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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jud_1:8-13
8Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 11Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
Jud_1:8 "Yet in the same way" The false teachers of Jude's day had similarities to the rebellious ones of old. The exact nature of the similarity is not specified.
▣ "these" This is Jude's way of referring to the false teachers who had invaded the church (cf. Jud_1:8; Jud_1:10; Jud_1:12; Jud_1:14; Jud_1:16; Jud_1:19).
▣ "also by dreaming" This term is used of OT false prophets (cf. Deu_13:1-5; Jer_23:25-32), those who claimed special revelations from God (cf. Col_2:18).
▣ "defile the flesh" This is the metaphorical use of the term "stain." There was obviously an amoral aspect to their teachings and/or lifestyles (cf. Tit_1:15). All of these OT examples involved some type of sexual sin (cf. 2Ti_3:1 ff; 2 Peter 2).
▣ "reject authority and revile angelic majesties" There are three characteristics of "these":
1. "defile the flesh"
2. "reject authority" (NASB, NKJV, NRSV)
"despise God's authority" (TEV)
"disregard Authority" (NJB)
3. "revile angelic majesty" (NASB)
"speak evil of dignitaries" (NKJV)
"slander the glorious ones" (NRSV)
"insult the glorious beings above" (TEV)
"abuse the Glories as well" (NJB)
It is obvious the first has to do with sexual sins, but what of the second and third? The second designation, "reject authority," has been interpreted at least two ways:
1. the Greek term for "authority" is kuriotçta, which is related to the term "Lord" (kurios), therefore some link this rejection (although the verbals are different) to the denial of Jesus in Jud_1:4 (or God the Father)
2. the Greek term for "authority" is kuriotçta, which is related to kuriotçs, used in 2Pe_2:10 (cf. Eph_1:21; Col_1:16) to refer to angels
This context seems to be referring to angels, #Song of Solomon 2 fits best.
The third designation uses an OT term "glory" (kabod), which was used of God (cf. Jud_1:24-25; 2Pe_1:3; 2Pe_1:17; 2Pe_3:18) and all things connected to God, especially in heaven or the life to come. In this instance Jude is picking up on the inter-biblical expansion of this OT concept to refer to angelic beings, beings of power and authority.
This might even refer to the rejection of the OT Law because the Jews believed that angels served as mediators for YHWH giving the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai (cf. Act_7:35).
This point of the context is the out-of-bounds lifestyle of "these" false teachers in the area of morality and authority.
Jud_1:9 "Michael" His Hebrew name means "who is like God" (cf. Dan_10:13; Dan_10:21; Dan_12:1). He is Israel's guardian angel. In the Septuagint text of Deu_32:8 all nations have an angel. In I Enoch 20 Michael is listed as one of the seven archangels. In the DSS Michael is the angel of light opposed to Belial (Satan), the angel of darkness (NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 452).
▣ "archangel" This term is only used in the NT here and in 1Th_4:16. In the OT it refers to a national angel (cf. Dan_10:13; Dan_10:21; Dan_12:1). There are apparently many levels of angelic authority (cf. Rom_8:38-39; Eph_4:21; Col_1:16), but they are never discussed in detail or defined in the Scriptures. Be careful of curiosity, ambiguous texts, and modern novels.
▣ "when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses" This relates to Moses' death and burial on Mt. Nebo (cf. Deu_34:6). The issue (according to Jewish tradition, not Scripture) involves Moses' body, which Satan claimed because he had sinned by killing the Egyptian (cf. Exo_2:12). Apparently Michael had been sent by YHWH to retrieve the physical remains of Moses, but was hindered by an angelic majesty (Satan, cf Job 1-2). This seems to parallel 2Pe_2:11.
▣ "The Lord rebuke you!" This is the same phrase used by the angel of the Lord to Satan in Zec_3:2. It could also be a quote from The Assumption of Moses, a Pharisaical book, probably written in the first century. We only know of it from a later Latin fragment and quotes from Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Didymus (also note Deut. Rabbah 10:11). It is used to show the Archangel Michael's respect for Satan's position (with the sons of God, Job 2, and at the right hand of the angel of the Lord in Zec_3:1), which was so different from "these" false teachers' comments about the angelic authorities. The term "Lord" refers to YHWH, while elsewhere in Jude it refers to Jesus.
Jud_1:10 This is a difficult verse to understand. It is paralleled by 2Pe_2:12. Jud_1:10 is a contrast to how Michael handled angelic authority in Jud_1:9.
1. what they do not know, they rail at (or blaspheme)
2. what they know, they know like irrational animals
3. what they know, will destroy (or corrupt) them
Their animal-like instincts for sex, sin, and rebellion (cf. 2Pe_2:12-14) will eventually destroy them (cf. Php_3:19). What irony, that this so-called special knowledge is the very thing that causes their demise (i.e., "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," cf. Genesis 3).
