Jude’s criticism of the ‘ungodly men’ who entered the church and laboured to deceive the Lord’s people continues unabated. He first denounced them by linking them to examples of God’s judgment in Egypt, Sodom and upon the fallen angels. Then he likened them to some of the most disreputable characters in the Old Testament scriptures. Now he describes their barren state and self-serving actions. All who look to such men for spiritual help will be poorly served. Jude’s need to write Jude has the spiritual wellbeing of believers at heart. These verses are warnings to the Lord’s people to resist false teachers, to reject false teaching and to call-out inappropriate conduct that contradicts the true, life-changing gospel of God’s grace. The church is the society…

Jude is continuing his attack on false teachers who have infiltrated the church and who risk polluting the purity of the gospel with their doctrines and practices. Jude is certainly not vague or evasive about his concerns. His language is personal and pointed as he calls down woe on these deceivers. In our verses today the apostle employs another three notorious examples from the history of the Old Testament people and labels his targets ‘brute beasts’.  Brute beasts By using this phrase ‘brute beasts’ Jude conveys the idea of both ignorance and sensuality. He has previously called these people ‘ungodly men’, now they are brutish and beastly. They are beast-like in their teaching because they are bereft of spiritual understanding. There is a brutish physicality…