Jude 1:20-23 (BSB) But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life. 22 And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
V20 “But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit…” Jude is encouraging us to build ourselves up to withstand false teachers and false teaching. How do we do this? We need spiritual food (the Bible), spiritual drink (the Holy Spirit), God’s guidance (prayer), teaching (pastoral), and fellowship (exercising our spiritual gifts). The more we know the Bible, the more we will recognize what is false. The Bible needs to be read and studied. The Holy Spirit wants a willing heart to learn. God gives us guidance as we pray for wisdom and understanding. True pastors will teach the Bible expositionally from cover to cover. Fellowship is needed with ALL believers exercising their spiritual gifts. Most holy faith refers to all of Christian beliefs (doctrine), worldview, lifestyle, rules, etc. Praying in the Holy Spirit is ACTIVE, thinking, alertness with the blessings of God as in Romans 8:26.
V21 “…keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.” How do we keep ourselves in the love of God? By desiring to obey God’s rules (John 14:15 and 1 John 2:3-5), believing His words in the Bible in their plain, normal sense, confessing sin, and living accordingly. The mercy spoken of here is the believer’s resurrection and receiving our new body (1 Corinthians 15:22-23 and 1 Corinthians 15:35-49). The Rapture, which is when we receive our new body (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), is the greatest mercy for believers, because we are delivered from the wrath of God as is revealed in the book of Revelation.We are then taken to heaven with Jesus to the life we will live eternally (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and 1 John 2:25).
V22 “And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt…” We are to help our brothers and sisters if they doubt. We are not to demean them. God showed us mercy, so we should do the same. See 2 Thessalonians 3:15 and James 5:19-20.
V23 “…save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.” The word “save” refers to a rescue mission. We are to rescue those who are drifting, floundering, and having doubts about the Christian faith enough so that they might leave the faith. It can also refer to believers who are in serious sin and in danger of the consequences of God’s anger agains them as in Acts 5:1-11. It can be applied to those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus and are headed for an eternity in hell. Some we snatch, as in remove them from the danger. Some we show mercy not judgment to teach, support, and guide them into a strong faith. In all situations, we must be aware of the dangers of falling into sin ourselves.
Constable comments: “Sixth, Jude gave instruction concerning those believers who have already fallen under God’s discipline by capitulating to false teachers. We should attempt to extract them from their error before their consequent judgment falls (cf. Amos 4:11; Zechariah 3:2).
“In the case of those whom heresy has completely swept away, we should have pity on them rather than condemning them without compassion. Moreover we should regard them with fear, not fear of being infected by physical contact with them, but fear of falling under God’s displeasure and discipline if we embrace their error. We should avoid any contact with these people because of the corrupting influence they can have on us through their words and actions (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15).”
We learn:
- We need to build our faith to live boldly and know wise and godly discernment.
- We need to help our brothers and sisters in the faith, and we need them.