Jude Series: The Identity of Those Whom Jude Condemns

There are several views with regards to the identity of those whom Jude condemns in his epistle.

Many scholars are of the opinion that those whom Jude condemns in this letter are unregenerate teachers who were immersed in an incipient form of Gnosticism and this view we call the unregenerate proto-Gnostic false teacher view.

Another view is that these individuals were apostate Christian pastor-teachers and this view we will call the apostate Christian pastor view.

Lastly, Hebert Bateman IV argues that these individual were unregenerate Zealots who were imploring the Jews of Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire in order to establish the kingdom of God in its place.

Let’s first look at the unregenerate Gnostic false teacher.

Gnosticism is a system of false teachings that existed during the early centuries of Christianity and its name came from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis.

The Gnostics believed that knowledge was the way to salvation and for this reason, several writers of the New Testament condemned this incipient form of Gnosticism as false and heretical.

Gnosticism was the product of the combination of Greek philosophy and Christianity and its central teaching was that spirit is entirely good and matter is entirely evil.

From this unbiblical dualism emerged five important errors: (1) Man’s body, which is matter, is therefore evil. It is to be contrasted with God, who is spirit and therefore good. (2) Salvation is the escape from the body, achieved not by faith alone in Christ alone but by special knowledge (the Greek word gnosis, “knowledge,” hence Gnosticism). (3) Christ’s true humanity was denied in two ways: (a) Some taught that Christ only appeared to have a body, a view called Docetism, from the Greek dokeo, “to seem,” and (b) Others taught that the deity of Christ joined the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before He died, a view called Cerinthianism, after its most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. This view is the background of much of 1 John (see 1:1; 2:22; 4:2-3). (4) Since the body was considered evil, it was to be treated harshly. This ascetic form of Gnosticism is the background of part of the letter to the Colossians (2:21-23). (5) Paradoxically, this dualism also led to licentiousness. The reasoning was that, since matter-and not the breaking of God’s law (1 Jn. 3:4)-was considered evil, breaking this law is of no moral consequence.

The Gnostics accepted the Greek idea of a radical dualism between God (spirit) and the world (matter) and according to their worldview, the created order was evil, inferior, and opposed to the good.

God may have created the first order, but each successive order was the work of anti-gods, archons, or a demiurge (a subordinate deity).

The Gnostics believed that the earth is surrounded by a number of cosmic spheres (usually seven), which separate man from God.

These spheres are ruled by archons (spiritual principalities and powers) that guard their spheres by barring the souls who are seeking to ascend from the realm of darkness and captivity, which is below to the realm of light, which is above.

I do not believe that those whom Jude condemns in the letter that bears his name were involved in an incipient form of the Gnosticism.

A comparison of the contents of Jude and in particular the description of the conduct of these individuals does not correspond in any way shape or form to what I just noted about Gnosticism.

All we know about these individuals is that they were unregenerate as we noted.

They exchanged the grace of God for criminal activities and not just immorality, which we will note and they were causing divisions in the Christian community according to Jude 19.

They also appeared to reject or slander angelic authority as we noted in Jude 8-10.

They were greedy as we noted in Jude 11-12 and they also were involved in sexual immorality as indicated by Jude 8-10.

The second view we will note with regards to the identity of those whom Jude condemns in his letter is the apostate Christian pastor view or false teacher view.

This view can be rejected because Jude describes these individuals as “ungodly men” (verse 4), “devoid of the Spirit” (verse 19) and “for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved” (verse 13).

Each of these three descriptions make clear that they are unregenerate and not regenerate Christian pastors living in a state of apostasy.

Secondly, there is no sufficient evidence that those whom Jude condemns in his letter are teachers of false doctrine and in fact he provides no description of the nature of this false teaching.

If you recall, in Romans and Galatians, Paul describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching of the Judaizers.

He also describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching which the Colossian Christian community was being exposed to at the time this epistle was written.

In our study of Colossians, we noted they were dealing with the Essene branch of Judaism with a tinge of an incipient form of Gnosticism that was found in Essene Judaism (cf. Col. 2).

Lastly, the apostle John describes in 1, 2 and 3 John in great detail the nature of the false teaching that the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia was being exposed to at the end of the first century A.D., which was docetic Gnosticism.

In stark contrast to these letters, Jude does not describe the nature of any false teaching that the Christian community in Judaea was being exposed to.

Indeed, the contents of the epistle of Jude raises absolutely no doctrinal issues.

As noted in the introduction, I am in agreement with Herbert Bateman IV who argues that the opponents described in the epistle of Jude are unregenerate Jewish zealots or Judeans who rebelled against Rome and they were seeking to remove Rome from Judea and establish the kingdom of God in its place.

