Angelic Conflict: Trend of False Teachers. Jude 8-11

Jude 1:8 ^NASB “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.

Verse eight begins in the English translation (NKJV) with the word “Likewise,” and this really isn’t the best translation. It really is a word that should be understood as “in a similar manner” or something close to that. The false teachers are not being accused of homosexuality as was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah but they are being accused of promoting an illicit, immoral approach to sexuality and this is often something that is seen in a number of cults and false religions. There are different areas that are emphasized in different groups following the trend of the sin nature of the founder.

We see this clearly in Mormonism. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were both sexual deviants and sexual perverts. When Joseph Smith was still alive in the very early stages of the Mormon church in order to be convinced on the loyalty of each of his elders they were required to allow him to sleep with their wives any time he wished. There was also marriage to very young girls. This is indicative of the kind of thinking that went on and played itself out in the views of the church in the 19^th century related to their view of women and the reason they promoted polygamy. They promoted polygamy because women couldn’t determine for themselves their eternal destiny. They could only be assured of heaven if they were a submissive wife in the eyes of their husband, not a submissive wife in the eyes of the Bible or God, so that when their husband was resurrected in the future he would be the one to determine whether they would have an after life. So it was very much a form of slavery almost for women promoted within the Mormon Church.

This verse begins by showing there is a similarity between the teaching and lifestyle of these false teachers and Sodom and Gomorrah and the other examples listed of the unbelieving Jews and the disobedient angels. In the category of the unbelieving Jews there is a rejection of God’s authority, in the category of the angels who left their proper domain there is also a rejection of authority, but also a rejection of spiritual authority within the realm of demonic—the third category mentioned in verse 8. Verse 8 mentions three categories: defilers of the flesh, those who reject authority, those who speak evil of “dignitaries” (NKJV)—the word in the Greek is “glories,” a word that refers to angelic beings, so there is a rejection of angelic authority there as well. These are the examples that we have read about in vv. 5-7 of the basic categories of sin that characterizes these false teachers.

Jude begins by identifying them as dreamers. If we look at the word “dream” as it is used in the Bible dreaming is never referenced as simply an autonomous act of fantasy or fantasizing or just having some sort of imaginative activity while one is asleep. It is always used in terms of some kind of divine revelation. Even where it is the dreams of the false teachers they are claiming that this gives them insight into God. This is part of what we would call the mystical package. Mysticism emphasizes various different things. Sometimes it is simply an inner sense that God is leading us in the way we have to go: pray and God is going to give us a certain kind of reinforced feeling about something as being right or wrong. People say: “When I have ‘the peace that passes all understanding’, when I have a sense of real inner peace then I’ll make a decision.” But that is a communication from God, in their thinking. We live in an era when divine revelation has ceased. All special revelation has ceased. Whether God is giving a little vibration to tell you which way to go, or He is putting a banner in the sky that says, “Yes, do this,” it is still a form of special revelation.

Dreaming was one of the ways in which God communicated special revelation during the period when the canon, the books of the Bible, was still being written and God was still revealing Himself to man. But once the canon was closed and once God was no longer in the process of revealing new information to man then dreams ended as a means of divine revelation. This ended with the death of the last apostle, the apostle John, at the end of the first century. Since then there has been no new special revelation at all. So by calling these men dreamers Jude is saying they are claiming for themselves a special divine authority, a special divine revelation, that God has revealed this information to them which specially sets them apart as a spiritual elite, and we are followers and should listen to them and not use other also-ran, has-been apostles that really don’t have the latest, newest revelation which God has given to these false teachers. But they are dreamers in the sense that they are claiming advanced revelation apart from the Scriptures. So this word “dreamers” applies to all of them.

The participle in the Greek modifies all three of the following categories. These characteristics are first of all “defiling the flesh.” This is one of those interesting little words that we find in the Scriptures. Sometimes we have heard pastors talk about them and that miaino has an interesting background in terms of defecation or urination, but we haven’t really been able to find support for that. According to the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology in classical Greek the basic meaning is to color something by painting or staining it. This is not a negative idea, it is simply the idea that if you were taking wood and were staining it, constructing a statue, these were originally painted; they weren’t just the white stone which is what we have left today. So the word for painting would be miaino as well. It just described coloring something, it doesn’t have a moral or an ethical nuance to it. Starting with Homer who was in about the 7^th or 8^th century BC, it was used in a metaphorical sense for causing one’s self or others to be stained morally or ethically. It was used to mean defilement, moral or ethical, that required ritual or spiritual cleansing. The word is used only a few times in the LXX where it is always used to describe ritual uncleanness on the part of the Israelites that required cleansing before they could enter into the temple to worship.

