Jude Translation, Verse 8 with Notes: Angels and Dreamers

Ὁμοίως μέντοι καὶ οὗτοι ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι σάρκα μὲν μιαίνουσιν κυριότητα δὲ ἀθετοῦσιν δόξας δὲ βλασφημοῦσιν (Jude 1:8)

Translation: In the same manner, these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Notes: In the same manner, Jude equates the unnatural desires of Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 7 to the Zealots in verse 8. In his mind, the Jewish Zealots perform a similar function in seeking to recruit Judean Christians to their rebellious cause. In particular, these are dreamers (ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι). They promote false ideas through fantasies of grandeur. They view themselves too highly and can’t accept why followers of Jesus won’t simply take their route to freedom from Roman oppression.

They take for themselves these visions of grandeur (Bauckham, 56). They feed themselves with their dreams of superiority and greatness and glory. They are, after all, in the body of Moses, and they despise anyone who says they are in the body of Christ, because for these zealots, Jesus is an impious leader who does not want the good of the Jewish people. If he did, he would have come bearing a sword ready to destroy Roman oppression like all the famous Maccabean figures and Jewish revolutionaries.

It seems that with each line Jude writes we see a progressively worsening description of the zealots; a self-absorbed people who are religiously impure (Bateman, 196). James had said that true religion is in helping the poor, but the Zealots believe true religion is pressuring the poor, seducing the poor and widow to violate their Christian oath. Beyond that, they defile the flesh which is to say they pervert the purpose of the flesh which is to give itself for Christ; here, they embrace a law unto themselves; they embrace their own dreams for what the kingdom should look like and therefore they blaspheme every authority figure in the Church. “Your pastor is not leading well; if he were, he would be preaching political sermons every Sunday about Roman oppression!”

Contrary to the NAS, there is no textual indication that they are blaspheming “angelic majesties.” This would only harmonize as an interpretive phrase (not a literal one) if one already assumed that Jude has angelic beings in mind, which I argue is not the most consistent interpretation. I develop this though further in my Theopolis essay on the Nephilim.

These Zealots seem to fit the general description of the line of Cain in Genesis 6 in their rejection of authority structures. They engage in immoral sin which ultimately becomes the sin of Adam taking the seduction of the Serpent over the promises of Yahweh.

I affirm that the “glorious ones” are the saints in the Church who are connected covenantally to Jesus Christ who keeps them (vss. 1-2) and who adopts them into his own glorious body by grace through faith. Jesus is the doxology of the Church and in union with him, we are now his doxological ambassadors.