Jude 1:19 Commentary and Bible Study

‘These be they who separate themselves’, which presumably means – because they have not exactly separated themselves physically – that they divide into cliques or parties within the church. The people Jude mostly has in mind are not complete Christ deniers. They deny him by their behaviour and their impiety, but they claim to be Christians and they are sitting at the Lord’s Supper. These men are sensual or physical as opposed to spiritual. The word is also translated natural. Now 'the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned' (1 Corinthians 2:14). If spiritual things are foolishness to him then what chance has he got of understanding or appreciating them? Still less can he properly teach such things. But once in the church, once he has won the confidence of God's people, then words which even the least discerning among true believers might reject before, now become more plausible. He appeals to what is carnal, to what remains that is of the flesh in God's people. And some who are weak in the faith will be carried along by what he says and so divisions are caused. This is how someone who lacks the Spirit is able to draw some of God's people away after them and so cause divisions. In many cases in the church, there is one party on the right and another in the wrong. The truth is not to be sought in some compromise between the two. Here, all the truth is on one side and none on the other.