Jude 1:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Waterless clouds do not cool with rain the places to which they are driven by the wind, for they have no rain in themselves. Instead, they bring darkness upon them. So also heretics do not water the souls of those they meet with saving teaching. Driven by the evil dispositions of demons, they darken them with their most foul tales. Autumn trees die twice, being deprived of fruit and losing their leaves. At that season, dry trees seem stripped of their adornment, the brilliance of fruit, and the fair beauty of leaves. Something similar happens with heretics. They also die twice, losing their fruit through the swallowing up of the seed and being deprived of the beauty of a prudent life. Therefore they are uprooted from the paradise of the Lord, that is, from the Church. Outside her they are gathered and cast into eternal fire. For what root can one have when all turn away from him because of the foulness of his life? He calls them wandering stars. Heretics are like them, not because they adorn the firmament of our faith and through them passes the Sun of righteousness, Christ. He brings virtues to maturity and gives life to the faithful devoted to them. Rather, they are like wandering stars because they appear to have assumed the form of an angel of light, like their originators, the demons (2 Cor 11:13-14). Yet they rush only against the teachings of the Lord. By this they darken those who draw near to them and prepare eternal darkness for themselves. The words "without fear" should be joined to "feeding themselves." They feed themselves without fear, that is, without fearing the condemnation pronounced by the Lord for their inability to shepherd: the blind who lead the blind fall into the pit together with those they pasture (Mt 15:14).

The writer brings these things forward as examples, accusing men because by their own choice they suffer what those things possess by nature.

For just as waterless clouds, driven by winds, and fruitless trees, of which it is said that they die twice, will not be punished, so neither do waves foam up their own shame.

They are irrational and without sensation. In the same way, the stars called wandering will not inherit the gloom.

Rather, men who sin by choice will inherit it. These examples are brought forward concerning them, so that the statement has this meaning.

These men of whom he speaks are, as it were, wandering stars. They have turned aside from the straight path and are walking on a path opposed to it.

Therefore darkness is reserved for them, not for the stars, but for men.

For the Apostle, as I said before, is not speaking about stars, or clouds, or waves.

He is speaking about men who have fallen into savagery, licentiousness, and arrogance, and who by their conduct harm those who come near them.

If you wish, let us continue the discourse further to explain that this is truly so.

Those skilled in this matter assert something that is hardly convincing and doubtful to simple people, since it contradicts what is evident and what sight bears witness to.

They say that the planets have their own motion from west to east and strive to complete it.

Yet, being overcome by the opposite and swifter motion of the greater stars, they move toward the west.

They give this example in explanation. When a wheel turns swiftly, an ant moving in the opposite direction does not make equally swift progress.

It is overcome by the more rapid motion of the wheel. The planets stand in the same relation to the motion of the greater stars.

I shall merely note, and for now pass over in silence, what exposes those who reason in this way.

They now worship the stars as gods, and now compare them to ants. I pass this by because I hasten to speak of another matter, and I shall address the subject under inquiry.

Although the learned assert this, Scripture uses the name "planet" either properly, or figuratively, or according to common speech. For my part, I judge as follows.

I place the sun, the moon, and the other five stars known to few among the planets: the visible, the shining, the twinkling, the fiery, and the light-bearing, that is, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Venus.

Those more foolish than you gave them the names of certain men who had once been powerful on earth and had lived shamefully.

They nevertheless ended their lives in earthly glory.

The sun runs through the northern and southern regions in breadth each year. The moon does this monthly.

From this, I think, the word "month" also arose, not because the moon becomes crescent-shaped, mēnoeidē, as some think.

It is because each month it fulfills the rule given to it, for the moon is called a month.

All the rest, according to their circles and paths, perform this revolution. For this very reason they are called planets, wandering stars.

Yet whether this interpretation or the former one is true, the knowledge of the Creator is glorified by it.

He set them in this order and gave them a law, as He Himself says: "I commanded the stars" (Isa 45:12).

The psalmist shows that, although the divine command has been violated on earth, since men have surrendered themselves to lawlessness, it has nevertheless been preserved in heaven.

He said, "Forever, O Lord, Your word abides in heaven" (Ps 118:89).

If some, because of the words "I commanded the stars," assert that they are living, rational, and free beings, I consider inquiry into this unnecessary and useless.

I know that not only some unbelievers, but also some believers, have taught so. Yet it is said, "Seek not things too high for you, and search not things too strong for you. Understand what has been commanded you, for you have no need of hidden things" (Sir 3:20, 21).

I neither approve nor condemn this. Rather, I shall say that Scripture speaks in this way also about things irrational and without sensation.

