‘But chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities (literally ‘glories'), whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord.'
Two of the great follies of these false teachers is that they live lives of lustful pleasure, eagerly satiating their fleshly desires, and that they exhibit arrogance towards the occult and treat lightly the heavenly world (compare Jude 1:8). Compared with 2 Peter 2:9, rather than being delivered from temptation, these walk right into it, not realising what they are getting themselves into.
As wealth increases in our present day, instead of it producing gratitude to God, it simply encourages men and women to live for pleasure and to go to excess. And as God then fades from the mind they seek to fill the gap by tampering with the unseen world. But, as Peter brings out, thereby they are playing with powers that they do not understand.
He describes them in vivid terms:
· ‘They despise dominion.' Jude illustrates this by reminding his readers that even the Archangel Michael dared not directly interfere with Satan but calls on the Lord to rebuke him. But these men think that they can rebuke Satan at will, and treat him lightly. They mess with the occult and do not realise what powers are involved, and they seek to manipulate such powers to their own ends. They thought that their own spiritual exaltation was such that they could dismiss such spiritual powers openly, to the admiration of their followers.
· They are foolishly ‘daring' (tolmotes). They do not fear going to any depths of sin, nor to mess with the occult.
· They are ‘self-willed'. They think themselves masters of the Universe, and that they have a right to do anything that they like without restriction. ‘Obstinately maintaining their own opinion, or asserting their own rights, they are reckless of the rights, opinions and interests of others.'
· They ‘do not tremble to rail at dignities (glories)'. An example of such attitudes is found in their attitudes towards the occult. They are like children playing with fire without realising its great dangers, even challenging the powers of the occult. They overlook the fact that they are dealing with powers even greater than the angels, powers who will in fact condescend to them, and then possess them. Peter's continual emphasis on this brings out how important a warning it is. The term ‘glories' may have in mind that such beings transform themselves into pseudo angels of light in their dealings with men (2 Corinthians 11:14). Or it may simply indicate their high status.