Worldly minded (KJV = Sensual) (5591)(psuchikos from psuche = soul) is literally "soulish" and pertains to the natural man versus the spiritual nature of man. Psuchikos means soulish, with affinity to natural sinful propensities, the person in whom the sarx, the flesh, is more the ruling principle even as psuchikós and psuche is for the animalistic instincts. Psuche is the nonphysical element which makes one alive, conscious of the environment, and is to be distinguished from pneuma or spirit, which is a distinctive of man as the element of communication with God. Friberg summary of psuchikos = of life in the natural world and what pertains to it; (1) as governed by sensual appetites and lived apart from the Spirit of God natural, unspiritual, worldly (1Cor 2.14; Jude 1:19); (2) as being a characteristic of the earthly body physical, natural (1Cor 15.44); neuter as a substantive - what is physical (1Cor 15.46). Jude calls the teachers of error worldly (lit. ‘psychic’) people, who do not have the Spirit. Vine commenting on psuchikos - In 1Cor 2:14, psuchikos, natural, belonging to the soul (psuche), the lower part of the immaterial in man, describes the man as "in Adam" and what pertains to him. So also in 1Cor 15:44 (2x), 1Cor 15:46. In James 3:15, psuchikos is rendered "sensual" (natural), referring to a wisdom springing from the sensual desires and affections (as in Jude 1:19). Such a man rejects the things of the Spirit as being unintelligible (1Cor 2:14) or even distasteful. The motives which actuate the natural man rise no higher than the level of merely human needs and desires. In 1Cor 15:44 natural (psuchikos) might be translated "soul governed." The natural body is subject to the laws and conditions of the soul; it is an organism by which, through the soul, the self is expressed and developed and enters into relation with others. (Adapted from Collected Writings). Cleon Rogers on Psuchikos = soulish, pertaining to the soul or life, pertaining to behavior which is typical of human nature, in contrast with that which is under the control of God’s Spirit (1Cor 2:14). It describes the natural man who does not possess the Holy Spirit. It pertains to the natural life of men and animals alike; unspiritual (James 3:15) In Jude 1:19 psuchikos means worldly-minded. The word implies that these men follow their natural lusts and appetites without restraint or control. (New Linguistic & Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament) BDAG says psuchikos pertains "to the life of the natural world and whatever belongs to it, in contrast to the realm of experience whose central characteristic is pneuma, natural, unspiritual, worldly....an unspiritual person, one who merely functions bodily, without being touched by the Spirit of God (1Cor 2:14). A physical body (1Cor 15:44). The wisdom that does not come from above is unspiritual (James 3:15). The physical in contrast to the spiritual (pneumatikos) (1Cor 15:46) Hiebert - “Sensual” (psuchikoi), more literally, “soulish,” that which pertains to the “soul,” depicts them as men who are governed only by their “soul,” the self-conscious life which animates their bodies. In Biblical usage this adjective relates to “the life of the natural world and whatever belongs to it, in contrast to the supernatural world.” The term does not refer to the gross lusts of the flesh but rather relates to the powers and endowments of unregenerated human nature, man as he is in Adam....In terms of the threefold division of man’s being in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “spirit and soul and body,” this adjective characterizes that part of man’s nonmaterial being which he has in common with the animal world, human life in its earthly relations. Jude’s expression stamps these men as being governed by their natural powers and impulses rather than by their “spirit,” which is the recipient of the Holy Spirit uniting man to God. (Second Peter-Jude: An Expositional Commentary) Barclay (commenting on 1Cor 2:14) - Even then it is not every man who can understand these things. Paul speaks about interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people. He distinguishes two kinds of men. (a) There are those who are pneumatikos. Pneuma is the word for Spirit; and the man who is pneumatikos is the man who is sensitive to the Spirit and whose life is guided by the Spirit. (b) There is the man who is psuchikos. Psuche in Greek is often translated soul; but that is not its real meaning. It is the principle of physical life. Everything which is alive has psuche; a dog, a cat, any animal has psuche, but it has not got pneuma. Psuche is that physical life which a man shares with every living thing; but pneuma is that which makes a man different from the rest of creation and kin to God. So in 1Cor 2:14 Paul speaks of the man who is psuchikos. He is the man who lives as if there was nothing beyond physical life and there were no needs other than material needs, whose values are all physical and material. A man like that cannot understand spiritual things. (His interests and aims do not go beyond physical life). A man who thinks that nothing is more important than the satisfaction of the sex urge cannot understand the meaning of chastity; a man who ranks the amassing of material things as the supreme end of life cannot understand generosity; and a man who has never a thought beyond this world cannot understand the things of God. To him they look mere foolishness. No man need be like this; but if he stifles "the immortal longings" that are in his soul he may make himself like this so that the Spirit of God will speak and he will not hear. It is easy to become so involved in the world that there exists nothing beyond it. We must pray to have the mind of Christ, for only when he dwells within us are we safe from the encroaching invasion of the demands of material things. (1 Corinthians - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) (Bolding added) Distinguish the following Greek words from psuchikos... pneumatikos = renovated nature; phusikos = "physical," instinctive, bestial nature Distinguish two types of bodies as described in 1Co 15:44 (1). psuchikón = body governed by the soulish, natural, fallen instincts (2). pneumatikón = spiritual, governed by divine quality in man, the spirit. A sensual person is governed by sensual appetites and is living apart from the Spirit of God. Sensual is he opposite of spiritual. These men to which Jude refers think and act not like spiritual men but like natural men (See Vincent's note on psuches - soul) Psuchikos - 6x in 5v - NAS Usage: natural(5), worldly-minded(1). In OT, only in 4Macc 1:32. