Nature of Ungodly People

Recap

So far in Jude, we have seen the importance and urgency to contend for the faith, because false teachers want to steer people off orthodoxy and into sensuality. Jude then follows this brief introduction with a grave reminder of how God has always been judging the ungodly. This time, Jude will talk about why God judges people like this and he’s going to be explicit about their nature - they think like animals.

These People Are Like...

Jude 8–10 ESV

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Jude is connecting these Gnostics to the demons, the rebellious Israelites, as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. These people don’t submit to God’s Word, God’s revealed authority, but their own dreams, much like the false prophets in Jeremiah 23:25. They act like their dreams give them permission to live however they want to live. The truth is that they don’t fully understand what grace is, so how can they teach on it? They live solely by instinct.

Jude 11–13 ESV

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Again, Jude is writing to a Jewish audience who has the soundtrack of the OT playing in their minds. They would have picked up on all these stories. But for our sake, it requires some digging.

Cain killed his brother because he offered a sacrifice that God accepted, while Cain was rejected. Balaam was paid to curse God’s people. Korah didn’t accept Moses’ authority. So in other words, these false teachers in the church are greedy, power-hungry murderers. They might as well be murderers since there teaching is sending people straight to hell. “They are hidden reefs” (verse 13). This imagery describes a ship that sinks because of an unseen obstacle, like the Titanic; the irony is how they are hiding in plane sight (at the the love feasts, in the church)! Sometimes, dangerous teachers are hard to spot because they are so familiar to us, or they are at the center of ministry or life in the church.

But they are selfish, ‘shepherds who feed themselves,’ and they are ‘waterless clouds.’ Proverbs 25:14 says, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.” They cannot deliver what they are promising. They claim to enlighten people and set them free when only the truth can do that! Paul says in Ephesians 4:14-15 “that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” We cannot mature in the truth when we are chasing every new idea.

They are ‘fruitless trees.’ We know a tree by its fruit. Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15-16, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” Later in the same gospel, when referring to the Pharisees, we read this: Matthew 15:12-14 “Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.””

Probably the most powerful image here is the ‘wild waves of the sea.’ He’s quoting the prophet Isaiah where he talks about wicked religious leaders who are like waves that “toss up mire and dirt.” Jude replaces that with, “casting up the foam of their shame.” Waves are big and powerful and when they crash, the effects are devastating. In other words, the bigger they are, the harder the fall!

Still yet, ‘wandering stars’ misguide travelers. These so-called teachers are steering people wrong. They may even think they are being helpful but they are not. This imagery also reminds me of Satan in Isaiah 14:12.

God Still Judges

Jude 14–16 ESV

It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

I believe Enoch is mentioned to illustrate that God has always been judging evil. He judged Adam, he was judging in Enoch’s day, and to the present day he is still the same righteous God. Beware of anybody who says that “God is still speaking” as to imply that God has changed. God is the God of the armies of heaven who comes to ‘execute judgment’ and ‘convict all the ungodly.’ For him to change would mean God is now evil. (By the way, why do we have a problem with God judging us until we want him to judge other people?)

The last verse has another list of that describes the ungodly directly. They are grumblers, like the Israelites in Korah’s day who thought that God’s way was not fair and good, and so they are discontent. They are ‘loud-mouthed,’ because they don’t have a valid message, so they need to substitute that with being the loudest voice. But at the bottom of it all, they want to follow ‘their own sinful desires.’ This is the true motivation for the initial charge in verse 4.

Closing Thoughts

God judges the ungodly because they rebel against his design. We need to submit to the spiritual authority of the church because God is the righteous judge who governs over it.

In closing, this passage discloses the nature of false teachers. They are ungodly people, even thought they appear pious. But really, they are like the false prophets of the OT that sell their people short, damning them for eternity, which also makes them comparable to murderers like Cain. They also have a significant problem with authority like Korah. Beware of people who want to shake the establishment, changing historic beliefs about God.