DEFEND THE FAITH
FALSE CEILINGS
When concerts and other special events are held in large auditoriums or arenas, “riggers” must work hundreds of feet above the floor hanging speakers and lights. Riggers will tell you they do not mind looking down a hundred feet to the floor. What they don’t like is working in buildings that have false ceilings made of acoustical tile hung just a few feet below the ceiling on rafters and beams. It gives them a false sense of security. They feel as though they are working just a few feet above a floor; but if they stepped onto the tile, they would crash through and fall to their death many feet below. They don’t like the deceptive look. It makes it easier to make a mistake.
Satan works like that. He makes dangerous things look safe. He gives us a false sense of security. He makes it easier for us to make a mistake. Satan tries not to scare us to death, but rather to make us think we face little danger of a spiritual fall.
The Epistle of Jude warns of the dangers of false teachers, whose end is destruction. We are to be alert for them, to strengthen ourselves against spiritual deception, and to be ready to help vulnerable believers. Christian friends must not be lulled into a false sense of security and take a disastrous spiritual fall.
MAIN IDEA:
Defend the faith against false teachers. Strengthen yourselves, and be merciful to those who are weak.
A. Jude States His Purpose for Writing (vv. 1–4)
JUDE’S PURPOSE FOR WRITING (vv. 1-4)
JUDE DESCRIBES FALSE TEACHERS (vv. 5-16)
5–7. Three examples from the past warn us of the danger of defecting from the faith. First, the Hebrew people were delivered under the leadership of Moses from slavery in Egypt. However, not all those Israelites were true believers. Some were rebellious against God. As a result, God destroyed them in the wilderness. Even some of the “chosen people” suffered judgment for their unbelief.
Second, angels rebelled against God. All angels were righteous in the beginning and had positions of authority. Apparently, Satan enticed some of these angels to follow him in rebellion against God. (Satan is called the “prince of demons” in Matt. 12:24.) When they abandoned their original position, God confined them in darkness, waiting eternal judgment. Some interpreters believe this may refer to Genesis 6:1–4 where the “sons of men” are interpreted to be angels who left their positions of authority and cohabited with human women (“daughters of earth”). As a result of the heinousness of this sin, God wiped them out immediately. The New Testament makes it clear that not all fallen angels (demons) are confined, but some are.
Other interpreters see these verses not as a reference to Genesis 6:1–4 but to a book called the Book of Enoch, which is not part of the Bible but is usually included in the Jewish writings known as the Pseudepigrapha. Since Jude did not tell us to what he was referring, we have to be content with ambiguity. Apparently, the common knowledge of the time did not make it necessary for Jude to explain himself further. His readers must have understood his reference easily. We do not.
Third, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns were destroyed by God’s judgment of fire. These towns gave themselves to sexual immorality and perversion (Gen. 19:1–29). Physical fire fell on them, destroying them and serving as an example to the false teachers, who will suffer the punishment of eternal fire in hell.
8–10. The godlessness of the false teachers can be described in four categories. First, they rejected authority. Apparently, they claimed divine revelation through dreams which gave them permission to participate in immoral acts. Thus, they let their dreams overrule biblical teaching and pollute their own bodies. Then, they rejected authority and slandered celestial beings, which Jude illustrated with the example of the archangel Michael. In an interesting peek behind the historical curtain that we do not get in the Old Testament, we learn that Michael was sent to bury the body of Moses when he died atop Mount Nebo (Deut. 34). According to Jewish tradition (supported by this passage), the devil argued with him about it, apparently claiming for himself the right to dispose of Moses’ body. (For Jewish sources, see Bauckham, WBC 50, 65–76.) Michael, powerful as he was, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against the devil, but said instead, The Lord rebuke you!
The false teachers, on the other hand, spoke abusively against whatever they do not understand. We do not know what they did not understand. This abusive speech may refer to their slandering of angels mentioned in verse 8. Such slander may have included their claim that angels were messengers and guardians of the Law who envied and did not like humans, so they forced humans to obey the law. If so, they apparently had no respect for the authority of angels and slandered angels to escape the authority of the law. Their understanding only went as far as unreasoning animals, and as a result, they apparently engaged in self-destructive behavior. They followed fleshly instincts, unbridled by God’s law, and thus would face judgment and eternal punishment at the last day.
Michael, on the other hand, had extreme respect. He would not even rebuke Satan, the fallen angel, but instead left such rebuke to God. Jude did the same. Obeying the law is not a matter of dismissing angelic authority. It goes much deeper. It rejects divine authority and dismisses threats of final judgment.
11. Second, these false teachers blundered around in sin. Jude turned to a triad of sins these godless people had committed and pronounced woe on them. They had taken the way of Cain. There is little agreement as to what this means, but there are several possibilities:
1. They were disobedient and unbelieving, charting their own course in life.
2. They worshiped God according to their own understanding, not according to God’s revelation.
3. They were eaten up by envy of others.
4. They hated others and had a murderous spirit, as Cain did.
5. They taught heresy as some Jewish tradition attributed to Cain.
In addition to taking the way of Cain, they rushed for profit into Balaam’s error. Balaam was hired by Balak to put a curse on the Israelites, who were wandering in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. Balaam did it for money (see Num. 22:21–31; 2 Pet. 2:15–16). Jude warned about opposing God for money.
Third, they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. Korah rebelled against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, refusing to acknowledge that God had placed them in authority over the Hebrews (Num. 16). Picturing the false teachers’ destruction as a past event is probably a figure of speech designed to emphasize the certainty of their judgment, should they not repent.
12–13. Third, these godless people were deceptive leaders. Somehow they had gained positions as shepherds in the church, but they were serving for selfish reasons. They participated in love feasts—intimate, communal meals that Christians ate together for the purpose of fostering fellowship and unity (Acts 20:7–11; 1 Cor. 11:20–22). Originally, they may have been part of the Lord’s Supper. Instead of participating in the spirit of the meal, they merely fed themselves. Perhaps the play on words is that, as shepherds, they were to feed their flock spiritually, but instead they were feeding themselves physically. They were seen as blemishes on the meal. This word for “blemish” is translated in some versions as “hidden rocks.” The false teachers were seen by Jude as people who were about to cause shipwreck for the church. They blundered their way through these love feasts without the slightest qualm, seeing nothing wrong with what they did.
In vivid and colorful language, Jude strung together four word pictures to communicate the emptiness of their spiritual lives. They were clouds without rain. Travelers in desert lands know the disappointment of seeing clouds that they hope will contain water—but don’t. They promise but do not perform. It is a form of deceit, if a cloud (shepherd) could rain (minister faithfully) but chooses not to. In addition, they were autumn trees, without fruit. Autumn is the time when fruit on trees is expected. The principle is the same as the clouds. The trees are not only without fruit, but they are also uprooted. This emphasizes their spiritual death.
Jude next spoke of wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame. Perhaps their shame came from the pollution of their own bodies (v. 8). The picture is of the ocean surf washing up on the shore, bringing litter and garbage, fouling the beach with each successive wave.
Finally, these false teachers are described as wandering stars, destined for blackness. Since stars do not wander, this might be a reference to shooting stars that appear for a moment, then are lost in darkness. Blackest darkness … forever hints at the eternal destiny of these godless people. In verse 6, this darkness is mentioned in relationship to the fallen angels who suffer darkness as part of their punishment for rebelling against God.
These pictures are bleak, indeed, and would give pause to any heart that had a hint of life. If these godless people could withstand this intense verbal assault, it confirms the lifelessness of their hearts.
14–16. Finally, these godless people were self-serving; but before describing their self-serving ways, Jude mentioned a prophecy by Enoch about God’s judgment on the ungodly. Enoch was the seventh from Adam (Gen. 4:17). His prophecy is either a general quote from the Book of Enoch, which is not part of the Bible, or perhaps, under divine inspiration, he recorded oral tradition (stories carefully memorized and passed down from one generation to the next). If Jude quoted generally from the Book of Enoch, it does not suggest that he considered the entire book inspired or that he approved of all the content of the book. It simply means that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he accepted the prophecy as being true. The same is true with oral tradition. If Jude recorded oral tradition, it does not mean he accepted all oral tradition as being true—just this particular prophecy.
Jude declared that the godless people of his day were among the ones being referred to when Enoch prophesied. There is no new information in Enoch’s revelation. When Christ returns, accompanied by thousands upon thousands of angels, he will judge the ungodly acts of these men, as well as the harsh words [they] have spoken against Jesus, whom they have denied.
Self-serving godlessness has four facets. First, they were grumblers and faultfinders. They saw flaws in others, but never in themselves. Such is the nature of pride.
Second, they followed their own evil desires, which might be the cause of their grumbling and fault finding. When someone determines to satisfy his or her own desires, grumbling and fault finding often follow, because evil desires are not easily satisfied. People and circumstances must cooperate. If they do not, complaining is a natural result.
Thirdly, these false teachers boast about themselves while they also flatter others in the hope that they may gain some advantage. The terms that appear here mean they used swollen and extravagant speech. This may refer to the godless people’s habit of offering lofty, self-glorifying speeches in which they claimed superior knowledge of God.
On the other hand, these godless people were fawning and servile toward other people, smearing slimy, oily words around in the hope of getting others to think highly of them.