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The aim of this blog is to examine cultural events and trends and to interpret them
within the framework of the authoritative and literal interpretation of Scripture

Thursday, August 24, 2023

JUDE 11: WOE UPON THE FALSE TEACHERS

Verse 11: 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 pronounces a woe upon these false teachers. It is a phrase that is rarely if ever verbalized today in our time. It is as if Jude is saying: “Little do they know the eternal consequences of their wickedness—how great they will suffer.” This woe contained three examples from the Old Testament of hatred, greed and pride.

First, jealousy was what initiated the way of Cain—the course of action he chose. His jealousy provoked anger and hatred towards his brother because Abel’s sacrifice to God was acceptable and his was not. Therefore he murdered Abel without remorse. His lack of remorse is evidenced by his lie when confronted by the Lord:

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)

Just as Cain rejected God’s required mode of sacrifice, these men, who Jude is referring to, have rejected God’s acceptable directives of faith and practice, demonstrating their hatred and envy for the righteous recipients of Jude’s letter and endeavoring to confuse them with false teachings.

Secondly, greed was the error of Balaam. Dr. C.I. Scofield stated that Balaam “was the typical hireling prophet, anxious only to make a market of his gift.”1 For a fee he would prophesy by omens, divination and soothsaying (Numbers 22:7; 24:1; Joshua 13:22). In Numbers 22-24 he developed a plan for Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel, luring them into idolatry and immorality so that God would judge them. Balaam’s plan backfired: instead “God turned the curse into a blessing” (Deuteronomy 23:5; Nehemiah 13:2).

Jude asserts that these men—these apostates—have rushed headlong into this same error. The idea of their rushing headlong expresses a reckless and unrestrained pursuit of their objective of seducing God’s people with false teachings to lead them astray and bring about their spiritual defeat.

Thirdly, pride was the motivating factor of the rebellion of Korah. One thing must be clarified: this was not an armed rebellion. The Greek word for rebellion is literally “to speak against,”2 for that is exactly what Korah did. He spoke out against “the authority of Moses as God’s chosen spokesman.”3 He claimed that Moses led them out of Egypt, “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 16:13), and had not brought them “into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards” (Numbers 16:14).

Note carefully Korah’s irrational logic: he took the truth concerning the land God promised to Israel, “a good and spacious land...a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8) and exchanged that truth with Egypt, a land Korah characterized as flowing with milk and honey. This is the same thing that Jude stated in verse 4 about certain persons who twist and distort God’s truth, turning “the grace of God into licentiousness.”

Also, Jude maintains that not only have they gone the way of Cain and rushed into the error of Balaam, but they have perished in the rebellion of Korah. There is historical evidence concerning how Korah perished:

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. (Numbers 16:32)

But the text seems to imply that these false teachers have already perished. However, this is a rare usage in the Greek, employing a tense that stresses the certainty of a future event as if it had already occurred.4 It is a fact that these men—these apostates—will receive their just punishment as Jude will describe in the coming verses.

Closing Consideration

What these men were doing in Jude’s day is still practiced predominantly today by the twisting of God’s truth—manipulating individual believers and entire churches. We must not disregard the fact that we Christians are undeniably intertwined in a battle of cosmic proportions. It is precisely what the Apostle Paul asserted when he wrote:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) [emphasis added]

These men were being influenced by the “spiritual forces of wickedness”—and the same is true today. These men today are the “savage wolves” that Paul warned would “come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). Jude, having written most likely a decade after the Apostle Paul’s death, is now affirming Paul’s warning to the early Church.

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. (Titus 1:10–11) [emphasis added]

This is the real face of the apostates among Christianity today. Nearly 4 decades ago, Dr. Francis Schaeffer rightly lamented about the lack of concern among Christians concerning false teachers:

 Very few have taken a strong and courageous stand against the world spirit of this age as it destroys our culture and the Christian ethos that once shaped our country.5

The fact that there has been a dearth of sound doctrinal teachings within the Christian Church is the reason for this apathy. The writer to the Hebrews correctly explains that we “have become dull of hearing” (Hebrews 5:11), for this had been predicted by Paul to Timothy:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3–4) [emphasis added]

The “feel good about myself and my prosperity” messages should be the first to be silenced. Those who have a voice within the community of believers need to step up and speak out against this destructive trend within Christianity today: the diluting and corruption of God’s truth—God’s authoritative Word to His people.



[1] Scofield, C. I. (1945). The Scofield Study Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, p.1319 note.

[2] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.127.

[3] Scofield, p. 1329 note.

[4] Wallace, D. B. (1996). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics - Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Zondervan Publishing House and Galaxie Software, pp. 563-564.

[5] Schaeffer, Francis A. (1985). The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 4.310.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi

Thursday, August 10, 2023

JUDE 10: THE IGNORANCE OF THE APOSTATES

Verse 10: 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.

