Jude 10-11
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Jude 10
"Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand;
and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals
-- these are the very things that destroy them."
This verse presents apostate false teachers as slandering that which they
do not understand, i.e., anything that is spiritual or that relates to God,
and as distorting and twisting anything that they do understand, e.g., sexual
relations with another human being.
Paul depicts the ignorance of the apostate unbeliever in I Cor. 2:14: "The
man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned."
And the ignorance of the apostate believer is portrayed in I Tim. 4:1: "The
Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and
follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."
The verb epistamai tells us that what knowledge they do have is gained through
their own perceptive abilities; for since they are not filled with God the
Holy Spirit they cannot understand spiritual information. And they are called
"unreasoning animals;" the term for "unreasoning" is
alogos, and refers to patterns of thought whose foundation is in subjectivity,
and the lust from arrogance. Zoon is the Gr. word for "animals."
In this verse, it refers to human beings functioning in a state where only
insensate self-absorption and craving shape their hopes, formulate their
values and arrange their thinking. And this method of thinking is brought
out by the Gr. term psusikos, which means 'natural instinct.'
The three primary meanings of this word (zoon) in the Greek are:
1. To describe angelic beings, as in Revelation 4:6-9; specifically,
cherubs in Revelation.
2. To describe human beings whose mental processes are handicapped by unthinking
arrogance.
3. To describe the Phoenix, the supernatural bird of Attic literature.
The phrase "these are the very things" refers back to the things
that they have learned only through subjectivity, arrogance and lust. These
things, their very way of thinking (arrogant lust), corrupt and destroy
them. The verb is in the passive voice, which means that they receive destruction
from their own thoughts. So their ultimate end is the Lake of Fire, if unbelievers,
or the "sin unto death," if believers. [1]
Jude 11
"Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed
for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion."
This verse is an example of antimereia, which is a figure of speech where
one noun governs another in the genitive case; here, it refers to the characteristics
of Cain, Balaam and Korah being common to apostates.
The first word in the verse is ouai, the particle of interjection; it is
onomatopoetic, that is, its spelling reflects the sound a person makes screaming
in great pain: Woe! This is what will befall those who poreuomai, 'go from
one place to another,' or abandon the concept of grace. These apostates
have either rejected the grace of salvation, or, if saved, have rejected
the word of God. In either case, they have abandoned grace. And 'to abandon'
is the very definition of apostasy.
"The way of Cain" is the next phrase. The word for 'way' is hodos,
and it refers metaphorically to "a course of conduct, a manner of thinking,
feeling, deciding." In other words, it is using the same system of
thought that Cain used. And Cain's system of thought was based upon total
arrogance and lust for approval.
The Way of Cain
Cain was the first baby in the human race, and he was born only once; he
rejected salvation through grace and therefore was not born spiritually.
He was an unbeliever, and he was apostate, Gen. 4:1; Hebrews 11:4: "By
faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was
commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And
by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."
Cain attempted to earn salvation by works -- by what he did. Thus he was
the first legalist in history. And God found the works of Cain wanting;
Gen. 4:3,5,6. The lust of approval cannot endure being snubbed, Gen. 4:7,
where the word "desire" refers to the lust for approval. As a
result of his lust being frustrated, Cain murdered Abel, Gen. 4:8, I John
3:12. "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered
his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil
and his brother's were righteous."
Abel was sacrificing animals to God; the blood of the animals looked forward
to Christ on the Cross. This indicates Abel's belief in Christ as his savior.
Whereas, Cain brought only ashen (non-blood) sacrifices. The animal sacrifices
of the Old Testament were analogous to our present communion table; Old
Testament believers looked forward to the Cross and remembered. We look
back and remember.
Death taught death. The death of the animal sacrifice planted an idea in
Cain's mind: might not Abel also bleed to death if his throat were cut?
And the principle here is this: Apostates do not view grace or its adherents
favorably.
According to I John 3:12, not only was Cain's lust for approval frustrated,
but he was also jealous of the sufficiency of Abel's sacrifice. Cain desired
the approval of God based on his rules and his works. He tried to dictate
sufficiency to God. After all, though, God makes the rules. And His rule
is grace -- Jesus Christ is the only sufficient One, Eph. 2:8,9; Titus 3:5:
"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because
of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by
the Holy Spirit."
Consequently, "the way of Cain" is the avenue of misery and woe.
