“Their Immorality” THEIR INSUBORDINATION (Jude 8b-c)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2025 8:07 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus: “Their Immorality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Jude 8b

            Message of the verse:  “defile the flesh”

            In yesterday’s SD we looked at what I stated was an introduction to Jude 8-10, and I stated that in this evening’s SD would look at two short sections that come out of this introduction, and then in tomorrow’s SD, Lord willing, I will look at the last sub-section to these verses.  The first one is from Jude 8b as seen above.

            Let us first look at the word flesh, which is “sarx in the Greek and this refers her to the physical body, and not the essence of depravity.  Now had Jude intended the later, he would have used another word, sarkinos, which Paul used in Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Now the word translated defile is from the verb miaino, which means to dye or stain something, such as clothing or glass.  Now in addition, it can mean “to pollute,” “to contaminate,” “to soil,” or “to corrupt.”  Now when it is linked with sarx, the reference is to moral and physical defilement, or sexual sin.

            John MacArthur writes “Apostate teachers are inevitably immoral, even if their immorality is not publicly known.  After all, they have no ability to restrain their lusts, and they are generally characterized as those who live in the passion of lust because they do not know God. (cf. 1 Thess. 4:5). Later in this letter, Jude wrote that false teachers are ‘devoid of the Spirit’ (v. 19), as is evidenced in their abandonment of the truth (cf. 1 John 2:19-23).  Thus they have no divine power to control their own sinful impulses (cf. Rom. 6:20-21; 8:7-8; Gal. 5:19), left instead to ‘indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires’ (2 Peter 2:10; cf. 2:18).  In time, the truth about their immorality will inevitably emerge (cf. 2 Tim. 3:1-9).”

THEIR INSUBORDINATION

“and reject authority, (8c)

            Now we have one more short section this evening, and then a larger section in tomorrow evening’s SD.

            Now we have learned that these apostate teachers love their immorality, as it follows that they reject authority.  Reject is from the verb atheteo, which refers to destroying something established, such as existing authority.  MacArthur writes that “the word rendered authority (kuriotes) is related to the more familiar term kurios (‘lord’).  Because they demanded to rule their own lives, apostates refuse to submit to Christ’s lordship over them (cf. v. 4).”  “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

            “The reality, however , is that they are much like the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus confronted in Matthew 23:27-28:  ‘You are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”   

7/29/2025 8:18 PM