“Jude 1:1-4”

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Like his sibling James (James 1:1), Jude could have introduced himself as the brother of the Lord, but was completely satisfied with being identified as “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ” (verse 1). Jesus is our brother in a sense as well, and is not ashamed to call us brethren (Hebrews 2:11) as long as we understand that He is ultimately “our only Master and Lord” (verse 4). We have been “called” by God through the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14) to be His “beloved” children, and when we respond positively and obediently to our Master’s call we are “kept” safely through His loving guardianship.

We could all use a lot more “mercy and peace and love” in our lives couldn’t we (verse 2)? We are required by our heavenly Father to extend mercy to others in order to receive it from Him (James 2:13), and peaceful relations with God and man can only be acquired by loving the Lord with all our hearts, minds and souls, and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). But obviously, as verse 4 explicitly commands, we must not allow our love for people to tempt us to compromise the truth in any way. And it is precisely during the times when it is necessary to fight for the truth and against religious falsehood that we are most likely to feel distressed and be unloving. Jude proceeded to level some very harsh accusations against the false teachers, but before he did, he took the time to pray that mercy, peace and love would be “multiplied” to his troubled brethren.

Jude greatly desired to write to his brethren about the “common salvation” they shared in (verse 3), but unfortunately for them, they were in grave danger of losing theirs! He really wanted to build them up in the most holy faith but they first needed to be firmly established in “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” This is obviously a reference to the totality of inspired teaching as revealed through God’s prophets and Apostles, and not to their personal trust and faith in the Lord. The Apostle Paul used the same terminology in 1 Timothy 4:1 when he wrote that “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” The brethren that Jude wrote to were in extreme danger of falling away from “the faith” that has been “once for all” given to God’s people through Christ Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2), and that will never, ever change.

Friends, we can only know how God wants us to serve and worship Him by what He has (once for all) revealed to us through inspiration. We can only talk with God in prayer after we have first listened to and obeyed His will for us. There were some evil workers teaching a different gospel, which was in no way the legitimate “good news” (Galatians 1:8-9), and Jude was eager to inform his brethren that they dare not be persuaded by the cheap imitation. In fact, they must “earnestly contend” for the genuine article when confronted with an accursed counterfeit. And so must we. The term “earnestly contend” was a common term used in reference to athletic competitions. Religious error always stands in direct opposition to God’s absolute, objective truth, and we must always be ready to take a stand against falsehood and make a defense for “the faith”.

But please notice Jude’s balanced approach to teaching what is good and holy and true. His first impulse and inclination was to edify his brethren by strengthening them in their “common salvation” (verse 3). But when it came to a confrontation against damnable heresies, the Lord’s brother was not afraid to put up a strong fight for the way of righteousness and truth and to encourage others to do so as well. Living in and for “the faith” must not always be a heated competition, but neither should it continually be stroll in the park. A life of faithfulness to God requires a good balance of “mercy and peace and love,” and strong striving against error and deception and sin. When someone perceives and portrays “the grace of our God” as a license to sin, they have effectively denied “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (verse 4), and they must be taught better. For their own soul’s sake and for the benefit of the brotherhood at large. If you desire Jesus to be your Savior and friend, you must first accept His supreme sovereignty as “Master and Lord” over the entirety of your life.

Please read Jude 1:5-7 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

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