Jude 1:18 Meaning: Mockers Walking After Ungodly Desires

The Greek behind "mockers" is empaiktēs, a word found only here and in Peter's parallel warning. It describes someone who treats sacred things as a joke, a person who scoffs at what others hold holy. But Jude does not let the definition stop at words. He adds that they walk "after their own lusts of ungodlinesses." The phrase is striking. "Lusts" (epithumiai) are deep cravings. And "ungodliness" is plural, asebeiōn, ungodlinesses. Not just one kind of irreverence, but a whole collection of them, each feeding the others. These are not people who stumble into sin. They have built a way of life around their desires, and that way is shaped by the absence of reverence for God. The word "walking" (poreuomenoi) means making progress on a journey. Their whole direction is set by what they want, with no counterweight. For the believer, this is both a warning and a comfort. A warning to check our own direction. A comfort that we are not naive to expect better from those who have abandoned the fear of the Lord. Their problem is not intellectual doubt; it is the shape of their hearts.

Christians have understood "last time" differently. Adam Clarke, a Methodist commentator, saw it as the conclusion of the Jewish polity (the end of the Old Covenant age). John Calvin believed it referred to the entire period from Christ's first coming until the end of the world, what we often call "the last days." Most modern interpreters follow Calvin. The mockers themselves may mock different things: Peter specifically says they mock the promise of Christ's return, while Jude focuses on their ungodly desires without specifying the object of their scorn. Different traditions highlight different aspects, some emphasize the danger of false teaching, others the moral decay. What they share is the conviction that the apostles forewarned the church so it would not be caught off guard. The verse calls the church to remember, not to panic.

One common misunderstanding is to assume "the last time" refers only to a distant period right before the end of the world. In fact, the apostles used that phrase to describe the entire age that began with Christ's first coming. Jude links the prediction directly to the false teachers already troubling his readers (verse 19). The last time was not far off; it had already arrived. The warning was urgent for them, and it remains urgent for every generation until Christ returns.

This week, you may encounter someone, online, at work, even in your own heart, who scoffs at Christian hope or treats God's commands as optional. Jude's call is not to argue with them first but to remember. You have been told this would happen. That memory can keep you from being shaken. It can also keep you from becoming a mocker yourself, by reminding you that your own heart is prone to walk after its desires. So build yourself up in your most holy faith (verse 20). Stay in Scripture. Keep praying. Let the warning sharpen your compassion rather than your cynicism.