“Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.” (Jude 8 (ESV)
“Jude is writing about apostate false teachers. Apostasy, meaning to defect, to depart, to abandon. Apostasy is defecting from the faith, hearing of the faith, knowing of the faith, knowing the true gospel, hearing the true gospel, maybe professing even to believe the true gospel, and then abandoning it. It is the most terrible of evils for which the hottest hell is reserved. To be exposed to the gospel truth and to reject it is to put yourself in the most severe place of eternal torment.” – Dr. John MacArthur
Jude provided a signature triad of historical examples regarding apostasy; Israel and their apostasy of unbelief towards God and His Word fallen angels and their apostasy of rebellion; and Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities surrounding them and their apostasy of immorality (Jude 5-7). Jude then brought the argument to the present.
Jude transitioned from an examination of the past to the present situation of false teachers plaguing the church. In vs. 8-16, Jude addresses present apostates and apostasy. Apostates today conduct themselves as apostates of history. There is nothing new under the sun.
He wrote “Yet in like manner these people also.” Whoever “these people” specifically were (Jude 4), Jude said they displayed the apostate characteristics of unbelief, rebellion and sexual immorality. Nevertheless, or likewise, (homoiōs) means equally or in the same way. Within the context it means to be like those who Jude previously identified from the Old Testament as apostates.
Jude also wrote these heretics were, “relying on their dreams,” This phrase (ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι; enypniazomenoi) is one word in the Greek. Grammatically, it is a present, middle plural participle verb. In other words, the behavior Jude described of the apostates was an ongoing, personal, collective group behavior.
Apostates rely on their dreams. as a source of authority and revelation. They were dreamers. They do not submit to the word of God, neither do they want the church to do so. They want true believers in Christ to submit to them and their false teaching.
“Jude calls these godless men “dreamers.” This term means either that they were mystics who claimed to have access to supernatural revelation or that as a result of their sexual immorality these men spent their time dreaming erotic fantasies,” explains Simon Kistemaker.
We often witness this behavior among so called evangelical preachers today. Claiming to have a unique and direct access to God they make seemingly outrageous statements which, in their opinion, cannot be questioned because they claim God has directly spoken to them.
As Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes, “The cause of their rebellion is found in the word dreamers (Jude 8). These people live in a dreamworld of unreality and delusion. They believe Satan’s lie, “Ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5). Having turned away from God’s truth, they feed their minds on false doctrine that inflates their egos and encourages their rebellion. Jude 10 informs us that the apostates are ignorant people who do not know what they are talking about! Jude echoed Peter’s description of these men as “brute beasts” (2 Peter 2:12, 22). Animals live by natural instinct, and so do the apostates. When men rebel against God, they sink to the level of beasts.”
In Jude 5-7, Jude showed his readers, including us, apostasy is nothing new. It’s as old as the children of Israel, angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Present day apostates, much like their historical counterparts, engage in the same pattern of ungodly behavior. Notice that in reverse order to what we have already read they…
- Defile the flesh (σάρκα μιαίνουσιν; sarka miainousin) is a present, active indicative verb. This behavior is actively ongoing. Its root meaning is to stain, as in the staining of glass. It can also mean to pollute or spoil and contaminate. In the case of morality, it speaks of moral and physical defilement. The vices of the ungodly which contaminate a person in their involvement with the world. It refers to moral corruption. In the flesh refers to the physical body. The outward things which apostates practice are visible evidences of their inner, corrupted soul.
Titus 1:15 – “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.”
Hebrews 12:15 – “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.”
Apostates portray themselves as people of God, but their behavior evidences a moral and physical defilement. Like their counterparts in Sodom, false teachers are usually involved in sexual immorality (2 Peter 2:10-20). There may be exceptions, but that is rare.
False teachers may appear to be godly, but inwardly they defile the flesh. This remains a telltale sign of their spiritual condition. Believers must be wary and aware of the inner motivations of apostates.
Next time, we will examine two more traits’ apostates have paralleling rebellious angels and unbelieving Israel.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 