Jud_1:11 This verse is another illustration of Jude's use of threes (Cain, Balaam, Korah). It is structured in an OT prophetic pattern of a funeral dirge (cf. Isa_3:9; Isa_3:11; Isa_6:5; Habakkuk 2) or curse oath (cf. Deu_27:15-26). Jesus uses "woe" often in the Gospels (esp. Luke). Their destruction is sure! They allowed their own jealousy, greed, sensuality, and lust for power to destroy them (and their teachings destroyed others, cf. Jas_3:1).
F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, p. 134, tells us that Christian tradition (i.e., Epiphanius) used all three of these examples given as relating to certain Gnostic groups who used these very OT people as role models.
▣ "have gone" The verb poreuomai is used metaphorically several times in this book (and 2 Peter), referring to godless living.
1. Jud_1:11, "they went in the way of Cain"
2. Jud_1:16, "following after. . ."
3. Jud_1:18, "following after. . ."
4. 2Pe_2:10, "indulge" (lit. "go after")
5. 2Pe_3:3, "following after. . ."
▣ "Cain" The account of Cain's jealousy of Abel and his murder are recorded in Genesis 4. The rabbis use Cain as an example of a cynical, materialistic unbeliever in the Jerusalem Targum on Gen_4:7 and Pirke Aboth 5:19. Philo used Cain as an example of self-centeredness (Post. C. 38, 233).
▣ "Balaam" The record of Balaam, a prophet of YHWH, is found in Numbers 22-25; Num_31:8; Num_31:16. Balaam is an example of a worldly-minded prophet who led Israel into fertility worship as these false teachers exploited believers to improper sexual activity (cf. 2Pe_2:15).
▣ "Korah" Korah's sin was rebellion against God's appointed authority, Aaron and Moses (cf. Num_16:1-35).
Jud_1:12-13 Jude characterizes "these" false teachers as
1. hidden reefs (unseen dangers)
2. clouds without water (promise, but no fulfillment)
3. trees without fruit (promise, but no fulfillment)
4. wild waves (chaos and its debris)
5. wandering stars (metaphor of error and sin)
Numbers 2-5 may reflect I Enoch 2:1-5:4, which describes the orderly working of God's creation. Jude uses examples of created order that do not fulfill the expected assignment.
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NASB "hidden reefs"
NKJV "spots"
NRSV "blemishes"
TEV "dirty spots"
NJB "a dangerous hazard"
The Greek term spilas has two distinct meanings (Arndt, Gingrich, Danker, 2 ed., p. 762).
1. an older one from Greek literature of "hidden reefs" (i.e., unseen, unexpected danger)
2. a later sense of "blemishes," "stains," or "spots" (cf. Eph_5:27; Jas_3:6; 2Pe_2:13; Jud_1:23).
Option #1 fits the context best. The NASB and NRSV footnotes have "hidden reefs," but the word was also used in the NT of "spots" (cf. 2Pe_2:13).
▣ "love feasts" This was the common communal meal of the early church (cf. 1Co_11:17-22). 2Pe_2:13-14 reveals the sexual lust practiced by these false teachers even at the Lord's Supper and communal meal.
▣ "caring for themselves" This means "shepherding themselves" (cf. Eze_34:2; Eze_34:8-10), driven by passion, not by reason or love for God. This is the essence of sin—independence from God and His love and will for all mankind. God's love is corporate, for the whole. Fallen mankind's love is individual; "what's in it for me?" It is self-directed, self-seeking, self-centered.
▣ "clouds without water. . .autumn trees without fruit" These are metaphors that focus on the promise of something, but without fulfillment—no water, no food! The false teachers made many empty claims (cf. 2Pe_2:17).
▣ "doubly dead" This may be (1) a metaphor of apparent physical life, but in reality, a dead spiritual life; (2) a reference to the second death of Rev_20:14; or (3) both unfruitful and uprooted, thereby doubly dead.
▣ "uprooted" The TEV and NJB combined the last two descriptions as relating to the trees. The NJB has "like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead."
Jud_1:13 "casting up their own shame like foam" This seems to refer to debris left on the shore after a storm (cf. Isa_57:20). Its exact metaphorical meaning in this context is uncertain (cf. Php_3:19).
▣ "wandering stars" This refers to meteors or planets which had no regular orbit like the constellations and, therefore, came to be metaphors for waywardness or lostness. In I Enoch this metaphor relates to seven fallen angels (cf. I Enoch 18-21).
▣ "black darkness" The last descriptive clause of Jud_1:13 may reflect Jud_1:6 (cf. 2Pe_2:17 b), which refers to eternal judgment as "black darkness" (cf. I Enoch 10:4-5; 63:6; Jesus also uses darkness in Mat_8:12; Mat_22:13; Mat_25:30).
▣ "has been reserved forever" Here again Jude uses one of his favorite words, "kept" (cf. tçreô in Jud_1:1; Jud_1:6; Jud_1:13; Jud_1:21 and phulassô in Jud_1:24). It is a perfect passive indicative. The tense and mood imply that God kept them imprisoned in darkness in the past and they remain imprisoned (cf. 2Pe_2:17).