<p>1:12 <i>These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves- </i>These people were present at the breaking of bread meetings, and were in fact the shepherds of the flock. They were leaders of the church. They had no fear of future judgment, and they were solely after their own gratification; in this context the parallel 2 Pet. 2:14 says that their eyes were full of adultery. They clearly had a sexual agenda, and that agenda was realized at the &quot;love-feasts&quot;, which in Corinth and Ephesus had been turned into orgies after the pattern of the surrounding religious cults. &quot;Hidden rocks&quot; can also be translated &quot;spots&quot; and this is alluded to in the final encouragement that the Lord through His Spirit is able to preserve His true bride &quot;spotless&quot;. This is quite something, given the context. Sincere individuals living under such abusive and insincere shepherds could still be preserved by the Lord, such is the power of the Spirit. Bad environment, even spiritually, doesn't preclude the Lord acting to preserve His own. And clearly enough, if members of these churches were preserved &quot;spotless&quot;, without spot, then there is no such thing as guilt by association, somehow acquired by belonging to an apostate church.</p><p><i>Clouds without water, carried along by winds- </i>They appeared to be full of rain / water, a symbol of teaching. But they never dispensed any, and were as if carried along on an endless path to nowhere.</p><p><i>Autumn leaves without fruit- </i>Harvest time had come, but there was just an appearance of leaves, but no fruit. The Lord had cursed the Jewish fig tree exactly because of this. This is another indication that the false teachers in view were Jewish.</p><p><i>Twice dead, plucked up by the roots</i>- 2 Peter 2 and Jude have so often stressed that these men had already been given their condemnation, although the execution of it was yet to come. They would experience &quot;the second death&quot;; we all die once, but those who know God's truth and refuse it shall be resurrected, condemned and thus will die a &quot;second death&quot;. But by status, this is how these men already were. They had already been plucked up by the roots- a metaphor used in Mk. 11:20 for the judgment of apostate Israel, but a quotation from Dan. 7:8 about the plucking up by the roots of Gentile powers. These Judaists were effectively Gentiles and would be judged as them.</p>