Jude, Sensual, Divisive & Unsaved

Jude 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

This verse is the final direct conversation Jude has about these false teachers, though he will allude to them again toward the conclusion of his epistle. In this verse we learn three more things about the false teachers. In an effort to bring us into this culmination, we should recapitulate what Jude has already said about these men.

Verse 4

#1: They have crept in unnoticed. The church was ignorant of their infiltration.

#2: They are marked out for this specific condemnation. For the demonic doctrines and practices they invite and initiate in the church, they will answer to God.

#3: They turn God’s grace into lewdness. This means that they err in the camp of license. They see grace as a ticket to sin without fear because they do not understand God’s grace.

#4: They deny the Father and the Son as Lord. They serve their bellies and no higher calling.

Verse 8

#5: They are dreamers. They dictate the doctrines of their perverse and carnal imagination.

#6: They defile the flesh. Being carnal, they indulge the excesses of fleshly sin.

#7: They reject authority. Like Diotrephes, they answer to no one higher than themselves.

#8: They speak evil of dignitaries. They do not respect even angelic powers, since they do not submit to the originator of angelic majesties, God.

Verse 10

#9: They speak evil of whatever they do not know. Being ignorant of spiritual truth, they malign biblical doctrines and revelation.

#10: They corrupt themselves in whatever they naturally know. Being unsaved and carnal, they pollute themselves in what they do know, using it for pleasure and gain.

Verse 11

#11: They have gone Cain’s way. They follow the path of the world’s first murderer and Satan’s first disciple.

#12: They run in the error of Balaam. The wayward prophet was consumed with monetary gain. They see that error and consider it a virtue, following suit.

#13: They perish in Korah’s rebellion. Korah sought to usurp the rightfully given priesthood from Aaron’s lineage. These men seek to supplant Christianity with their own unique “brand” of it.

Verse 12 begins to liken them to things in nature.

#14: They are spots or reefs in our fellowship. They are fearless in our midst, being self-serving.

#15: They are waterless clouds carried about by the wind. They lack refreshment or life for others, but are driven by a force whose temperament radically changes in the moment.

#16: They are twice dead, fruitless trees. They lack nourishment for people, and are themselves already dead while giving the appearance of life.

Verse 13

#17: They are raging sea waves. All they bring to the fore is their own shame, or things that others would find shameful.

#18: They are wandering stars, reserved for eternal darkness. They have, by their lost estate, inherited the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his angels.

Verse 16, discounting Enoch’s incrimination in verse 15

#19: They are grumblers. They will have some grievance to air, even if they do not clearly air it.

#20: They are complainers. Grumbling gives way to voicing dissent about whatever it is that displeases them instead of resorting to sound doctrine to uphold their position.

#21: They are flatterers. They use words like weapons to seize positions of importance in the hearts of their hearers, based upon emotional response rather than truth.

Here are Jude’s three final observations, inspired by the Holy Spirit, regarding the false teachers. The first is that these men are sensual persons.

Sensual is the Greek term, “psuchikos,” and means a person who yields in everything to the human reasonings of the soul, not thinking there is need for help from above.

The false teachers have an absolute lack of spiritual thoughts. They do not give genuine regard to God or Heaven or eternity. Their minds are set on the things of the earth, what they can gain and how they can exploit them. James uses this term in James 3:15 when he writes, “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” These false teachers, choosing the flesh over the spirit, have yielded in their thinking to demonic influence. Now that is not to sensationally state that such men are possessed. That would be an easy and honestly infantile answer. No, any person that refuses to yield to God is in the same boat as these men, as it were. They are (as all believers once were) influenced by demonic wisdom that hastens to reject and refute anything pertaining to God and godliness.

They are men that cause divisions. Divisions occur within the church, often-times much more frequently than they should. This is what John meant of these men when he wrote, “They went out from us, but they were not of us,” 1 John 2:19. Paul also warned the church, telling the Ephesian elders, “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves,” Acts 20:30. To the Corinthian Christians, Paul tells them, “I hear that there are divisions among you…for there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you,” 1 Corinthians 11:18, 19. Divisions in the church, like divorce in the OT, was not something one should hope for or want, but it was what we would call a necessary evil. Men weaponize anything to gain advantage. Some saw Christianity and its influence as an opportunity for gain. But to truly gain they had to corrupt truth into some perverse parody molded by them, and dispensed by them, whose access was guarded solely through them, Galatians 4:17. The entire tenor of the epistle to the Galatians is a defense against OT Law keeping, a false teaching that had infected the churches in Galatia. In this instance division would be necessary because the false teachers would need to be removed from the congregation so their doctrine did not permeate the whole.

Christ divides, as He told us. But His division involves the truth, and how each of us individually must come to terms with what we do with that knowledge. False teachers divide because they seek to steal from Christ and lead people astray, after them, John 10:8.

Finally, we are informed that such men do not possess the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? It is incontrovertible evidence that these teachers (the ones specifically addressed by Jude) were not saved. This cannot be a blanket statement, however. Many seemingly godly men have fallen into deep error and apostasy, and there perished. Biblical examples like King Saul or even the mighty Solomon might be cited. But that does not mean they were unsaved; the Bible indicates both examples cited certainly were saved men. Neither can we look at a person and know beyond doubt they are unsaved. We can infer from their words and actions, but we do not know what is in their heart, or who they were before we knew them. Perhaps a godly man or woman strayed from following Christ and became part of a New Age movement, or decided that God is actually a trinity of female personas because God being male is sexist (an altogether different conversation for another time). This means they have strayed from the truth; but it does not mean they were never saved. Neither can we know; neither is it any of our business. That is between the individual and God. We are not judges; we are fellow servants, serving one Lord.

What we can know is that if someone proclaims that Christ is Lord and Savior, and believes the gospel of their salvation, they are saved. Why? Because the Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that this is how God chose to save humanity. The Roman Council of Trent declared that anyone who believes in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone was anathema, or accursed of God; but what is truly anathema is rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ and choosing to work one’s way toward Heaven when we are flatly informed that it is impossible and insulting, Hebrews 10:29. These men were unsaved and incapable of expressing spiritual truth, because they did not possess the Holy Spirit. Thus any testimony they impart regarding revelatory truth is invalidated. They are to be kept from teaching, Titus 3:10, 11. But they are not to be kept from hearing the truth, and to that end a Christian’s heart and the doors of his church must remain open to these men, so they, like us, may hear, believe, and be saved.