Jude 1:21-23, “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”
Interesting points:
1. In these verses Jude presents a practical way for believers to be spiritually strong in spite of the apostates' efforts to destroy their faith. By remaining in God’s love and mindful of His mercy, true believers not only overcome their adversaries, they act in such a way that God’s nature is reflected in them to others.
2. In Verse 21 Jude indicates that we believers will remain strong if we stay focused on God's love for us and do His will, as we eagerly anticipate the mercy Jesus will bestow on us when He returns. Although His present mercy includes forgiveness, at Jesus' return it will include eternal life in heaven and all its accompanying benefits. In John 15:10, Jesus assures us that we will abide in His love if we keep His commandments.
3. Verse 22 reminds us that the result of abiding in God’s love is that believers can deal with sincere doubters (who might be on the verge of trusting in Jesus as their Savior but they have intellectual questions) patiently and with love. Knowing that harsh criticism drives doubters farther away from the truth, by abiding in God’s love believers can answer those concerns (1 Peter 3:15–16) if they extend mercy to those sincere seekers. This verse emphasizes a distinction between those who sincerely "doubt" with those who are rebellious and arrogant, like the "scoffers" in Jude 1:10 who are not really seeking truth. The key attitude Jude presents here is mercy—a caring compassion—instead of a judgmental anger or rejection.
4. In Verse 23, Jude urges us to "snatch… from the fire" unbelievers who are perilously close to eternal punishment due to the dangerous influence of false teachers, who not only place themselves in danger of eternal punishment (Jude 1:13), they also disrupt the faith of others (Jude 1:10–12). For those who are not in open rebellion, but are merely confused or suffering from doubt, our response should be that of mercy. We need to seek their redemption, not their condemnation (Jude 1:22). At the same time, Jude portrays some unbelievers as so contaminated by immorality that this compassion needs to come with sensible caution. It is commendable to reach grossly immoral unbelievers, but it is unacceptable to be drawn into their immorality. Jesus serves as our example: He reached out with the message of forgiveness to the most sinful members of society (Mark 2:15–17) but He did not participate in their sin (Hebrews 4:15) nor did He approve of it (John 8:11).
Application:
Brothers, these verses serve as a powerful reminder to us as we walk with the Lord and persevere in our faith. In following God, His love and mercy define our actions and choices as we become more and more like our Master.
With our ongoing transformation by the Holy Spirit, we learn to love what God loves and hate what He hates. As we develop spiritually and our sinful nature begins to lose its grip, we must remain lovingly humble, merciful and patient with those who doubt, those who have been misled by false teachers, and those who desperately need to turn their backs on sin to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives.
In all we do, may we continue to remind ourselves of God’s love, His mercy and that we anticipate the day when Jesus will return with the full measure of God’s mercy which is eternal life. In doing so, we will point others to God’s love and mercy so that they will be presented with the Truth and provided the choice to accept it.
