Jude 1:16 by Precept Austin Commentary

Jude 1:16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.: Zeoutoi eisin (3PPAI) goggustai mempsimoiroi kata tas epithumias heauton poreuomenoi (PMPMPN) kai to stoma auton lalei (3SPAI) huperogka thaumazontes (PAPMPN) prosopa opheleias charin murmurers = Nu 14:36; 16:11; Dt 1:27; Ps 106:25; Isa 29:24; Lk 5:30; 15:2; 19:7; Jn 6:41,61; 1Co 10:10; Php 2:14 walking = Jude 1:18; Gal 5:16,24; 1Th 4:5; 2Ti 4:3; Jas 1:14,15; 1Pe 1:14; 2:11; 1Pe 4:2; 2Pe 2:10; 3:3 their mouth = Jude 1:15; Job 17:4,5; Ps 17:10; 73:9, 10, 11; 2Pe 2:18 having = Lev 19:15; Job 32:21; 34:19; Ps 15:4; Pr 28:21; 1Ti 6:5; Jas 2:1-9; 2Pe 2:1, 2, 3 Amplified - These are inveterate murmurers (grumblers) who complain [of their lot in life], going after their own desires [controlled by their passions]; their talk is boastful and arrogant, [and they claim to] admire men’s persons and pay people flattering compliments to gain advantage. Barclay - For these people are grumblers. They querulously complain against the part in life which God has allotted to them. Their conduct is governed by their desires. Their mouths speak swelling words. They toady to men for what they can get out of it. The Living Bible - These men are constant gripers, never satisfied, doing whatever evil they feel like; they are loudmouthed "show-offs," and when they show respect for others, it is only to get something from them in return. These are grumblers - In the preceding verse Jude referred to harsh words, and now he elaborates on some of those harsh words. They are described as "fate-blaming grumblers" (BDAG), those who discontentedly complain (eg, against God), those who are dissatisfied with their fate. The idea is not necessarily loud, outspoken dissatisfaction, but more of an undertone muttering. They are "inveterate murmurers" (Amp), "constant gripers, never satisfied." (TLB) Hiebert - "These (houtoi), like an accusing finger, once more points out these ungodly men (cf. Jude 1:8, 10, 12)." (Second Peter-Jude: An Expositional Commentary) Guzik - Grumbling “is to insult the God who gives us all things; it is to forget that whatever befalls us, nothing can separate us from His love, nor deprive us of that most priceless of all treasures, the Lord’s presence in our lives.” (Green) “You know the sort of people alluded to here, nothing ever satisfies them. They are discontented even with the gospel. The bread of heaven must be cut into three pieces, and served on dainty napkins, or else they cannot eat it; and very soon their soul hates even this light bread. There is no way by which a Christian man can serve God so as to please them. They will pick holes in every preacher’s coat; and if the great High Priest himself were here, they would find fault with the color of the stones of his breastplate.” (Spurgeon) (Jude - David Guzik's Commentary) Grumblers (1113) (goggustes from gogguzo = to grumble or murmur; cf goggusmos) is found only here in NT and describes a grumbler, complainer, murmurer. One who makes an audible expression of an unwarranted dissatisfaction. This word group is onomatopoeic and is derived from the sound made when murmuring or muttering in a low and indistinct voice with the idea of complaint. Goggustes is used of the cooing of doves. Goggustes is used in the Septuagint of Pr 26:21 to translate "contentious." Webster's 1828 on murmur. Noun = A low sound continued or continually repeated, as that of a stream running in a stony channel, or that of flame. 1. A complaint half suppressed, or uttered in a low, muttering voice. Verb = To make a low continued noise, like the hum of bees, a stream of water, rolling waves, or like the wind in a forest; as the murmuring surge. 2. To grumble; to complain; to utter complaints in a low, half articulated voice; to utter sullen discontent; with at, before the thing which is the cause of discontent; as, murmur not at sickness; or with at or against, before the active agent which produces the evil. Cross-References on Grumbling - 12" class="scriptRef">Ex 14:12, 15:24, 16:2, 7-9,12, 17:3 Nu 11:1 14:2, 27,29, 36, 16:11, 41, 17:5 Dt 1:27, 9:8,9:22 Jos 9:18 Ps 59:15, 106:25 Lk 5:30, 15:2, 19:7 Jn 6:41-43,61 1Co 10:10 Php 2:14 Jude1:16. See Torrey's Topic - Murmuring See Murmur, Murmuring - Hastings' Dictionary Hiebert - “Murmurers”, a noun used only here in the New Testament, depicts them as individuals dominated by a smoldering discontent which expresses itself, not in loud, outspoken outcries, but in muttered undertones....In 1 Corinthians 10:10 it is used of the low mutterings of resentment on the part of the sullen people of Israel in the wilderness. Jude does not indicate against whom the grumbling of these men is directed, but they obviously expressed their dissatisfaction with anything and everything that was not according to their liking. “Whenever a man gets out of touch with God he is likely to begin complaining about something.” It is an evil prohibited