(Jude 11-13)
Before presenting the terrible end of the corruption, Jude portrays in a few brief sentences the course of the evil. He vividly sets forth the development of the evil by the use of three more illustrations drawn from the Old Testament. Recalling the history of Cain he exclaims of the corrupters of Christendom, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in THE WAY OF CAIN” (vs. 11). The way of Cain was the way of natural religion. Cain was a religious man, but his religion was according to the thoughts of fallen man and not according to the revelation of God. His natural religion led him to belittle sin, to despise God’s provision to meet sin, to attempt to draw nigh to God on the ground of his own works, and to persecute the true child of God. Alas! through the corruption of ungodly men, the large mass of professing Christians have gone in the way of Cain. The popular religion of the day ignores the revelation of God, and takes no account of sin in the sight of God. It treats the fall as a mere myth and hence, denying that man is fallen, has no use for the atonement. Rejecting the propitiatory work of Christ, it naturally falls back on the works of men for the ground of acceptance with God. Moreover, it holds in great contempt, and special hatred, all those who, cleaving to the revelation of God, trust in the atoning blood as their only plea, and love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. Upon all those who follow in the way of Cain God pronounces “Woe.”
Jude continues by appealing to the history of one of the most depraved men in the Old Testament. He says of these corrupters, they have run “greedily after THE ERROR OF BALAAM for reward” (vs. 11). This desperately wicked man was governed by covetousness. In the pursuit of gain he would fain make merchandise of the people of God, and was even ready to proclaim error if by so doing he could obtain the reward. This has been rightly called the ecclesiastical error, or how many there are who hold high official position in the professing church who simply use the position to make merchandise out of the people of God, and are ready to teach error to obtain rewards. This evil rises to its greatest height in the corrupt system of Rome marked, as it is, by “merchandise of gold,” (Rev. 18:12) and every choice and precious thing that man’s heart can covet, from “gold and silver and precious stones” (Rev. 18:12) down to “the souls of men.” If the professing church can make merchandise with the truth of God, it will not hesitate to barter with the souls of men (Rev. 18:12, 13). Such is the modern repetition of the error of Balaam.
Lastly Jude says of these corrupters, they have “perished in THE GAINSAYING OF CORE” (vs. 11). The sin of Korah was twofold; on the one hand, he openly rebelled against Moses and Aaron saying, “Ye take too much upon you... wherefore... lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord” (Num. 16:3); on the other hand, not content with his own-position, he usurped the place of priestly intercession that alone belonged to Aaron (Num. 16:3, 9, 10). He sought to degrade Moses and Aaron to the level of the congregation, and to exalt himself to the level of Aaron. Alas, the modern answer to the gainsaying of Core is only too manifest. From pulpit and press, from convention and conference there flows an ever-rising tide of rebellion against the Christ of God, combined with the exaltation of man. Christ is degraded to the level of fallen man, and man is exalted to the level of God. Religious infidels masquerading as Christians dare to say that too much is made of Christ while claiming for man rights and honors that alone belong to Christ. This rebellion against Christ linked with the exaltation of man is the very essence of apostasy and will end in the appearance of that great apostate, “the man of sin,” “who opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4).
Such is the terrible course of the evil by which Christendom is being corrupted. Commencing with the way of Cain— or religion that, ignoring revelation, is framed according to the natural heart of man it develops into the error of Balaam, making religion a matter of merchandise; and ends in the gainsaying of Core, which is apostasy.
Jude multiplies metaphors in expressing his horror of these evil corrupters of the professing church. They are sunken rocks (translated “spots” in A.V. See R.V. and note in New Translation by J. N. Darby Trans...) leading to shipwreck; clouds, giving promise of refreshing showers but in reality without water and the sport of every wind: trees, for a time making a fair show but bringing forth no fruit, twice dead (by nature and by profession), and in the end rooted up: raging waves of the sea, making a great display of power, but in reality foaming out things that are to their shame; wandering stars, appearing with meteoric brilliancy for a time only to wander into “blackness of darkness forever” (vs. 13).
Thus Jude ranges over land and sea and sky to find figures wherewith to expose and condemn this fearful evil. Yet let none think by reason of these striking figures that these represented are monsters of iniquity in the sight of men. Rather, indeed, they appear as angels of light and ministers of righteousness feasting in company with Christians, and feeding themselves without fear; showing, indeed, on their part, that they have no conscience, and on the part of the Christians, that their true character is not discerned.