Beginning in Jude 17 we find positive exhortations for how the church is to live in the face of false teaching as we await the return of Christ. Jude begins by reminding his readers of the importance of remembering the past, especially the predictions of Jesus and the apostles. They should not be surprised to find false teachers among them—scoffers who follow their own ungodly passions (v. 18). What they were facing is exactly what should be expected because they were living in the last days. In 2 Peter, the false teachers scoffed at the second coming of Christ, whereas in Jude the scoffing has more to do with the mocking of God’s law.
Today we can also say that we are living in the last days (that is, the time between Jesus’s first coming and second coming, cf. 1 Peter 1:20). Therefore, we also ought to expect there to be false teachers among us in the church. These false teachers may look a lot like the false teachers in Jude (and/or 2 Peter), leading others astray by disregarding biblical sexuality, seeking their own monetary gain, despising authority, and denying the future judgement against sin. We should be on our guard doctrinally, with an eye to our church communities, because false teachers will breed division and strife. By having a solid foundation in biblical doctrine, however, we can anticipate the errors that can arise.
A thorough understanding of the Scriptures is key to avoiding the lies of the false teachers.
In Paul’s farewell speech to the elders of the Ephesian church, he reminded them of the importance of right doctrine from all of Scripture, and warned them that false teachers would come in as wolves with perverted doctrine and would seek to lead the disciples astray (Acts 20:27–31). Therefore, a thorough understanding of the Scriptures is key to avoiding the lies of the false teachers. Such teachers may claim to be led by the Spirit and may claim to be offering new Spiritual insights, but Jude indicates that if they shake off God’s law and scoff at the notion that God has authority over us, they are actually worldly people, devoid of the Holy Spirit (v. 19).
Paul’s parting words to the Ephesian elders are therefore similar to Jude’s instruction that we build ourselves up in our holy faith (Jude 20). This building up does not mean that we save ourselves; Jude emphasizes God’s control over our salvation. But it does mean that we are to grow in our understanding of the content of our faith and be firmly rooted in it. And we are to do this not in our own strength, but by reliant prayer in the Holy Spirit (v. 20). In contrast to the false teachers, whose claim to have the Spirit is contradicted by their ungodliness, Christians are to rely on the Spirit’s guidance into the content of our faith, which is described as holy. Far from being a means by which we accomplish our own salvation, our continual prayer recognizes our constant dependence on God.
RECEIVEING GOD'S LOVE
By doing these things, we will keep ourselves in God’s love (Jude 21). This likely refers to both the realm of receiving God’s love and our response of love and obedience toward God. In contrast to the angels who did not keep to their own position of authority and are now kept in chains (v. 6), we are to keep ourselves in the liberating love of God; there is freedom in our holy faith.
We also keep ourselves in God’s love by living in light of the return of Christ (Jude 21). Here is another text where we see the return of Christ is a time of mercy for God’s people, not an event to dread. The return of Christ is our salvation and the vindication and manifestation of the lordship of Christ over the world. We should long for the mercy of that day, which will lead to eternal life. And yet the receiving of mercy indicates that we might otherwise receive judgment if not for the grace of God.
Before we look at our attitude toward others, we should take note of the Trinitarian nature of this exhortation in Jude 20–21: we are to pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, and await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude moves seamlessly between the persons of the Godhead as he explains how we are to grow in our faith. Our Christian living is to be informed by the Trinitarian shape of our salvation at a very practical level.
The call for those who are more stable in the faith is to lead others to the safety of genuine, holy faith.
ENCOURAGING THE WEAK AND FALTERING
Despite the strong language in Jude, notice that he ends on a very tender note. We are to be concerned not only with ourselves, but with our brothers and sisters around us. We are not only to look forward to the mercy that will be ours at Christ’s return, but to mirror that mercy to others, especially those who may doubt and be in danger (vv. 22–23). Perhaps we do not struggle with being fooled by the false teaching, but others in our churches and circles of influence may be wavering. They may be in danger of straying into the fires of destruction. Jude leaves no room for one Christian to scoff at another as if to say, “I’m better than you” or “I can’t believe you would think that.” The call for those who are more stable in the faith is to lead others to the safety of our genuine, holy faith.
Jude urges us, first, to have mercy on those who doubt—those who are being tempted to believe the false teachers (v. 22). Second, Jude points to those who are in some way under the influence of the false teachers. We are to save them by snatching them from the fire that could destroy them (v. 23). Even if these people have been stained by the sinfulness of the false teachers, they are not without hope. We are not to whitewash over their sin in the name of an “accepting” attitude that ignores their sin and may in fact jeopardize our own holiness. Jude teaches us that God takes sin seriously and that flagrant ungodliness will be judged. For those who may be living this way, we should, with fear and trembling, seek to guide them lovingly to the truth without granting approval to a sinful lifestyle that Jude warns against. We are to be agents of redemption, not judgement. The good news is that there is hope for those who may be falling prey to false teaching: they still may be plucked from the fire and cleansed from their soiled garments.
There is a significant reference here to Zechariah 3:1–5, a text in which Joshua the high priest is clothed in filthy garments (soiled, apparently, with human excrement). In this passage Satan shows up to accuse Joshua, who represented the nation of Israel, because of the filth of sin (his own, or Israel’s, or both). Satan’s condemnation would destroy Joshua and the people. But God responds to Satan that he (God) has chosen this people, and that Joshua is a burning stick snatched from the fire (3:2). who will be clothed with pure garments (3:4). The good news of forgiveness and restoration found in Zechariah 3 is in the background of Jude 22–23: God can easily rescue those whose garments are soiled from sin and who are in danger of the fire of judgement, and wash their sins away. God’s arm is not too short to save anyone who is in danger from false teaching and ungodliness.
This post was adapted from Brandon Crowe, The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015), 112–116. Used with permission of the publisher.