False Doctrine Its Source and Its Effects

Introduction:

Jude has warned his audience of those who have “secretly entered” among those who know the truth.

They have changed the grace of God into lasciviousness.

They deny the lordship of Christ.

Jude has illustrated that these men are bound for destruction. God’s judgment of these kinds of individuals or even spiritual beings has been made known.

We have a few questions that we now need to consider:

How do we identify those who teach false doctrine if they have “wormed their way in” unnoticed?

By what authority would someone “change the grace of God” into something it is not?

How do we earnestly contend for the faith without being mislead by false teaching into an errant version of Christianity? One that leads to God’s eternal judgment rather than salvation?

A healthy view of God always brings us to the point of recognizing authority:

God’s authority as creator and savior.

Christ’s authority as our Lord, master, and principle example.

The authority of the Word of God as our only direct access to God’s word.

The authority of a scriptural church (the ability to withdraw fellowship and socially isolate us).

The authority of the husband as the head of the wife mirroring the order of creation.

The authority of the pastor to teach the word of God skillfully and to be heard, respected, and honored.

The authority of parents over children.

The authority of government to punish capital crimes and collect taxes.

A human life unmoored from the authority of the Word of God will be a disaster.

We are part of the ultimate earthly conflict.

Genesis 3: Satan challenged the word of God. He undermined trust in God. He claimed that man could become like God himself.

Another way God’s word gets undermined is by the claiming of special revelation.

False Doctrine’s Source: A Rejection of Scriptural Authority

Jude has already claimed that his audience should contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

The language of scripture pervades that idea.

Now he describes the false teachers as “dreamers.”

This word refers to someone who claims to have received divine communication from God in the form of a dream or vision.

Jude’s terminology has direct ties to:

Deuteronomy 13

Jeremiah 23

Jeremiah 16:1-13

They could be trying to base their actions and gain currency by claiming new revelation via dreams and visions.

Could a case be made that these false teachers came to believe that only the physical dimension exists? They reject the existence of any supernatural power, and they insult them. These false teachers, so it seems, deny the ownership of Christ because they have a worldview that causes them to reject the authority (or even existence) of the spiritual world.

Jude seems to characterize the false teachers as claimants of special revelation whose logical end makes man his own God.

False Doctrine’s Effects: (Jude 8-10)

Jude uses specialized terminology to discuss how these false teachers behave.

He employs three verbs in the present tense:

μιαίνωa: to cause someone to be morally tainted or defiled—‘to defile, to contaminate, to cause to be morally filthy.

Reject/Deny

Blaspheme

Jude illustrates their lack of humility with a strange example.

Michael refers to the archangel Michael.

In a dispute with Satan over the body of Moses, he did not overstep his bounds.

He left the judgment and censoring of Satan to the Lord.

Michael remained in his proper place.

God’s people show restraint and humility rather than overstepping their bounds.

Jude describes their actions and character outright.