Note that Cain refused to sacrifice (kill) an animal to depict the sacrifice
of Christ, whom he had cast aside. In contrast, though, it was easy to kill
a man, his own brother, because of arrogance and a frustrated lust for approval.
The error of Balaam and the rebellion of Korah continue the illustration
of the characteristics of apostates. The characteristic of Cain was lust
for approval. And as we will see, the characteristic of Balaam was lust
for money (materialism), and the attribute of Korah was lust for power and
rebellion.
The story of Balaam is found in Numbers 22, Jude 11, II Peter 2:15 and Revelation
2:14: "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people
there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the
Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual
immorality."
Balaam was a believer; he was in apostasy; he was from Pethor, a city in
Mesopotamia, and he was a Midian. He possessed the gift of prophecy although
he did not hold the office of prophet. Balaam was renowned for his prophecies,
and as a result became conceited and arrogant. The date is approximately
1401 BC. The Jews of the Exodus have encamped on the Plain of Moab. Balak,
the king of Moab, fearing for his kingdom and his power, wanted the Jews
cursed. Therefore, he sent negotiators to Balaam with promises of fantastic
wealth, if Balaam would place a curse on the Jews.
The narrator of the story in Numbers 22 is Moses. Moses received this information
after the fact, from God. So the events surrounding Balaam were unknown
to the Jews on the Plain of Moab. Nor did the Jews know that Balak was attacking
them spiritually. The Jews were unaware that Balaam attempted to curse them
three times from three different mountain tops. Additionally, the Jews at
this time were also entering into apostasy, they were discontented.
As already stated, Balak was afraid for his power and his kingdom. However,
Balak had nothing to fear from the Jews, because of Deuteronomy 2:9, which
says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Do not harass the Moabites or provoke
them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given
Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.'" In other words, Balak's
kingdom was safe.
The name Balaam means "destroyer of the people." Evidence that
Balaam was a believer is found in Numbers 23:12; also in the fact that the
Angel of the Lord spoke to Balaam; the Lord actually placed words in Balaam's
mouth, according to Numbers 23:5,12,16; Balaam calls the Lord 'his God;'
and the fact that God the Holy Spirit endued Balaam when he spoke. All these
factors assert that Balaam was a believer; he was, however, in apostasy.
In the narration of the events of Balaam, the permissive will of God, the
prevailing will of God, and the directive will of God are ascertained. The
permissive will of God allows Balaam to utilize his free will, and even
warns him; whereas the prevailing will of God precludes Balaam from cursing
Israel, as this is not in God's Plan for Israel. Note that God did not coerce
Balaam's free will, He merely substitutes His words for Balaam's words in
Balaam's mouth. God overrules, but does not destroy free will. And God's
directive will to Balaam instructed Balaam not to go, and not to curse the
Jews. Balaam disobeyed.
Balaam and the Will of God
Balaam had decided to accept the fee offered by Balak before he professedly
consulted God. Thus, Balaam has already said 'no' to the directive will
of God. As noted, God did not coerce or tamper with Balaam's free will;
however, God did punish Balaam's disobedience. Balaam even has the colossal
effrontery to attempt to persuade God to change His directive will; and,
of course, God does not subsidize lust. Thus Balaam's lust for money took
precedence over God's directive will. Even so, God graciously attempted
to prevent Balaam from traveling to Moab, to the extent of having Balaam's
donkey speak.
Bamoth Baal
This term refers to the "high places" upon which Baal was worshipped
in Moab, i.e., on the mountain tops. From these vantage points, Balaam attempted
to curse the Jews.
Numbers 23:1 "Balaam said, 'Build me seven altars here, and prepare
seven bulls and rams for me.'"
Now why does Balaam ask for seven altars to be constructed? For two reasons:
1) to impress Balak and superficially provide dollar value for services
rendered, and 2) because to the apostate seven is a lucky number. Whereas,
in truth, seven is the number of grace.
The bullock was the sacrifice related to confession of sin in Leviticus,
and the ram was the sacrifice utilized in the burnt offering, which offering
taught the principle of propitiation. However, in both cases only one offering
is required, not seven. Only Christ is required. Thus, in apostasy, Balaam
has distorted grace.
Numbers 23:5 "The Lord put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, 'Go
back to Balak and give him this message." The term for 'Lord,' here,
is ruach adonai, God the Holy Spirit.
Numbers 23:9 "From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view
them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves on of
the nations."