As we established, Jude was written soon after the death of James and just prior to the Jews war with Rome in 66-70 A.D. and thus Jude was written somewhere between 62-66 A.D.

During the mid-60s the relationship between Rome and Judaea was deteriorating rapidly.

The Zealots or Sicarii they were called, were leading the revolt against Rome and were attempting to seduce Judaeans to rebel against Rome including attempting to persuade the Christian community to join the movement.

When Jude was written, this Judaean revolt led by the Zealots was moving into the cities of Caesarea as well as Jerusalem and stretched out into the desert regions of Judaea including the hill country as well as Samaria and Galilee.

Therefore, the epistle of Jude was attempting to prevent the Jewish Christian community in Judaean from being seduced into taking part in this Zealot led revolt against Rome.

Herbert Bateman IV writes “Within Jude’s letter to Judaean followers of Jesus, correlations with the Zealot movement may be found in the purpose statement (Jude 3–4), closing admonition to his readers (Jude 17–23), and most readily in Jude’s vituperative remarks that are directed specifically at the Zealots (Jude 5–16). There are at least three anti-Zealot ideals and five condemnations of the Zealot movement and their activities. First and foremost, Zealots believed in the sole rule of God, that only God may be called Lord or Master. Jude draws explicit attention to Judaeans (= Zealots) who refused to accept Jesus as Lord and Master (Jude 4b). Second, Zealots were ruthless revolutionaries against Roman authority during the 60s and lashed out at anyone who submitted to Rome’s rule over Judaea. Jude draws explicit attention to God’s view of rebellion by first remembering how God dealt with past rebellions (Jude 5–7) and then by directing attention to current rebels (Jude 4b, 8, 11) as well as their condemnation (Jude 4a, 11, 14–15). Third, Zealots circumvented the God-ordained system of justice with overly severe punishments for those who did not join their cause and equated subjugation to Rome with idolatry. In fact, Josephus refers to Zealots as enemies of the law, people who trampled on the law, and people deserving judgment even more than the Sodomites.[1] Jude draws explicit attention to the circumvention of God’s grace as a license for evil (Jude 4b) and people who are defiled by disregarding God’s law (Jude 8). Fourth, Zealots were convinced of their political right to be ‘free’ from Roman rule, spoke passionately about Judaea’s right to ‘freedom,’ and died valiantly for a belief in ‘freedom’ that argued submission to Rome was a rejection of God. Jude describes the godless as rebellious dreamers (Jude 8), and dreamers who speak without understanding, act in youthful naïveté, and will die (Jude 10). Fifth, Zealots were discontent, divisive, and greedy people, evident in their resentful, disruptive, and vicious raids on Jews and Gentiles alike throughout the country.[2] Jude draws explicit attention to the greed (Jude 11–12), divisiveness (Jude 19a), and discontentment of the godless he addresses (Jude 16a, 18). Sixth, Zealots endeavored to seduce people to join their cause. Jude warns his readers of Judaeans who have slipped in undetected (Jude 3) and of their enchanting speeches that promote their own gain (Jude 16b). Seventh, Zealots presented prophecy with a charismatic interpretation of Scripture that was driven by their belief that they had an eschatological possession of the Spirit, who directed their historical and political orientation for freedom.[3] Jude contrasts those who are devoid of the spirit (Jude 19b) with believers who pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20a) as one of the means for maintaining themselves in the love of God (Jude 21a). Eighth, Zealots promoted an eschatological kingdom that was to emerge by way of military force, while Jude exhorted Judaean believers to remain in God’s love while anticipating the return of King Jesus (Jude 21b). Thus Jude’s vituperative comments about the Jewish rebels and his admonition to defend the belief and proclamation that Jesus was Messiah who would return to establish his kingdom represents a Jewish Christian’s stance against the Zealots’ eschatological movement, which wanted to bring about God’s rule on earth by violence.”[4]

[1] According to Josephus, the Zealots were enemies of the law (J.W. 4.184; 6.102), broke the law of God (J.W. 5.393), trampled on the law (J.W. 4.258; cf. J.W. 4.157; 4.386), and were deserving of punishment more severe than the Sodomites (J.W.5.566). See Hengel, Zealots, 184. [2] According to Josephus, before the beginning of the war insurgents overran the country striving to seduce people to joint their cause (J.W. 2.264). [3] Hengel, Zealots, 236–45. [4] Bateman, H. W., IV. (2015). Jude: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. (H. W. House, W. H. Harris III, & A. W. Pitts, Eds.) (pp. 51–79). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.