1. Jude 1:8 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does Jude refer to the heretics as people relying on their dreams?

Jude 1:8 (ESV)

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Dreams had a revelatory function in early Christian history (Matthew 1:20; Matthew 2:12–13, Matthew 2:19–22; Acts 2:17; Acts 16:9–10; Acts 18:9) and were commonly considered to be a source of divine revelation. It seems as if the heretics claimed that they received dreams from God and thus they were assured that their convictions and lifestyle were acceptable.1