In this verse Balaam "sees" and "views" the Jews; that
is, he sees them twice. This 'twofold' seeing connotes that Israel was unique,
and always will be, and that they were different from other nations in their
separation from heathenism or disbelief.
In Numbers 23:10, the phrase "dust of Jacob" refers to the Jews
and the fact that even though they have failed, they were still alive. Just
as Jacob failed and died physically, his name was also changed to Israel
(prince of God), and though now physically dead he is alive in Paradise;
all this through the grace of God. So, also, the Jews.
Balaam should have joined the Jews on the Plain of Moab; he should have
separated from the heathenism of Moab. However, Balaam's lust for money
was more real to Balaam than God.
God's Use of Balaam to Prophesy the Truth of Christ
Numbers 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will
crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth."
"The star out of Jacob" is Jesus Christ at the First Advent, or
on the Cross. And "the scepter out of Israel" is Christ at the
Second Advent, or the restoration of Israel. And the "sons of Sheth"
refers to arrogant unbelievers.
Numbers 24:20 "Then Balaam saw Amalek and uttered his oracle: 'Amalek
was first among the nations, but he will come to ruin at last.'" Here,
Amalek is described as the first anti-Semitic nation in history.
Numbers 24:21 "Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle: 'Your
dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock.'" The Kenites
were a nomadic group of metal workers, who although believers, as designated
in the phrase "nest in a rock," were later destroyed by the apostasy
of false security in human strength.
Numbers 24:23 "Ah, who shall live when God does this?" This refers
to judgment from God; and "who shall live?" refers to those who
are believers, to those who live because of God's grace; in other words,
they will live by grace alone, by the mercy of God.
Numbers 24:24 "Ships will come from the shores of Kittim; they will
subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin." Kittim refers
to the Greek Sea Peoples and eventually Alexander the Great, who destroyed
the Persian Empire (Eber), which previously destroyed the Assyro-Babylonian
Empire (Asshur). In the end, though, all who live by arrogance and their
own might will come to "ruin." Only those who live by grace will
survive.
II Peter 2:15-19: Apostasy Described and Balaam the Example
"They have left the straight way (the way of grace, the way of God's
Word, the way of humility) and wandered off to follow (to pursue) the way
of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness (lusted arrogantly
after money). 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey -- a
beast without speech -- who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the
prophet's madness (lust). 17 These men (false teachers) are springs without
water and mists driven by a storm (unstable, rootless, not grounded, constantly
changing according to whim). Blackest darkness (Torments and then the Lake
of Fire) is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and,
by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice
people who are just escaping from those who live in error (lustful arrogance).
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity
-- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him."
Thus the 'error of Balaam' was the lust for money, or materialism lust.
In due time, the Jews allowed themselves to be blighted by Balaam. Balaam
advised Balak to entrap the Jewish males by intrigue, i.e., first, seduce
them sexually with the beautiful women of Moab; second, seduce them spiritually
with the cult of Baal. And Balak did this by opening pseudo-brothels in
tents and issuing invitations, literally, to the males of the Exodus generation.
Balaam's End
Balaam died the 'sin unto death' while fighting for the Moabites against
the Jews, Numbers 25:1, 31:16, and Revelation 2:14.
Money Lust
Money is defined as a "medium of exchange and measure of value."
And it is not evil for Christians to accumulate money or to use money. The
use of coins was invented by Croesus, king of Lydia, in the sixth century
BC. One of Croesus' passions was counting his money; however, he found it
awkward to fondle ingots. Then one day he decided to have the ingots cut
up into coins, upon which he later placed his own silhouette, thus giving
coins 'faces.' When Cyrus the Great conquered Lydia, he confiscated most
of Croesus' wealth and admired the coins; he, in turn, began using coins
to store his wealth and to commemorate certain events. But the use of coins
as a system of exchange was initiated by Alexander the Great. After he conquered
Cyrus, he looted all of Cyrus' vaults and found the coins. He, too, imitated
the idea, but additionally, he began circulating the coins as payment for
debts and as rewards.
In Scripture, the first recorded business transaction took place in Genesis
23:9: "Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site
among you." And Jeremiah 32:44 says, "Fields will be bought for
silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory
of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah..."
These two passages, and many others in between, confirm that monetary transactions
took place and are legitimate. In other words, it is not evil or a sin to
have money or engage in the making of money.
