Jude 1:10 warns against speaking evil about things you do not understand, and it says that people who do this end up ruined by the very instincts they trust most. Jude is describing false teachers who ridicule spiritual matters while relying only on their gut reactions. He is writing to the church, warning them not to follow those who scoff at what they have never taken the time to learn.
But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason.
Jude 1:10 (WEB)
What Jude 1:10 Means
The verse begins by describing a habit: these people “speak evil of whatever things they don’t know.” Jude is not talking about honest questions or humble ignorance. He is describing people who attack truths, beliefs, or practices they have never really examined, and who speak with confidence about things outside their understanding.
Next, Jude says they are “destroyed in these things that they understand naturally.” The word “naturally” points to instinct, appetite, and gut reaction, the things that come easily to any person without faith or wisdom. Jude’s point is that a life guided only by instinct, and by mockery of what lies beyond it, eventually collapses. The verse ends by comparing them to “creatures without reason,” animals that act on impulse with no understanding of what they are doing.
The verse does not promise that every skeptic is doomed, and it does not claim that every question is sinful. It describes a pattern of arrogant dismissal and warns where that pattern leads.
The Context of Jude 1:10
The letter of Jude is short, traditionally attributed to Jude, the brother of James, and written to believers facing false teachers who had slipped into their fellowship. Verses 7 through 13 are a sharp series of warnings. Jude points back to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Cain, Balaam, and Korah, and describes these teachers with images of hidden reefs, waterless clouds, and wild waves.
Verse 10 sits in the middle of this pattern. It explains the root problem: these teachers mock what they do not understand and trust their own appetites. Read in that setting, the verse is less a general lesson about curiosity and more a diagnosis of a group that was actively leading believers astray.
Key Phrases in Jude 1:10
Proverbs 18:13
He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.
(WEB)
This proverb warns that answering before hearing the matter is folly and shame. It pairs well with Jude 1:10 because both call for patient listening before judgment, especially when the subject lies outside what we already know.
James 1:5
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
(WEB)
James invites believers who lack wisdom to ask God for it generously. This connects with Jude’s warning by showing the alternative to scornful ignorance: admitting what we lack and asking the One who gives understanding freely.
A Short Prayer From Jude 1:10
Lord, you know how quickly I can judge what I have not taken time to understand. Forgive me for the times I have mocked a belief, a person, or a truth because it felt strange to me. Give me a humble heart that asks good questions, listens carefully, and does not hide behind my own instincts. Teach me to love what is true more than I love being right, and keep my words from wounding others with ignorance dressed up as confidence. Amen.