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. James 3:15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. Hiebert - Psuchikos here refers to "used of the worldly wisdom that springs from the mental and emotional impulses of fallen humanity and is marked by its depravity. Jude 1:19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. Comment: Here psuchikos implies that these men follow their natural lusts and appetites without restraint or control. NET Note adds on psuchikos as used here - Or "natural," that is, living on the level of instincts, not on a spiritual level (the same word occurs in 1Cor 2:14 as a description of nonbelievers). Salmond - The Spirit of God was not in the lives or the thoughts of these men, and hence they were creators of division, and sensual. Their pretension was that they were the eminently spiritual. But 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. (Jude - The Pulpit Commentary) Matthew Henry - Jude guards them against seducers by a further description of their odious character: Sensualists are the worst separatists. They separate themselves from God, and Christ, and His church, to the world, the flesh and the devil , by their ungodly courses and vicious practices...Sensual men have not the Spirit, that is, of God and Christ, the Spirit of holiness, which whoever has not, is none of Christ's, does not belong to him, Ro 8:9. (Jude - Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary) MacArthur - With a certain deference to Greek philosophy, Jude depicted the false teachers in strictly physical terms. His materialistic description exposed them for who they really were—religious terrorists who lacked such internal qualities as a proper self-perception, the ability to reason, and a true knowledge of God. Even though the false teachers claimed a transcendental understanding of God, they did not know Him at all—they were devoid of the Spirit (cf. Jn 3:5; Ro 8:9; 1Jn 3:24; 4:13). The truth is that they were physically alive but, because they had never been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they were spiritually dead. They were religious frauds who paid lip service to faith and spiritual life but denied such claims by their actions. As Paul told Titus, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16-note) (2Peter and Jude MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Vincent - As psuche denotes life in the distinctness of individual existence, "the centre of the personal being, the I of each individual," so the adjective (psuchikos) derived from it denotes what pertains to man as man, the natural personality as distinguished from the renewed man. So 1Corinthians 2:14; 15:44 (see Vincent's note on 1Cor 15:44). The rendering sensual, here and James 3:15, is inferential: sensual because natural and unrenewed In contrast with this is life in the Spirit. (Jude - Vincent's Word Studies) "The word (Psuche) is often used in the New Testament in its original meaning of life. See Mt 2:20; 20:28; Acts 20:10; Ro 11:3; Jn 10:11. Hence, as an emphatic designation of the man himself. See Mt 12:18; Heb 10:38; Lk 21:19. So that the word denotes “life in the distinctness of individual existence” (Cremer). (Mark 12) Henry Alford - The psuche is the centre of the personal being, the ‘I’ of each individual. It is in each man bound to the spirit, man’s higher part, and to the body, man’s lower part; drawn upwards by the one, downward by the other. He who gives himself up to the lower appetites, is sarkikos (fleshly): he who by communion of his pneuma (spirit) with God’s Spirit is employed in the higher aims of his being, is pneumatikos (spiritual). He who rests midway, thinking only of self and self’s interests, whether animal or intellectual, is the psuchikos (sensual), the selfish man, the man in whom the spirit is sunk and degraded into subordination to the subordinate psuche (soul). In the lack of any adequate word, I have retained the ‘sensual’ of E.V., though the impression which it gives is a wrong one: ‘selfish’ would be as bad, for the psuchikos may be an amiable and generous man: ‘animal’ would be worse, ‘intellectual,’ worse still. If the word were not so ill-looking in our language, ‘psychic’ would be a great gain.” Devoid of the Spirit (pneuma) (Literally = "the Spirit not having") - Shorthand for an unbeliever because every believer has the Holy Spirit (Ro 8:9)! They lack the indwelling Holy Spirit and thus lack the higher spiritual life. The adjective pneumatikos, spiritual, is everywhere in the New Testament opposed to psuchikos, natural. See 1Corinthians 15:44, 46. Believers on the other hand were "praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 1:20), something these men could not do! What does the Spirit do? He unifies (Eph 4:3), but their lack of the Spirit causes them to divide the Body. They have no capacity for understanding the things of God. Wiersbe - Because the false teachers (Ed: Although Jude never specifically identifies them as such) do not have the Spirit of God, they much function on their natural soul power alone. One of the tragedies in ministry today is that some of God’s people cannot