Jude 12-15
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Jude 12
"These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without
the slightest qualm -- shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds
without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted
-- twice dead."
In verses 12 and 13 Jude provides five analogies to further describe apostate
false teachers (the Gnostics). And the phrase "these men" refers
to the apostates, who often follow the patterns just described in verse
11: the way of Cain (approval lust), the error of Balaam (money lust), and
the rebellion of Korah (power lust).
Jude describes them as spilas, which are 'shoals, or rocks covered by water.'
Thus, Jude is representing these apostates as hypocrites who seek to shipwreck
other believers on the rocks of their Gnostic-apostasy and arrogant hatred.
The rocks are, specifically, their hatred and arrogance, their lustful lifestyle.
And the water which conceals their lies is pseudo-love, with which they
camouflage themselves.
This hypocrisy is practiced blatantly, as depicted by the word agapai, which
refers to 'devotion-type love manifested.' This word connotes both an inner
and outer manifestation of virtue-love: the inward side being expressed
as an individual love for the three members of the Godhead, as an individual
love toward one's romantic partner, and as an individual love toward friends.
In contrast, the outward manifestation is expressed toward all members of
the Royal Family of God. This latter expression is characterized by a general
love toward other believers which is non-judgmental, and lacks arrogance
and hatred in any form. And the hypocritical apostates of Jude's day were
attending and participating in worship services, and in so called 'love-feasts',
and later, in Communion services, without being filled with the Spirit and
thus without this virtue type love. These apostates were, then, exploiting
their fellow saints.
The Love Feast and the Breaking of Bread
In the Gr., "to break bread," is klasai arton, and this phrase
comes from the Hebrew idiom paras lechem mxl srP. Both phrases refer to
partaking of food; just as, even now, the idiom 'to eat salt,' means eating
a meal among the Arabs. The Hebrew idiom had its origin in that a Hebrew
loaf of bread was made in cakes as thick as a finger, and were broken and
not cut. Thus, the phrase 'to break bread.'
Scripture citations are: Jer. 16:7, Ezek. 24:17, Hosea 9:4, Deut. 26:14,
Job 42:11, Isa. 58:7, Lamentations 4:4, Ezek. 18:7, Matt. 14:19, 15:36,
Mark 8:6,19, 14:22, Luke 24:30,35, Acts 27:33-36, I Cor. 11:24, Acts 2:46,
20:7,11 and I Cor 10:16. In each instance, the reference is to eating a
meal, not the Lord's table. These meals were called 'love feasts,' and are
comparable to our present-day fellowship meals within the local churches.
Note that over the course of time, the Communion Table or the Lord's Supper
was added at the end of these feasts. "Up to the time of Chrysostom
it followed the feast; but, as superstition increased, it preceded the feast;
but for 700 years after Christ they accompanied each other: and the Lord's
supper was unknown as a separate ordinance!" [1]
Up until the end of the seventh century, Lent was always concluded by the
agapai, or 'love feast,' "as the anniversary of the institution of
the Lord's supper; and in England the day was called Maunday Thursday, from
the maunds, i.e., the baskets or hampers in which the provisions were brought.
No one but Royalty now keeps up this ancient custom." [2]
Thus, initially, the idiom 'breaking of bread' designated the 'love feast.'
And only lately has the phrase designated the Lord's Table as a distinct
liturgical function.
"Eating with you without the slightest qualm," is the next phrase;
and suneuocheomai refers to 'being with or partaking of lawlessly.' And
this means that the apostate teachers are neither filled with the Spirit,
nor demonstrate virtue love; they are actors acting falsely.
And "they are shepherds who feed only themselves," means that
they are arrogant and reject the spiritual authority of the Apostles, pastors,
and the Scriptures. They feed only their own lusts.
In other words, these apostates totally discard, in their souls, the concept
of the New Testament Church, which was a place where believers assembled
under a pastor, who communicated the Word of God. And this type of assembly
is described throughout the Scriptures as proskuneo, which is translated
'worship,' but means literally, 'to kiss face to face.' Worship, then, is
kissing God.
Jude next describes the apostates as "clouds without rain, blown along
by the wind." And clouds without rain look pretty, but provide nothing
of value; just as these apostates act as Christians, but they do not have
the 'water of the word' in their souls (Eph. 5:26). And they are 'carried
around or seduced' by the wind; and the 'wind' refers to false doctrines
in Ephesians 4:14. So they are seduced by false doctrines.
Jude's next analogy is engaging; "autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted
-- twice dead."
The tree represents the believer, and 'without fruit' means no filling of
the Spirit and thus no production of divine good. And the trees, specifically,
are fig trees that were indigenous to Palestine and produced in the fall.
This autumn production provided good fruit through the winter, and such
trees were very valuable. Just as believers who produce divine good are
cherished by God. "The late figs grow on the new wood, keep appearing
during the season, and are ripe from August onward. They are dried for preservation,
pressed into cakes, and form a staple article of food (I Sam. 25:18; 30:12).
