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Jude 1:17-25 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
Keep Yourselves in the Love of God
¹⁷But you, beloved ones, call to mind the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹These are the ones who cause divisions, soulical men,[12] devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Ascribing Glory to God
²⁴Now to the one who is able to guard you from stumbling and to set you in the presence of his glory unblemished, with great joy, ²⁵to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.[13] Amen.

HOW, THEN, SHALL WE LIVE? Jude 17–23

Jude gives one final warning about those who would influence his readers adversely. It is difficult to know who or what he is quoting when he says, In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires (v. 18). These warnings sound very similar to 1 Timothy 4:1–3 or 2 Peter 3:3. Since Jude has been writing about concepts that closely reflect 2 Peter 2, perhaps Peter is his source for this prophecy as well. In the more than two thousand years since Jude penned his words, there continue to be numerous examples of such scoffers and men who divide [the Church], who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit (v. 19). Every generation of Christians seems to think that such a revelation is unique to their times. The implication may be that we have been in the last times for quite a while, and that the patience, grace, and mercy of God continue to favor us with opportunities to repent and walk in the light.

GREAT THEMES

So You Want Justice?

Many of us wonder how God can stay in the background while so many people suffer the evil and carnage that is brought on by wicked people. This apparent lack of active engagement is what causes many to lose faith, or it keeps them from coming to faith in a good and powerful God. We tend to want justice, and it does not always help to say, “Payday someday.” But, just think for a moment: What if God displayed justice on us each time we deserved it? Who would be left standing among us? We can be thankful, personally, for His grace, mercy, and patience. In time, justice will be served. In the meantime, grace is available.

Jude strikes a contrast by mentioning some lifestyle disciplines of the believer who hopes to live with God forever. Please note the phrase lifestyle disciplines. The typical phrase among us is spiritual disciplines. We tend to limit those to prayer, reading Scripture, and fasting. Jude helps us expand the list. Notice that the first four he lists are about our relationship to the faith and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The essence of the Holy Trinity is mentioned in these brief phrases. They give us insight into how we relate to all of God. The last three are about our actions toward other people, especially those who are struggling and in need. The following are seven disciplines of healthy Christians.

Build Yourselves Up in Your Most Holy Faith (v. 20)

A Christian’s life is built on the truth of God and the truth from God. It is holy because it is a faith based on God’s revelation to us, focused on Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior and Lord. We mature by studying the faith, learning to apply the faith, and by sharing the faith with others. It is also a holy faith because its goal is the transformation of those who believe (Matt. 5:48; Rom. 12:1–3; 2 Cor. 3:17–18; Eph. 3:14–21; Phil. 1:9–11; 1 Pet. 1:15; 2 Pet. 1:3–9; 3:18).

LIFE CHANGE

When God Prays for Us

The most amazing times of prayer are when we cannot say a thing, but the Holy Spirit says it for us! Read and rejoice over this truth from Romans 8:26–27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Imagine it: God’s Spirit praying for us when we cannot! What an awesome God!

Pray in the Holy Spirit (v. 20)

Jude is not interested in a person simply logging “prayer mileage.” He wants us to pray with the help of the Holy Spirit. To pray in the Spirit means that our prayers need to reflect more of the Holy Spirit than the human spirit, which tends to be self-serving. When we pray in the Spirit, we must be concerned about the things of the Spirit, such as we find mentioned in John 16:13–15, Romans 8:12–16, and Galatians 5:22–23.

Keep Yourselves in God’s Love (v. 21)

What Jude may be thinking about here is the old covenant relationship between God and His people as we read it in Exodus 24:1–8. God’s covenant had conditions, which mainly involved obedience to His will. John indicates that obeying God’s commands to believe in Jesus the Christ and to love one another (1 John 3:23–24) shows that we love God. There is the discipline of keeping ourselves in God’s love by walking in the light He has given us.

Wait for the Mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ to Bring You to Eternal Life (v. 21)

It is possible that this point is a modifier of the discipline of keeping ourselves in God’s love that the previous point discussed. However, patience is not only a virtue; it is more often a discipline with great value. God will fulfill His justice toward sin and His salvation will be completed for the saints. We must “occupy until he comes” (Luke 19:13). That does not just mean that we are just filling time and space. It implies danger, death, sacrifice, and discipline. It can involve fear and faith; it requires praying to God and networking and negotiating with people. To occupy can be a dangerous and exhausting task, wherever it is being done.

Be Merciful to Those Who Doubt (v. 22)

It is very easy to get impatient and cynical with doubters. After all, can’t they just get with the program and start believing? Some can, but some cannot. Many complicating factors lead a person to doubt. The honest doubter deserves our patient mercy, as well as someone to reveal Christ to them in words and works.

