Slandering the Angels in Word and Deed
1/26/20261 hr 6 min
The Letter of Jude E4 — In verses 5-7, Jude warns a Jewish Messianic community about a group of people in their midst who live without moral restraint and reject Jesus’ authority. After comparing them to a series of human and angelic rebels in the Hebrew Bible, Jude then calls out the corrupt church members in verses 8-10 as ones who “slander the glorious-ones,” referring to angels. What is Jude talking about, and why would slandering spiritual beings be considered offensive? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the Hebrew Bible and Second-Temple period apocryphal literature to understand the unique role and...
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First 90 secondsJon Collins· Host0:00
[upbeat music] The Bible has all sorts of warnings about things you should not do in life. Don't murder. That's one of the Ten Commandments. Do not be afraid. God says that to Joshua. Do not judge. That's a teaching of Jesus. Well, today we're gonna talk about a warning you've probably never thought of before. Don't slander angels. What's that about? We're working through the letter of Jude, and slandering angels is on the brain as Jude accuses certain men in his community of doing just that.
Tim Mackie· Host0:34
They slander the glorious ones. Glorious ones, as we're gonna see, is a way of referring to heavenly spiritual beings, angels. These people criticize them, think they're better than them. So why? What is going on here?
Jon Collins· Host0:46
And if this isn't confusing enough, that's just one of three accusations that he strings together. He says- These people claim to have divine revelations, but look what they do.
Tim Mackie· Host0:58
They pollute the flesh. They are rejecting the Lord's authority, and they slander the glorious one.
Jon Collins· Host1:04
Okay, if you're like me, you've probably gotten to sections like this in the Bible and think, "Yeah, this is a bit complicated. I'm gonna move on." Well, today we're not gonna move on. We're gonna dig in, and we're gonna talk about all of it, including angels, their role in the Bible, and what it means to slander them.
Tim Mackie· Host1:22
Up there are God's delegated rulers to order the functioning of the cosmos. They're pretty key players.
Jon Collins· Host1:29
Why does