A Work in Progress Bible Commentary
By: Chip Crush

JUDE
CHAPTER 1

1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by[1] Jesus Christ:
2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

What is a Christian? Jude begins his letter by answering a number of questions: How should we think about ourselves as Christians? How should we view our life purpose? What blessings has God bestowed on us? How do they impact the way we view ourselves and our sense of mission? What things ought we to long to be filled with? These first 2 verses focus on 3 particular things: how a Christian views himself (self-identity), the graces that we have received as Christians (defining a Christian), and the blessings that we ought to desire as Christians (what a Christian wants).

First is the self-identity we have as Christians, which we see in the first half of v1. Jude was a very common name, and so it was essential that the author announce his identity with a qualification other than merely his name. And so Jude does this by calling himself a servant and a brother. That’s who we are as Christians – servants and brothers. Specifically, as is the case with the authors of many of the other New Testament letters, Jude identifies himself as a servant – a bondservant, a slave – of Jesus Christ. A Christian is one who has been set free from one master – sin – in order to serve another master – righteousness. This is how the audience in Biblical times would have understood this title. And we share this title as well, if we are Christians. Jude also calls himself the brother of James. James had the authority in the early church – especially in Jerusalem, from whence many of the Jewish Christians had been scattered across the Roman Empire. James also had likely been martyred by the time Jude wrote this letter, so referring to himself as James’ brother immediately earns respect as the Christian leader he likely was. Now we know from our places in the Bible (1 Corinthians 9:5) that James and Jude were brothers of Jesus. But why doesn’t Jude call himself a brother of Jesus? He sees himself unequal to Jesus, but equal to James. He is humble and submissive – a servant and slave of Jesus, but he has authority, as a brother of James. So Jude is both humble and bold at the same time, which is what we as Christians ought to be.

Second is the definition of a Christian. What is a Christian? What characterizes a Christian? What favors does God give to Christians? Well, three divine favors, three graces, which ought to impact our view of our purpose in life, are specified here in the second half of v1. And they reveal a glimpse of the Trinity. The first of those characteristics is the calling of the Holy Spirit. If you have truly received Christ as Savior and Lord, then you have been called. Now there are 2 kinds of callings. The first is the external calling that we hear with our ears. It’s the call of the gospel – that Jesus saves sinners and that we receive salvation by grace through faith in Him alone. It’s the call to repentance, the call to seek forgiveness at the foot of the cross, and the call to give up any foolish attempt at self-justification before God on Judgment Day. But this calling is not the calling that Jude is talking about here.

Jude is speaking of the second type of calling. Jude says to these Christians in persecution, in fear of reprisal from a society that has great animosity for them and suspicion of them, “Remember who you are. You are the called of God, called to this great mission to bless the world.” Now being called doesn’t mean “invited,” as to a party. This call is a summons. It’s a calling that we don’t hear with our ears but with our hearts and minds. It’s not the call of a Pastor explaining the gospel but of the Holy Spirit awakening us to life when we were dead in sin. It’s an inward call, the call of regeneration. And most often, this second type of calling accompanies the first type. The Spirit rarely works apart from the Word. He can, but in our day and age, He quickens the dead in to sin to new life, He unclogs deaf ears and gives sight to the blind, and He convicts sinners of sin most often when they hear the gospel. Only with this second kind of calling will a person respond genuinely to the outward call of the gospel. Only with eyes that see and ears that hear can a person repent and believe. And that’s a description of us as believers.

There are a whole bunch of Scriptures we could turn to in order to validate what I’m saying, but for the sake of time, let’s just look at one – the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11. As we are spiritually dead in sin prior to conversion, so Lazarus was physically dead in the tomb. And just as Lazarus heard the audible call of Jesus to rise and come forth, so we sit in church and hear the gospel preached from the pulpit – repent and believe! But as Lazarus had to first have life in order to hear Christ and obey, so we must first be regenerated through the second type of calling in order to hear and obey the first.

The second divine favor, in addition to the Holy Spirit’s special calling, that a Christian has received is the love of God. If you have truly received Christ as Lord and Savior, then you, amazingly, are the beloved of God the Father. God loves you as much as He loves His Son! Isn’t that amazing?! But once again, there are different levels, or aspects, of the love of God. You will never hear me say that God does not love His entire creation. He loves all people – after all, He made them.

