In verse 12 Jude goes on to say, “These are hidden reefs in your love feasts, feasting together with you without fear, shepherds that feed themselves, waterless clouds, carried along by winds, autumn trees without fruit, having died twice, rooted up; wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shames, wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept for eternity.” The Greek word translated “hidden reefs,” spilades, originally meant a rock. It may allude here to a sunken rock with the sea over it (Darby); hence, hidden rocks. The Greek word spiloi for “spots” in 2 Peter 2:13 is very close to spilades; hence, some translations render this spots. Actually, these two words refer to two different things. The spots are defects on the surface of precious stones; the hidden rocks are at the bottom of the water. The early heretics were not only spots on the surface but also hidden rocks at the bottom, both of which were a damage to the believers in Christ.
The love feasts mentioned in verse 12 were feasts of love motivated by God’s love (agape—1 John 4:10-11, 21). In the early days the believers were accustomed to eating together in love for fellowship and worship (Acts 2:46). This kind of feasting was joined to the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:20-21, 33) and called a love feast.
Jude calls the apostates “shepherds that feed themselves.” The pleasure-seeking heretics (2 Pet. 2:13) pretend to be shepherds, but at the love feasts they only fed themselves, having no concern for others. To others, they were waterless clouds, having no life supply to render.
These heretics are also called “autumn trees without fruit, having died twice, rooted up.” Autumn is a season for reaping fruit. The self-seeking apostates seem to be fruit trees in season, but they have no fruit to satisfy others. They have died twice, not only outwardly in appearance as most trees do in autumn, but also inwardly in nature. They are thoroughly dead; they should be uprooted.
In verse 13 Jude goes on to speak of the heretics as “wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shames, wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept for eternity.” Shepherds, clouds, trees, and stars are positive figures in biblical metaphor, but hidden reefs, waves, and the sea are negative. These apostates are false shepherds, empty clouds, dead trees, and wandering stars. They are hidden reefs and wild, raging waves of the sea, foaming out, without restraint, their own shame. The metaphor of wandering stars indicates that the erratic teachers, the apostates, are not solidly fixed in the unchanging truths of the heavenly revelation, but are wandering about among God’s star-like people (Dan. 12:3; Phil. 2:15). Their destiny will be the gloom of darkness, which has been kept for them for eternity.
In verse 14 Jude continues, “And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied also of these, saying: Behold, the Lord came with myriads of His saints.” The coming of the Lord spoken of here must be the appearing of the Lord’s parousia (coming), as mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Matthew 24:27, 30; and Zechariah 14:4-5. The Greek words rendered “myriads of His saints” may also be translated “His holy myriads.” These myriads probably include, as in Zechariah 14:5, the saints (1 Thes. 3:13) and the angels (Matt. 16:27; 25:31; Mark 8:38).
Different opinions may be held concerning the myriads of the saints, or the holy myriads, in verse 14. Some may claim that the saints here are angels, and others may say that these saints are believers. According to the Scriptures, when the Lord Jesus comes back to judge all persons and things, He will come both with the holy angels and with the holy believers. In His sight, both these angels and believers are holy ones. When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will come with His angels and with the overcomers. The overcomers will make up Christ’s bride, who will also be His army. Therefore, the Lord will come with these saints and angels to fight against Antichrist and his army.
We see from verse 15 that the Lord will come “to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly works which they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” The Lord’s coming will be to carry out God’s governmental judgment, and by this judgment all the ungodly ones will be dealt with.
In verse 15 Jude uses the word “ungodly” four times. He speaks of the ungodly and their ungodly works which they have done in an ungodly way. He also mentions the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against the Lord. All this will be judged by the Lord at His coming.
In verse 16 Jude says that these ungodly ones are murmurers and complainers. They go on according to their own lusts, their mouths speak great swelling things, and they admire persons for the sake of advantage. Then in verses 17 and 18 Jude reminds the believers of the words spoken by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ that in the last time there will be mockers going on according to their ungodly lusts.
In verse 19 Jude says, “These are those who make separations, soulish, not having spirit.” The Greek word translated “soulish” is psychikos, the adjective form of psyche, which means soul. “The psyche (soul) is the center of the personal being, the ‘I’ of each individual. It is in each man bound to the spirit, man’s higher part, and to the body, man’s lower part; drawn upwards by the one, downwards by the other. He who gives himself up to the lower appetites, is fleshy; he who by communion of his spirit with God’s Spirit is employed in the higher aims of his being, is spiritual. He who rests midway, thinking only of self and self’s interest, whether animal or intellectual, is the psychikos, the selfish (soulish) man, the man in whom the spirit is sunk and degraded into subordination to the subordinate psyche (soul)” (Alford).
In verse 19 Jude speaks of the apostates as “not having spirit.” This is the human spirit, not the Spirit of God. The apostates are devoid of spirit. They “have not indeed ceased to have a spirit, as a part of their own tripartite nature (1 Thes. 5:23), but they have ceased to possess it in any worthy sense: it is degraded beneath and under the power of the psyche (soul), the personal life, so as to have no real vitality of its own” (Alford). They do not care for their spirit or use it. They do not contact God by their spirit in communion with the Spirit of God; neither do they live and walk in their spirit. They have been drawn downward by their flesh and have become fleshy, so that they have lost the consciousness of their conscience and become animals without reason (Jude 10).