Jude Series: Jude 8-Three More Descriptions of the Unregenerate Jewish Zealots

Jude 1 From Jude, a slave owned by Jesus Christ as well as James’s brother to those who exist in state of being loved by God, who is your Father. Therefore, to those who are the effectually called ones who are existing in the state of being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ. 2 May divine-compassion be increasingly experienced by each one of you so as to increasingly experience divine-peace as well as to increasingly experience divine-love. 3 Beloved, although I have prepared myself with utter diligence to communicate in writing for the benefit of each one of you regarding our common salvation, I have entered into the state of experiencing compulsion to communicate in writing for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging each and every one of you at this particular time to make it your habit of exerting intense effort for your own benefit on behalf of the faith, which has been delivered once and never again for the benefit of the saints. 4 For certain people have joined all of you surreptitiously with evil intent. Specifically, those who long ago are written about beforehand with regards to the same type of judgment I am about to describe, who are ungodly who are exchanging experiencing the grace of our God for practicing criminal behavior. Consequently, they are refusing to follow the one and only Master, namely our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 Now, I am prompted to desire to cause each and every one of you to be reminded (even though each of you are possessing a thorough knowledge about each of these examples) that Jesus, sometime after having delivered the people out from the land that is Egypt, destroyed those who would not believe. 6 Correspondingly, He is keeping by means of eternal chains under the control of total supernatural darkness for the purpose of executing the judgment during the great day of those who entered into the state of not keeping their own sphere of activity but rather in fact abandoned their own place of habitation. 7 Similarly, in a manner like these angels, the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as the citizens of the cities around them caused themselves to be publicly set forth as an example. Namely, because they are experiencing a righteous punishment, which is experiencing eternal fire because they committed immorality, specifically, because they pursued after homosexual activity. 8 Nevertheless, despite this, in a similar manner, these also on the one hand, are defiling their bodies, while on other hand, they are rejecting human governmental authority, and on the other hand, they are disrespecting angelic beings because they are delusional to their own detriment. (Lecturer’s translation)

Like Jude 4, Jude 8 is describing the unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age in the first century A.D. who were rebelling against Rome in order to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.

In Jude 8, the referent of the nominative masculine plural form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “these” is referring to the nearest antecedent in the author’s mind rather than the nearest antecedent in the context since the referent of this word are the unregenerate Jewish Zealots who were last mentioned and described in Jude 4.

As we noted in our study of Jude 4 and in our introduction to this study of the epistle of Jude, most scholars believe that Jude was very concerned about false teachers and their heterodox teaching.

However, as we noted, nowhere does Jude tell the recipients of this letter to reject false teachers and their heterodox teaching.

In fact, nowhere in the letter does he describe 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, 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.

I am in agreement with Herbert Bateman IV who asserts that the individuals who Jude condemns in this epistle are the Zealots or Sicarii who revolted against the Roman Empire and were attempting to persuade the Christian community to join in this revolt.

Thus, in this letter, Jude wants the Jewish Christian community in Judaea to obey the governmental authorities and reject this rebellion against Rome led by these Zealots since it would not be justified civil disobedience.

In other words, to rebel against Rome would be to reject God’s will for their lives.

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 “Jude’s indistinct references throughout the letter make it difficult to pinpoint exactly who these people were, though some advocate for false teachers, and in all probability male and itinerant false teachers. However, during the Jewish revolt both men and women took part in the war, as evidenced via battles throughout the country. This revolt was not only cross-generational among men, it was also cross-gender, as evident in the suicides at Gamla and again at Masada (Josephus, J.W. 4.63–83; 7.389–406). Thus it appears more than likely that the less formal translation ‘certain people’ best fits Jude’s historical context of the Jewish revolt (see “Occasion for Jude” in the introduction). Jude’s focus is on the simple fact that these unnamed people have managed to slip into and have intermingled with the Judaean community of believers in Judaea.”22

Now, Jude 8 contains four declarative statements.

The first asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age in the first century A.D. and were rebelling against Rome were defiling their bodies.

The second asserts that they were also rejecting human governmental authority.

The third asserts that they were disrespecting angelic beings.

These three declarative statements form a correlative clause.

The fourth declarative statement presents the reason for this correlative clause and asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots were delusional.

. Jewish War 22 Bateman, H. W., IV. (2015). Jude: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. (H. W. House, W. H. Harris III, & A. W. Pitts, Eds.) (p. 140). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.