These are sensual
persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Jude 19
Dear Heavenly
Father, Thank You! Thank You for the many blessings this week. Please continue
to encourage my daughter on her chosen path.
Please continue to live in my son and direct him on how to balance
life-work-school-church balance. Please
calm our anxieties. Help us to focus on
you. Please be with me on this study. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Jude takes another
opportunity to describe these false teachers.
To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key
words and their companion or similar verses.
"Sensual"
in the Greek is psuchikos which means
animal, worldly minded, natural instincts, natural, sensuous, apart from God's
in working of faith, behavior more of earth than of heaven, corrupt desires and
affections, appetite for passions, carnal.
"These" refers to the mockers in the previous verse. These people are the scoffers, false
teachers, and deriders. They speak,
taunt, ridicule in a scornfully way.
They express contempt for God.
They tease or laugh in a contemptuous manner. They feel that God is beneath consideration
and is worthless. These haughty people
are also consumed with an appetite for animal, corrupt, and carnal passions.
"Cause
divisions" in the Greek is apodiorizo which
means make a distinction, invidious (likely to cause resentment or anger since
unjust or unfair) distinctions, divide by limits, separate, disjoin, draw
boundaries, making divisions or separations.
This is the only time that this word is used in the Bible. These false teachers encourage resentment
that causes feelings of unfairness or injustice which lead to congregations
breaking up or splitting.
"Having"
in the Greek is echo which means hold,
possess, regard, consider, keep, comprise, involve. "Not" in the Greek is me which means not, lest, negates the
underlying idea, ruling out possibilities.
These people don't have something.
They are devoid of it.
"Spirit"
in the Greek is pneuma which means wind, breath, movement of air (gentle blast),
breath of nostrils or mouth, Holy spirit, human soul that has left the body,
the power by which a human feels-thinks-wills-decides (soul), divine nature of
Christ, God's power and agency. Romans
8:9 states "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His." Philippians 3:3
states "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." The false teachers are devoid of God.
From this passage, I
have to ask myself. Am I driven and
directed by my worldly minded passions?
What is my focus? If I don't live
my life and see the world through God's lenses, I can loose my way. I can be captured by the world which is
consumed with sensuous things. Money and
things never fulfill, but serving God does.
Do my actions and
speech cause divisions in the Church?
When I speak of the Church, I'm not talking about a congregation of
people but God's church. For when you
speak Truth, you will cause divisions.
God's Word is sharper than a two edged sword. As part of His Church, the world will always
be watching and hoping for a fall. So,
don't ever think that no one is watching or listening - they are - especially
if you cut them off in traffic. That bumper sticker was a good idea at the time.
Finally, no one said
that life was going to be fair. If it
was, all of us would be condemned - that
is the fair justice required for our sin.
Condemnation is the impartial and just treatment without favoritism or
discrimination. But thank God, that
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Resist the resentment that the world pushes
on you. Focus on God's greatest gift,
Christ. Let the Holy Spirit direct and
empower you for whatever task God has for you.
These are the ones
who are [agitators] causing divisions—worldly-minded [secular, unspiritual,
carnal, merely sensual—unsaved], devoid of the Spirit.
Amplified Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment