Human Reduction

These are the ones setting themselves apart, animal-like ones, not having the Spirit.  Jude 19

Animal-like Ones – What happens when men and women continue to resist God?  Most would say that they will perish in their sin.  That’s true, but that puts the focus on the end of their lives.  Jude offers an additional perspective.  Human beings who refuse to submit to God’s authority slide down another path.  That path leads them away from human existence toward their connection to the animal world.  Jude mentions it twice in his little letter.  Those who live without the Spirit are alive, but they cease to be human.  Without God, animated bodies are only animals.

This is evolution upside-down.  Darwin and company would like us to believe that we began as the lowest form of animal life and have progressed to a state of evolved magnificence.  The Bible actually teaches exactly the opposite.  We began as close to God as possible, only a breath away from His image, and we have been de-volving ever since.  Even in this world, if we continue on this trajectory, we become animals.  The conclusion is obvious.  To be human is to be filled with the Spirit.  Anything else is simply animal existence.

Jude uses a very interesting word to describe this fact.  The Greek word is psychikoi.  This word is found in Paul and James where it carries the idea of what is animate and earthly, sometimes even ungodly.  Paul describes unbelievers with this word.  While being an unbeliever means being guilty, it does not necessarily imply a reduction in humanness.  For Paul, psychikos is the “natural” man.  Not so with Jude.  Jude carries the implication a step further.  Those who separate themselves from God through their own desires and pride are one step closer to being beasts, not humans.  In fact, Jude says that these creatures are “like animals – without reason” (verse 10).  The indictment is severe.  Unless we are connected with the Spirit, we are truly lost, both here and in the world to come.

Perhaps this helps explain the kind of actions we see in the world today.  We are appalled at human atrocities, but we are only shocked because we expect something more from human beings.  We don’t expect them to act as beasts.  Nevertheless, they do.  From Jude’s perspective, it makes perfect sense.  Those who are without the Spirit are already on the way to animal existence.  Why should we be surprised when we see them act like beasts?

We often think that the reason we need to present the gospel to the lost is provide them with the opportunity to accept God’s grace and salvation.  For most of us, this means assurance of heaven.  Jude calls us to see a more immediate issue.  God’s grace allows us to be human.  God rescues me right now from the hopeless slide into animal behavior.  Yes, heaven will be wonderful, but that is not the most immediate concern.  The most immediate concern is to reverse the inevitable de-volution of my humanity.  I need God’s grace in order to be a human being.  Every redeemed addict will vouch for this.  Every believer must be aware of this.  Salvation is a lot more than “by-and-by.”  It is the only stop on the upside-down Darwinian slope.  That’s a message worth repeating.

Topical Index:  Human Being