However, you would agree with me that you love your spouse in a different way than you love your parents, or your siblings, or your children, or your friends. God’s love is similar. Just as Israel in the Old Testament experienced the love of God to a greater and more intimate degree than the other nations, so we as believers experience God’s love in a greater and more intimate way than do unbelievers. God loves unbelievers, just not in a saving way. Both glorify God (Romans 9), so He loves both. He loves believers in such a way that they will be saved from His wrath; He loves believers in a way that extends to them mercy. He does not love unbelievers in a way that bestows saving mercy upon them. And Jude is speaking here of Christians as having the special, more intimate, saving kind of God’s love bestowed on them. It’s a love that accompanies the second type of calling. And it’s a love that accompanies the third divine favor, which we’ll look at now.

The third grace of God that befalls believers, in addition to the Holy Spirit’s calling and the Father’s deep love, is the preservation of Jesus Christ. We read that we are “kept by Jesus Christ.” The word “by” also includes “for” and “in” with it, so we might understand Jude to be saying, “If you’re a Christian, you’re kept by Jesus in Jesus for Jesus. Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Jesus keeps us, because if He didn’t we’d surely wonder away; Satan would surely pluck us from our safe position if he could. But he can’t, because Jesus keeps us not at arms length, but He keeps us in Himself. Once we’re in Christ, He’s in us too, and He keeps us there. Why? For Himself. He doesn’t keep us for our benefit alone, though He knows that it is good for us that we remain in Him. Rather, He keeps us for His benefit. It is for His glory that not one of those He purchased with His blood will be lost or snatched away. So Jude includes these three amazing graces – calling, love, and preservation – that describe Christians, and it’s to these people that he is writing this letter.

Do these three grants of God’s favor – three blessings of God’s grace – that you are called, beloved, and kept – have an overriding influence on your understanding of who you are in Christ and of your mission in this life? Do you live as if these things are true? Are there things that you value more than those things? Do you realize the magnitude of those graces? Those graces demand gratitude from us. If we realize what God has done for us in Jesus Christ we cannot help but praise Him and thank Him and live for Him. These three divine graces impact our whole view of our purpose in life.

Third is what a Christian should desire, which we see in v2. Jude says a short prayer, a benediction in fact, here in v2, asking that mercy, peace, and love, come to you in abundance. These are three things Christians ought to desire. When mercy is distinguished in the Scriptures from grace, mercy is speaking of God’s goodness and kindness and love towards the needy; whereas grace when it is distinguished from mercy has in view God’s goodness and kindness and love towards sinners. And so mercy especially has us in view in terms of our need. When Jude says, “May God’s mercy be multiplied to you,” he’s reminding you that you stand in need of God’s favor and that in His grace He grants it. “God’s peace” refers to our experience of all the blessings that flow from God’s objective reconciliation accomplished for us through the atoning death of Christ. Peace is a rich biblical term. There are only two books in the whole of the New Testament that don’t contain that greeting “peace” somewhere. It denotes completeness and soundness and wholeness. It doesn’t just mean an absence of enmity with God; it means a friendship with God through His gracious covenant. It entails safety and security and welfare and happiness, and it is the gift of Christ. We need this peace to serve one another and to serve a world that hates us. Finally, love is brought back to our attention. Having been granted God’s love through faith in Christ, may it be multiplied to you in abundance. Are we desiring these things – mercy, peace, and love? Are there other blessings that we want more than God and the blessings that He gives? Do we pray for one another like this? O Lord, give us not more power, more prestige, more influence, more significance, more status, more money, or more things; but give us more mercy, more peace, and more love. That’s what we ought to want.

The sin and doom of Godless men

3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about[2] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jude wanted to write about salvation, but he couldn’t. There were more pressing matters that needed to be addressed in this letter. Namely, Jude had to urge his audience to contend for the faith. “The faith” in this circumstance doesn’t refer to their subjective trust in Christ who is the object of faith. “The faith” refers to Christian doctrine, the apostles’ teaching, Jesus’ teaching given to the apostles, the divinely inspired doctrine given by God to the apostles. Jude wants them to cling to that faith and to contend for that faith, the apostles’ teaching, sound Christian doctrine. His audience needed to go to war on behalf of truth – the truth. And notice that they weren’t being urged to defend their faith against assaults from outside their beliefs. Rather, the assault was coming from within their own assembly! Apparently, folks had secretly infiltrated the Christian group and influenced it slyly toward antinomianism – that teaching which declares that living in sin is fine since grace is greater than sin. This is the very teaching that Paul silenced in Romans 6, with his rhetorical questions, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! By no means!” Contend for the Faith Once Entrusted to the Saints. God is saying in Jude 3-4 that He wants you to be greatly concerned about the purity of biblical teaching in the church. Do you see it as your personal responsibility to uphold historic, biblical, Christian doctrine? Jude says it is. Are you aware of the false teaching that even goes on in the evangelical churches today? Everything that Jude says in this letter presupposes that it is every Christian’s important duty to know the truth of the faith, to care about it, and to protect it in the congregation.

Jude gets into an area that makes many people very uncomfortable. We live in a day and age where people say things like this: “Let’s not get caught up in all that doctrine. Let’s just share the gospel.” “Doctrine divides; witness unites.” “Don’t get all hung up about the minute details of truth. Christianity isn’t a belief or a doctrine; it’s a way of life.” Those kinds of ideas pervade even the evangelical church today. And so when someone like Jude comes along and his big message is this, “Be orthodox and care about the doctrines of the faith,” immediately we think, “This guy is a control freak, or a legalist.” But that is simply not true of Jude. Here’s how we know that: First, he addresses this congregation as beloved. He cares about them. Second, he says that he’d rather not talk about this; he’s not into controversy for the sake of it. He’d rather rejoice in the salvation that unites; but instead he’s got to deal with doctrine. Third, Jude wants them to contend for doctrinal purity, for the truth, so that they would grasp the faith. For Jude, maintaining sound doctrine is not something peripheral and minute, but it keeps the main thing the central thing, which is the faith that has been handed down. Allowing false doctrine to corrupt the truth destroys the faith. And so this issue is no small one.

Furthermore, the faith that Jude speaks of is an unchanging one. It was once for all entrusted to the saints. The inherent truths of Christianity do not change. But our culture of relativism doesn’t buy that. And postmodernism says that truth, even if it does exist, doesn’t matter. Today’s Christianity falls into that at times. The truth is absolutely essential to life. The truth is for life. Truth is good for people. It makes their lives better. We can’t grow in grace apart from embracing the truth ourselves, knowing it and embracing it ourselves. It’s essential for Christian health and growth. It’s essential for salvation. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life.

So it’s essential to care about the truth and to stand on the truth. But why? For this audience, it’s because there were false teachers in their midst. And for us, it’s because there are false teachers in our midst. Jude is saying, “Here’s why I’m writing to you. There are people in your own congregation who have the name Christian, who say that their teaching is Christian, but they’re leading you astray. They’re teaching you false things. They’re teaching cheap grace and denying Jesus Christ.” And, of course, that fulfills what Jesus Himself said to His disciples. When you look around and see false teachers in the church today, rejoice! It’s a proof that Jesus is divine. Jesus told His disciples that there would be false prophets in their own midst. Paul told the elders in Ephesus that wolves, ravenous wolves would come up even from their own number who would try to lead astray the people of God. And so Jude reminds us of this. He says, “Look, there are godless persons already among you. They’re subtle, so be on the lookout. And these godless persons are pre-condemned. God’s already passed His verdict on them long ago. So you look at them from God’s perspective. Yes, they’ll say that what they’re teaching is true and good and helpful, but it’s not in accord with the apostles’ teaching. It’s not in accord with Scripture, so you be on the watch.”

These false teachers that Jude warns of do 2 things: they use grace as an excuse to live a life of indifference and sin, and they deny Christ, what the Bible teaches about His person and work. They say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter how you live as long as you’re sincere. It doesn’t matter what your life is like as long as you believe.” It’s antinomianism. But Jude says, “That teaching denies God’s grace, and its result – a transformed life. That teaching denies Jesus as Sovereign Lord.” And that’s exactly right; it’s exactly what antinomianism tries to do today, which is deny the Lordship of Christ as a necessary component of saving faith. So Jude urges us here to contend for the faith and to beware of false teachers who make grace into licentiousness and who deny the Lord Jesus Christ.

5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[3] delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them.
11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

The Contradiction of Ungodliness. In this section of his letter, Jude is dealing with the main characteristics of the false teachers who are troubling this local congregation to whom he is writing. And there are four distinct points in this section. First of all, in v5-7, he reminds us of three Old Testament examples of God’s judgment against the sins of the ungodly. Jude does this to diagnose the problem of the false teachers and to distance us from them; he wants us to see in the false teachers some of the very characteristics of these Old Testament people whom God had judged. Second, in v8-10, Jude summarizes the heart-attitude of these false prophets, and he contrasts it to the behavior of Michael the archangel. Then, thirdly, in v11-13 – though you can also see this again in v16 – Jude pronounces a woe against the false prophets, and he characterizes their character with nine, colorful illustrations. Fourth and finally, in v14-15, Jude expresses the certainty of God’s final judgment against all the wicked, but especially against these false prophets. Let’s look closer at these four points.

