Are You Out of Touch with Spiritual Reality?

Jude 8-10

Main Idea: False believers lose sight of the reality that, in his death and resurrection, Christ asserts his authority over their lives, and he desires to make them holy.

1. Watch the Sins of Rebellion (8).
   1. Don’t become defiled.
   2. Don’t become defiant.
   3. Don’t become disrespectful.
2. Watch the Sins of Arrogance (9).
   1. Know your place in God’s economy.
   2. Know your power is in God’s authority.
3. Watch the Sins of Ignorance (10).
   1. Guard your mouth.
   2. Guard your mind.

The church has always struggled in its attempt to properly balance grace and freedom, liberty and responsibility. How can I enjoy my freedom in Christ from works as the way of salvation without crossing the line into works of the flesh? Having been set free from rules, regulations, and rituals as the means of redemption in Jesus, do I now cast off and throw away all rules, every regulation, any ritual observances?

I believe there is a revival of antinomianism (“antilaw attitude”) in the church in our day; people don’t want to observe the disciplines of the Christian faith. Our language too often parrots the language of the world. Our dress apes the dress of the world. Our morals copycat the morals of the world. Determined to fit in with the culture and to be relevant, we have lost and neglected God’s call to be a holy and special people (1 Pet 1:16; 2:9).

Today we claim to be spiritual, but we are not godly. We are sporadic in church attendance and stingy in our giving. We are frequent participants in alcohol abuse, tobacco, and profanity. We dress offensively and seductively. We surf the Internet for pornography and mutilate or desecrate our bodies, which we claim are the temple of the Holy Spirit. All the while we say, “It’s no big deal. I am free in Christ.”

We claim to be missional but are not doing missions. We claim to be engaging the culture but are not doing evangelism. We claim to be salt and light while actually being dirt and darkness. Theology is left behind, expository preaching is lampooned, and moral integrity is laughed out of court as old-fashioned and outdated legalism.

Advocates of this “new liberty” counterpunch, asking questions like, “Why don’t you address the real issues like pride, anger, lust, hatefulness, materialism, bigotry, gluttony, bitterness, selfishness, envy, and so forth?” And of course these issues do need to be addressed. In fact, they must be addressed, but I am convinced they are intimately intertwined with the other issues I mentioned above. They are all sins of a common core: they are sins of the heart. Sins of the heart and sins of the flesh are part and parcel of the same depraved nature. Both need the cleansing and redeeming blood of Christ; both need the cleansing and sanctifying power of the Spirit; both need the renewing work of the Word.

Allowing the Word to go to work in Jude 8-10, the half brother of Jesus again confronts head-on the false followers of Christ who were “turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord” (v. 4). Building on this verse and making connection with his reminder in verses 5-7, Jude places three challenges before those of us who want to stay grounded in spiritual reality as those who “contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all” (v. 3).

Watch the Sins of Rebellion

JUDE 8

First Corinthians 6:19-20 reminds us, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price.” False teachers will deny, or at least de-emphasize, our ownership by God—that he purchased us out of the slave market of sin by the precious blood of his Son, “Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord” (v. 4). Rather than accept God’s spiritual authority over their lives, they prefer to live out of touch with reality, asserting their personal autonomy and living as a law unto themselves. This is a mind-set and a lifestyle Jude condemns and warns us to avoid, and he does so in his typical style with a triad of examples.

Don’t Become Defiled

“In the same way” connects verse 8 with verse 7 and the sexual immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude’s opponents resemble the ancient cities in their moral rebellion. Jude calls these false teachers dreamers. Rejecting the Bible as their authority, they appeal to dreams and their own imaginations as a source of revelation and justification for their immoral lifestyle.

This is the “God told me” and “I prayed about it” defense for what Jude calls “[defiling] the flesh.” Claiming to have “a word from the Lord” does not legitimate what one says. False prophets in the Old Testament made such claims (cf. Deut 13:1-5; Jer 23:25-32). Claiming an extrabiblical source of authority, these false teachers attempt to justify their immoral lifestyle. The context would point to sexual sin as the primary, though not the exclusive, sin. This newfound freedom to indulge and feed the flesh was apparently credited to God.

If you choose to live loosely, immorally, lewdly, and out there on the moral edge, don’t look to God to justify your foolishness and immaturity. Be honest enough to point your finger at the real enabler: yourself.

Don’t Become Defiant

An immoral, unchecked lifestyle is rooted in a rebellious and unbridled spirit. Jude says false followers of Christ “reject authority.” Though this could be a reference to human or even angelic authorities, I believe Jude has in mind the authority and lordship of Jesus Christ (again connecting with the description in v. 4). This is not so much a theological rejection as it is a moral and personal avoidance. The Christ who saves is denied his daily and practical sovereignty in their lives. An inappropriate and inexcusable separation is made between Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Lord. In the daily living of life, “self” is its own authority and lord. No one is going to tell me what to do or how to live, they think, not even God!