discern between “soul ministry” and the true ministry of the Spirit. There is so much “religious showmanship” these days that the saints are confused and deceived. Just as there was “false fire” in the tabernacle (Lev. 10:1ff-note), so there is “false fire” today in the church; therefore we must exercise careful discernment. How can we discern between the “soulish” and the “spiritual”? By using the Word of God which is able to divide soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12-note); and by paying close attention to the witness of the Spirit of God within (Ro 8:16-note). A “soulish” ministry magnifies man, but the Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ. When the Spirit is ministering through the Word, there is edification; but when the soul is merely “manufacturing” a ministry, there is entertainment or, at best, only intellectual education. It takes the Spirit of God to minister to our spirits and to make us more like Jesus Christ. (cf 2Cor 3:18-note) (Be Alert 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude- Beware of the Religious Impostors) Guzik has a piercing, painful comment to the modern church regarding "devoid of the Spirit" - This same description could be written over many churches, or church projects, or evangelism campaigns, or home groups, or even individual Christian lives. The church and the world truly need genuinely spiritual men and women today. (Jude- David Guzik's Commentary) Trapp on devoid of the Spirit - Unless it be the spirit of delusion! Barclay summarizes this picture - We can now see how cleverly Jude deals with these people who say that the rest of the world are the psuchikoi, while they are the pneumatikoi. Jude takes their words and reverses them. "It is you," he thunders at them, "who are the psuchikoi, the flesh-dominated; it is you who possess no pneuma, no real knowledge and no experience of God." Jude is saying to these people that, although they think themselves the only truly religious people, they have no real religion at all. Those whom they despise are, in fact, much better than they are themselves. The truth about these so-called intellectual and spiritual people was that they desired to sin and twisted religion into a justification for sin. (Jude - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit: humeis de agapetoi epoikodomountes (PAPMPN) heautous te hagiotate humon pistei en pneumati hagio proseuchomenoi (PMPMPN) building = Acts 9:31; Ro 15:2; 1Co 1:8; 10:23; 14:4,5,26; Ep 4:12,16,29; Col 2:7; 1Th 5:11; 1Ti 1:4 Acts 15:9; 26:18; 2Ti 1:5; Titus 1:1; Jas 2:22; 2Pe 1:1; 1Jn 5:4; Rev 13:10 praying = Zech 12:10; Jn 4:24, Ro 8:15,26,27; 1Co 14:15; Gal 4:6; Ep 6:18 Barclay - But you, beloved, must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith; you must pray in the Holy Spirit; NET - But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, TLB - But you, dear friends, must build up your lives ever more strongly upon the foundation of our holy faith, learning to pray in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. Wuest - But, as for you, divinely-loved ones, building yourselves up constantly in the sphere of and by means of your most holy Faith, and as constantly praying in the sphere of and by means of the Holy Spirit, Young's Literal - And ye, beloved, on your most holy faith building yourselves up, in the Holy Spirit praying, THE ANTIDOTE FOR APOSTASY But you - Don't miss these strategic "changes of direction" (there are over 4000 "but's" (See Terms of Contrast) in the NAS version!). Stop and study this change asking questions like "Why now? Who? What is involved with the change?," etc. Note that in Jude 1:20-23 the writer instructs his readers (and us) how they are to contend earnestly for the faith. Every leader of every church every where at all times would do well to follow Jude's "template!" But you beloved draws a clear distinction between his readers and the apostates who had crept into the local body. By using beloved which is used in the NT only to address believers (and God's beloved Son), Jude contrasts his readers who do possess the Spirit, with the apostates who do not possess the Spirit. He knows that they will need to rely on the Spirit's enabling power to pray and to edify one another. Dependence on the Spirit is also imperative in order to carry out the commands in this section (These verbal imperatives are: Remember Jude 1:17, Keep Jude 1:21, Have mercy Jude 1:22, Save Jude 1:23, and Have mercy Jude 1:23). Remember that what God commands, He always enables. We can attempt to obey the command in our own strength or by relying on the supernatural strength of the Spirit. You can mark it down - The former is always futile but the latter is always fruitful! Are you seeking to continually be filled with the Spirit so that you might be supernaturally energized to obey the instructions and commands of Scripture? (Eph 5:18-note, Gal 5:16-note) Grant Osborne notes that "In Jude 1:3, Jude directed them to “defend the faith,” and in Jude 1:5—16 and then Jude 1:17—19 they were to defend it by taking action against the false teachers and exposing their heresy. Now he tells them to defend the faith by strengthening their own faith and keeping the church “safe in God’s love." Bauckham (Word Biblical Commentary) calls Jude 1:20-23 the true epicenter of the letter, asserting that the argument of Jude 1:5-19 becomes “necessary background” to the appeal here, which is “the climax of the letter to which all the rest leads up.” (Jude 1:21). There are two parts to this section, beginning with the command to develop their own faith (Jude 1:20—21) and then the command to rescue as many of those who had strayed after the false teachers as they could (Jude 1:22—23). (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: James, 1-2 Peter, Jude, Revelation) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/jude_commentary-2.htm#wm