The tree was highly prized, and is often mentioned along with the vine (Deut.
8:8; Psalm 105:33; Jer. 5:17; Joel 1:12)." [3]
And these fig trees are said to have "died twice:" first, when
they did not produce fruit in autumn; and second, when they were torn up
for lack of production. This analogy is used by Jude to describe the apostates:
first, because of no filling of the Spirit, they produce no divine good;
second, because this deficiency, they will be "uprooted" or die
the 'sin unto death.'
Jude 13
"They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering
stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."
In verse 13, Jude continues the analogies describing the apostates. However,
verse 13 distinguishes between apostate believers (the wild waves), and
apostate unbelievers (the wandering stars), and describes their fulfillment:
'shame' for the believer/apostates, and 'darkness' for the unbeliever/apostates.
The apostate believers are pictured as "wild waves of the sea, foaming
up their shame." This means that the apostate believers are volatile,
just as waves; one moment they are passive, the next they are untamed. In
other words, they are not filled with the Spirit long enough to grow spiritually
or gain any understanding of God's Plan and grace. And just as waves crashing
on the shore, they "foam out," or quickly evaporate into nothing.
They have no power from the filling of the Spirit, no dynamics, no grace,
no virtue love. Thus, they are aischunai, "things to be ashamed of."
[4] They are an embarrassment to our Lord, however, they will still be
in heaven.
In contrast, the unbelieving apostates are called "wandering stars,
for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever." So just as seaman
fix upon stars for navigation, if believers fix upon the false doctrines
of these apostate "wandering stars," the believers will become
lost and wrecked. And for these unbelieving apostates is "reserved,"
tereo in the Gr., two types of darkness: skotos, which here refers to darkness
of the soul, and zophos, which refers to hell or 'torments' in the case
of men, and as we have seen, Tartarus for the angels of Genesis 6 and Jude
6.
Jude 14,15
"Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: 'See,
the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge
everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have
done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have
spoken against him."
Here we have a quotation or gnome from Enoch. This quotation is the generation
point for the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch, rather than the other way
around. Thus Jude is asserting that as long ago as Enoch, apostates and
the Baptism of Fire were prophesied. There is indeed 'nothing new under
the sun.'
Enoch was the son of Jared, and Enoch was the father of Methusaleh, Gen.
5:21, Luke 3:37. Both lived during the antediluvian period; and just before
the Flood took place, Enoch was translated into heaven (Paradise), and Methusaleh
died and went to heaven (Paradise). And two passages from Scripture, Genesis
5:24 and Hebrews 11:5, state that Enoch "pleased God." To this
is added, according to our passage in Jude 14, the fact that Enoch had the
gift of prophecy, and that he propheteuo, prophesied concerning, specifically,
the apostasy of unbelievers during the Tribulation (which is still to come)
of the Jewish Age.
The reference to the "coming of the Lord" in verse 14 of Jude
is to the Second Advent at the end of the Tribulation. And the phrase "thousands
upon thousands of his holy ones," is an idiom for a enormous, unknown
number of saints (holy ones) from the Church Age, who return with Christ
and, these saints are clothed with resurrection bodies. I Thess. 3:13b states,
"when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones." And Revelation
19:9,14 state, "Then the angel said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those
who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' 14 The armies of heaven
were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white
and clean."
Here, then, in verses 14 and 15 of Jude, Jude uses Enoch, who used the Second
Advent of Christ, to notify the unbelieving apostates of his (Enoch's) own
day as to their fate and the fate of all unbelieving apostates throughout
time. Now why would Enoch use the Second Advent as an example and not some
other period? Three reasons: 1) Enoch only had six prior generations to
glean from, and 2) apostasy will reach its greatest concentration just before
the Second Advent; finally, 3) our Lord actually deposits all unbelieving
apostates in the Lake of Fire at the Second Advent.
The Ungodly
Verse 15 of Jude uses the term "ungodly" four times. The Gr. is
asebes, and means 'impious' in the sense of rejection or unbelief. And note
that the 'judgment' comes before the 'conviction' in verse 15. Why? Because
judgment is the reason, the purpose, the objective, the intention of the
Second Advent.
The judgment is stated to be against "all", which is pas, the
adjective of totality, and refers to "all" of a distinct category,
which category is unbelievers. This category is further described as without
production of divine good (ungodly acts), without the filling of the Spirit
(ungodly way), without the perfect Righteousness of God (ungodly sinners),
and as blasphemers (harsh words) of God. Revelation 20:12-15 states that
they will be condemned by their own deeds, which deeds are recorded in the
Books of Works: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne, and books were opened.
"Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were
judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea
gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that
were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of Fire
is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book
of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Thus, the unbelievers will be judged not on the basis of their sins, for
those were judged at the Cross, but on the basis of their works of self-righteousness,
which self-works are insufficient. Only the work of Christ was sufficient
-- and the unbeliever has rejected it -- and selected to stand on his/her
own works. Hebrews 3:19 sums it up, "So we see that they were not able
to enter (either the Land or heaven), because of their unbelief."
Those in the "book of life" are not judged, because of the law
of double jeopardy, which is stated in John 3:18: "Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
The believer cannot be tried again for that which was already tried on the
Cross: the law of double jeopardy.
And after being judged they are assigned to the Lake of Fire. This concept
demands our attention:
The Baptism of Fire
The Gr. word baptizo means to identify one thing with another. Homer, in
the ix book of The Odyssey, used the word baptizo in his analogy of the
spear entering the eye of the Cyclops with the immersing of hot steel in
water by the smith: the steel was identified with the water. Herodotus used
the word baptizo in baptizing a new spear in pig's blood: the spear was
identified with its intent, to draw blood. And Euripides used baptizo in
identifying a sunken ship with the sea. Thus, the connotation of the word
is always 'identification with' something.
Actual/Real/Dry Baptisms
There are many baptisms in Scripture that are dry and that are real in the
sense that there is no metaphor involved.
1. Moses - I Cor. 10:2: "They were all baptized into Moses
in the cloud and the sea." Here, the Jews of the Exodus were 'identified
with' Moses as he followed the cloud (the Shekinah Glory) and crossed the
Red Sea dryshod.
2. Cross - Matt. 20:22: "'You don't know what you are asking,' Jesus
said to them. 'Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" Here, the
sins of the world are 'identified with' Christ on the Cross -- He is the
only one qualified to drink of the cup.
3. Spirit - I Cor. 12:13; Acts 1:5: "For John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts
1:5) "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body..."
(I Cor. 12:13) Here, God the Holy Spirit 'identifies' believers with Christ
by placing them in union with Christ.
4. Fire - Matt. 3:11,12; Luke 3:16,17: "John answered them all, 'I
baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs
of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his
threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Luke 3:16,17) Here, the believers
(wheat) are identified with Christ, and the unbelievers (chaff) are identified
with fire.
The concept of the Baptism of Fire is presented by Paul in II Thessalonians
1:7-9. And Matthew 24:36 presents an analogy to the Baptism of Fire. Note
that this is not a passage about the Rapture of the Church. This is confirmed
by the fact that at the Rapture the dead in Christ will rise first; in other
words, believers are removed from the earth at the Rapture. Whereas, at
the Second Advent, which Matt. 24:36ff. describe, unbelievers are removed
from the earth.
In Matt. 24:37 the Second Advent and the Flood are associated because unbelievers
were/will be removed from the earth in both instances. "The Son of
Man" is the title of our Lord Jesus Christ as manifest and true humanity.
And Matt. 24:38,39 depict apostasy before the Flood and before the Second
Advent of our Lord. In both periods typical events occur, and in both periods
there was/will be no interest in God. Likewise, unbelievers will be taken
from the earth in both periods. The one in the field taken is the unbeliever
being baptized with fire; the one remaining is the believer. The same with
the two women grinding, the one taken is the unbeliever, the one remaining
is the believer. At the Flood, the believer remained to enter the post-diluvian
period, and at the Second Advent, the believer will enter the Millennium.
Many of the Parables teach the concept of the Baptism of Fire, or 'identification
with' something. The Wheat and the Tares - Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; here,
the 'wheat' are the believers who enter the Millennium; the tares are the
unbelievers identified with the lake of fire. The Good and Bad Fish - Matt.
13:47-50; here, the good fish are the believers who remain, and the bad
fish are the unbelievers who go to the lake of fire. The Ten Virgins - Matt.
25:1-13; the five virgins with oil represent the believer going into the
millennium, while the five virgins without oil depict unbelievers baptized
into the lake of fire.
Ezekiel 20:34-38 presents the principle of the Baptism of Fire as it relates
to Israel: "I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the
countries where you have been scattered -- with a mighty hand and an outstretched
arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations
and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your
fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares
the Sovereign Lord. I will take note of you as you pass under my staff,
and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of
those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of
the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel.
Then you will know that I am the Lord."
And Matthew 25:31-46 presents the principle of the Lake of Fire as it relates
to Gentiles.
In this passage, the word for "nations" in verse 32, is ethve
in the Gr., and refers to 'gentiles.' Furthermore, the "goats"
are the unbelievers identified with fire, and the "sheep" are
the believers identified with inheritance. [5]
Notes:
[1] Bullinger, E.W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, page 841.
[2] Ibid., page 841.
[3] Davis, John D. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, page 183.
[4] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament,
page 17.
[5] Thieme, Robert. Baptism of Fire; from notes of June 1971; revised and
altered by R.E. Radic.
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