As Jude continued his short letter with a description of false teachers that had made their way into the church, he described them in some fairly blunt terms in Jude 12-13. I don’t think that we want to be like the group described there! They participated in meals with other Christians, so they may have looked OK on the surface, but they were condemned in this letter.
Reading on to Jude 14-16, we find a prophecy about these false teachers. Now, this prophecy comes from a book called the “First Book of Enoch”, which isn’t in the Bible, [see NIV footnote, as well as Holloway, p.139]. It seems from the book of Jude (which is a part of the Bible) that this writing – even if not written by Enoch himself – still accurately recorded an ancient prophecy, or at least a legitimate principle. Even if we didn’t have this quote from an extra-biblical source, though, we should know that judgment is coming from God upon unrighteousness, based on what we can read elsewhere in the Bible.
In those verses, sinners were convicted of both “ungodly acts” and “defiant words…spoken against [the Lord]”. We can sin with our behavior and we can sin with our words. It sounds like these false teachers that Jude was writing about were doing both. Remember the old song, “Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see” Later verses remind us to “be careful, little hands, what you do” and “be careful, little tongue, what you say” [Hymn: Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see] Good advice!
Continuing in the book of Jude, we find another prophecy, but this one isn’t credited to an ancient patriarch: it’s from Jesus’ apostles.
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
Jude 1:17-19 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jud.1.17-19.NIV
The Christians to whom Jude is writing must look out for others – “infiltrators”, we might say – characterized by two general sins: 1) they are “scoffers” [NIV] or “mockers” [NASB] and, 2) they do whatever they want, rather than following the direction of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully, if we’ve read enough of the Bible, we already knew that these behaviors were not signs of a mature Christian.
Perhaps one of the most insidious results of this sinful behavior, though, especially when it got into the church, is that it created divisions. There is one truth, delivered to us from one God. However, there are many untruths – many incorrect ideas from human beings and evil forces. For those of us working to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we should all be moving in the same direction. Conversely, for those following anything else, division is inevitable, since countless lies lead in innumerable directions.
So, throughout this letter, Jude provided some indicators of corruptive influences within the church, and we can probably use the same criteria today.
- Are there those in the church who use God’s grace as an excuse to do whatever they want?
- Are there those around us who mock what they don’t understand? Do those same people brag about themselves and make friends in the church only for their own benefit?
- Do we know others who claim to follow God, but consistently choose to act upon specific sins?
- Are some of those in our church focused on creating divisions, rather than unity in Christ?
- Or, have we fallen into any of those traps ourselves, and need to make some changes in our own lives?
I think that the holiness that Christians are called to demonstrate in our lives includes checking what is being taught and learned in our “local church” (i.e., the congregation where we worship and serve), and ensuring that we are sharing the un-modified truth, while correcting what is wrong. Correction should be loving (showing love for God, love for the person who needs to be corrected, and love for those who may be steered in the wrong direction by a false teacher), but when falsehoods are deliberately and repeatedly taught in a church, correction is probably also necessary.
At times, we must say, “That’s not what Jesus taught, and we cannot continue to allow someone who says that to represent the body of Christ.” And, there are times when words aren’t enough and instead, action must be taken to remove false teachers from the body of Christ. In certain cases, the body of Christ must openly disavow any connection with those whose teaching is contradictory to God’s word, including removing false teachers from church leadership.
In addition to what to look out for, though, there’s some advice coming up about what to do, rather than just what not to do. More on that in the next article, or you can just read the whole [short] book of Jude yourself!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for August 24, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – James & Jude, by Gary Holloway. © 1996 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 