Jude rejects such unbiblical defiance, and so should we. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead establishes him as the one with all authority in heaven and on earth (cf. Matt 28:18), and those who are called by his name gladly submit to this authority for their good and his glory.

Don’t Become Disrespectful

False followers of Christ “blaspheme glories” (literal translation). Interestingly, some form of the word translated “slander” or “blaspheme” occurs in verses 8, 9, and 10. These false teachers “speak evil of dignitaries” (NKJV), “heap abuse on celestial beings” (NIV), or “slander glorious ones” (CSB).

Though some scholars make a good case that fallen angels or demons are in view, I believe it is better to see the text as referring to good angels (Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, 456–58; Moo, 2 Peter, 245–46). These heavenly beings—who sang at God’s good creation (Job 38:7) and, more importantly in our context, are the guardians and givers of God’s perfect moral law (Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2)—are spoken of in evil tones by these lawless and rebellious reprobates. Casting off God’s rightful authority over their lives, they blaspheme and slander these great beings who are “all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14).

If I don’t need God’s Word meddling in my moral life, they think, I certainly don’t need his angels sticking their nose in it either! They ignore the authority of God, scoff at advice from angels, and eventually reject accountability from their brothers and sisters in the community of believers. Self-centered and self-focused, “my will, my way, and my wants” become preeminent above all other things.

Here is the lifestyle of the immoral. Here is the lifestyle of the fool. Proverbs says it well: “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful” (Prov 29:18 NLT).

Watch the Sins of Arrogance

JUDE 9

This is one of the most mysterious and difficult verses in the Bible to interpret. Its application is easier to grasp, but the exact meaning Jude intended is elusive and even troubling to some.

The actors in this spiritual drama are pretty clear. Michael is the archangel, the chief angel in terms of position and authority. The term archangel only occurs one other time in Scripture (1 Thess 4:16). No name is associated there with the title, though most believe Michael is in view. In Daniel 10:13 he is called “one of the chief princes” who came to help Daniel (“your prince” in v. 21). In Daniel 12:1 he is called “the great prince” who watches over Israel. In Revelation 12:7 Michael fights against the dragon (Satan) and defeats him, driving him out of heaven.

The devil is Satan, Lucifer, the greatest of all God’s creatures (Isa 14:12-15; Ezek 28:11-19) who fell from heaven due to his pride. Apparently he carried one-third of the angelic host with him (cf. Rev 12:4). These are the demons who do his bidding.

Moses is the great leader of Israel. The record of his death is found in Deuteronomy 34. We are told the Lord buried him and that no one knows where his grave is (Deut 34:6).

This verse then describes an event not recorded in biblical revelation. Scholars believe the story may have been found in a noncanonical book called The Assumption of Moses or The Testament of Moses, though the account has not been preserved in any writing in our possession today (Moo, 2 Peter, 246). Our best guess is that the story shows Satan wanting the body of Moses as a potential relic for idolatry, or perhaps he challenged Moses’s right to be buried by God because he had murdered an Egyptian.

Before we move to apply the text, it will be helpful to raise the important question of how we should respond when biblical authors cite nonbiblical sources. The first response we must have is to recognize that this actually occurs. Here in JUDE 9 The Assumption of Moses is cited, and later in verse 14 Jude alludes to the book of Enoch. The most famous example is that of Paul in Acts 17:28, where the apostle cites pagan poets and philosophers. So it is clear that some extrabiblical material and even non-Christian material is informing the biblical author’s writings as the Holy Spirit guides him.

We must also recognize that all truth is God’s truth, wherever it is found. Whether it is found on the lips of a pagan or a saint, truth belongs to the Lord. Next we must recognize that the sixty-six books of the Bible, though true, do not contain all the truth there is in the world. For example, 2+2=4 is true, but it is not in the Bible.

Moreover, we believe that the Holy Spirit may have and likely did direct the biblical writers to a variety of sources in writing their books (cf. Luke 1:1-4). We must also keep in mind that to cite or quote a part of a nonbiblical source does not require one to believe that all of that source is correct or that it is inspired by God. Speaking truth is not the only requirement to qualify someone as divinely inspired. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the early church came to recognize and compile the books of the Bible that truly belong. This means books not recognized as inspired were excluded. The sixty-six books of the Bible belong not because the early church declared that they belonged, but rather they in fact belong (i.e., were divinely inspired) and the early church recognized this to be the case.

Since we can trust the Holy Spirit’s inspiration as Jude wrote, what did he want us to learn from this fascinating account?

Know Your Place in God’s Economy

Michael is an archangel, a warrior angel, the greatest angel, but he is still just an angel. He is a creature, not the Creator; a servant, not the sovereign Lord; a minister, not the Master. As great as he is, he knows his proper place in God’s plan—something false teachers have failed to grasp. He is not his own authority, master, or lord. He does not set policy and make up the rules as he wishes. No arrogance, haughtiness, rebellion, or pride runs through his angelic veins. If this is how Michael sees himself, we would do well to follow his example and accept our place in the Lord’s economy.

