Jude went on describing the men who had secretly slipped into the Church (Jude 1:12; cp. verse-4). Peter refers to them as false teachers who would bring in destructive doctrines that even deny the Lord (cp. 2Peter 2:1), and here in verse-12 Jude refers to them as hidden rocks (spots in the KJV) in his readers’ love feasts (Jude 1:12). The picture that he’s painting is that of a hidden rock or reef in the sea by which men make shipwreck. The love feast is often believed to be a literal meal believers enjoyed after partaking of the Lord’s Supper, but I believe Jude is simply speaking of the regular worship service, whereby believers fed upon the Lord. This seems to be the only context in which a believer could make shipwreck through the work of a false teacher.
Notice how Jude goes on to describe these men. He says they have no fear, while they feast with you (the believer), but they shepherd only themselves. The Greek word for feeding or caring is poimaino (G4165) and means to tend as a shepherd, feed or rule. The word has to do with how a shepherd cares for the flock, but in the context of Jude’s letter, these men ‘care’ only for themselves. They get theirs, but they don’t produce for the flock. The flock goes hungry, while they are full at the love feasts. Jude calls them clouds that have no water. They have the promise of rain, but the winds drive them away. Moreover, Jude goes on to describe these men as autumn trees that have no fruit. One expects fruit for ones’ labor, but these men are fruitless trees that have nothing to offer those who have spent themselves in hope of a bountiful yield from their shepherd.
While Jesus claimed one must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), these men have died again (Jude 1:12). They were once dead in their sins, but made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1, 6; 2Peter 2:20-21). Nevertheless, they had returned to their former state, as a dog does his own vomit (2Peter 2:22).
According to Ezekiel these men are shepherds who feed themselves but not the flock. They are full and clothe themselves in wool of the sheep by slaying them instead of caring for them (Ezekiel 34:2-3). They hadn’t strengthened those under their care, nor had they healed the sick, or bound up what was broken, or brought back what was driven away or lost. Rather, with cruelty they’ve ruled the Lord’s heritage. Indeed, the Lord’s flock had no real shepherd, for they were scattered throughout the mountains (nations) and no one looked after them or searched for them, while they became food for the beasts of the field (Ezekiel 34:4-6).
Jude continued on in his description of these men, saying they were raging waves of the sea, foaming out their shameful deeds (Jude 1:13), and Isaiah calls them wicked people who cast up trash and dirt (Isaiah 57:20). I am reminded at this point of the volatile nature of politics and how easily base men are able to take that same volatility into religion and thereby destroy whatever good might be done there. We truly need wise men in high positions of authority, whether in politics or religion. People need good men to lead them, men who, through controlled speech, would guide their charges to do good for one another.
In the context of Jude’s letter, we see the evil men who secretly crept into the Church (Jude 1:4), are now described as having a nature that would “cast up trash and dirt…” Thus, using their speech to throw their charges into great mental anguish and distress on the one hand or blow up their passion into uncontrollable rage and fury on the other, depending upon the unpredictable goals of the false teachers (cp. 2Peter 2:18-19). For, Jude goes on to describe them as wandering stars. That is, these heavenly bodies are neither stationary, as true stars are, nor do they have a predictable path in the sky as do planets. Rather they are as shooting stars that don’t seem to be guided by any force that would lend some element of predictability to their paths (Jude 1:13). Thus, these wicked men are self-willed, guided only by the whim they have at the moment. Therefore, the Lord has reserved for them blackness of darkness for the rest of the age. That is, they will be totally unable to see the end of what they do or the judgment such deeds will inevitably bring, until it is too late (cp. Matthew 26:64). Jude was pointing to the time of judgment, which came suddenly upon the Jewish state in the Jews’ war with Rome (66-70 AD). At that time, it would have been too late for the false teachers to change their wicked ways.
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