Read Jude 8–11
Questions from the Scripture text: What does Jude now (Jude 8) call the ungodly (Jude 4)? What three things doe they do? What illustration does he give of not blaspheming glory (Jude 9)? Of what do these dreamers speak evil (Jude 10)? And what do they do to the things they know naturally? In whose way have they gone (Jude 11)? In whose error have they run? In what manner? For what? In whose rebellion have they perished?
What does dreamer-religion cause? Jude 8–11 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that religion that is not bounded by Scripture results in men running off into their own destruction.
Dreamers. Even in New Testament times, dreams were not the ordinary way of Jesus’s teaching and leading His church. He sent apostles, prophets, and evangelists with the rest of His words for the church, and pastor-teachers each and teach what was being completed in the New Testament scriptures (cf. Ephesians 4:11–12, 1 Corinthians 13:8–10). But for some two thousand years, “certain men have crept in unnoticed” into the churches who are “dreamers” (Jude 8). Rather than yielding to Jesus as Master, Who teaches and leads us His own way (the Bible), they leave themselves open to external (demonic, etc.) and internal (their own flesh) influences that come in superstitious ways like dreams. Building on another foundation than the Scriptures is what leads to errors and ends like those in this passage.
Errors. Jude now gives us three dangerous errors into which such dreamers fall, three symptoms that will arise when man-made religion replaces biblical religion. The first is “defiling the flesh.” We have already seen this with the “lewdness” in Jude 4 and the warning examples in Jude 7.
The second dangerous error is rejecting authority. Without the Lord Jesus as our Master, the top of every chain of command is removed, leading to children disobeying parents, egalitarianism in marriage (denying/resisting the authority of the husband), congregationalism (authority being vested equally in the members rather than exercised by the elders and deacons), and rebellion against civil authority even its commands are not unlawful. We must watch against such errors, especially as they may be symptoms of “denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The third dangerous error is “blaspheming glories” (NKJ paraphrases it, “speak evil of dignitaries”). Without the Lordship of Jesus, ungodly dreamers have swelling spiritual notions and dabble in things above them. Jude 9 takes an illustration from outside Scripture, just as other passages do (cf. Acts 17:28, Titus 1:12), leading some to make the error of denying that Jude is Holy Scripture and others to make the error of treating Jewish fantastical books like Testament of Moses or 1Enoch as if they were Holy Scripture. But it is precisely because Jude and his readers know that these aren’t Scripture that the example is so powerful: even the Jewish fantastical literature didn’t presume to include men, or even archangels, rebuking the devil! Scripture never tells us to do so; it tells us to resist the devil (cf. James 4:7), but only the Lord Himself rebukes the devil (cf. Zechariah 3:2; Mark 1:25, Mark 9:25). When men are unmoored from Scripture, they lose the simple trusting in Jesus as Lord and obeying Jesus as Master, and foolishly and wickedly dabble with glories they do not understand.
Similarly, they speak evil of the glories of true Christianity. They speak evil of whatever they do not know (Jude 10a): Scriptural doctrine over-against their dreams, godliness and holiness over-against their defiling of their flesh, authority in marriage/home/church/state over-against their autonomy… dreamers speak evil against all of these. And whatever knowledge is ingrained in them (which even beasts have), they corrupt against themselves (which even the beasts do not do with their instincts!).
Dangers. Who would see Cain (cf. the judgment in Genesis 4:11–12), Balaam (cf. the judgment in Joshua 13:22), or Korah (cf. Numbers 16:24–34), and think that is the way to go? But Cain is representative of all who expect God to be pleased with what pleases them, and yet how much this is done in theology, worship, or moral values! And Balaam is representative of those who participate in spiritual things, not to serve the Lord and obtain Him, but to get for themselves some profit. And Korah is representative of those who resist authority. Being a dreamer brings one into no small danger. We should flee from dreamer-religion, self-indulgence, and autonomy, crying, “lest the earth swallow us up also!” (cf. Numbers 16:34).
Who in your life might be one of those who has “crept in unnoticed” according to the description in this letter? Where do you get your theology/worship/morality? Whom are you usually trying to please? How are you submitting to authority in the home/church/society?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when have been more impressed with things like dreams than with Your Word. Forgive us for when we have defiled our flesh by indulging it. Forgive us for when we have rejected authority and operated as if we are autonomous. Forgive us for when we have dabbled in spiritual things that we don’t understand. Forgive us for when, like Cain, we have expected You to be pleased with what pleases us. Forgive us for when, like Balaam, we participate in religious things as a way of obtaining earthly profit. Forgive us for when, like Korah, we have treated Your church as a democracy. Forgive us and deliver us from such wicked error and danger, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP106C “They Envied Moses” or TPH131B “Not Haughty Is My Heart”
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