Jude says in v5 that his audience already knows the Old Testament truths of which he is about to remind them, that God’s just judgment of evildoers is a reality, as exhibited by the Old Testament examples he gives. The false teachers say, “I’ve got something new – a new revelation.” But Jude says along with the other apostles, “I’ve got something old – the unchanging but living and active Word of God.” And this message hits home with us. When we study Scripture, there’s never anything new. We’re learning the same stuff that the Christians before learned. We don’t get any new truths, and if anyone tries to teach something they claim is new – like the Pentecostal movement of the early 1900’s or the Dispensationalism of the same time period – then that’s a warning to be on guard. So Jude reminds his audience of three ancient events that remind his audience to hold fast to sound doctrine: The Israelites in the wilderness, the fallen angels who followed Satan, and the situation of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In v5, the Israelites in the wilderness were destroyed because of unbelief and disobedience. In v6, the angels who followed Satan are bound in darkness with everlasting chains, because they did not keep their place. In pride and arrogance, they sought a position or station that God had not granted them – like Satan, perhaps they wanted God’s glory. And in v7, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were burned up by fire from heaven due to their immorality – sexual perversion. The message is that God’s grace must lead to faith rather than unbelief, humility rather than pride, and holiness rather than immorality.

In v8, Jude ties these examples from the Old Testament to the current situation of his audience by calling the false teachers “dreamers” who pollute their own bodies, like the folks of Sodom and Gomorrah, reject authority like the Israelites, and slander celestial beings, like the fallen angels. “By their fruits, you will know them.” These false teachers’ lives showed unbelief (rejecting authority), pride (slandering celestial beings), and immorality (polluting their own bodies), rather than pure faith, humility, and holiness, as true teachers’ lives should exude.

Jude then tells his audience about Michael the archangel. Michael – the greatest of angelic beings – in his dispute with the devil, did not engage in slanderous pride or unbelief or immorality. Rather he humbly obeyed God, appealing to Him to rebuke the evil one (Zechariah 3:2). Calvin says, “It is beyond controversy that Moses was buried by the Lord, that is, that his grave was concealed according to the known purpose of God. And the reason for concealing his grave is evident to all, that is, that the Jews might not bring forth his body to promote superstition. What wonder then is it, when the body of the prophet was hidden by God, Satan should attempt to make it known; and that angels, who are ever ready to serve God, should on the other hand resist him? And doubtless we see that Satan almost in all ages has been endeavoring to make the bodies of God’s saints idols to foolish men (referring to Catholic relics in altars). Therefore this Epistle ought not to be suspected on account of this testimony, though it is not found in Scripture… Michael dared not to speak more severely against Satan (though a reprobate and condemned) than to deliver him to God to be restrained; but those men hesitated not to load with extreme reproaches the powers which God had adorned with peculiar honors.”

And in v10, we learn that the false teachers spoke abusively against whatever they did not understand. I heard about a television preacher who said he was in a room when all of the sudden, a demonic force came in. The temperature of the room dropped dramatically and everything began to frost over. Even the furniture began to levitate. The preacher claimed to have addressed that spirit, telling him to get out, and he went out through the window. At that time the furniture fell back to the floor and the temperature returned to normal. But the preacher claimed then to have leaned out the window and said, “Come back here demon! I haven’t finished with you yet. Put that furniture back where you found it.” Now he thought that was very clever, and I’m sure it was impressive to some of his followers. But it seems to me that he engaged in slandering celestial beings, which is a sign of false teaching. It’s messing around with Biblical doctrine that ends up being, as Jude says in v10, the very things that destroy. Grace leads not to prideful immorality but to pure faith and humble obedience and holiness.