Know Your Power Is in God’s Authority

Michael, as you would expect, is an excellent student of the Word of God. Knowing the Word, he is ready for war. He engages the devil in battle; and following the model of Jesus shown in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 when he was tempted by Satan, Michael quotes the Word of God.

“The Lord rebuke you” comes from Zechariah 3:2, another occasion when Satan made accusation against one of God’s servants—a man by the name of Joshua who was at that time the high priest. Just as the Lord rebuked Satan and vindicated Joshua, he also rebuked Satan and vindicated Moses and gave victory to Michael.

Our authority for spiritual warfare is in God, not in ourselves. In our own strength the devil will defeat us every time. Perhaps Michael could have taken on the devil, given who he is, but he did not because he knew the true source of his authority. In our case, to battle Satan without help is sheer folly. If we want to have victory over the evil one, we must know that our power is in God’s authority and nowhere else. We can overcome him, as Revelation 12:11 says, “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [our] testimony,” a testimony that says our confidence is in Christ, even in the face of death.

Watch the Sins of Ignorance

JUDE 10

At the heart of false teaching is wrong thinking. Human depravity does not prevent us from using our minds, but it does prevent us from using them correctly. Animals think, but they think like animals. False followers of Christ think, but they too think like animals, and eventually they live like animals. In what they say and what they do, they plummet to the level of “brute beasts” (KJV) or “irrational animals.” If we want to avoid the seductive and enticing traps that would enslave us and bring us to the level of an animal, what must our spiritual strategy be?

Guard Your Mouth

Jude addresses first the fruit rather than the root of wrong thinking and living on the level of an animal. They “blaspheme” whatever they do not understand. Arrogant and ignorant, they slander what they do not even know or understand—a reference to the angels of verse 8. Talking without thinking, without all the facts, and from emotion, pride, and selfish desires, they make themselves look like fools as they talk like fools.

Their example is a good reminder to us all that just because you think something does not mean it is smart to say it. If you don’t say it, you won’t have to apologize for it. The tongue is an organ of the body that is vitally connected to another organ of the body: the heart. It betrays what is inside of us, which is most truly who we are. As Proverbs 23:7 so importantly reminds us, “For as [a person] thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV). So when it comes to guarding our mouths, we must be diligent not to speak from evil intent or ignorance.

Not only do we guard our mouths; we must also guard what controls the mouth.

Guard Your Mind

False followers of Christ do not think biblically; they think naturally (cf. 1 Cor 2:14–3:3). They do not think in moral categories but live by their emotional impulses, just like an animal.

Whatever they “understand” naturally, like an unreasoning (aloga) animal, they use to corrupt and destroy themselves. Jude’s irony is striking. Claiming a higher spiritual understanding, their knowledge does not rise even above that of the animals. Claiming liberty and freedom, they are slaves and prisoners of their own lust and basic instincts. Claiming to be right, they could not be more wrong. Claiming to live for God, they live for themselves. Claiming to rise higher, they actually sink lower. Saying, “We are free in Christ,” they become chained and shackled by their own selfish desires, wants, and passions. Professing to exalt Christ, by their lives they embarrass him and bring shame to his name.

Thankfully, God’s Son did not die for us to express ourselves in such a debased way. God’s Son did not die so we could live for ourselves. God’s Son died so that you and I would exalt him. He died to make us look like him. He died so that you and I would live for him (Phil 1:21), and this will require that we are transformed by the constant renewal of our minds (Rom 12:2). Thanks be to God that he did not leave us in our ignorance!

Conclusion

Do you want to get in touch with spiritual reality—with true, genuine reality? Then you must be zealous and passionate for high moral standards, personal purity, and biblical holiness. You must run from the works of the flesh, which, Paul says,

are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. (Gal 5:19-21)

Yes, let’s run from these, and let’s then run after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility, and Spirit control (cf. Gal 5:22-26). Let us say with the great apostle, “I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). For the true reality of God’s saving work in this world is that Christ himself died to make for himself a people who would die to sin and live to righteousness in him (1 Pet 2:24). This is the privilege and responsibility of all who are called by his name into his reality.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How would you explain the error of antinomianism? Why is it dangerous in the church?
2. How do we know when the church is becoming too much like the world? How do we know where to draw boundaries?
3. What is wrong with a “God told me” defense for defiling the flesh? How do we know whether to trust our subjective “dreams” and experiences?
4. Do you think it is easy or difficult to submit to spiritual authority? Why? In what areas of your life do you tend to reject any outside authority?
5. How would you explain the scene in verse 9 to a new student of the Bible?
6. What should Christians make of extrabiblical sources that the biblical authors reference? Are they also inspired?
7. Where else in Scripture do we see people failing to grasp their place in God’s economy? What are the consequences of this sin?
8. What does Michael’s dispute show us about how to contend with the devil? Where else in Scripture can we see this strategy?
9. What does Jude mean by comparing the false believers to animals? Is he simply insulting them?
10. Read Luke 6:43-45 and see what Jesus says about the connection between our words and our hearts. What do your words reveal about your heart?