<b> Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 144 -  In The Paths Of Error</b>
 
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 (Jude 1:8-13 NKJV)  Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. {9} Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" {10} But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. {11} Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. {12} These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; {13} raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
 
These are strong words! How can anyone write such a terrible list of accusations about another human being? Lets first look at what Jude is saying:
 
The lawless anti-nomians that turned grace into licentiousness were people who had no true sense of the holy. They were lost in their own dreams and imaginings.  This flouting of the holy had three main symptoms: the defiling of the flesh (personal holiness), the rejection of authority (relational holiness) and Speaking evil of dignitaries (disregard of spiritual beings of might and power).  So rather than submitting themselves to the Kingdom order they create their own dis-order. 
 
This disdain for the holy stems from a deep spiritual ignorance: "these speak evil of whatever they do not know;" and they are among the fools, mockers and scoffers that are so eloquently described in Proverbs. They are the sort that accuse bible-believing Christians of being "narrow" and who say they are "liberated" from concerns about sexuality. Strangely they also include some "hyper-spiritual" people who readily claim extraordinary spiritual authority and who swagger through exorcisms and are crass and boastful about spiritual things, handling them with utter carelessness. Above all these people are irreverent. 
 
When there is a clear ethical choice between right and wrong - they choose that which is wrong. The examples given are Cain, Baalam and Korah who were given a clear indication that their path was wrong and yet stubbornly plunged ahead, Cain to murder Abel, Baalam to try to curse Israel, and Korah to rebel against Moses. The false teachers were people who had the wrong spiritual instincts. Given a choice they would go astray and take the path of error. This tendency is to err is due to the condition of the human spirit where it loves its own will and delights in its own pride. 
 
The love feasts of the early church were polluted by the presence of these unholy brethren. They were "spots in your love feasts" , unafraid of the congregation and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Whereas the love feast was a time to serve others, these "served only themselves". 
 
 They were "late autumn trees without fruit" - spiritually unproductive, without roots in the life of God. Their unfounded doctrines making them unstable and dry - clouds without water. Both these metaphors indicate that they raised expectations that they did not fulfill. People looking at a late autumn tree expect fruit and people looking at clouds hope for rain., But these were only disappointing, unproductive, without real character. Outwardly boastful, inwardly dead.
 
Finally they were unstable, raging, foaming, like a madman or a rabid dog. They were without root in themselves or in God or in His Church and were "wandering stars". As Isaiah says: (Isaiah 57:20-21 NKJV)  But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. {21} "There is no peace," Says my God, "for the wicked." Like the wicked in Isaiah these come to a terrible fate, for them is "reserved the blackness of darkness forever."
 
Back to the original question - how can Jude be so strong about things? I think there are four reasons:
1. Jude regards holy things as infinitely precious. 
2. Jude has a deep love for the Church, its purity and the spiritual life of its members.
3. Jude regards people as eternal beings whose beliefs and choices have eternal consequences.
4. Jude takes human character very seriously and its formation into the image of Jesus Christ as an ultimate purpose. 
 
To be irreverent, unholy and profane is thus not just a "personality deficiency" but a character flaw that is an offense to Heaven, which defiles the Church and which brings the person into judgment. 
 
For Jude the Christian life was fundamentally a life of reverence and fear, lived in awe of God and obedience to His commandments. The joy and grace were always within the bounds of holiness. He would have concurred with the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews who wrote:
(Hebrews 12:28-29 NKJV)  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. {29} For our God is a consuming fire.

Blessings in Him,
 
John Edmiston
Asian Internet Bible Institute
http://www.aibi.ph/
Free Online Bible And Ministry Training
 
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 © Copyright John Edmiston 2003