Jude 1:16

Jude 1:16, in plain English

These false teachers are complainers and grumblers, driven by their own desires, full of arrogance, and they flatter people just to get what they want.

Why it's here

Now Jude moves into a portrait of their character. They're not content—constantly complaining. They follow what they want without restraint. They speak arrogantly, putting themselves above others. And they're manipulative—flattering people to advance their position. It's a picture of spiritual immaturity mixed with intentional deception. They use flattery as a tool. This is who these teachers actually are beneath the veneer.

Who's speaking

Jude, describing the character of the false teachers.

Where it sits in the story

Grumbling and complaining appear throughout Scripture as signs of spiritual failure—the wilderness generation did it; Jude's opponents do it now. It shows a heart that doesn't trust God.

The scholarly reading

These men are grumblers dissatisfied with their lot, followers of their desires, boastful speakers who flatter others for personal gain.

Language and setting

The term 'discontented grumblers' (gongystai mempsimyroi) derives from Old Testament depictions of Israel's wilderness murmuring (goggysmos)—a cardinal sin in covenantal theology. The 'following their own lusts' (poreuomenoi kata tas epithumias autōn) represents ethical autonomy divorced from divine constraint. Their arrogant speech and flattery indicate sophisticated manipulation: they employ rhetoric both to assert dominance and to secure following. The characterization as those 'following their own ungodly desires' suggests their entire epistemological and volitional apparatus is corrupted, making repentance unlikely.

Voice

Jude, psychologically profiling the heretics

Significance

The false teachers exemplify covenant violation from Israel's wilderness experience: like those who murmured against Moses, they reject divine authority; like those who demanded golden calves, they pursue gratification; like those who slandered God, they employ speech as instrument of rebellion.

14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones

15to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

17But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ

18when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”

Read all of Jude 1 — Jude intended to write about salvation. Instead, he writes about danger — false teachers who have crept in unnoticed. His response is urgent.