Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 22

 

A Call to Persevere

Verses 22-23: An important factor in keeping one’s own faith active and vibrant is exercising it serving others. Even where there is danger or extreme immorality involved, God calls on believers to mediate His love for the fallen and share the gospel with the lost.

Jude 1:22 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”

And of some... There are several textual variants here which could result in either two or three groups being indicated. They are:

(1) Sincere doubters who deserve compassion (verse 22);

(2) Those who are deeper in unbelief and urgently need to be pulled from the fire (verse 23);

(3) Those declared disciples of apostasy who still deserve mercy, but are to be handled with much fear (verse 23), lest the would-be-rescuer also be spiritual sullied.

Given the manuscripts evidence and Jude’s patterns of writing in trails, all 3 groups is the more likely scenario.

have compassion, making... These victims of the apostate teachers need mercy and patience because they have not yet reached a firm conclusion about Christ and eternal life, and so remain doubters who could possibly be swayed to the truth.

To be forgiven, we must freely forgive.

Being merciful to others:

Because the words of the apostates were confusing, probably many believers were in doubt as to whether to follow them. Such persons, Jude wrote, should not be slandered or criticized. They should be dealt with in love and mercy — the same way in which the Lord dealt with them (cf. Jude 1:21). They needed encouragement, not criticism. They needed to be built up, not torn down.