Jude 24-25 | KingComments | STEP | . Jude has extensively described the characteristics of the apostate ungodly men. With the words “but you” he again addresses the believers. Just like he did in , he again addresses them with “beloved”. He tells them that they should not have to be surprised that there are such people he previously described, among them. They only have to remember what the apostles of “our Lord Jesus Christ” have said. If they only take that to heart they will be kept from getting involved with these people or allow themselves to be influenced by their mockeries and ungodly lusts. You see that Jude refers to the inspired Scriptures, in which it is written what the apostles have said. Back to the Scripture and not to human writings, how fundamental biblical they may be. In Acts 20 you find warnings from the mouth of Paul concerning the performance of people for whom Jude warns here ( ). Peter and John also write about such people ( ; ). . Their warning words come down to that “in the last time there will be mockers”. That time began when the Lord Jesus came to earth and was rejected and it will last until His return. This whole time is characterized – not by a submission of the world to the gospel, but – by the performance of mockers who do whatever they like to and who do not take God into account at all. Their whole life is dominated by the fulfillment of “their own ungodly lusts”. . The people whom Jude is talking about are incorrigible. Because they have no part in what the believers have in common, they form their own group in the midst of the church. They separate themselves like the Pharisees and form a group in the church to carry out their evil works there. They feel themselves superior to others who in their eyes are narrow-minded and petty and therefore look down on them with disdain. They are “worldly-minded”, which means that they are guided by their soul, their feelings and not like God meant them to be, by their mind in relation to Him. They have no new life, but they are and remain sensual people who live according to their lusts. Each trace of life from God is missing. They are not born again and therefore are people who are “devoid of the Spirit”. Whatever they may claim in view of their being a Christian, their condition cannot possibly be the work of God’s Spirit. Here we find the end of the verses that deal with apostasy and apostates in which there is not one glimmer of hope of improvement. Judgment will break loose on them in full force at the return of the Lord Jesus with all His own. . From this verse Jude passes on a number of encouragements. In he does that in the form of exhortations and in in the form of a praise. The exhortations are seven in total of which four refer to you personally and three to your relation toward others. The exhortations are again introduced with the words “but you, beloved”. It again marks the contrast to the category of the people of the previous verses. Then we have the exhortations: 1. . You should not only contend for the faith ( ), but you also need building yourself up on your “most holy faith”. That’s something you need to take care of yourself. You do that by engaging with God’s Word to better know the truth of faith. The truth of faith is the foundation that you lean on with your heart and soul. The sound teaching that is being taken in by your heart is necessary for your spiritual well-being. It is a matter of your heart. 2. . Beside the necessity of the building up in the faith, there is also the necessity of “praying in – and not ‘to’! – the Holy Spirit”. This is not possible for those who do not have the Spirit. But it is also not always the way of praying of every believer. A believer may pray in a formal way, after a standard model, or by praying a prayer in which the ‘I’ is centered ( ). There is no power in such prayers. A prayer “in the Holy Spirit” is a prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit, in which He together with the spirit of the believer asks God what matters to God’s work and is to the glory of the Lord Jesus. 3. . To the building up of yourself on your most holy faith and the prayer in the Holy Spirit, you should also add keeping yourself “in the love of God”. Herein lies the command to keep yourself aware of God’s love. The love of God is the atmosphere in which you are. It is your responsibility to be aware of it. It is living in the conscious assurance that nothing can separate you from the love of God ( ). It is like the shining of the sun. The sun always shines, but something can come between you and the sun, which causes you not to be standing in the sun anymore and not to feel the warmth of it. If sin and unbelief are present in you, they will cause you to shut yourself off from the beams of God’s love for you. His love is surely there, but you are not able to enjoy it at that moment. You have shut yourself off from it. Not only sins cause that effect. You can also be focused on the difficulties in your life in such a way that you forget God’s love. The point is that you do not allow that something comes between you and God’s love for you. 4. . As the fourth and final exhortation in view of yourself, Jude says that you should be looking for “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life”. This is about the second coming of Christ. His first coming was also an expression of God’s mercy ( ). Now that He in the last of times is about to come for the second time, your attention is drawn to that. When He comes the apostates will no longer be able to do evil. He will then take you away from the circumstances of misery to be with Him and enjoy the eternal life with Him to its fullness. . Now three exhortations follow in view of others. If you take the four previous exhortations to heart you will be longing to help others who may have got caught up in the trap of the people who secretly have crept in or in one way or another have been influenced by them. However, the translation of these verses are rather diverse. In my explanation I use the translation that seems most convincing to me. 1. The first category regards the doubters. They must be ‘corrected’ – which seems to be a better translation than ‘have mercy on’ – because they make their doubts turn into points of dispute. You should help them to step out of the doubts and disputes by convincing them of the firm foundation of God’s truth. 2. . “Others” have already been more influenced by the people who crept in unnoticed. You see that they go the wrong way, the way to the fire. Think about the evolution theory, a poison that is taken in by countless unsuspecting young people, due to nice sounding so-called scientific arguments. That also includes Bible critics. Not only correction is in its place here, but these ‘others’ must be snatched out of the power these people. The earnest prayer of a righteous man is necessary to save them from their erring way ( ). 3. . The third group has gone the furthest. In case you have a task toward them, you must do that “with fear”, which refers to yourself, that you may not be dragged by them. You need to watch out carefully not to be involved yourself with their uncleanness in some way, even not with that of its appearance, represented by “the garment polluted by the flesh”. In your efforts to help them you run the risk of getting into temptation by participating in their sinful way of living instead of keeping distance. Every connection with sinful life must be removed, even if it is about things that are not sinful in themselves. You may think, for example, of things that another person has gained in a sinful way, through which he made his life pleasant. In this way I once received a device for my computer as a sign of gratitude for my help from a person who wanted to cleanse himself from sin. After a while it appeared that he had bought that device with borrowed money. He had piled up a huge debt with several instances to afford himself a luxury life style. He gave that device to me without ulterior motives, but it was a ‘garment defiled by the flesh’. He did not have that feeling when he gave it to me. I gave that device back to him and said that he had to sell it himself to reduce his debt. . If you become thoroughly aware of what Jude has said, a feeling of powerlessness may overwhelm you. How great is it that he concludes his letter with focusing your eyes on Him “who is able to keep you from stumbling”. He not only keeps you from stumbling on the way, but it is His purpose “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless” and that also “with great joy”. That purpose will be accomplished and the joy will in no way be disturbed. . God keeps us and makes us perfect because He is “God our Savior”. That He is “through Jesus Christ”, as He does everything through His Son. Jesus Christ is also “our Lord”. He has all power. If you consider that and become thoroughly aware of that, you will glorify Him for that. In this dangerous time there is yet always a reason to glorify God, or maybe just because of the particular circumstances. You will wish Him everything that Jude mentions here: 1. “glory”, which is all excellence that is visible from Him, 2. “majesty”, which is His dignity and splendor beyond everything, 3. “dominion”, which is His omnipotence, all the resources He has, all that is available to Him to carry out His plans and 4. “authority”, which is His personal right and inner ability to do that. This all is wished to Him “before all time” and also through the ages, both “now” and “forever”, by all His own. With that you and I agree wholeheartedly and say together with Jude “amen”, so it is and not otherwise. Now read again. Reflection: Which exhortations and encouragements do you find in this section?