Jude then goes on a rampage against these false teachers in v11-13, which is similar to 2 Peter 2. We won’t focus on it all, but he gives more examples of their wicked ways, comparing them to more Old Testament examples of the same types of erroneous behavior we saw earlier – like that of Cain (they slander men more righteous than themselves), Balaam (they’re just trying to make a quick dollar), and Korah (they reject the authority God has placed over them). He says they’re fruitless, out to feed themselves, and they’re floating along the road to nowhere – to the forever-darkness reserved for them. Jude’s point in this section is that the false teachers are not living the life that a true teacher of sound doctrine would live. A person’s life shows a person’s heart. So take note of a teacher’s lifestyle, pay attention to how the teacher spends his money, and you’ll see his heart. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

In v14-15, Jude says that there is judgment coming. He quotes the book of Enoch, which is a pseudopigraphical book, meaning that Enoch didn’t write it. It was probably given his name hoping for more credibility, much like the Gospel of Thomas, or the Gospel of Mary. There are two thoughts on the book. First, it was possibly written and popular during the sub-apostolic period, that is, after many of the apostles died and their followers were leading the way. Second, it could have been an ancient book, surviving even the flood on the ark with Noah and popular among the Jews to this time period. Either way, it was likely a book that these false teachers would have used at this time to show their own authority. And Jude probably quotes it mocking them, showing that even their own “sacred text” rebukes them.

Finally, in v16, Jude, having taught that God will judge these false teachers, rebukes them once more with a series of adjectives describing their character flaws. Isn’t interesting that one of the most prominent things false teachers usually deny is the judgment of God? Yet we know that sound Biblical doctrine would never deny the judgment of God. Jude certainly doesn’t. And these false teachers will experience it in everlasting fullness – something we know nothing about. Repent and believe.

A call to persevere

17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Remembering, Building Up, and Showing Mercy. Jude has told his audience negatively to beware of false teachers, but he hasn’t told them positively how to prepare for false teachers. That’s what he does in this section. In v17-19, Jude says to remember what the true teachers have said, in v20-21 he gives an exhortation to growth that has four parts to it, and in v22-23 he says to show mercy. In this very complete and positive way, Jude gives instructions on how we can not only survive and defend in this world where Christianity has been infiltrated by false teachers, but how we can thrive and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s discouraging to see false prophets in the church. You want to think that at least the church would be a safe place. But the reality is that there’s never a time when you’re completely safe from false teaching. We’ve got to remember that and be on our toes. So Jude begins in v17-18 by calling his audience to remember the various biblical admonitions regarding false teachers. The apostles prophesied of unbelievers scoffing. Matthew 24:11; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1, 4:3; 2 Peter 3:3 There are a number of places we could go in Scripture to see these warnings. In v19, Jude again lists some characteristics of these false teachers. “Don’t forget what they look like!” They’re worldly-minded. They present themselves as super-spiritual, but actually they are completely carnal, consumed with the things of this world. They claim to have spiritual gifts, but they don’t really even have the Spirit. And they cause division. Now be careful with this last one, because often those who stand on the truth of God’s Word and the sound doctrine are those who are accused of being divisive. It’s those who depart from God’s Word who are the divisive ones. So Jude says first, “Remember the Word of God.”

You’ve heard that the best offense is a good defense. But the problem is that nobody scores. The result is a standoff. Well, Jude turns it around and says here that the best defense is a good offense. If you are scoring – growing – all the time, then your defense isn’t on the field. You’re never defending against sin, because you’re on fire with Christian growth. That’s a good place to be. I love to experience the passion of studying God’s Word, because I want to do it so much that I don’t have time to meander in the tempting fields of surfing the internet or flipping through the TV channels. That passion’s not always there, so I have to play defense at times, but it’s great to be growing. One of the best ways to defend against falling into false teaching is to attend to the positive things of the Christian life, so Jude gives us a four-fold direction for growth in v20-21:

He exhorts us to grow in doctrine, prayer, experience, and hope. Build yourself up in the most holy faith (doctrine), pray in the Holy Spirit (prayer), keep yourselves in God’s love (experience), and wait for the mercy of Jesus to bring you to eternal life (hope). That’s good stuff. First, devote yourself to doctrine. Know how to defend your faith. Why do believe this about that? Can you show me in Scripture where this happens as a result of that? And so on. Second, we’re dependent on God in this life, and so we pray. Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. We get the same thing here from Jude. People of prayer will not easily be led astray. Healthy, regular, biblical prayer is an index of a healthy Christian life. Matthew Henry once said that “those who live without prayer live without God in this world.” Third, live in the sphere of God’s love, dwell on it, delight in it, draw on it, and rejoice by it. When you are overwhelmed in the sense of God’s grace and love for you, you are not vulnerable to the false teachers’ pitch. There’s nothing we need if we lean constantly on God in Christ. Fourth, hope for mercy at Christ’s return unto eternal life. The idea here is to say, “Come Lord Jesus! Maranatha!” And nobody who doesn’t know where they stand with God based on sound doctrine, prayer, and experience, would dare long for the return of Christ apart from the mercy of God unto eternal life. Jesus is our blessed hope – but He is not that to unbelievers. So grow in those things aggressively.

