Able to Keep You

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, writes to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. He prays, May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. He had been eager to write about our common salvation, but he felt he must urge them to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

The danger was inside the church. Certain people had crept in secretly, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude reminds his readers of earlier judgments: the Lord saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe; angels who left their proper place are kept for judgment; Sodom and Gomorrah are an example. These intruders walk in the way of Cain, the error of Balaam, and the rebellion of Korah. Jude calls them clouds without water, autumn trees without fruit, wild waves of the sea, and wandering stars.

Then Jude turns to the faithful with a different tone. But you, beloved, remember the words of the apostles, who said that mockers would come in the last time. Keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. On some have compassion, making a distinction, and save others. Jude closes with one of the most loved praises in the New Testament: to him who is able to keep them from stumbling and to present them faultless before his glory in great joy, to God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.