Jude -8

Saturday, 25 July 2020

Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Jude -8

The words here closely parallel 2 Peter 2:10 –

“Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.” Jude -8

“…and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.” 2 Peter 2:10

Here, referring to those mentioned in verse 4 once again, Jude says, “Likewise also.” The NKJV fails to translate the word mentoi, or “yet.” It should say, “Yet likewise also.” In other words, in verse 4, he spoke of the people he is referring to now. Then, in verses 5-7, he gave examples of what people like them deserve because of their unbelief, pride, and/or sexual immorality. However, they ignore this. Therefore, he says, “Yet likewise also…”

Yet – despite what God has previously revealed in judgment.
Likewise – they emulate the corrupt people Scripture warns about
Also – they conduct themselves just like them

Understanding this, he then says, “these dreamers defile the flesh.” This is what he referred to in verse 7 where it noted those in Sodom and Gomorrah had “given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh.” Despite what God has previously revealed in judgment, they emulate the corrupt people Scripture warns about, and they conduct themselves just like them.

Jude next says they “reject authority.” This is what was referred to in verse 6 where the angels “did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode.” Thus, despite what God has previously revealed in judgment, they emulate the corrupt people Scripture warns about, and they conduct themselves just like them.

Finally, Jude finishes the verse with the note that they “speak evil of dignitaries.” This is what was referred to in verse 5 where the Lord “destroyed those who did not believe.” The Greek word Jude uses, doxas, refers to any glory which is revealed, especially the divine quality. This is what the people had done. In Numbers 14 this is only a portion of the evil they spoke against the Moses, against Aaron, and against the Lord –

“And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them,’If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’” Numbers 14:2, 3

Thus, despite what God has previously revealed in judgment, they emulate the corrupt people Scripture warns about, and they conduct themselves just like them. The rebellion against Moses and Aaron is akin to the rebellion of the angels leaving their position in heaven.

In this, Jude has formed a chiastic structure in order to reveal what he is speaking of concerning those who “have crept in unnoticed” that he spoke of in verse 4. To understand this, the following chiasm is laid out for you here –

Jude 1:5 – 1:8 – Likewise Also These Dreamers
The Just Punishment of the Unrighteous (7/14/2020)

a. the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe (v. 5)
—–b. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode (v. 6)
———-c. given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh (v.7)
—————x. Likewise also these dreamers (v. 8)
———-c. defile the flesh (v. 8a)
—–b. reject authority (v. 8b)
a. speak evil of dignitaries (v. 8c)

Jude’s words show the train of thought concerning what is going on. Interestingly, it dispels the myth that Jude is tying the angels of verse 6 in with sexual immorality in verse 7 in order to justify angels sleeping with humans in Genesis 6. That is an aberrant ideology not supported anywhere in Scripture, and certainly not from the book of Jude.Rather, the idea of “strange flesh” cannot be equated to angels – which are spirit beings – but rather it speaks only of leaving the natural use between men and women and engaging in either homosexuality or maybe even other strange flesh like bestiality.

Life application: In review of Jude’s words, and how they still apply today, the people he speaks about –

Defile the flesh. The people in the church at Jude’s time, and which are in the church today, act in the same manner. There are perverts who sexually abuse of what God has created. They are defiled and impure.

They reject authority. There are some who cast off those who are trained in proper theology. They dismiss the moral code written upon every heart. And, they reject the word of God as authoritative. Instead, they cling to their own fantasies and the teachings of depraved individuals.

They speak evil of dignitaries. Such people reject not only the positions (authority) but they reject those who fill the positions. But Paul says in 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” However, in rejecting the word of the Lord, they reject what is contained in the word. They also reject the Lord who gave the word.

Jude warns against these things because the senseless dreamers of religion are prone to each of the aberrant attitudes he mentions. We must be on guard against them, lest we be caught in the same net.

Lord God, Your word doesn’t hold back in its accusation of the immoral and godless – both within the church, and in the world at large. Thus, we shouldn’t either. Rather, give us boldness to stand against the perversion and ungodliness of the world around us and to stand fast in that which is holy, pure, and righteous. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply