Epistles Part 8

Epistles

E 08 Jude 12-13 Part 2
January 15, 2017
Part 8

NKJ Jude 1:12-13
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Review:
Within these two verses are 5 comprehensive physical analogies, figures of expression which provide a lot of useful descriptive information into the truth of what the false teachers were like and what had really been going on in this church, all from God’s perspective.

NKJ Jude 1:12-13
These are
(1) spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.
They are
(2) clouds without water, carried about by the winds;
(3) late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
(4) raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame;
(5) wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Review:
That which is translated “love feasts” does not explicitly indicate “feasts.”

The Greek simply says “” the agapes of you, and was a well-established reference to a sacred meal shared by the early Church, a special type of communal meal having particular significance for early Christians as a means to express their mutual affection and concern, a “fellowship meal” the purpose of which was to demonstrate sacrificial Christian love for one another as they all ate together and shared of what they had; not just food, but joy, encouragement, acceptance, faith, helpful information, insights, recognition, etc…

The meaning here is that at these feasts of sharing (agape feasts) the false teachers were undermining the whole purpose of these elaborate meals, as well as the faith and decent comportment of their fellow Christians who shared with others in a true spirit of koinonia, while the spies ate together unto themselves (middle-voice) expressing only their general selfishness and concern for their own interests.

They exhibited this divisive behavior fearlessly; that is, in a manner of attitude that was shamefully irreverent and disrespectful to others, to God, and to His purposes in all this.

The gatherings were intended to provide a godly environment of graciousness where one could forget his own concerns for a time and give his attention to the concerns and interests that others might have.

Again, as the term implies, the overall purpose of “their agapes” was to promote true Christian-fellowship, koinonia.

What ratio do we discover in the first analogy?

Jude pushes us to think on a higher plane, more abstractly, more collectively than thinking of the danger to an individual ship.

He wants us to consider the higher purpose to which each ship itself is dedicated.

un-avoided submerged rocky reefs/shipping

self-serving behavior at fellowship dinners/koinonia

I hope that is something you took home and thought about.

Let’s go on from here…

They are
(2) clouds without water, carried about by the winds;

clouds

waterless lit. “un-water”

; is an prefix that expresses negation or absence, that appears as before vowels.

We have many such words in English with this prefix.

amorphous without definite shape or form

atrophy without nourishment

apolitical without a connection with political matter

asymptomatic without evidence of disease

abyss without bottom

anorexia without longing, a condition

anemia without having enough blood
an without + haima blood

an without + hudros water

By comparison to this analogy, while it may seem to be a contradiction to say something like “waterless springs,” since the term “springs” would normally imply the existence of water; in reality, the meaning of “waterless springs,” for example, is that of “water springs which have ceased to produce water,” at a place where the expectation of finding water had always previously existed.

In the same manner, even if the clouds gave every impression that they contained water, dark and promising, it would be no contradiction of fact to say that from the perspective of the typical observer, they are “waterless clouds” if they fail to actually produce rain.”

The implication of this analogy applied to the false teachers is that they were like waterless clouds in the sense that they were all show, and no go, and that they seemed to promise great expectations, yet actually produced nothing of meaningful substance.

Let’s see what this analogy looks like as ratios…

clouds that give expectation of rain/no production of water

false teachers who make great showing/no production of godly substance

Furthermore, let’s make ratio application to the second part:

They are…carried about by the winds;

clouds motivated by vain winds/ unpredictability

men motivated by vain spirits/untrustworthiness

They are
(3) late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;

This expression should not be misunderstood to imply that the trees in question are barren because fruit has already been picked clean from them; but rather that the trees in question have not produced fruit at all, and even by the time of late autumn, when they certainly should have been harvestable, there has been no productivity.

Since this is the “familiar” ratio, given a thorough understanding of the implications of this ratio, words that might aptly express the attitude of a normal orchard-keeper in response to his assessment of trees in such a condition are these:

These trees are an absolute failure, a disappointment, totally useless… twice dead, ready to be pulled up by the roots;

We are still specifically referring to trees, but by analogy, the reference easily shifts figuratively to persons identified as false teachers.

There are two possibilities that this phrase is at first applicable to trees;

(1) on the basis that trees die while still standing,

(2) and that death and the uselessness of trees is fully confirmed by their being rooted up, and finally destroyed by fire.

This analogy is so familiar to us from Scripture that the ratio relationship is easily and quickly made, and so it is exactly the same as with all those we have read about in the Scriptures who have come under the judgment of God, including the false teachers in question here.

By analogy, we see a powerful message from Jude as to the present and future fate that awaits these false teachers.

(1) They are dead as they stand, once dead in spirit and soul. Though their flesh still lives; they are considered no more than the “walking dead.”

(2) They are as “good as dead” in a second sense through the certainty of a second death that shall take place at the Judgment Day, when they will be separated from the God of Life for eternity.

They are
(4) raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame;

By now, Jude’s analogies have become easier to understand and do not seem to require careful analysis. Their meaning seems more direct as they colorfully describe the true condition of the false teachers.

A literal translation of “raging waves…” gives us, “they are wild waves of the sea, with their shameful deeds showing up like foam...”

…not unlike the tumultuous sea of Galilee with which Jesus dealt, when wind and waves conspired against Him.

The word “foaming up” used here is “to cause foam to occur on the surface of a liquid,” and is the result of much agitation.

In its analogical sense, in some languages, this type of foam referred to in our verse is called ‘the saliva of the waves’ or ‘the whiteness of the waves.’

Since foaming at the mouth is also regarded as a sign of anger, and since the Hebrew concept of the shore line is the same as the outline of a mouth, it is possible to interpret the foam of the waves as being ‘the manifestation of vocal anger of the waves;’ thus adding the element of anger.

Apparently, their negative actions also involved angry hate speech coming from them, presumably that of a hateful rage that was ultimately directed toward God in Christ. when used to express the behavior of the false teachers.

Idioms are used often used to express behavior invoking disgrace, embarrassment, and shame.

The foam that results from the wild frothing of the sea is also analogous to the acts of defiance of social and moral standards, with the resulting disgrace, embarrassment, and shame.

We have already seen a trace of that in Jude’s comment, that they are ones “speaking blasphemy of divines.”

wandering stars

stars or planets, are intended as analogy, and the expression likens the godless people to ‘wandering stars’ or ‘planets.’

There also appears to be a double-meaning in that may also suggest the meaning of to deceive, to cause to be mistaken.

Therefore, such persons may be described not only as ‘wanderers,’ but also as ‘deceivers.’

Is there a historical connect between wanderers and deception?

Wanderers have always been known to cover their sins with “distance;” by moving away from them.

Here the focal meaning is upon the heretical nature of these godless persons who do not keep on the right course, and they are likened to stars that do not stay where they should stay.

The implication by analogy is that within the consecrated order of God’s creation, stars remain in stable fixed positions in the heavens such that they can even be used for navigation purposes, serving as a steady source for guidance, just as true teachers who work for the Lord can
be depended upon to teach truth that leads along the right path of God.

The idea of ‘wandering’ off-course makes the false teachers responsible for giving faulty guidance, which in turn gives us another definitive description of the false teachers in question……they were acting as faulty guides.

(dzophos) this phrase, ‘the gloom of darkness,’ is a Greek idiom that refers to the dark, gloomy nature of hell as a place of punishment.

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN