“But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” (Jude 10 (ESV)
In this study of the Epistle of Jude, the comparisons between this epistle and 2 Peter are striking. Both writers addressed the issue of apostates and apostasy. The Holy Spirit used both writers to produce inerrant Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
“So close is the thought and situation of the two epistles that most scholars believe there is some kind of literary relationship between these two inspired books. Whether Jude used 2 Peter as a source for his letter or Peter used Jude as a source for his second epistle cannot be determined with absolute certainty. In any case, we should not be surprised if one of these men used the writings of the other. It is a common phenomenon for biblical authors to do this. The author of Chronicles, for example, used the books of Samuel and Kings as sources for his writings,” writes Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“Today’s passage is a further example of the similarities between these two letters, as Jude 8–10 parallels 2 Peter 2:10b–12 in many ways. Note the way the false teachers described in each case blasphemed “the glorious ones.” The false teachers opposed by Peter appear to have done this by disregarding the power and influence of demonic spirits. Given the story related in Jude 9, it seems the false teachers he faced blasphemed by trying to rebuke demons on their own authority. Unlike Michael, who called upon the Lord to rebuke Satan, these false teachers “blasphemed” by regarding things closely identified with God (angels who, though fallen, were once holy) too lightly, presuming an ability to resist them under their own power.
In contrast to Michael the archangel, apostates “blaspheme all that they do not understand.” Jude referred to them as “these people.” This pronoun is in the plural form. There were several apostates plaguing the church to whom Jude wrote. A great number of defectors of the faith in Christ exist today.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:1–3 (ESV)
Whoever these men were, they exhibited a common characteristic. The mocked and scorned any and all they did not understand. To understand (οἴδασιν; oidasin) means to comprehend and to honor. In this case, these individuals did not grasp the person and work of God in the past. This lack of understanding continued in their present and future.
The tragedy of this lack of understanding is revealed in the rest of today’s text. Jude wrote, “…and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.”
To be destroyed (φθείρονται; phtheirotai) is a present, passive, plural verb. Something happens to apostates. They are corrupted and ruined by their own beliefs and behavior. What they understand instinctively (φυσικῶς; physikos) refers to their natural instincts or their fallen, sinful nature.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)
Jude compared apostates to unreasoning animals (ἄλογα ζῷα; aloga zoa). Like animals, apostates lack the ability and capacity to reason or think properly. The Apostle Paul examined this condition of the lost in Romans 1:18-32.
“What things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.” What is Jude trying to say? He means that persons without spiritual discernment are abysmally ignorant of reality and depend on instinct. That is, they have lowered themselves to the level of animals and in their sexual pursuits (see v. 8) are guided by instinct. Yet, unlike the animals which abide by the laws of nature, these godless men are destroyed by the very things they fail to understand. When men live by instinct, they abandon even natural law and consequently perish. They place themselves on a par with the animals, but because of their refusal to obey even the laws God has placed in nature, they are destroyed (compare Rom. 1:24),” explains Dr. Simon J. Kistemaker.
“Whereas Michael did not dare accuse the devil, these apostates, by contrast spoke abusively against what they did not understand. This abusive speech may refer to their slandering of angels (v. 8). Their understanding was debased, for it followed only natural animal instinct. The apostates’ only “reasoning” was like that of unreasoning animals. Rather than comprehending what was above them (the angels), they really understood only what was below them (the animals). Jude thus demolished their Gnostic claim to superior knowledge. And their understanding—polluting “their own bodies” (v. 8)—was, like the sin of Sodom, self-destructive,” concludes Dr. Edward C. Pentecost.
Let us pray we are on our guard against false teachers. May the Lord’s grace and truth be found here.
Soli deo Gloria!
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