Chapter Ten - Verses 20-23
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude has been telling us from the beginning of his epistle, to contend for the faith (verse 3), giving us the reason that there have been ungodly people that have crept into our lives, families and churches completely unnoticed (verses 4-16). In this regard we need to understand that some of these people may have crept in long before our time, people that may have influenced the church or corrupted the Word of God a long time ago. Using the classic contrasting pattern often seen in the Bible (like how Paul contrasted the thoughts and ways of the world followed by the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-26, as discussed in the last chapter), Jude explains how to contend for the faith, by first listing some of the immoral mannerisms of these ungodly false teachers (verses 17-19), followed by how God’s people should live.
Jude, beginning with verse 17, gave us an imperative command, that we must remember! We are to remember that the enemy is alive and active, we are to remember that there will be scoffers that will mock us regarding our beliefs every chance possible, we are to remember that these false teachers will cause divisions among believers, we are to remember that they will follow their own ungodly passions, we are to remember that they are worldly people and that they are devoid of the Holy Spirit.
Jude then shifts his attention to us, how we should live, beginning with verse 20, he gives instructions that applies to all believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Once again Jude gives us an imperative, “But you, beloved,” followed by seven important action items that every Christian, not only ought to be aware of already, but should already be practicing. These seven points make up Jude’s “plan of action” for every Christian so they can firmly and aggressively “contend for the faith” (verse 3).
The first action item is for us to build ourselves up in the Word of God. Just like going to the gym to build up our physical strength and to improve our endurance, we need to grow in our faith, learning about God and become Spiritually stronger, together with fellow believers (readActs 20: 32; Romans 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Colossians 2:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:11). Knowing the Word of God will always precede our ability to grow and discern. Paul gave us an excellent example when he wrote about the role and purpose of the church, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16, ESV, emphasis added)
The second item is prayer, however note how Jude delineates what type of prayer, we are to pray in the Holy Spirit. Our prayers are to be guided by the Holy Spirit, this requires us to be listening to Him as we pray. Paul explains the importance of guidance by the Holy Spirit in his letter to the church in Rome, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27, ESV)
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;
The third action item Jude tells us to do is to, “keep yourselves in the love of God.” This is the fifth time in this epistle that Jude used the Greek word, ‘tēreō’ regarding something that is preserved or kept for us until needed. Here we are to stay in the love of God. We know God’s love is in us (see Romans 5:5 and 8:37-39), so what can we do to ‘keep’ ourselves in His love? The Apostle John gives us some hints in both his gospel account and his first epistle, namely, we are to remain obedient to His Word (see John 15:9-11; 1 John 2:4-6; 4:15-21).
The fourth point that Jude tells us to do is to wait, we are to wait for the mercy of Jesus that leads to eternal life. While that on the surface sounds like a, “no brainer,” but we need to wait with anticipation and eagerness (like a small child waiting for Christmas), all while we are doing what He called us to do. In other words, we need to be patient!
We see that verse 22 introduces us to the fifth action item, we are to have ‘mercy’ (the word can also be translated as ‘kindness’) on those who doubt. Remember we are to lovingly represent Jesus to those who do not know Him. For example, we should not get angry, use violence or do anything that will compromise Him. We cannot witness to others if we act or appear to be just like everyone else in the world! We also know that the issue of doubt doesn’t just affect non-believers; Christians can have moments of doubt too (readJames 5:19-20).
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
The sixth action is vitally important, Jude says we are to, “save others by snatching them out of the fire.” The term Jude used that is translated here as ‘snatching’ is the Greek word ‘harpazo’ which occurs 14 times (in most New Testament manuscripts), which means to remove quickly, using great force (see also Amos 4:11 and Zechariah 3:2). In the Bible terms and figures of speech are used in a consistent manner from Genesis to Revelation. The term ‘fire’ is an often used metaphor for judgment (readIsaiah 33:14; Matthew 13:36-43; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and Hebrews 12:28-29). What can we do to keep a person from the flames of hell? Jesus made it clear that our primary role was to help bring others to salvation, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV, see also Mark 16:15-16 and Luke 24:47).
Let me stop here for a moment as this is extremely important to understand. Jesus gave each of us this command, it is not just for the paid professionals. Many Christians shrink back or tremble when they hear that ‘E’ word, evangelism. Why? Mostly for two reasons: 1) they don’t know what to say or do; and 2) they fear failure. Let’s review these points again, if you remember back in Chapter Two, we discussed the concept of our primary vocation is for us to work for Jesus (yes, that makes Him your boss). We are to be, “as Christ” to others, ultimately setting us apart from the rest of the world. The next part is to be ready to content our faith (Jude 4, see Chapter Three) as well as give a defense for the hope we have in Jesus (see 1 Peter 3:15). Contending and defending can only occur if we know Jesus and the Word of God. Now about the fear part, Paul told us how this works in his first epistle to the Church at Corinth, he explained that it we can plant the gospel message while some other may water (this essentially means answer questions, provide more information, etc.) but only God can change the heart. Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-9, ESV) To put it in our vernacular, we are to be the salesperson who discusses all the features of salvation, perhaps even give a personal testimony, but it is God’s role to be the closer. If someone does not accept Jesus as their Savior or otherwise rejects any part of your effort, keep praying for the person and know that you did what you were supposed to do.
The seventh and final action item for all Christians, is to show others mercy with fear. The fear that Jude is referring to is our fear of God (read2 Corinthians 5:11-21). When we fear and love God, we understand what He wants us to do, even for others that may go out of their way to sin. However, Jude is not finished giving us instruction on this final action, we are to do so by hating (or detesting) the garment stained (defiled) by the flesh. Another way of stating this would be that we are to love the person but hate or detest their sin (we are not to compromise). Remember God loves them just as much as He loves us! The New Living Translation renders this verse, “Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.” (Jude 23, NLT)
Those seven action items summarized:
Remember we are to be as Christ to those that would otherwise be lost and condemned! We are to take these seven action items wherever we go. A soldier would never consider entering enemy territory unarmed, so why would a soldier of God, who desires to serve Jesus, not be fully armed at all times?