“But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively” (v10).
Some people just don’t know when to shut up. They simply don’t have a clue when keep their trap closed. I know this from personal experience. That’s because I like to talk. I like to talk too much. WAY too much. So as Jude writes about these false teaching motor mouths, it hits a little too close to home. These knuckleheads run their yappers non-stop, especially when it comes to stuff they know nothing about. When it’s all said and done (and they will certainly have a LOT to say!), they’ll destroy themselves with their own words. They simply don’t know when to shut up.
Jude is writing to warn believers about a crew of con artists who are sneaking into local churches and tearing them apart from the inside out (Jude 4). They pervert the grace of God into a license to do whatever they want. They even go so far as to scoff at the idea of Jesus being the long-promised One and Lord of all. Jesus’ kid brother digs into the Old Testament and compares them to three evil examples. The rebellious Israelites (Num 14:22-23, 29-30, 35,37; Jude 5), the renegade angels (Gen 6:1-5; Ezek 28:14-17; Jude 6), and the Twin Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:20-33; 19:1-14, 23-28; Jude 7). The false teachers are executing their three point plan to perfection (Jude 8). Sexual sin. Authority rejected. Dignitaries dissed.
These spiritual snake oil salesmen specialize is talking non-stop about stuff they know nothing about. But they don’t just yammer on and on to make you think they’re experts on complicated topics. Oh, if they would just stop there. If they can’t wrap their brains around something, they run it down. They trash it. Jude uses the Greek verb blasphemeo. It means to speak against someone or something. They slander. They insult. They defame. This is the third time in three verses that our author uses a form of this word. The false teachers “blaspheme the glorious ones” (Jude 8). That’s unlike the archangel Michael who never stooped “to pronounce a blasphemous judgment” even against Satan (Jude 9). They are more than happy to trash someone’s reputation, especially if they don’t have a clue who they are or what they’re talking about.
Like I said, this hits just a little too close to home. I like to hear myself talk. And I like to make myself look good. In other words, I have this nasty habit of being my own PR machine. The spin never stops. I’m constantly cranking out crap to build myself up in the eyes of others, even when it means cutting someone else down. Maybe I’m the only one out there with this problem. Something tells me I’m not. If you’re a member of this not-so-exclusive club, let me offer a couple of items for your “to do” list. Step one: shut up. Step two: admit you don’t know it all. Solomon was all over that as wrote the book of Proverbs. “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Prov 10:19).
Jude tells us that these know-it-alls are really know-nothings. He goes so far as to compare them to “unreasoning animals” (v10). The original text uses the adjective alogia, which literally means “without words.” It describes a lack of capacity to think properly or something irrational. When King Agrippa asked Governor Festus for his advice on what to do about Paul, he said it didn’t make a lick of sense to send the apostle to Rome without some idea of the charges against him. “For it seems to me unreasonable (Gr. alogia), in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him” (Acts 25:27). The boys behind the King Jimmy call them “brute beasts” (v10 KJV, NKJV). When it comes to the false teachers, they don’t make a lick of sense. Their message is ridiculous and absurd.
Jesus’ kid brother is on the same page with the leader of the apostles. Peter wrote a very similar letter warning about the impending arrival of these religious hucksters. “But these, like irrational (Gr. alogia) animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction” (2Pet 2:12). Just like animals, the false teachers simply do what they feel like. There’s no thought behind what they do. They’re driven by their instincts. And that’s eventually going to do them in. “They are destroyed by all that they…understand instinctively” (v10). In other words, they will eventually self-destruct. Just get out of the way and watch them go down in flames of their own creation.
You see, some people just don’t know when to shut up.
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