Jude 10: The Self-destructiveness of the False Teacher

10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

 

The false teacher inevitably attacks the core truths of Christianity, such as faith, grace, and repentance, etc., because those truths inevitably challenge the behavior and desires of the false teacher.  He has never truly known them.  Having rejected the truths that they seemingly once held, they become men who reason, and then act, according to physical sensations and desires alone—just like the animals. 

 

Puritan author William Gurnall wrote, “None sink so far into hell as those that come nearest heaven, because they fall from the greatest height.” 

 

I believe that in this verse Jude is describing a descent in the mind and behavior of the false teacher from the spiritual to a mere instinctual mode of existence:  “…the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.” What they do know are the physical, earthy matters, just like the animals, which live purely on instinct.  Furthermore, this animal-like mode of living, making decisions and relating to the world around only by the physical senses, ends up bringing the destruction of the false teacher, as he becomes increasingly spiritually incapacitated, and therefore increasingly distanced from the spiritual power and truth that he may have once known before God, if at all.

 

Application: As the thought processes and behavior of a goat, for example, are all subservient to only a few basic drives, such as food, safety, and survival, so the goals and actions of the false teacher erode into such an instinctual basis of existence.  These men do not get better, or wiser, or even more powerful.  With few exceptions, they peak in their ministry influence, and then become prey and victim to the very habits of thought and conduct upon which they built up their ministries in the first place.  If you are in the ministry of such a leader, run, don’t walk, away—things are very unlikely to improve as long as there remain followers for them to make use of.