Finally, in v22-23, Jude is telling us that Christians are to deal with erring brethren wisely and mercifully. Jude speaks of three categories of people in danger: those who are doubting; those who are duped and need to be saved from the fire, and those who are devoted to false teaching as need mercy mixed with fear. First, we are to be merciful to the doubting, people who are confused by false teaching. They’re not sure what to believe. We’re not to be harsh; we’re to deal with them wisely and compassionately, distinguishing between the weak and the willful. Second, the duped are those who bought into the lies of false doctrine without realizing it. They’ve been duped. They’ve committed to false teaching, having been misled, and so we need to deal with them urgently and directly – saving and snatching them out of the fire. Third, those are so far into false teaching that there’s probably no turning back. They seem gone, but we are to still be merciful to them with a godly fear. We don’t associate with them; we hate their behavior – even their clothing. But there is to be mercy mixed with fear because of God’s divine mercy shown to us.

Let Jonah’s failure in this regard be an example for us. Here’s another example: In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, early on, was talking with Frodo about Bilbo’s previous adventure. Frodo says, “It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him (Gollum / Smeagol) when he had the chance.” And Gandalf responds, “Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life… Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends… The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.” And as you probably know, that’s exactly what happens. The mercy of Bilbo to that wretched creature ends up saving the day in the end. “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord. So we need to show mercy – mixed with fear. God holds sinners responsible for their sins, but He also reaches out to them in mercy. If you really understand the doctrine of God’s sovereign mercy, you will not be judgmental or proud. You will become a messenger of God’s mercy.

Doxology

24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude ends his little letter in a slightly unusual way. Most New Testament epistles end with a benediction, a blessing from God towards the audience. But this epistle ends with a doxology, a blessing from us towards God. Now there are plenty of doxologies in the New Testament, but most of the time, it’s the benediction that wraps it up, because we need the grace and peace of God to help us obey the commands that usually come in the epistles. But Jude doesn’t give us that. Instead he praises God with a doxology – but it’s a unique doxology, because Jude praises God specifically for His benedictions and blessings towards us. So it’s like a benediction within a doxology. And it’s an appropriate way to end this little letter. And there are five parts to this doxology. The first part is praise to God for preservation from sin. The second part is praise to God for His perfecting grace. The third part is praise to God for His exclusive deity. The fourth part is praise to God for His sole mediation: Jesus is the only way of salvation. And the fifth part is praise to God for His inherent worthiness.

First, we are to praise God because He has the power to enable us to persevere in the faith. God alone is our hope and our refuge. It is ultimately God who keeps and guards us. We are urged repeatedly to persevere in faith, but we are also repeatedly comforted that God will preserve us. Now we need to remember here that we can slip and get off track in the race marked out for us, but we can’t fall beyond the reach of our Father. If we persevere in faith until death, then it is because God preserved us.

Second, we are to praise God because He is making us perfect. His sanctifying grace not only keeps us from falling but also presents us before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy. He doesn’t just take away our sins; He grants us His righteousness. These are two essential aspects to salvation. Jude is saying something similar. He doesn’t just keep us from falling in sanctification; He also presents us before Himself as pure and blameless in glorification. And all of this occurs with great joy – on the part of the redeemed and on the part of the Redeemer. That’s amazing!

Third, we are to praise God because He is exclusively God and exclusively our Savior. Interestingly, the New Testament refers to Jesus as Savior 16 times and God the Father as Savior 8 times. Jude is referring to the Father. But fourth, Jude adds, “Through Jesus Christ,” to remind us that God saves through Christ. Jesus is the only way to be saved. So we are to praise God because He saves through Jesus Christ. Fifth and finally, we are to praise God because He is worthy. His is the glory, majesty, power, and authority, over all the ages through history. And it’s His now – and forevermore! When we praise God, we’re not giving Him something that He doesn’t already have; we are acknowledging something about Him that He already is, exalting Him for His characteristics in their infinite perfection and proclaiming His glory with all that we are. The sole purpose of mankind is to declare that glory. We do that as everything in our lives is done for His glory, with His exaltation in mind, and we do that as every situation of our lives is understood and contemplated in the light of His ultimate glory.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Or for; or in
  2. 4 Or men who were marked out for condemnation
  3. 5 Some early manuscripts Jesus


Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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