Jude now lays out in a logical manner the ignorance of these men, the false teachers. On the one hand they revile (blaspheme) things they do not even understand. They know nothing and are unable to comprehend specifically anything about the present and the future glories1 of the Lord Jesus Christ—about His present position at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22) and His Second Coming (1 Peter 1:7, 13; 4:13; 5:1).  The Apostle Paul explained the reason for their lack of understanding these things:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Paul further emphasizes his stance about the false teachers in his epistle to Timothy:

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Timothy 6:3–5)

Paul maintains that because these false teachers are advocates of “a different doctrine” it has caused them to be conceited, while they continually understand nothing—literally, not a single thing.2 Their conceit is a form of arrogant self-importance and self-delusion, which the Greek grammar contends that this delusion continue to this day.

This is a bit of irony on Jude’s part, since these men were Gnostics and believed that they were in “possession of a superior wisdom, which is hidden from others.”3 For the Gnostics claimed to have a “private knowledge over and above that of the Bible.”4 The Gnostics also believed that all matter was inherently evil, including the human body. This led to their false teaching that since the body is evil, Jesus could not be true humanity, that He had only a superficial body and not a real one.5 This is how they blasphemed the Lord of glory based on human viewpoint and not upon the absolute truth of God’s Word. To reject Divine Truth and attempt to interpret Scripture with human viewpoint and subjective feelings will result in irrational conclusions, thus false doctrine.

And then on the other hand, Jude says that what they do know, they know by animal instincts. The Greek word ‘know’ implies a “knowledge that a person receives by observation or by hearing some information.”6 It is by this type of objective and rational reasoning that a normal person obtains the understanding of what they know. But these things which the apostates know and understand have been derived by “instinct,” like unreasoning animals that are lacking in rational thought processes. Animal instincts are actually the result of behavioral patterns responding to the stimulus of observation or the hearing of a command. This is taught in basic biology.

An instinct is the ability of an animal to perform a behavior the first time it is exposed to the proper stimulus. For example, a dog will drool the first time—and every time—it is exposed to food.7

The question that is left unasked: What actually do these men know by instinct? This takes us back to the gross immoralities of Sodom and Gomorrah (v.7) and the defiling of the flesh (v.8). Just like animals that do not have the ability of rational reasoning, these men respond to the immoral stimulus of the fleshly demands of the body. Fornication, homosexuality, pedophilia—anything goes, whatever the body craves. And they respond like any irrational of animal.

Since they lack objective reasoning, Jude declares that they are destroyed by these things. The Greek word for ‘destroyed’ here is different than what Jude used in verse 5, there it refers specifically to the physical death of the unbelieving Israelites. In this verse, Jude uses a word which conveys a type of destruction that these false teachers have effected upon themselves—moral and spiritual corruption.8 They have corrupted themselves and are therefore moral and spiritual degenerates.

Their degeneracy is evidenced by their rejection and distortion of God’s Truth and the spreading of their false doctrines. The Apostle Peter referring to these same apostates outlined their deception designed to enslave believers in their moral and spiritual degeneracy:

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. (2 Peter 2:18–19)

Peter goes on to assure us that God’s judgment upon them is a certainty. He wrote that the Lord will “keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:9b-10a).

A Final Thought

The Apostle John declared:

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. (2 John 7)

These false teachers are the same deceivers who John characterized as the antichrist, not an individual person, but the embodiment of all apostates that Jude, Peter, John and Paul have been unmasking. As Jude explains, their teachings are based entirely upon sensual instincts and human viewpoint thinking. Their rejection and misinterpretation of God’s Word obliterates God’s Truth. What remains is relative ‘truth’ which leads to the advancement of their distortion of Biblical doctrines.

 The gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:7), God’s grace gift of salvation, is a prime example of present day distortion of truth. In many Christian circles today the clarity of the gospel of salvation has been inaccurately taught. For the Scriptures are clear on how one may obtain salvation: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31a) and “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36a). Salvation is obtained “through faith” in Jesus Christ by virtue of God’s grace provision (Ephesians 2:8), accomplished by His Son Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross (Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24). Nowhere in Scripture does it state: “to accept Christ”; “I found Jesus”; “let Him into your heart”; “answer the knock at the door”; “invite Him into your life”. This is an example of why Jude appealed that we “contend earnestly for the faith” (v.3) and for maintaining the clarity of “the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:4-5) - as well as the whole realm of Biblical doctrines.



[1] See explanation of “glories” in verse 8.

[2] Paul used the same Greek word for ‘understand’ as Jude

[3] Lightfoot, J.B. (1999). St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, p. 77.

[4] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 13.89.

[5] Wuest, 13.89.

[6] Beetham, Christopher A. (Ed.) (2021). ἐπίσταμαι (epistamai). The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, p. 311.