It says, "The Lord commanded the scorching wind" (Jon 4:8), and "The Lord commanded the clouds" (Ps 77:23), and "The Lord commanded the worm" (Jon 4:7).

Therefore, whether these are rational living beings, as some say, or fiery spheres, or flat and round bodies ignited by ethereal fire, or spherical eruptions of fire, or glowing bodies, I shall not insist.

Some of the philosophers have asserted even this. Or perhaps they are certain receptacles of immaterial and pre-cosmic light.

I shall not insist on this, since I think it contributes nothing to a virtuous life.

But I will say that Scripture uses the word "wandering" not only in relation to the soul when it turns aside from the path of virtue, but also in relation to the body when it goes astray.

For it is said, "A man found Joseph wandering on the way" (Gen 37:15). Again, "He made them wander in a trackless waste, and not on a path" (Ps 106:40).

Therefore it is no wonder if some have called the motion of the seven stars a wandering.

They go around north and south, this way and that, in comparison with the course of the greater stars, which pass along one and the same path.

Therefore, if they traverse their path correctly and in good order, for what shall they suffer punishment?

And if the pagans say, which one must not even utter, that the planets were not created and have no cause of being, they will be all the more refuted by their regularity and order.

For order proclaims an Orderer.

If they do not believe this, let them hear what Plato says: "The Maker of this universe is good."

Let them also hear what Euripides says: "Both the sun and night serve mortals." Having heard this, let them put an end to such impiety.

But if, as is truly the case, the greater and lesser planets have a Maker and Creator, this was acknowledged by Greeks, Jews, Christians, and all not deprived of reason and sense.

He governs their motion and order, by which seasons and nights come to be. It is therefore clear that their marvelous and very orderly course is without blame.

And if it is without blame, for what should they suffer punishment?

Even if they were living, rational beings with free will, as some suppose, it would still be unjust for them to suffer punishment.

We grant this supposition for the sake of argument, so as to prepare a greater refutation of them.

If they went wherever they wished and arranged whatever they desired, then this position would have some ground.

So would another position, according to which the planets are the causes of evils. Then they would justly have to suffer punishment.

But if they eternally complete the course appointed to them, one must not call them the causes of evils.

That would be both impious and irrational.

If, as some assert, though I will not affirm it, since it is absurd to speak boldly about what is unknown, we suppose that the planets serve as signs, even then they are not subject to punishment.

So also the Prophets are not punished, though they foretold the evil deeds that the Jews would later commit.

For those deeds were not committed because they were foretold. Rather, they were foretold because they were going to be committed.

The malice of the Jews became the cause of the prophecy. The prophecy did not become the cause of their malice.

Therefore, every contradiction has been completely removed. It has become clear to all that the writer of the Epistle is not speaking about the stars, nor about waves, clouds, or trees.

The main thought of the whole Epistle also shows this. He is speaking about sinful men, "for whom the gloom of darkness is reserved forever."

For the Apostle began with examples and ended with those of whom he was speaking.

"Twice dead" means this: in winter trees seem to die, as though no life were in them, yet life is inwardly preserved. But there are dry trees in which life has entirely died. From them one can no longer expect leaves, flowers, or fruit. These trees are completely, or finally, dead, and therefore subject to being torn out (Jn 15:6). Thus the spiritual condition of the impious false teachers is characterized. Morally fruitless, they have died twice spiritually. They have died as those sunk in sins, or entangled in them, and as apostates from the faith (cf. 2 Pet 2:20-22 and note). Therefore they are subject to eternal destruction.

They regarded their fellow diners not as brethren in Christ Jesus, united at a common table in the spirit of Christian love. They regarded them as drinking companions gathered to spend time in carousing, as pagans gathered for that purpose. The following features depict the inner emptiness and impurity of the false teachers. They could impress others by the boldness and decisiveness of their judgments. One might think they were wise men. In reality they are "waterless clouds carried by the wind." They could not satisfy souls thirsting for truth, instruction, and consolation. They left no good traces in them, like clouds that promise rain but are carried away by the wind. By their eloquence they could captivate frivolous listeners, but never those who reason strictly and soundly. Further, their spiritual barrenness and poverty are indicated by the image of autumn trees, twice dead and uprooted. All trees in autumn are stripped of fruit. Yet among them are some that have borne no fruit at all, have proved rotten, and therefore are torn out by the root as giving no hope of fruitfulness. Truly they have "died twice," for they have proved both fruitless and incapable of bearing fruit. This is the image of false teachers, stricken with spiritual death because of moral corruption and doomed to death or eternal destruction. What good can be expected from them? They perish themselves and destroy others.