‏ Jude 24-25

Exhortations and Encouragements

Jude 1:17. Jude has extensively described the characteristics of the apostate ungodly men. With the words “but you” he again addresses the believers. Just like he did in Jude 1:3, he again addresses them with “beloved”. He tells them that they should not have to be surprised that there are such people he previously described, among them. They only have to remember what the apostles of “our Lord Jesus Christ” have said. If they only take that to heart they will be kept from getting involved with these people or allow themselves to be influenced by their mockeries and ungodly lusts.

You see that Jude refers to the inspired Scriptures, in which it is written what the apostles have said. Back to the Scripture and not to human writings, how fundamental biblical they may be. In Acts 20 you find warnings from the mouth of Paul concerning the performance of people for whom Jude warns here (Acts 20:29-30). Peter and John also write about such people (2Pet 2:1 ; 2Pet 3:3; 1Jn 2:18-19).

Jude 1:18. Their warning words come down to that “in the last time there will be mockers”. That time began when the Lord Jesus came to earth and was rejected and it will last until His return. This whole time is characterized – not by a submission of the world to the gospel, but – by the performance of mockers who do whatever they like to and who do not take God into account at all. Their whole life is dominated by the fulfillment of “their own ungodly lusts”.

Jude 1:19. The people whom Jude is talking about are incorrigible. Because they have no part in what the believers have in common, they form their own group in the midst of the church. They separate themselves like the Pharisees and form a group in the church to carry out their evil works there. They feel themselves superior to others who in their eyes are narrow-minded and petty and therefore look down on them with disdain.

They are “worldly-minded”, which means that they are guided by their soul, their feelings and not like God meant them to be, by their mind in relation to Him. They have no new life, but they are and remain sensual people who live according to their lusts. Each trace of life from God is missing. They are not born again and therefore are people who are “devoid of the Spirit”. Whatever they may claim in view of their being a Christian, their condition cannot possibly be the work of God’s Spirit.

Here we find the end of the verses that deal with apostasy and apostates in which there is not one glimmer of hope of improvement. Judgment will break loose on them in full force at the return of the Lord Jesus with all His own.

Jude 1:20. From this verse Jude passes on a number of encouragements. In Jude 1:20-23 he does that in the form of exhortations and in Jude 1:24-25 in the form of a praise. The exhortations are seven in total of which four refer to you personally and three to your relation toward others.

The exhortations are again introduced with the words “but you, beloved”. It again marks the contrast to the category of the people of the previous verses. Then we have the exhortations:

1. Jude 1:20a. You should not only contend for the faith (Jude 1:3), but you also need building yourself up on your “most holy faith”. That’s something you need to take care of yourself. You do that by engaging with God’s Word to better know the truth of faith. The truth of faith is the foundation that you lean on with your heart and soul. The sound teaching that is being taken in by your heart is necessary for your spiritual well-being. It is a matter of your heart.