'Giving' is a part of the concept of money. II Corinthians 8,9, assert that
giving is a statement of the saint's royal priesthood, and is done as "unto
the Lord."
"Love of money," or money as god is indicative of materialism
lust, and makes the saint a slave to money lust rather than the master of
money. Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:9,11,13.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and Money."
In other words, you may have all the money you want, you may enjoy money,
you may use money as your slave, but God must have the place of highest
priority in the saint's life.
To the unbeliever, money poses the following obstacles:
1. Money cannot buy salvation, I Peter 1:18,19, Mark 8:36,37.
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his
soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Indeed, the
coin of salvation is the 'blood of Christ.'
2. The rich are apt to put their faith into money, and to attempt to purchase
love, friends, sex, security, etc., through money. Mark 10:23-25: "Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for the rich to
enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus
said again, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God.'"
3. Money hinders unbelievers from seeking salvation, Luke 16:19-31.
4. According to Proverbs 11:4,28, and Proverbs 13:7,11, money is worthless
before the Justice of God. In other words, money has no impact on God.
To the saint, money also poses difficulties:
1. In Jude 11, our passage, the 'error of Balaam,' i.e., the
lust for money leads to destruction.
2. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon asserts that "the love of money" (lust
for money), not money itself, is meaningless, Eccl. 5:10-6:2.
3. Acts 5:1-10, states that Ananias and Sapphira, who were both believers,
were guilty of both monetary lust and approval lust.
4. I Timothy 6:3-12, 17,18,19 states the principle of monetary lust.
5. James 4:13 - 5:6, teaches that monetary lust diverts believers from spiritual
growth and spiritual maturity because they seek security in wealth.
The Gr. word for "error" in Jude 11 is plane, and it means 'delusion
or deceit.' And there are three 'delusions' associated with money:
1. Money is happiness, Eccl. 5:20 cf. Eccl. 6:2.
2. Money provides security, Matthew 6:24-33.
3. Money can buy anything, James 5:1-6. [2]
The third attribute of apostates is now stated thusly, "they have been
destroyed in Korah's rebellion." The rebellion of Korah was motivated
by a lust for power. And the story is related by Moses in Numbers 16. The
revolution had three primary co-conspirators: Dathan, Abiram and Korah.
Dathan and Abiram were of the tribe of Reuben, the firstborn of Joseph.
Korah was of the tribe of Levi; in fact, he was first cousin to Moses and
Aaron. Dathan and Abiram, as members of the firstborn tribe, presumed that
they should have the civil control that Moses had. Simply put, they lusted
for Moses' power. Whereas, Korah lusted for the priesthood, that position
that Aaron held. Scripture states that Korah was jealous of both Moses and
Aaron, and lusted for their positions of power.
Korah's revolution also involved 250 officials, and princes of Israel. These
men revolted against Moses for personal reasons, most of which were grudge-related
and based on resentment and jealousy.
Korah, Dathan and Abiram were judged by God in Numbers 16:32. They were
swallowed up by the earth. The 250 sub-conspirators were consumed by fire
from God in Numbers 16:35. Note, then, the attributes of power lust: power
lust rejects legitimate authority; power lust attempts to displace authority;
and obviously, power lust desires power.
Revolution
God does not sponsor revolution against bona fide authority, Romans 13:1-7,
Numbers 16, I Peter 2:13,14. And according to Isaiah 1:3-5 and 59:13, revolution
stems from apostasy. Too, revolution is described as anti-God in Isaiah
31:6. Jeremiah 5:23 states that revolution occurs among believers because
of spiritual apostasy. And Isaiah 11:13, I Kings 12:19 and II Chronicles
10:19, all assert that jealousy is the motive behind revolution.
Ezekiel 2:3-10, states that the words of the prophets to Israel were designed
to warn the Jews of their spiritual revolt against God. And notably, Romans
1:19-26 teaches that heathenism is the direct result of an individual revolt
against the authority and grace of God; the result of this revolt is degeneracy,
according to Romans 1:27-32. [3]
Notes:
[1] The Way of Cain, originally compiled and explicated by Robert Thieme,
M.Div.; altered and revised by R.E. Radic, Th.D., S.T.D.
[2] Doctrine of Money, originally compiled by Robert Thieme, M.Div.; revised
and altered by R.E. Radic, Th.D., S.T.D.
[3] Thieme, Robert. Robert Thieme first compiled the data on Revolution;
from undated notes; altered and appended by R.E. Radic.
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