Jude 10a-The Unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Judaea Disrespected and Were Ignorant of Angelic Authority Over Human Government
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday June 21, 2022
Jude Series: Jude 10a-The Unregenerate Jewish Zealots of Judaea Disrespected and Were Ignorant of Angelic Authority Over Human Government
Lesson # 39
Jude 10 But these on the one hand are disrespecting these things, they are totally ignorant of, on the other hand, they are for their own selfish interests comprehending other things instinctively, like irrational animals. They are destroying themselves because of these things. (Lecturer’s translation)
Like Jude 4 and 8, Jude 10 is describing the unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age in the first century A.D. who were rebelling against Rome in order to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
The referent of the nominative masculine plural form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “these” is referring to the nearest antecedent in the author’s mind rather than the nearest antecedent in the context since the referent of this word are the unregenerate Jewish Zealots who were last mentioned and described in Jude 4 and 8.
If you recall, in Romans and Galatians, Paul describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching of the Judaizers and he also describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching which the Colossian Christian community was being exposed to at the time this epistle was written.
In our study of Colossians, we noted they were dealing with the Essene branch of Judaism with a tinge of an incipient form of Gnosticism that was found in Essene Judaism (cf. Col. 2).
Lastly, the apostle John describes in 1, 2 and 3 John in great detail the nature of the false teaching that the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia was being exposed to at the end of the first century A.D., which was docetic Gnosticism.
In stark contrast to these letters, Jude does not describe the nature of any false teaching that the Christian community in Judaea was being exposed to.
This author is in agreement with Herbert Bateman IV who asserts that the individuals who Jude condemns in this epistle are the Zealots or Sicarii who revolted against the Roman Empire and were attempting to persuade the Christian community to join in this revolt.
Thus, in this letter, Jude wants the Jewish Christian community in Judaea to obey the governmental authorities and reject this rebellion against Rome led by these Zealots since it would not be justified civil disobedience.
In other words, to rebel against Rome would be to reject God’s will for their lives.
As we established, Jude was written soon after the death of James and just prior to the Jews war with Rome in 66-70 A.D. and thus Jude was written somewhere between 62-66 A.D.
During the mid-60s the relationship between Rome and Judaea was deteriorating rapidly.
The Zealots or Sicarii they were called, were leading the revolt against Rome and were attempting to seduce Judaeans to rebel against Rome including attempting to persuade the Christian community to join the movement.
When Jude was written, this Judaean revolt led by the Zealots was moving into the cities of Caesarea as well as Jerusalem and stretched out into the desert regions of Judaea including the hill country as well as Samaria and Galilee.
Therefore, the epistle of Jude was attempting to prevent the Jewish Christian community in Judaean from being seduced into taking part in this Zealot led revolt against Rome.
Jude 10 is composed of a correlative clause which is the followed by a declarative statement.
The correlative clause is composed of two declarative statements and a comparative clause, which modifies the second declarative statement.
The first declarative statement asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots were totally ignorant of the authority of Satan and his angels, and which authority they exercise over all human governmental authority with the exception of the nation of Israel.
The second declarative statement asserts that these individuals for their own selfish interests were comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.
Therefore, this correlative clause is uniting the concepts of these Jewish Zealots disrespecting the authority of Satan and the fallen angels by rejecting human governmental authority, which Satan and his angels exercise authority over and these Jewish Zealots comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.
The ignorance of these individuals was manifested by leading Judaea in a rebellion of against Rome in the first century A.D. since this demonstrated their disrespect for the authority of Satan and his angels since they authority exercise over human governmental authority.
The referent of the accusative neuter plural form of the correlative pronoun hosos (ὅσος), “these things” in the first declarative statement in this correlative clause is the authority the Lord Jesus Christ delegated to Satan and the fallen angels over human governmental authority on the earth.
The word is in the plural because it refers to not only the authority of Satan and the fallen angels but also who they exercise authority over, namely the human governmental authority on the earth.
The correlation is between the Jewish Zealots ignorance of these things and that they absolutely do not understand this relationship between Satan and the fallen angels and human governmental authority.
Therefore, this word is marking the correlation between what these Jewish Zealots are totally ignorant of and that which they are not ignorant of.
Therefore, it is marking the correlation between these Jewish Zealots being totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and the fallen angels exercise their authority over the human governments of planet earth and these individuals comprehending instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.
The correlation between these two statements is that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots are under the wrath of God.
They are under the wrath and judgment of God because they are totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and the fallen angels exercise their authority over the human governments of planet earth.
They are also under the wrath of God because they comprehend instinctive animal behavior instinctively like irrational animals.
This instinctive animal behavior of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots manifested itself by leading a rebellion against the Rome government, which ruled over Judaea.
Now, the first declarative statement in this correlative clause is presenting a contrast with the previous statements in Jude 9.
Therefore, a comparison of the contents of Jude 9 and the first declarative statements in Jude 10 indicates that the contrast is between Michael’s refusal to make a slanderous accusation against the devil while arguing and disputing over the body of Moses and these unregenerate Jewish Zealots disrespecting Satan by rejecting the government authority of Rome, which was under his authority.
The reason why these Jewish Zealots were totally ignorant of the fact that Satan and his angels exercise delegated authority from the Lord Jesus Christ to rule temporarily over all human governmental authority until His Second Advent is that they were unregenerate.
Jude 4 describes these individuals with the noun asebēs, “ungodly” which indicates that they were unregenerate and the contents of Jude 11-13 also describes Jewish Zealots as unregenerate.
The expression “twice dead” in Jude 12 means that these Jewish Zealots were remain spiritually dead once they die physically.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that Jude 13 asserts that “the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved” for these individuals, which refers to eternal condemnation in the eternal lake of fire (cf. Rev. 20:11-15).
Therefore, these Jewish Zealots were totally ignorant of the Spirit inspired teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles.
The Spirit inspired teaching taught that the Lord Jesus Christ delegated authority to Satan and his angels to rule over all human governmental authority on the earth with the exception of Israel until His Second Advent.
At that time, He will establish His sovereign authority over every Gentile nation as well as the nation of Israel. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that “the unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (NET)
Therefore, these Jewish Zealots rejected the Spirit inspired teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles that the Lord Jesus Christ delegated authority to Satan and his angels to rule over all human governmental authority on the earth with the exception of Israel until His Second Advent because they did not possess the indwelling of the Spirit and thus could not understand the things of God recorded in the Spirit inspired Scriptures.