blaspheming glorious ones refers to angels who helped deliver the law to Moses, thus implying the Scripture that they blaspheme. If they are demonic angelic beings that idea falls apart. So what am I left with? V. 9 seems to indicate doxa is reference to the demonic, because of the contrasting word ‘but’.

Another take on this is that it refers to all sorts of authorities in general, whether governmental or spiritual. I don’t take it in that manner, because of the context of v.9.

Which then leads us to the contrast of v.9

In v.10 Michael's unwillingness to rebuke Satan is contrasted with these false teachers who blaspheme or speak evil of those in authority or positions of power.

while he was doing that Jude makes the point that he refused to rebuke Satan. Why?

In v.10 Michael's unwillingness to rebuke Satan is contrasted with these false teachers who blaspheme or speak evil of those in authority or positions of power.

The point is that Michael understood his place and power and did not promote his own position as an archangel but gave over all authority to the Lord. This is also akin to where the Lord rebukes Satan for accusing Joshua the high Priest. A similar event is found in Jesus when He rebukes Satan when Peter resists Jesus going to the cross. The idea is that the Lord is the one who rebukes Satan. For a mere man to do so is to usurp the position of God. It is akin to making oneself out to be God, which with these false teachers is not hard. Some of them in our day say they are as much God as Jesus is. So then, if Michael the Archangel recognized it was God’s place to rebuke Satan who are the uppity false teachers to attempt to rebuke him, or other of the ‘glorious ones?’

The point is that Michael understood his place and power and did not promote his own position as an archangel but gave over all authority to the Lord. This is also akin to where the Lord rebukes Satan and is found in Jesus when He rebukes Satan when Peter resists Jesus going to the cross.

Herein lies a contrast, on the one hand these false teachers blaspheme what they do not understand, what they don’t know. They presume upon their position, making themselves out to be equal with God. On the other hand, like the unreasoning animals, what they have known naturally, in them or by them they have been destroyed.

what is he getting at?

The blaspheming of what they don’t know is really pride and arrogance. It is a manifestation of the rejection of authority as in rebuking dignitaries of v.9.

The natural habit of animals in nature is speaking of the sexual immorality that is corrupting.Sex is a natural instinct, but it is corrupting when practiced wrongly. One speaks to things like Korah’s rebellion the other to the sexual immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah or balaam’s advice to the Midianites. Thus, the verse summarizes the pride and immorality of these false teachers. And so the pronouncement of v.11.

They instinctively comprehend. Like irrational animals, these false teachers do grasp one thing—the instinctive behavior of animals in heat. R. Bauckham (Jude, 2 Peter [WBC], 63) notes that “Though they claim to be guided by special spiritual insight gained in heavenly revelations, they are in fact following the sexual instincts which they share with the animals.” Jude’s focus is somewhat different from Peter’s: Peter argued that, like irrational animals who are born to be caught and killed, these men will be destroyed when destroying others (). Jude, however, does not mention the destruction of animals, just th

Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.

They are corrupted by their sexual immorality, their natural instincts.

Finally, there is the pronouncement of Woe upon them, v.11

Jude pronounces woe to them- these false teachers. Woe is a pronouncement of judgment just as it was used by the Lord in as He announces woe on the cities that rejected Him.

-they have walked in way of Cain,

-they have followed Balaam's error - loving the wages of sin Numbers

and they perished in korah's rebellion -the idea is that of like they did in korah's rebellion.Exodus

Here is another trilogy Jude uses to address these false teachers. They think all is well with them and God, but nothing could be further from the truth. they will find themselves facing judgment in the end for their sexual immorality, their rebellion against the authority of God and the Word. They neither exalt Christ in their teaching nor the Word of Christ in their practice. And as transgressors they might profess to Know the Lord, but their actions and teaching scream otherwise.