This research paper by Peter Leach, submitted to Dr. Michael J. Kruger for NT5350 – Hebrews–Revelation at Reformed Theological Seminary – Charlotte, investigates Jude’s use of angelic rebellion as a rhetorical and theological device. Leach argues that Jude 6–9 portrays false teachers as repeating the sins of the fallen angels—abandoning their appointed order and despising authority—and that their eventual judgment will parallel that of those very beings they deride.
Through detailed exegesis of Jude’s text and comparison with Enochic traditions, Leach demonstrates that Jude draws on the story of Genesis 6:1–4, interpreting it through Jewish apocalyptic writings to depict the angels’ sin as one of rebellion and unnatural desire. He examines the interpretive debate over the meaning of “those who pursued strange flesh” and argues that Jude’s linkage of the angels’ sin with Sodom underscores a shared moral corruption expressed in sexual and spiritual defiance. The study further explores Jude’s reference to Michael the archangel, showing how his restraint in refusing to “blaspheme the devil” serves as a foil to the arrogance of the false teachers.
Leach concludes that Jude’s argument achieves an ironic reversal: those who mock celestial beings prove themselves to be like them in their rebellion and will share their fate. The paper presents Jude’s polemic as both a warning to the church and a timeless critique of irreverent, self-assured false teachers who reject divine and derivative authority alike.
Course and semester: NT5350 Hebrews–Revelation — Spring 2020
