Jude, God's Mercy & Eternal Life

Jude 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude appeals to Christians to remain in God’s love; we are to abide in Christ, and by doing so, He will abide in us, John 15:4. The idea is to remain steadfast in God’s love. But what does this mean?

The Greek word for “keep,” is “tereo,” and it means, “to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.” It means, to watch over, preserve, keep, watch.

This verse references the impact and outcome of the false teachings that these perverse and godless men bring into the church. The sole intention of these false doctrines is to divert the believer’s attention and focus from the Lord Jesus Christ to something else. Once more citing Paul from Colossians, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” Colossians 2:6. Just two verses prior, Paul mentioned that he wrote his epistle in part to save them from deception. “Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words,” Colossians 2:4. The saints are to be knit together in love, while attaining the riches of assurance and understanding the mystery of God. God, and His immense love as it was demonstrated on the cross, is to be the Christian’s focus.

Paul further warns, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ,” Colossians 2:8. This is why Jude cautions us to keep ourselves in God’s love. There are many who would endeavor to lead us astray from the truth as it is found in Christ, even without realizing they themselves are likewise deceived. God’s love makes no demands on how much you must give, or do, or be, to earn peace and forgiveness; rather, God’s love demonstrates to us all that He is, and has given, and done to bridge the chasm sin created. To keep ourselves positionally somewhere, we must not wander off or stray. This is the danger Jude warns us about.

Moreover, this is the danger the false teachers his epistle is concerned with present. They offer an alternative to the Christian faith, to Christ and His gospel of peace and reconciliation with God. They add to it, or take from it, attempt to remove or replace it, contradict it, or supplant it. They belittle and demean it, and reinforce new truth, emotional response or personal introspection over it. The believer is to, “abstain from every form of evil,” 1 Thessalonians 5:22. To wander from the love of God, who is our Savior and Preserver, is to say without needing to say it, that we are indulging rather than abstaining from evil. If we wander from God we leave ourselves vulnerable to the enemy of our souls, the ultimate architect of every false doctrine on Earth.

Peter explains: “Be sober, be vigilant (similar to keeping ourselves); because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Peter 5:8. The wayward sheep, who has strayed far from the Shepherd, is in danger of being devoured by this lion. This is why Paul was always so vehement writing to the various churches in an effort to stamp out heterodoxy and heresy. Because if we do not remain walking in the Spirit we become susceptible to the subtle subversions the enemy propagates. If we draw close to God, we are assured that He will draw close to us, James 4:8. Thus submitted to God we have power to resist the Devil, who in turn will flee from us, James 4:7. Why? Because if we are kept in God’s love we are near to God, walking in the Spirit with Him; certainly a place Satan finds most uncomfortable and a position that he cannot wrest us from. A believer may willingly go astray when sin tempts us, but that is not coercion, it is a lapse in keeping oneself in the love of God, James 1:13.

We are as saints to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, Jude tells us. The writer of Hebrews agrees, telling us that we should, “Look…unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” Hebrews 12:2. The ESV renders this portion of the verse thus: “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” The NASB adds the adverb “anxiously,” when the Christian is informed to wait. This is an expectant wait, hopeful in the sense that we understand and accept its accomplishment. And now while here on earth in these bodies of sin, we look forward to the liberty Jesus promises to those that love Him. Paul expresses this eager expectation vividly when he writes, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,” 2 Corinthians 5:2. Paul makes it clear that he (and we) should eagerly desire to shed our mortal bodies so we might be clothed with the glorious, Heavenly raiment our Lord has awaiting us, and so long as we dwell here on earth, we are absent from both our Lord and the new, permanent state we shall acquire from Him.

While here on earth we keep ourselves in God’s love and we look. If we are looking for the mercy of Christ and the eternal life He promised to those who believe we shall be less inclined to stray; keeping ourselves in the position we are commanded to retain will come naturally, led by the Holy Spirit rather than sin, the flesh, the Devil, or the evil teachings of spiritually bankrupt people. We watch and wait, looking hopefully for the promise of His coming.