Verse 12
Five more illustrations, this time from nature, emphasize the seriousness of the false teachers’ error (Judges 1:12-13).
A coral reef that lies hidden under the surface of the water can tear the bottom off a ship if it unsuspectingly runs into it. Likewise the false teachers could ruin a local church. They threatened the moral shipwreck of others. That some of the false teachers were believers or at least professing believers seems certain since they were participating in the love-feast, the most intimate service of worship the early church practiced. The love-feast was a communal meal that included observance of the Lord’s Supper (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:17-22). "Caring for themselves" highlights the apostates’ self-centeredness (cf. Ezekiel 34:2; Ezekiel 34:8; Isaiah 56:11; John 10:12-13).
"Jude seems . . . to mean that these men insisted on participating in these love-feasts, not to express mutual love and concern but to gratify their own appetites." [Note: D. Edmond Hiebert, "An Exposition of Judges 1:12-16," Bibliotheca Sacra 142:567 (July-September 1985):240-41.]
Like clouds the false teachers attracted attention to themselves and promised refreshment, but they proved to be all show and no substance (cf. Proverbs 25:14). In Palestine summer clouds often add to the humidity and consequently make the intense heat even more unbearable.
"To follow such men would result in being led astray from the path of truth and purity." [Note: Ibid., p. 242.]
Farmers often dig trees that bear no fruit out of the ground. The false teachers bore no spiritual fruit and were incapable of bearing spiritual fruit; they were twice dead (cf. Psalms 52:5; Proverbs 2:22; Jeremiah 1:10; John 15:1-6). Another view is that twice dead means dead through and through. [Note: The Twentieth Century New Testament.] A third view is that it means dead in reality as well as in appearance. [Note: Alford, 4:537.] A fourth view is that it means presently dead in sin and destined for eternal death. [Note: Hiebert, Second Peter . . ., p. 261.] An uprooted tree is an Old Testament symbol of divine judgment (cf. Psalms 52:5; Proverbs 2:22; Jeremiah 1:10). "Autumn" is literally late autumn in the Greek text, a detail that shows Jude believed he and his readers were living in the last days before the Lord’s return. This viewpoint was common among the New Testament writers (cf. Romans 13:11; 1 Peter 4:7; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 2:18). Late autumn was the time when trees would have had no leaves much less fruit on their branches. [Note: Kelly, p. 272.]
"These men give no evidence of ever having been regenerated." [Note: Williams, 7:16.]
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