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 1:23 “And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
And others save... Others, who are committed to the error taught by the apostates, need immediate and forthright attention before they are further entrenched on the road to the fire of hell (verse 7), as a result of embracing deceptive lies.
with fear, pulling... This third group also needs mercy, even though they are thoroughly polluted by apostate teaching. These people are to be given the true gospel, but with great fear, lest the deliverer be contaminated also.
hating even the... The defiled garment pictures the apostate’s debauched life, which can spread its contagion to the well-meaning evangelist.
Do
we truly love the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Is salvation the
greatest gift we could ever attain? If it is, then we should want it,
not only for ourselves, but for everyone. How can we save someone
else? Tell them about Jesus and what He has done for us. If they
won’t listen, grab hold of them and make them listen. Don’t let
go, until they will listen. Amen.
Give
a few hours of your time now to save someone from an eternity in the
lake of fire. I hate the thought of anyone winding up in the lake of
fire. I hate to think of it even being near anyone. The question is,
do I hate it enough to spend my time keeping others from going there?
Is there any greater task on this earth? What are you going to do
about it?
Again, others — Those who are unsaved — were about to fall into the fire, the eternal fire of hell (cf. Jude 1:7). Jude exhorted his readers to snatch them from the fire and save them.
To still others, a third group, believers should show mercy. But they were to do so in an attitude of fear, that is, caution, lest they become contaminated by the sin of “the most abandoned heretic” (Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude, p. 188). Such persons are so corrupt that the stench of death has polluted them and even their clothing, as it were, reeks with the odor of corrupted flesh (cf. see stained Jude 1:12).
In his short epistle, Jude gave seven commands to believers:
1. Earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3).
2. Remember the teaching and warning of the apostles (Jude 1:17).
3. Build yourselves up in the most holy faith (Jude 1:20).
4. Pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20).
5. Keep yourselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21).
6. Look for the mercy of the Lord to bring you to eternal life (Jude 1:21).
Show mercy to Christians who are doubting, snatch unbelievers from the fire, and cautiously show mercy to the corrupt (Jude 1:22-23).
Let us all say Amen.
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