in Php 2:14-note and 1Pe 4:9-note. (Second Peter-Jude: An Expositional Commentary) William Barclay - 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. (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 Old Testament for the murmurings of the children of Israel against Moses as he led them through the wilderness (Ex 15:24; Ex 17:3; Nu 14:29). Its very sound describes the low mutter of resentful discontent which rose from the rebellious people. These wicked men in the time of Jude are the modern counterparts of the murmuring children of Israel in the desert, people full of sullen complaints against the guiding hand of God. (Jude - Barclay's Daily Study Bible) Finding fault (complainers=KJV, "Fault finders"=NET; "malcontents"=ESV) (1113) (mempsimoiros from memphomai = to find fault, blame + moira = a part or lot) literally describes those who are "blamers of (dissatisfied with) their lot" and so the are discontented complainers, constantly finding fault and blaming! VDP would describe them well - "Very Draining Person!" "They querulously (with whining, habitually complaining) complain against the part in life which God has allotted to them." (Barclay) Rogers - The word mempsimoiros was used to describe a standard Greek character: “You’re satisfied by nothing that befalls you; you complain at everything. You don’t want what you have got; you long for what you haven’t got. In winter you wish it were summer, and in summer that it were winter. You are like the sick folk, hard to please, and one who complains about his lot in life” (s. Green’s quotation from Lucian, Cynic, XVII). The word indicates one who complained against the God who has appointed each man his fate (TDNT; MM). (New Linguistic & Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament) Plummer says that mempsimoiros indicates their discontent “with the condition of life which God had assigned to them, and not only blaming Him for this, but for the moral restrictions which He had imposed upon them and upon all mankind.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary) Barclay - A mempsimoiros was a man who was forever grumbling about life in general. Theophrastus was the great master of the Greek character sketch, and he has a mocking study of the mempsimoiros, which is worth quoting in full: "Querulousness is an undue complaining about one's lot; the querulous man will say to him that brings him a portion from his friend's table: "You begrudged me your soup or your collops (slices of meat), or you would have asked me to dine with you in person." When his mistress is kissing him he says, "I wonder whether you kiss me so warmly from your heart." He is displeased with Zeus, not because he sends no rain, but because he has been so tong about sending it. When he finds a purse in the street, it is: "Ah! but I never found a treasure." When he has bought a slave cheap with much importuning the seller, he cries: "I wonder if my bargain's too cheap to be good." When they bring him the good news that he has a son born to him, then it is: "If you add that I have lost half my fortune, you'll speak the truth." Should this man win a suit-at-law by a unanimous verdict, he is sure to find fault with his speech-writer for omitting so many of the pleas. And if a subscription has been got up for him among his friends, and one of them says to him: "You can cheer up now," he will say: "What? when I must repay each man his share, and be beholden to him into the bargain?" Here, vividly drawn by Theophrastus' subtle pen, is the picture of a man who can find something to grumble about in any situation. He can find some fault with the best of bargains, the kindest of deeds, the most complete of successes, the richest of good fortune. "There is great gain in godliness with contentment" (1 Timothy 6:6); but the evil men are chronically discontented with life and with the place in life that God has given to them. There are few people more unpopular than chronic grumblers and all such might do well to remember that such grumbling is in its own way an insult to God. (Jude - Barclay's Daily Study Bible) Following after their own lusts - The idea is that the planned course of their conduct (poreuomai) is governed by their strong sensual desires. Wuest says these men are "ordering their course of conduct in accordance with their own passionate cravings." Following after (4198) (poreuomai from póros = a passing or passage <> peíro or peráo = to pierce or run thru) means to go from one place to another. Poreuomai is used figuratively here to describe their ethical "journey" which is to gratify their flesh, which is a life journey which ends in disaster! Hiebert comments that following after their own lusts "sets forth the real cause of their discontent. “After” (kata, “according to, down along the line of”) points to their standard of conduct, while the participle “walking” (following) or “journeying,” denotes a planned course of action. Their