2. Jude 1:20b. Beside the necessity of the building up in the faith, there is also the necessity of “praying in – and not ‘to’! – the Holy Spirit”. This is not possible for those who do not have the Spirit. But it is also not always the way of praying of every believer. A believer may pray in a formal way, after a standard model, or by praying a prayer in which the ‘I’ is centered (Jam 4:3). There is no power in such prayers. A prayer “in the Holy Spirit” is a prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit, in which He together with the spirit of the believer asks God what matters to God’s work and is to the glory of the Lord Jesus.

3. Jude 1:21a. To the building up of yourself on your most holy faith and the prayer in the Holy Spirit, you should also add keeping yourself “in the love of God”. Herein lies the command to keep yourself aware of God’s love. The love of God is the atmosphere in which you are. It is your responsibility to be aware of it. It is living in the conscious assurance that nothing can separate you from the love of God (Rom 8:39).

It is like the shining of the sun. The sun always shines, but something can come between you and the sun, which causes you not to be standing in the sun anymore and not to feel the warmth of it. If sin and unbelief are present in you, they will cause you to shut yourself off from the beams of God’s love for you. His love is surely there, but you are not able to enjoy it at that moment. You have shut yourself off from it. Not only sins cause that effect. You can also be focused on the difficulties in your life in such a way that you forget God’s love. The point is that you do not allow that something comes between you and God’s love for you.

4. Jude 1:21b. As the fourth and final exhortation in view of yourself, Jude says that you should be looking for “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life”. This is about the second coming of Christ. His first coming was also an expression of God’s mercy (Lk 1:72 ; 78). Now that He in the last of times is about to come for the second time, your attention is drawn to that. When He comes the apostates will no longer be able to do evil. He will then take you away from the circumstances of misery to be with Him and enjoy the eternal life with Him to its fullness.

Jude 1:22. Now three exhortations follow in view of others. If you take the four previous exhortations to heart you will be longing to help others who may have got caught up in the trap of the people who secretly have crept in or in one way or another have been influenced by them.

However, the translation of these verses are rather diverse. In my explanation I use the translation that seems most convincing to me.

1. The first category regards the doubters. They must be ‘corrected’ – which seems to be a better translation than ‘have mercy on’ – because they make their doubts turn into points of dispute. You should help them to step out of the doubts and disputes by convincing them of the firm foundation of God’s truth.

2. Jude 1:23a. “Others” have already been more influenced by the people who crept in unnoticed. You see that they go the wrong way, the way to the fire. Think about the evolution theory, a poison that is taken in by countless unsuspecting young people, due to nice sounding so-called scientific arguments. That also includes Bible critics. Not only correction is in its place here, but these ‘others’ must be snatched out of the power these people. The earnest prayer of a righteous man is necessary to save them from their erring way (Jam 5:16b-20).

3. Jude 1:23b. The third group has gone the furthest. In case you have a task toward them, you must do that “with fear”, which refers to yourself, that you may not be dragged by them. You need to watch out carefully not to be involved yourself with their uncleanness in some way, even not with that of its appearance, represented by “the garment polluted by the flesh”. In your efforts to help them you run the risk of getting into temptation by participating in their sinful way of living instead of keeping distance.

Every connection with sinful life must be removed, even if it is about things that are not sinful in themselves. You may think, for example, of things that another person has gained in a sinful way, through which he made his life pleasant. In this way I once received a device for my computer as a sign of gratitude for my help from a person who wanted to cleanse himself from sin. After a while it appeared that he had bought that device with borrowed money. He had piled up a huge debt with several instances to afford himself a luxury life style. He gave that device to me without ulterior motives, but it was a ‘garment defiled by the flesh’. He did not have that feeling when he gave it to me. I gave that device back to him and said that he had to sell it himself to reduce his debt.

Jude 1:24. If you become thoroughly aware of what Jude has said, a feeling of powerlessness may overwhelm you. How great is it that he concludes his letter with focusing your eyes on Him “who is able to keep you from stumbling”. He not only keeps you from stumbling on the way, but it is His purpose “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless” and that also “with great joy”. That purpose will be accomplished and the joy will in no way be disturbed.

Jude 1:25. God keeps us and makes us perfect because He is “God our Savior”. That He is “through Jesus Christ”, as He does everything through His Son. Jesus Christ is also “our Lord”. He has all power. If you consider that and become thoroughly aware of that, you will glorify Him for that. In this dangerous time there is yet always a reason to glorify God, or maybe just because of the particular circumstances. You will wish Him everything that Jude mentions here:

1. “glory”, which is all excellence that is visible from Him,

2. “majesty”, which is His dignity and splendor beyond everything,

3. “dominion”, which is His omnipotence, all the resources He has, all that is available to Him to carry out His plans and

4. “authority”, which is His personal right and inner ability to do that.

This all is wished to Him “before all time” and also through the ages, both “now” and “forever”, by all His own.

With that you and I agree wholeheartedly and say together with Jude “amen”, so it is and not otherwise.

Now read Jude 1:17-25 again.

Reflection: Which exhortations and encouragements do you find in this section?