20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
- Jude 20-23
We saw last week that Jude began in v.17-19 to transition away from discussing the false teachers in order to address the believers within the churches. Jude therefore begins verse 20 with the conjunction “but” which will serve to draw a contrast between those whom he has described as “the ones not having the Spirit” in v.19 and the believers who he will address as those “in the Holy Spirit” in v. 20. The structure of the passage is built around a series of commands given by Jude, the first of which concerns believers’ individual faithfulness towards the Lord. The commands which then follow are given in light of this and direct believers to seek to care for one another.
Having spent verses 5-19 warning about the presence of false teachers and the nature of false teaching, Jude now focuses on what believers must do in order to be guarded from these things. It is not enough for them to know what negative things to be on the lookout for, they must embrace certain positive things so that they are built up and strengthened in order that they might ‘contend for the faith’ (v. 3). Jude therefore exhorts them in v. 21 to ‘keep yourselves in the love of God.’ Given that this is a rather general statement, he surrounds the command with three statements that illustrate how exactly this is to be accomplished. First, it is done by ‘building yourselves’ up in the faith. This focus on the truths of the faith serves to ground and root the believer in the work which God has accomplished through Christ in the past. Second, they must pray ‘in the Spirit,’ emphasizing the importance of continued fellowship with God in the present. Third, they must continue ‘waiting’ for the coming of Christ, placing their hope in the future when Christ will come to fully deliver them.
Jude assumes that believers will do these things and that their love towards God means that they will also have a love for one another, particularly those who have been negatively affected by false teaching. In light of this, the apostle exhorts these dear believers to ‘have mercy’ on those whose faith is weak while actively seeking to ‘save’ others who have been overcome by sin and error. In doing these things, they must be characterized by mercy, but also by ‘fear.’ This ‘fear’ is a holy reverence for God and His commands. As they show compassion, they must show the same disdain for sin that God Himself has towards it. This hatred for sin is first directed towards their own sin and is then directed secondarily towards the sin which poses a threat to their brothers and sisters.
Jude’s commands to these believers pose a significant challenge to us today. It is not enough for us to simply be able to identify false teaching, we must also truly love the Lord and walk in fellowship with Him. This is how we are truly guarded from sin and error. Also, in seeking to guard fellow believers from error, the church has often found itself characterized by one of two extremes. Either we are merciful without fear of God, or we hate sin and lack compassion. It is only as we are built up in the faith and grow in our knowledge and experience of God’s love towards us that we find a balance in these things and as we demonstrate His love towards others.
Join us this Sunday as we gather around God’s Word to consider these things together.
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Thomas