Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, ¹  as a result of their dreams, ²  defile the flesh, reject authority, ³  and insult ⁴  the glorious ones. ⁵ 

Jude 1:18-22

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ⁶  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ⁷  1:19 These people are divisive, ⁸  worldly, ⁹  devoid of the Spirit. ¹⁰  1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ¹¹  1:21 maintain ¹²  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ¹³  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹⁴  1:22 And have mercy on those who waver;

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ¹⁵ 

Jude 1:13

1:13 wild sea waves, ¹⁶  spewing out the foam of ¹⁷  their shame; ¹⁸  wayward stars ¹⁹  for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness ²⁰  have been reserved.

[1:8]  ¹ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ² tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

[1:8]  ³ tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

[1:8]  ⁵ sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).

[1:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “be.”

[1:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”

[1:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “these are the ones who cause divisions.”

[1:19]  ⁹ tn Or “natural,” that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1 Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers).

[1:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “not having [the] Spirit.”

[1:20]  ¹¹ tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.

[1:21]  ¹² tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ¹³ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.

[1:13]  ¹⁹ sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.