Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Jude 1:8

"Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities." — Jude 1:8 (ASV)

Jude now links the examples of God’s judgment (vv.5–7) to the false teachers, whom he calls “dreamers” (GK 1965). Though this word might refer to pretensions of prophecy, it more likely refers to their carnal sin that leads them to live in a dream world. “In the very same way” points back to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah (v.7). The false teachers pollute “their own bodies” (lit., “flesh”; GK 4922) in various forms of sexual excess, doubtless including homosexuality. Their rejection of authority implies that they repudiated Jesus as Lord over their lives. Their third sin is that they “slander celestial beings.” How and why, Jude does not say. Perhaps their materialistic and fleshy bent led them to deny all spiritual forces—good or evil.