But these speak evil
of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute
beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
Jude 10
Dear Heavenly
Father, as I work on this study tonight, help me to put everything aside and
let your Word speak. Convict me of my
missteps and help me focus on You. Never
again, do I want to use the excuse "I can't help myself." I'm free through your forgiveness. Thank you Lord. A-men.
Jude starts this
verse with "But these." Who
are "these." Looking at the
preceding verses, "these" are the dreamers. "Dreamers" in the Greek is epupniazomai which means I dream (see visions)
in my sleep, wrong kind of day dream, hoping (desiring) against God's kingdom
and then expects personal aspirations to be granted, completely out of touch
with God's kingdom, to be beguiled with sensual images and carried away to an
impious course of conduct. These are
people who claim authority by dreams that they've had. They rely solely on the strength of their
dreams. "These" are the false
teachers. To bring deeper understanding
to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar
verses.
"Speak
evil" in the Greek is blasphemo
which means means use abusive or scurrilous (scandalous claims to damage
someone's reputation) language about God, refusing to acknowledge good, revile,
calumniate (make false and defamatory statements about), vilify, slanderous,
contemptuous speech intentionally come short of reverence due God, mock, scoff,
heap abuse. It is composed of two words:
blax which means sluggish or slow and pheme which means reputation or
fame. They are trying to slow down the
reputation or fame of God.
"Whatever"
in the Greek is hosos which means how
much, how great, how many, all things, many, whatsoever, wherewithsoever. "Know" in the Greek is eidu which means remember, appreciate, see
with physical eyes, acknowledge, perceive.
They vilify all things that they don't acknowledge exists.
"Naturally"
in the Greek is phusikos which means
acting by mere instinct, in natural manner, under the guidance of nature, by
the aid of bodily senses.
"Know" in the Greek at this part of the verse is epistamai which means standing upon, gaining
knowledge through prolonged acquaintance, to be acquainted with, fix one's
thoughts on. It is made up of epi which is "fitting on" and histemi which is "stand." They vilify all things that they are
acquainted with under the guidance of nature.
"Brute" in
the Greek is azogos which means
senseless, contrary to reason, absurd, no logic, against divine reason. "Beasts" in the Greek is zoon which means living creature or living
being. Their thoughts are contrary to
reason.
"Corrupt
themselves" in the Greek is phtherio
which means spoil, ruin, deteriorate, decomposition, due to the corrupting
influence of sin, moving down from a higher level, perish. By their vilification of all things that they
know are true but don't acknowledge and all things that they know by nature, by
living in this world, these dreamers, false teachers become progressively worse
through the influence of sin.
The companion verse
is in 2 Peter 2:12 which states "But these, like natural brute beasts made
to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand,
and will utterly perish in their own corruption."
These false teachers
make no logical sense. They don't
believe what they have seen, what is truth, and what exists in reality. They don't believe what nature teaches them. They are mindless, because they don't believe
the things of God or the things of science.
They believe only what they want to believe. In the end, we all have to believe in
something. Believe in the Truth that God
supplies and the Truth that He shows us through His creation. Don't rely on men.
But these men sneer at anything which they do
not understand; and whatever they do know by [mere] instinct, like unreasoning
and irrational beasts—by these things they are destroyed.
Amplified Bible
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