Snatch Others from the Fire and Save Them (v. 23)

John Wesley was a young child when there was a consuming fire that struck the parsonage where his entire family lived. John called for help from the second floor. After heroic efforts, John was rescued and from that point on considered himself “a brand plucked from the burning” (Zech. 3:2). This event gave him a sense of God’s providence in his life and produced a deep passion and sense of purpose. His personal deliverance from the flames led to a passion for others and their salvation.

When we help others come to faith in Christ, in a sense, we are snatching them from the fires of hell that would have been their eternal destiny.

APOSTASY: Abandoning, Deserting, Working Against and Rebelling Against God

LIFE CHANGE

Seeing God

While a friend was traveling by train across the country at a particularly difficult time in his life, he made acquaintance with a custodian at a train station. During the conversation that ensued about life and its complications, the custodian offered a four-word piece of counsel, priceless in its wisdom and truth: “See God in everything.” He was not suggesting that God causes everything, but that He can be found, ready to sustain and help, no matter what we’re dealing with.

To Others Show Mercy, Mixed with Fear (v. 23)

Mercy is intended to be an incentive to wake up and address the problem for which we are receiving mercy. That is why fear is appropriately mixed with mercy. We never want to take God’s mercy for granted. It was on the basis of God’s amazing mercies that Paul built his case for each of us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Mercy emerges from grace, but it needs to result in repentance and transformation.

THE INCOMPARABLE DELIVERER Jude 24–25

These two verses are probably the most often read and recognized in this book. Many people know little else about Jude. They are a truly magnificent pair of verses, among the most dynamically eloquent portrayals of God’s nature and activity in the life of a believer.

He is the God who is able (v. 24). There are at least two other New Testament comments about God’s ability to help us. Romans 16:25 says that God is able to establish us by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3:20–21 reminds us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. And, here in Jude, He is the God who is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. These are all amazing statements. What do they tell us about God and His work within us?

He Is the God Who Can Keep Us Standing

The phrase keep you from falling is graphic. It can refer to many kinds of falls: into sin, into despair, back into our old life, into pride, into self-deception, or into a sense of hopelessness. God knows when we need Him to keep us from falling. It helps, however, to be living close to Him in the first place. Such promises of deliverance are not given to those who are far away in faith. Only a sentence or two before verse 24, Jude says, “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ …”

He Is the God of Transforming Grace and Power

Here we see what Wesley saw, namely, the “optimism of grace.” Rather than a God who is austere and has predetermined all things totally beyond our influence, we see a God who is able to work in our lives and make real changes. He who calls us to be holy is able to help us become holy.

He Is the God Who Delivers Us

He gives us real protection, real transformation, and real deliverance. That is because we serve an awesome God who has great affection for His creation and especially for His children on this earth. He is the only God our Savior (v. 25). The deliverance is without fault and with great joy. One can think of a lot of reasons why appearing before the presence of God, our final Judge, could leave us feeling great shame, guilt, fear, regret, sadness, or even hopelessness. But Jude indicates that it will be more like a celestial party. Possibly that great joy will be commingled with an immense sense of fulfillment, affirmation, and completion. We can only imagine.

Normally, the term “Savior” is reserved for Jesus Christ, at least from the New Testament perspective. However, this is not the only use of the phrase referring to God as Savior. In Luke 1:46–47, Mary, the mother of Jesus is worshiping, saying, “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior …” The apostle Paul introduces his first letter to Timothy with “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.” Twice more, in the same letter, Paul uses the phrase (2:3; 4:10). Again, the phrase is used three times in Paul’s epistle to Titus (1:3; 2:10; 3:4).

GREAT THEMES

Three Great Benedictions

Romans 16:25–27—Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21—Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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

What are we to make of this phrase? Is it not a phrase we deem reserved for Christ? Before the incarnation of God in Christ, God the Father was the repeated Deliverer and Savior of the Israelites. God has always been a Savior. He is our Savior in the being of Jesus the Christ, and our eternal salvation will also be at His command and because of His grace, mercy, and love.

Lift up your head and your heart, Christian. You faithfulness to Christ will gain you the ultimate deliverance by the ultimate Deliverer.

Verse 25 continues its exaltation of the God who deserves to be celebrated and reverenced for His glory, majesty, power and authority, and it is all to be recognized through Jesus Christ our Lord, who bore the shame and was broken for our sins, and who became the perfect offering of sacrifice for our sins: yours, mine, and the whole world. May His name be praised.

We close the comments on Jude with a paraphrase of this glorious pair of verses, as a benediction:

From a people who are inclined to slip and fall, we offer praise and glory to God, who is able to keep us on our feet. From a people who experience pain and failure and the shame of sin, we exalt God who will deliver us innocent and with exceeding great joy. From a people who desperately need deliverance, we honor and worship the God who redeems and protects, empowers us and makes us ultimate winners, through Jesus Christ our Lord—from every yesterday, even today, and every tomorrow into eternity. Oh, Yes.^[1]

By David A. Case and David W. Holdren