Principle: Though the New Testament was written in Koine Greek the primary meaning of the words that are used derive not from classical Greek usage, not from 5^th century Greek usage, but from how these words are used in the context of the Old Testament divine revelation. So we must not go back 500 years to find a non-biblical frame of reference to find words but we must go to an Old Testament context to understand how those words are used.

In the Old Testament the word miaino is often used as a reference to sexually immoral activity. It is used in passages such as Genesis 34:4, 13, 27; Hosea 5:3; Leviticus 18:24-28. So the fact that miaino was used in the Old Testament for sexual sin that ethically, morally, spiritually polluted the individual so that they could not worship God and required cleansing becomes a backdrop for understanding Jude 8. In fact, this helps understand the word as it is used in some New Testament passages. For example, John 18:28 where we are told about the Jews not being willing, even though they were bringing accusation against Jesus because it was the Passover, a high holy day, to enter the Praetorium where the Gentiles held court and where Pontius Pilate would try Jesus because it would spiritually pollute or defile them, and this would have implications for observing the Passover meal—“lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.” Titus 1:15 ^NASB “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” That connects it to the unbeliever. Hebrews 12:15 ^NASB “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” That verse relates it to just the corrupting influence of sin on the part of the believer.

Jude 8 is talking about these false teachers who defile the flesh. First of all they are involved in sexual immorality, and second it talks about the fact that they reject authority. The word here for authority is the Greek word kuriotes. This sometimes is translated “dominion.” The idea here is basically authority or sovereignty. They are rejecting the authority of God. It is not just the authority of God, but God has established an authority chain of command and this goes back to the time before there was ever sin. There was an authority chain of command among the angels even before Lucifer’s initial fall. There was a chain of command in the garden. The man was the head of the home and he was the one who was given the spiritual oversight, and the woman was designed to be his helper, his assistant. They were equal in terms of their being but were different in terms of their roles and responsibilities. There was an authority structure there and it was not a problem until sin enters in. When sin enters in there is the problem of people wanting to assert their own views, their own opinions against the person in authority.

The last category is “and revile angelic majesties” or in some translations “they speak evil of glories.” The word “dignitaries” [KJV] is not in the original, it is “glories” in the original. It doesn’t even say specifically that it might be angels but that seems to be the best use in terms of the illustration that comes in the 9^th verse which is going to give us an example of this kind of speaking evil of dignitaries. The word that is translated “speaking evil” has the idea of blasphemy, which means to speak disrespectfully of someone, usually divine.

The example comes from an episode in the Old Testament that is not described in the Old Testament but this gives us additional information. At the end of his life, at the end of writing his last message to the Jews, Moses gives a final blessing to the Israelites. Then because God prohibited him from going into the promised land he was allowed to go up to the top of Mount Nibo on the east side of the Jordan River. You can actually see the Mediterranean from Mount Nibo. It was there that Moses died. Deuteronomy 34:5 ^NASB “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.” This was probably written by Joshua after Moses died. [6] “And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.” This can mean that the Lord directly did it, or it could even indicate that He did it via angels. Jude 9 seems to indicate the involvement of angels.

Jude 1:9 ^NASB “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” The word translated “disputed” is from the Greek diakrinomos. diakrino has the idea of an argument, a debate. They are fighting over the body of Moses. So Michael wasn’t going to speak disrespectfully of Satan. Michael is a singular individual in Scripture, the only one mentioned as an archangel. There are some extra-biblical texts, for example the book of Enoch which mentions three other archangels. The word arche at the beginning means first or primary and so that would suggest that he is the only one. In the revealed Scripture he is the only one identified as an archangel. The name Michael means “Who is like God?” It is a common name in the Scripture but the individual named here is also specifically identified in Daniel 10:13 as the one who is contending with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. This would refer to a demon and that passage shows something about what goes on in international affairs in terms of the angelic conflict: that human affairs are influenced by both elect and fallen angels. In this particular case there was a battle taking place between Michael the archangel and this demon called the prince of the kingdom of Persia. There is another mention on Michael in reference to fighting the demons in Revelation 12:7, 8 which speaks of war in heaven at the mid point of the Tribulation when Michael and his angels are fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels are defeated and there is no longer found a place for them in heaven.

Here Michael is pictured in another battle. Notice how he is constantly in these battles contending. This reminds us that we, too, are to contend, but according to God’s rules and not our rules. We have to do it in a gracious manner recognizing the authority of God. In Jude’s explanation what we see is that he is projecting that these false teachers are involved in sexual immorality, they reject authority, and they also treat the demons lightly. There is a failure to respect the position and the authority that these demons have, even though they are against God. Michael does no directly rebuke them.