[7] https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/10%3A_Animals/10.04%3A_Innate_Behavior_of_Animals [Retrieved April 12,2023]

[8] Beetham,  φθείρω (phtheirō), p. 940.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

JUDE 9: MICHAEL vs. THE DEVIL

 

Verse 9: 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!”

Before Jude continues his unmasking of the false teachers, he presents the example of Michael the archangel who showed respect for God’s authority “in sharp contrast to the false teachers who do not.”1

It should be noted at the outset that this episode which Jude relates of Michael vs. the devil is found nowhere in Scripture. Most scholars believe Jude is quoting from the Assumption of Moses, a book written in the 1st Century A.D.2 This book is believed to have been “a composite work made up of two distinct books, the Testament and the Assumption of Moses.”3 The story is an expansion of the Old Testament account of Moses’ death and burial:

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 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. (Deuteronomy 34:5–6)

The event described in Jude 9 is found in a Greek fragment of the Assumption of Moses. The 19th Century scholar Robert H. Charles provided a summary of the account:

1.     Michael is commissioned to bury Moses:

     2.  Satan opposes his burial and that on two grounds

a. First, he claims to be the lord of matter (hence the body rightfully should be handed over to him).

To this claim Michael rejoins: “The Lord rebuke thee, for it was God’s Spirit that created the world and all mankind.” (Hence not Satan, but God was the Lord of matter.) 

b. Secondly, Satan brings the charge of murder against Moses. (The   answer to this charge is wanting.)

3. Having rebutted Satan’s accusations, Michael then proceeds to charge Satan with having inspired the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve.

4.  Finally, all opposition having been overcome, the Assumption takes place in the presence of Joshua and Caleb, and in a very peculiar way. A twofold presentation of Moses appears: one is Moses “living in the spirit,” which is carried up to heaven; the other is the dead body of Moses, which is buried in the recesses of the mountains.4

There is no way to confirm the authenticity of this account. As I stated in the introductory material, the fact that Jude quoted from this book does not imply that the Assumption of Moses in its entirety is inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, what Jude has written is considered inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore regarded as absolute truth.

What we should learn from this verse involves Michael’s response to the devil: literally “May the Lord rebuke you!” Note that Michael does not believe that he has the authority to rebuke the devil, knowing that to do so would be to usurp the Lord’s dominion over the devil—Satan (cf. Zechariah 3:2). Jude states that he did not dare to utter a railing judgment against him. Railing is an old English word translated from the Greek word for “blasphemy,” meaning to insult, slander or defame. MacArthur states that “Michael, recognizing the great presence and power of Satan, refused to speak evil of him, but called on the Lord to do so.”5

It was not Michael’s place to rebuke the devil, just like this it is not our responsibility. I have heard believer’s erroneously declare when they are tempted: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” It was the Lord who made this statement (Matthew 16:23) and only the Lord who has the authority over the devil. There is no Scriptural directive for us to do this. It is also improbable to even think that Satan would personally tempt a believer, since he is presently before God, as established by the Apostle John:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:10)

There is much confusion in Christianity today concerning this issue. It is true what Peter states about the devil:

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

But the Greek word for “prowl” in Scripture is used figuratively, “signifying the whole round of the activities of the individual life, whether of the unregenerate, or of the believer.”6 Note the word “like,” the idea Peter is trying to get across is that the devil is ravenous and fanatical in his endeavor to devour us. This describes his prime objective. Yet Peter does not mean that he will literally eat and swallow us, but instead, the devil’s strategy is to extinguish and destroy our testimony for Jesus Christ and to accuse us before the thrown of God. Scripture tells us that Satan is not working alone in this scheme of his—he has legions of demons who work for him. The Apostle Paul instructed believers of this reality and what we must do to be prepared:

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:11–12)

Summary

 Our struggle is a conflict with an unseen foe, the devil, who rules an evil spiritual force of demons within our world—the cosmos. Dr. L.S. Chafer has described it in this manner:

The cosmos is a vast order or system that Satan has promoted, which conforms to his ideals, aims, and methods...It is properly styled the satanic system, which phrase is in many instances a justified interpretation of the so-meaningful word, cosmos. It is literally a cosmos diabolicus. [emphasis his]7

 We need to emulate Michael’s respect for God’s authority over the devil and instead “resist him firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9). Therefore, it would be spiritually beneficial to follow Paul’s directive:

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:13–18)

 

 


[1] Ryrie, C. C. (1995). Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1995 update (Expanded ed.,). Chicago: Moody Press, p. 2007 note.

[2] Schürer, Emil (2008) A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, II.iii.78f.

[3] Mayor, J.B. (1990). The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Nicoll, W. Robertson, ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 5.235.

[4] Charles, R.H. (1897). The Assumption of Moses, London: Adam & Charles Black, p.106.

[5] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2 Peter 2:11 note.

[6] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.664.

[7] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 2.77-78.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi