12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 12–13 (ESV)
“In these two verses Jude resorts to using many figures from nature to portray his godless adversaries. His metaphors are eloquent, colorful, and pointed, and aid the reader in recognizing these men who are perverting God’s truth. Here is poetic description at its best,” explains Dr. Simon J. Kistemaker.
First, apostates are “hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear;” Jude used a direct comparison to illustrate the danger of apostates.
Jude called them hidden reefs (σπιλάδες; spilades). These are rocks washed by the sea. To sailors, they represent an unseen and hidden danger to a ship and its crew. The Apostle Paul was well acquainted with nautical reefs. He possessed personal experience.
25 ‘Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;” (2 Corinthians 11:25–26 (ESV)
39 “Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. 40 So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. 41 But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf.” (Acts 27:39–41 (ESV)
Much like hidden reefs near the shore that can endanger a ship, the apostates were a hidden danger threatening to sink a church of its devotion to the Lord. Their danger was unseen but no less dangerous.
The love feasts (ἀγάπαις; agapais) were the church’s fellowship meals, which may have included observing The Lord’ s Supper. “The Last Supper was a full Passover meal, and the early church had continued the tradition of celebrating a meal (“the Lord’s Supper”) of which bread and wine were only a part. Communion as a full meal was also called a “love feast,” states commentator Craig Keener.
However, the apostates feast ( συνευωχούμενοι; syneuochoumenoi) without fear (ἀφόβως; aphobos). Apostates presently, personally, and collectively gather, rise up and set upon something, or someone, together. They do so fearlessly and irreverently of the LORD.
Secondly, Jude compared apostates to shepherds feeding themselves. Shepherds feeding (ποιμαίνοντες; poimainontes) refers to false teachers presently, actively and collectively protecting and nourishing themselves and not the church. They behave this way because they do not love or care for the people. False teachers do not feed, lead, or protect believers in Christ. Rather, they are enemies of Christ and His church.
“In contrast to Western shepherds who drive their flocks from behind, Near Eastern shepherds lead their sheep, using their voice to prompt the sheep to follow. This draws a remarkable picture of the master/disciple relationship. NT spiritual leadership is always by example, i.e., a call to imitate conduct (cf. 1 Tim. 4:12; 1 Pet. 5:1–3),” comments Dr. John MacArthur.
False shepherds, or false teachers, are not new. They have always posed a problem for the people of God.
6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.” (Jeremiah 50:6–7 (ESV)
“The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. 7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.” (Ezekiel 34:1–10 (ESV)
Thirdly, Jude called them waterless clouds, swept along by winds; Waterless clouds (νεφέλαι ἄνυδροι; nephelai anydroi) are masses of vapor in the sky, promising, but not providing, much needed rain. Instead, they are swept along by winds. To be swept along (παραφερόμεναι; parapheromenai) means to be presently and passively carried away by the wind. Apostates have no substance or stability. They promise truth but deliver nothing but lies.
“Apostates promise spiritual life but are empty clouds that bring the hope of rain, but actually deliver nothing but dryness and death (cf. Prov. 25:14). They preach a false gospel that leads only to hell,” concludes Dr. MacArthur.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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