The Meaning of Jude 1:19 Explained

Jude 1:19

KJV: These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

YLT: these are those setting themselves apart, natural men, the Spirit not having.

Darby: These are they who set themselves apart, natural men, not having the Spirit.

ASV: These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

These  be  they who separate  themselves,  sensual,  having  not  the Spirit. 

What does Jude 1:19 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The false teachers" teaching divided the believers into two basic groups: those who remained in the apostles" teaching and those who departed from it. While they may have claimed to be the truly spiritual group, the false teachers were really worldly-minded, sharing the viewpoint of unbelievers. In the case of the unbelievers, they were completely devoid of the Holy Spirit. In the case of the saved apostates, they were devoid of the effective influence of the Holy Spirit.
"In refusing the Divine Spirit they had sunk to the level of an animal life, immoral in itself, and productive of confusion to the Church." [1]

Context Summary

Jude 1:12-25 - Beware Of The Touch Of The Ungodly
What traps and pitfalls beset us! How many have fallen who had as good or a better chance than we! The angels kept not their first estate; Adam, though created in innocency, fell; Cain was rejected; Balaam, who saw with open eyes, was slain; Korah, who had carried a censer filled with holy fire, was hurled into the abyss! How can we expect to stand! Be of good cheer! He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless, Judges 1:24.
In the succession of terrible metaphors in Judges 1:12-13, notice that in each case there is promise without fulfillment and appearance without reality. Such is much of the Christian profession of the present day. And from time to time, as Enoch foretold, the day of the Lord comes, with its retribution for all such.
The four exquisite admonitions of Judges 1:20-21 are worth pondering. Keep yourselves in the main current of God's love. Build your character after the likeness of Christ. Pray in the Holy Spirit; keep at the oriel window of hope. Christ is able to keep, and when at last we are presented by Him to the Father, we shall realize how much we owe Him [source]

Chapter Summary: Jude 1

1  He exhorts them to be constant in the profession of the faith
4  false teachers crept in to seduce them, for whose evil doctrine a horrible punishment is prepared;
20  whereas the godly may persevere, grow in grace, and keep the faith

Greek Commentary for Jude 1:19

They who make separations [οι αποδιοριζοντες]
Present active articular participle of the double compound αποδιοριζω — apodiorizō (from απο δια οριζω ορος — apoΔιοριζω — diaαποριζω — horizōαιρεσεις — horos boundary, to make a horizon), rare word, in Aristotle for making logical distinctions, here only in N.T. πσυχικοι — Diorizō occurs in Leviticus 20:24 and πσυχη — aphorizō in Matthew 25:32, etc. See πνευματικος — haireseis in 2 Peter 2:1. [source]
Sensual [πνευμα μη εχοντες]
Old adjective from μη — psuchē as in 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:44; James 3:15. Opposed to εχω — pneumatikos Not used by Peter.Having not the Spirit (πνευμα — pneuma mē echontes). Usual negative mē with the participle (present active of echō). Probably pneuma here means the Holy Spirit, as is plain in Judges 1:20. Cf. Romans 8:9. [source]
Having not the Spirit [πνευμα]
Usual negative mē with the participle (present active of echō). Probably pneuma here means the Holy Spirit, as is plain in Judges 1:20. Cf. Romans 8:9. [source]
Separate themselves [ἀποδιορίζοντες]
Only here in New Testament. Themselves is unnecessary. Better, as Rev., make separations; i.e., cause divisions in the church. The verb is compounded with ἀπό , away; διά , through; ὅρος , a boundary line. Of those who draw a line through the church and set off one part from another. [source]
Sensual [ψυχικοί]
See on Mark 12:30. As ψυχή denotes life in the distinctness of individual existence, “the centre of the personal being, the I of each individual,” so this adjective derived from it denotes what pertains to man as man, the natural personality as distinguished from the renewed man. So 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:44:. The rendering sensual, here and James 3:15, is inferential: sensual because natural and unrenewed In contrast with this is [source]
The spirit []
The higher spiritual life. So the adjective πνευματικός ,spiritual, is everywhere in the New Testament opposed to ψυχικός , natural. See 1 Corinthians 15:44, 1 Corinthians 15:46. [source]

What do the individual words in Jude 1:19 mean?

These are those causing divisions worldly-minded [the] Spirit not having
Οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀποδιορίζοντες ψυχικοί Πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες

Οὗτοί  These 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
οἱ  those 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀποδιορίζοντες  causing  divisions 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀποδιορίζω  
Sense: to disjoin, part, separate from another.
ψυχικοί  worldly-minded 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ψυχικός  
Sense: of or belonging to breath.
Πνεῦμα  [the]  Spirit 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: πνεῦμα  
Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast.