Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jude 1:8-15

The apostle here exhibits a charge against deceivers who were now seducing the disciples of Christ from the profession and practice of his holy religion. He calls them filthy dreamers, forasmuch as delusion is a dream, and the beginning of, and inlet to, all manner of filthiness. Note, Sin is filthiness; it renders men odious and vile in the sight of the most holy God, and makes them (sooner or later, as penitent or as punished to extremity and without resource) vile in their own eyes, and in... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:11

1:11 Woe to them because they walk in the way of Cain; they fling themselves into the error of Balaam; they perish in Korah's opposition to God. Jude now goes to Hebrew history for parallels to the wicked men of his own day; and from it he draws the examples of three notorious sinners. (i) First, there is Cain, the murderer of his brother Abel ( Genesis 4:1-15 ). In Hebrew tradition Cain stood for two things. (a) He was the first murderer in the world's history; and, as The Wisdom of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

1:12-16 These people are hidden rocks which threaten to wreck your Love Feasts. These are the people who at your feasts revel with their own cliques without a qualm. They have no feeling of responsibility to anyone except themselves. They are clouds which drop no water but are blown past by the wind. They are fruitless trees in autumn's harvest time, twice dead and torn up by the roots. They are wild sea waves, frothing out their own shameless deeds. They are wandering stars and the abyss of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

(ii) These wicked men revel in their own cliques and have no feeling of responsibility for anyone except themselves. These two things go together for they both stress their essential selfishness. (a) They revel in their own cliques without a qualm. This is exactly the situation which Paul condemns in First Corinthians. The Love Feast was supposed to be an act of fellowship; and the fellowship was demonstrated by the sharing of all things. Instead of sharing, the wicked men kept to their own... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

Jude goes on to use a vivid picture of these evil men. "They are like wild sea waves frothing out their own shameless deeds." The picture is this. After a storm, when the waves have been lashing the shore with their frothing spray and their spume, there is always left on the shore a fringe of seaweed and driftwood and all kinds of unsightly litter from the sea. That is always an unlovely scene. But in the case of one sea it is grimmer than in any other. The waters of the Dead Sea can be... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Jude 1:12-16

In Jude 1:16 Jude sets down three last characteristics of the evil men. (i) They are grumblers, for ever discontented with the life which God has allotted to them. In this picture he uses two words, one which was very familiar to his Jewish readers and one which was very familiar to his Greek readers. (a) The first is goggustes ( Greek #1113 ). (gg in Greek is pronounced ng). The word describes the discontented voices of the murmurers and is the same as is so often used in the Greek... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jude 1:11

Woe unto them ,.... This may be considered as a commiseration of their case, or as a denunciation of deserved punishment, or as a prediction of what would befall them. The Arabic version prefaces these words with an address to the saints, "O my beloved": that what was about to be said might be attended to, as a caution and instruction to them, For they have gone in the way of Cain ; which was a way of envy, for Cain envied the acceptance of his brother's gift, and that notice which the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jude 1:12

These are spots in your feasts of charity ,.... Or "love". The Jews speak סעודתיה דמהימנותא , "of a feast of faith" F2 Zohar in Exod. fol. 36. 3, 4. . These here seem to be the Agapae, or love feasts, of the primitive Christians; the design of which was to maintain and promote brotherly love, from whence they took their name; and to refresh the poor saints, that they might have a full and comfortable meal now and then: their manner of keeping them was this; they began and ended... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jude 1:13

Raging waves of the sea ,.... False teachers are so called, for their, swelling pride and vanity; which, as it is what prevails in human nature, is a governing vice in such persons, for knowledge without grace puffs up; and this shows that they had not received the doctrine of grace in truth, for that humbles; as also for their arrogance, boasting, and ostentation; and for their noisiness, their restless, uneasy, and turbulent spirits, for their furious and wrathful dispositions; as well as... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jude 1:11

They have gone in the way of Cain - They are haters of their brethren, and they that are such are murderers; and by their false doctrine they corrupt and destroy the souls of the people. The error of Balaam - For the sake of gain they corrupt the word of God and refine away its meaning, and let it down so as to suit the passions of the profligate. This was literally true of the Nicolaitans, who taught most impure doctrines, and followed the most lascivious practices. Gainsaying of... read more

Group of Brands