course of conduct is governed, not by the Word of God, but by “their lusts”, their own sinful desires and cravings. The inevitable result is dissatisfaction with what life brings them. (Second Peter-Jude: An Expositional Commentary) Plummer - Men who “walk after their lusts,” and shape their course in accordance with these, cannot be contented, for the means of gratifying the lusts are not always present, and the lusts themselves are insatiable: even when gratification is possible, it is only temporary; the unruly desires are certain to revive and clamor once more for satisfaction. (Expositor's Bible Commentary) Lusts (1939)(epithumia) describes strong desires which are perverted and unrestrained and which originate from our corrupted, fallen, anti-God Sin nature we all inherited from Adam (Ro 5:12). They speak arrogantly - Wuest says "their mouth speaks immoderate, extravagant things, catering to personalities for the sake of advantage." NLT says "They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want." Arrogantly (5246) (huperogkos from hupo = above + ogkos = swelling; only here and 2Pe 2:18-note) literally refers to that which has great swelling (excessive bulk) or is oversized, and conveys the idea of something larger than it has any right to be (cf "Supersized" portions at Fast Food restaurants). In classical Greek huperogkos was generally used of things of great or excessive size, and then came to be used of swollen and extravagant speech, haughty and bombastic. Rogers - The word is generally used of great or even excessive size, and in later writers it is also used of big words and arrogant speech and demeanor (New Linguistic & Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament) Peter uses huperogkos in a parallel description of false teachers in the church... 2Pe 2:18-note For speaking out arrogant (huperogkos) words of vanity (mataiotes) they entice (deleazo = same verb used in James 1:14-note describing our own inherent lust-it has power to draw us into the web so that we commit sin) by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, Huperogkos - 7 uses in Septuagint - Ex 18:22, 26; Dt 30:11 (translates "difficult"); 2Sa 13:2 (translates "hard"); Lam 1:9 (LXE = "has lowered her boasting tone"); Da 5:12; Da 11:36; The speech of the men described by Peter and Jude is full of high-sounding verbosity without substance. The pontification of these deceivers is with big, overswollen, ponderous words, this ostentatious verbosity being their "weapon" to ensnare the unwary with licentiousness as the bait on their hook. In short, what Jude is doing here is giving us characteristics which should help us identify these snakes in our midst -- they are boastful, pompous, haughty, tumid, grand, inflated, bombastic in their speech with the goal of such pretentious palaver (misleading, beguiling speech) being to impress and entice. Mark it down - High sounding words make a great cover for false teaching. "They impress people with their vocabularies and oratory, but what they say is just so much “hot air.”" (Wiersbe) It is fascinating that the same expression is used in the Septuagint translation of Daniel 11:36 to describe the Antichrist's blasphemous utterances against God. Here is Brenton's English translation of the Greek translation for comparison... And he shall do according to his will, and the king shall exalt and magnify himself against every god, and shall speak great swelling words (uses the same two words as Jude - laleo + huperogkos), and shall prosper until the indignation shall be accomplished: for it is coming to an end. (Da 11:36-note) MacDonald (Believer's Bible Commentary) - This is an accurate description of the words of many liberal preachers and false cultists. They are accomplished orators, holding audiences spellbound by their grandiose rhetoric. Their erudite vocabulary attracts undiscerning people. What their sermons lack in content, they make up for in a dogmatic, forceful presentation. But when they have finished they have said nothing. As an example of this sort of sterile sermon, here is a quotation from a well-known theologian of our (MacDonald's) day: "It is not a relationship of either parity or disparity, but of similarity. This is what we think and this is what we express as the true knowledge of God, although in faith we still know and remember that everything that we know as “similarity” is not identical with the similarity meant here. Yet we also know and remember, and again in faith, that the similarity meant here is pleased to reflect itself in what we know as similarity and call by this name, so that in our thinking and speaking similarity becomes similar to the similarity posited in the true revelation of God (to which it is, in itself, not similar) and we do not think and speak falsely but rightly when we describe the relationship as one of similarity." Guzik - These certain men knew how to use smooth, flattering words to get an advantage