The word for rebuke is the Greek epitimao. timao means honors, so sometimes this word has the idea of honoring something, but it also primarily has the idea of rebuking someone, censoring, showing disapproval. It is used several times in the New Testament of Jesus rebuking—Peter, for example, in one case; He rebukes the wind and the water when the storm comes up on the Sea of Galilee; He rebukes the disciples for being disobedient and not trusting Him. But the way the word is used many times is of Jesus rebuking demons. He is casting out demons. This is not exorcism. That word is only used of false teachers and false prophets trying to cast out demons. But Jesus rebuked the demons. No one else in Scripture ever rebuked a demon. Michael exemplifies this and so he said, “The Lord rebuke you.” He recognizes his chain of command, that he does not even as an archangel authority over the demons or authority over the devil; he recognizes that it is God’s place to handle the problem and solve the situation.

Jude 1:10 ^NASB “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.” The word “these” is used always in reference to the false teachers. They are ignorant of spiritual truth because they are unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 2:14—the natural man does not understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. These false teachers are speaking about things that they know nothing of. They have a certain amount of education and knowledge but they corrupt that because of their own corrupt sin nature and they distort even true things in the natural realm. They become like brute beasts.

It is interesting that in the Bible beasts are not held up to be the sort of category of creation that is untouched by the fall. Beasts are always viewed as the opposite of that which is the highest and noblest created in man. It is interesting that in Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar had his initial dream of the statue with the head of gold, etc. it pictures the kingdom of man as man looks at man, as that which is made out of strong or valuable metal. But then when God pictures the kingdom of man it is pictured by carnivorous, ravenous beasts. So God’s view of man under the influence of sin is that of uncontrolled beasts who are violent and destructive. That is the idea. False knowledge is self-destructive, destructive like wild beasts.

Then in verse 11 he announces a woe. Jude 1:11 ^NASB “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” Jude has defined what their sin is in vv. 8-10 and that is the basis for the judgment that is announced in v. 11.

What is the way of Cain? Hebrews 11:4 ^NASB “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Abels’ sacrifice had a more intrinsic value because it was what God said to bring. The implication in this verse is that Cain does not bring the kind of sacrifice that God intended. Abel’s righteousness was because he was obedient to God.

Genesis 4:3 ^NASB “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.” This is what he produced. [4] Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock …” Later revelation tells us that even though there are the gifts of firstruits to God this isn’t a firstfruits type of offering scenario. Abel brought a lamb which is always a picture of substitutionary sacrifice, the fact that sin is paid for temporarily by the death of the lamb. There was already a sacrifice earlier in chapter three when God made clothes of skin for Adam and Eve. And in that situation He would have taught them about animal sacrifice and the significance of it.

God did not accept Cain’s sacrifice. Genesis 4:5 ^NASB “but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.” Eventually he killed his brother out of jealousy. The problem was Cain was trying to gain God’s favor through what was the product of his own efforts. His sacrifice represents those who try to placate God on the basis of works, not on the basis of their trust in God and doing it His way. So the way of Cain emphasizes a belief that works gains us approval with God rather than depending upon His grace, faithfully believing, and trusting in His promise.

The second illustration that comes from this is the story of Balaam. Balaam was a non-Jewish prophet in the Old Testament time of the conquest. He is hired by Balak the king of Moab in order to bring some sort of curse on the Israelites. He seems to have had a true gift of prophecy just because of the way God interacts Balaam. God tells Balaam he can’t do this, you can’t say anything against Israel.

Eventually Balaam devised a plan to get around God’s restrictions and he tells the Moabites that the bets way to infiltrate and destroy the Jews is to have their women seduce the Jewish men and therefore destroy the genetics of the Jewish race. This is what he is condemned for. Numbers 25:1-3. As a result the spiritual vitality of Israel was compromised, a number of Israelites worshipped Baal (Numbers 25:4-9), and 2400 Israelites who disobeyed God were judged and died. Balaam eventually also died but he is doing this pay. So the error of Balaam is to prostitute one’s spiritual gifts and prostitute the truth for money. The indication here in Jude is that they are emphasizing works in their teaching, they are doing it for money, and it is not about serving people it is about fleecing the sheep.

The last illustration is the rebellion of Korah, described in Numbers 16:31-35. He was the leader in a group of rebels, along with Dathan and Abiram and 250 Levites who challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron as the only ones who could mediate or give God’s will and lead the people. They were rebelling against authority, reviling God’s authority as given to Moses and Aaron, and God brought judgment upon them in the form of an earthquake that opened up and the earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiram in judgment.

These are given as examples of these false teachers. They are motivated by money, by greed, their content emphasizes works, and they reject the authority structure that God has set up in the church.

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