ἀγγέλους τε τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν ἀλλ᾽ ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οἰκητήριον εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς ἀϊδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν, (Jude 1:6)
Translation: And the angels who did not keep their original position of authority, but left their own home–He has kept in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the last day–
Notes: The striking question that plagues readers is the identity of these ἀγγέλους in verse 6. Richard Bauckham, Herbert Bateman, and other notable commentators never stop to consider the reality of these angels and simply assume that these are spiritual, non-corporeal beings. Thus, leading to all sorts of bizarre interpretations of intergalactic relations between angelic beings and humans and creating Nephilim creatures that are wholly other. In Bateman’s case, there is a lot of dependence on Jewish apocalyptic works to make the case for this, especially the works of Enoch, whom Jude touches briefly.
Some make the parallel that this incident is a reference to the original fall of man , which makes at least some sense, but fails to grasp that this event in Jude does not focus on an initial judgment imposed at creation. If the reference was to that original fall, then the text could not account for the many angels who still roam the earth today under demonic authority. After all, Satan is still roaming around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Rather, Jude has something else in mind entirely that does not entail angels no matter how sexy it may be to talk about intergalactic sexual encounters between angels and primeval hotties.
I don’t think Jude is taking us to consider actually angelic beings in his text. I don’t think it would make good sense for the Judean Christians. I mentioned in the beginning that sometimes—especially in Hebrew literature—God uses heavenly language to communicate earthly things. For instance, when Jesus says in Matthew 24, “the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken,” he is not talking about heavenly signs, but he is referring to political things on earth. He is talking about judgment. You see, we expect the Bible to speak as if it were written recently, but it was written long ago with a specific kind of language and context. It’s not the Bible’s goal to accommodate to our language, it’s our goal to accommodate to the Bible’s language.
Similarly, in the Book of Revelation, there are references to angels all over the place, but when it speaks of angelic beings, most often it’s in the plural; on the other hand, when it refers to “the angel” or Yahweh’s angel” it has a very specific character in mind. What makes it even more interesting is that the word “angel” is simply the Greek word “angelos” which means “messenger.” When James (Jude’s brother, mind you) speaks of Rahab, he says she received “angelos.” We know from the story that this was not spiritual/angelic beings, but sent spies; human messengers. So, you can have human messengers and spiritual messengers and the Bible gives us both cases. So, if we are going to entertain angels, let’s entertain the right ones here in Jude.
It seems the key to the identity of these “messengers” is more keenly known if we look at Genesis 6.[1] We read it today and heard that “the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” Remember this has to do with judgment, and here the “sons of God” entered into evil relations with the women, thus breaking the blessings they once had. Israel had blessings, but when they broke with Moses, they fell and were judged.[2] In Genesis 6, I believe that the sons of God is a clear reference to the godly line of Seth (I am not alone in this interpretation, Luther and Calvin concurred; that’s me intentionally name-dropping to make a point). The Sons of Seth were in a position of authority seeking God’s purposes in Genesis 5, but there was anungodly line, namely that of Cain. When the line of Seth, namely the messengers of Seth’s line, those in position of authority, intermingle with the ungodly line of Cain, God promises to destroy the earth in Genesis 6. They formed ungodly alliances; the line of Cain drew the line of Seth into great sin. And the Bible says that “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
So, Jude is not taking us back to an intermingling of supernatural beings and human beings, some form of intergalactic communion, but he is referring to the defaming of God’s purposes through the binding together of an ungodly line with a godly line which always produces ungodliness. After all, what fellowship has light with darkness? The godly do not marry the ungodly! We don’t corrupt God’s line by abandoning our places of authority and investing in the kingdom of darkness. These messengers, Seth’s angels, we might say, died in the great flood and will be kept in Hades until the day of judgment where God will judge the quick and the dead and they will receive their proper condemnation. And Jude says, “do not take the invitation of the Zealots, don’t join their rebellion, because it’s an alliance with evil just like Seth’s alliance with Cain’s line.[3]
[1] Jude says that these messengers fell from their position of authority and God keeps them in eternal chains until Judgment Day, and if you parallel this with II Peter 2 which talks about the wicked angels who fell under Lucifer you have a tight case for saying this is a reference to angelic beings. But the problem here is that if this is referring to demonic angels who fell with Lucifer, then we have to make sense out of the fact that Jude does not say these demonic angels are in eternal chains since then, in fact, Lucifer himself was cast out of heaven to the earth; he was not placed in eternal chains until judgment day. The same Peter says that Satan (the fallen angel) is seeking whom he may devour as a roaring lion. If Jude said that these fallen angels were hurt or limited in their labors that would be one thing, but Jude says they have been kept in eternal chains since the days of the fall. I don’t think that makes sense. What is more likely happening is that Jude is giving the Jewish Christians three warnings of earthly judgment.
[2] And I want you to note that nobody in the line of Cain is named in Genesis, chapter 5. In Genesis 4, we are told about the line of Cain. But in the line of the seed of the woman, in the godly line of salvation, Cain and his family are never mentioned. -Ligon Duncan
[3] Just as Eve saw that the forbidden fruit was good (Gen. 3:6), so here the Sethites saw that the forbidden daughters of Cain were good, and willfully intermarried with them, putting their own desires before holiness. As a result, the Sethites were also corrupted, and violence became well nigh universal. -James B. Jordan https://theopolisinstitute.com/who-were-the-angels-of-jude-6/