over other people. They would say anything - good or bad - to get an advantage. (Jude - David Guzik's Commentary) Flattering (thaumazo = be filled with wonder) people (prosopon = the face) (KJV = "having...in admiration") in the Greek is literally “admiring faces,” which is a Hebraism idiom (translated into Greek) meaning to "admire the face" and so to flatter or praise insincerely. The idea is to show partiality to others in order to glean material benefits from them. See the Septuagint uses of this Hebrew idiom - Lev 19:15 ("you shall not be partial to the poor" = literally in Lxx = "absolutely not receive the face" and "nor defer to the great" = literally "not admire [thaumazo] face [prosopon]" ); Job 13:10 ("show partiality"); Isa 9:15 ("honorable man") (cf prohibition of partiality in Dt 16:19, James 2:1-9). The idea is showing flattering admiration of individuals whom they seek to impress “for the sake of advantage,” not necessarily financial." (Hiebert) The "curry favor." (Curry = seek to gain favor by flattery or attention) Kistemaker - With their arrogance (Ed: "brag loudly" NLT) they flout (Ed: treat with contemptuous disregard) God's honor and with their flattery they deceive their fellow men." NET Note on flattering people - Enchanting folks (Greek “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive. Cleon Rogers - The expression is used to translate the Hebrew idiom, “to take, or raise, a man’s countenance,” i.e., to do honor or show favor to him. The formula had its origin in the oriental custom of making one to rise from the ground as a token of welcome. This imagery soon disappeared and the expression meant “to show favoritism toward” or “to curry favor w.” (Kelly). (New Linguistic & Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament) For the sake of gaining an advantage - Amplified = "they claim to admire men’s persons and pay people flattering compliments to gain advantage." ESV = "showing favoritism to gain advantage." NAB = "they fawn over people to gain advantage." Vincent explains "for the sake of advantage; their glory being in having a multitude of followers." NET = "enchanting folks for their own gain." Wiersbe = "They also use flattery to manipulate their listeners." Hiebert - They show warm interest in others, not to help them but to exploit them. Inconsistently, they stoutly refuse submission to God, where it is due, but servilely render submission to follow human beings, where it is not due. “As the fear of God drives out the fear of man, so defiance of God tends to put man in His place, as the chief source of good or evil to his fellows.” Whenever men refuse God His rightful place in their lives, they inevitably place Him with inferior gods of their own making. (Second Peter-Jude: An Expositional Commentary) Peter uses a different verb but conveys the same idea... and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2Pe 2:3-note) E C Pentecost sums up these apostates - Vocally discontented, sinfully self-centered, extravagantly egotistical, and deceptively flattering—such are apostates, then and today. Thus in unflinching terms Jude clearly identified the apostates, while at the same time exposing their character in order to warn believers of their true nature and their final destiny. He was laying the groundwork to call his readers to action against these ungodly men and their practices. (The Bible Knowledge Commentary) ><>><>><> SMOOTH TALKER - A man who was trying to explain the meaning of the word oratory commented with tongue in cheek, “If you say black is white, that’s foolishness. But if while you say black is white you roar like a bull, pound on the table with both fists, and race from one end of the platform to another, that’s oratory!” We can quickly be swept off our feet by the way people express themselves, even though we have some questions about their message. Jude warned us about those whose mouths speak “great swelling words” (Jude 1:16). The masses are often moved more by style than by content. According to Paul, the time will come when people will turn away from the truth of sound doctrine and tolerate only those who entertain and make people feel good (2Ti 4:3-4). So we must carefully analyze and evaluate in the light of the Scriptures everything we hear—even what is taught and proclaimed by the most eloquent of speakers. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by mere oratory—especially in the church! We need to be sure that the Bible teachers we listen to are “speaking the truth in Christ and not lying” (1Ti 2:7). Don’t let “idle talkers and deceivers” (Titus 1:10) confuse you. Eloquence is never a substitute for truth. We must beware of speakers who Distort and twist God's Word; They'll entertain and motivate, And call the truth absurd. —Sper To recognize Satan's lies, focus on God's truth.

Be the first to react on this!

Jude 1:16

Precept Austin Commentary

Precept Austin Commentary ( - )

Group of Brands