Jude 10-The Jewish Zealots Disrespected and Were Ignorant of Angelic Authority Over Human Government (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday September 11, 2022

Jude Series: Jude 10-The Jewish Zealots Disrespected and Were Ignorant of Angelic Authority Over Human Government

Lesson # 19

Jude 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. (NIV)

Like Jude 4 and 8, Jude 10 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.

“These people” 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 and 8.

Jude 10 is composed of a correlative clause which is the followed by a declarative statement and the correlative clause is composed of two declarative statements and a comparative clause, which modifies the second declarative statement.

The first declarative statement asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots were totally ignorant of the authority of Satan and his angels, and which authority they exercise over all human governmental authority with the exception of the nation of Israel.

The second statement asserts that they for their own selfish interests were comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.

Therefore, this correlative clause is uniting the concepts of these Zealots disrespecting the authority of Satan by rejecting human governmental authority and these Zealots comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.

The ignorance of these individuals was manifested by leading Judaea in a rebellion of against Rome in the first century A.D. since this demonstrated their disrespect for the authority of Satan and his angels since they authority exercise over human governmental authority.

“These things” in the first declarative statement is the authority the Lord Jesus Christ delegated to Satan and the fallen angels over human governmental authority on the earth.

The correlation is between the Jewish Zealots ignorance of these things and that they absolutely do not understand this relationship between Satan and the fallen angels and human governmental authority.

Therefore, “these things” is marking the correlation between what these Jewish Zealots are totally ignorant of and that which they are not ignorant of.

Therefore, it is marking the correlation between these Jewish Zealots being totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and the fallen angels exercise their authority over the human governments of planet earth and these individuals comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.

The correlation between these two statements is that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots are under the wrath of God.

They are under the wrath and judgment of God because they are totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and the fallen angels exercise their authority over the human governments of planet earth.

They are also under the wrath of God because they comprehend instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.

This instinctive animal behavior of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots manifested itself by leading a rebellion against the Rome government, which ruled over Judaea.

Now, the first declarative statement in this correlative clause is presenting a contrast with the previous statements in Jude 9.

Therefore, a comparison of the contents of Jude 9 and the first declarative statement in Jude 10 indicates that the contrast is between Michael’s refusal to make a slanderous accusation against the devil and these Zealots disrespecting Satan by rejecting the government authority of Rome.

The reason why these Jewish Zealots were totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and his angels exercise delegated authority from the Lord Jesus Christ to rule temporarily over all human governmental authority until His Second Advent is that they were unregenerate.

“As irrational animals” in this second declarative statement is comparing these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in the first century A.D. who were rebelling against Rome to irrational animals.

They are like irrational animals because their decision to rebel against Rome and their actions related to this rebellion were lacking in common sense.

Their decision to rebel against Rome and their actions associated with this rebellion were irrational because they failed to use their human faculty of reasoning or in other words, the capacity to reason or think properly.