Flattering people

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. – Jude 1v16

Not only do these false teachers grumble and complain about their own condition, but they use all kinds of tricks to persuade people to their point of view. The speak ‘great swelling words’ to flatter other people. Their purpose is to gain an advantage over them.

It is clear that God hates flattery. Other then here there are twenty times in the Bible where he talks about it. Flattery seduces men, works ruin, spreads a net, corrupts, causes children to fail, and leads to sexual immorality. God will ‘cut off’ the tongue of the flatterer. There is no doubt about how God feels about it. It is one of those things that seems to stand out in scripture as somehow especially onerous to God.

Flattery is obviously destructive. It hurts the flatterer and the flateree. It is based on lies and selfishness. There is nothing wrong with positive comments and love show through genuine praise, but flattery is always based on what the person doing the praise can get for themselves.

God hates it. It is a mark of the false teacher. We must avoid it.